,. w ..:. Page Eight THE SUMMER DAILY Friday, July 20, 1973 Page Eight THE SUMMER DAILY Friday, July 20, 1973 Plamondon on trial By DAVID STOLL In the most recent battle of the nine- year war between members of the Rain- bow People's Party (RPP) and federal ... and state law enforcement agencies, RPP members Pun Plamondon anl Craig Blaz- ier are standing trial in Cadillac before District Court Judge William Peterson on' charges of extortion, conspiracy to com- mit extortion, and usury. The charges stem from an incident that occurred last January in which Blazier and Plamondon allegedly attempted to collect a drug debt from a dealer at the dealer's home near Beulah, southwest of Traverse City. THE RAINBOW PEOPLE have charged that the trial is a "political frame-up" on the part of state Attorney General Frank Kelley and the Michigan State Police, for the purpose of "harassing, intimidating, and silencing" the political activity of the defendants and the RPP. Kelley has taken a personal interest in the prosecution. Though never present at any of the preliminary hearings and not on the scene at Cadillac himself, Kel- ley dispatched two of his assistant state attorneys general to begin prosecuting the case the days after the two were arrested. While Blazier has been active in the RPP only since 1971, Plamondon helped found its forerunner, the White Panther Party, and was charged, along with John Sinclair and Jack Forrest, in the 1968 bombing of the Ann Arbor CIA office. After going underground and spending some time on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list, Plamondon was apprehended and spent fifteen months in the Wayne and Kent (Grand Rapids) County jails before the charges against him were dismissed. BLAZIER AND PLAMONDON w e r e originally charged with armed robbery as well as extortion and held on $100,000 bonds. At the preliminary examination on March 12, however, the prosecution's only two witnesses seriously contradicted each other, rendering the armed robbery charge unsupportable and the $100,000 bonds dub- iously high. After three bond hearings, bond was eventually reduced to $25,000 for Plamon- don and $5000 for Blazier. Both were able to meet the payments. Uwe Wagner, the man Blazier and Pla- mondon allegedly threatened, is- a Gee- man-born alien with a conviction for sale and possession of marijuana and according to spokespersons for RPP, he is a rip-off dealer in hard drugs.1 HE TESTIFIED that Blazier and Pla- mondon, armed, respectively, with a knife and a "little white derringer," attempted to extort money from him in payment for a debt he said he owed them on a 25-lb. marijuana transaction. They threatened him with "two broken arms and two broken legs," he testified, and when he told them he didn't have :.s money they forcibly removed his personal belongings as security on the debt. The state's other eyewitness, B r u c e Peterson, was living with Wagner at the time and gave a substantially different version of events, however. At the pre- trial examination Peterson testified that again he did not recall seeing any weapons, did not hear any direct threats of bodily in- jury made to' Wagner, and said that Wag- ner had consented to the removal of his belongings. PETERSON DID TESTIFY, however, that Plamondon and Blazier threatened to expose Wagner as a dope dealer and cause him to be deported. He also said the two had claimed they were mediating between Wagner and some third party who might be willing to use "ice-picks and battery acid" on Wagner. Among the motions filed by defense counsel Buck Davis of Detroit previous to the trial were: -A MOTION to dismiss all charges on grounds that the prosecution is politically motivated. That motion was denied. -A motion disputing the admissability of evidence obtained by tape-recording tele- phone conversations set up by the State Polige between Wagner and Plamondon. That evidence was declared admissable in court Monday. A MOTION THAT Plamondon be ap- pointed co-counsel for the defense along with attorney Buck Davis. That motion was granted so that Plamondon, like An- gela Davis during her trial, has the right to address the court and cross-examine witnesses. Flahooley: Fifties just don't make it By DIANE LEVICK The American Stage Festival's pilot pro- duction of The Flahooley Incident at Men- delssohn this weekend has its ups and downs - but unfortunately more downs than ups, due in part to the script. A pop musical based on E. Y. Har- burg's and Fred Saidy's 1951 Broadway production, The Flahooley Incident is be- ing staged in Ann Arbor with all local tal- ent to determine whether the play has any potential for a professional run. It doesn't. THE PLOT, despite its revisions, c o n- tains hopelessly dated premises - the kind of things that probably wouldn't even appeal to students' parents. The action revolves around a hippie pup- pet-maker named Cloud, who works for a huge "establishment" company, B. J. Comedy ot frrors The Shakespeare play Comedy of Errors, pictured above, is currently showing at the Power Center. A review of the play will appear in tomorrow's Daily. Repertory gives fine showing of Mrs. Warren's Profession By REBECCA WARNER Being a woman in 1895, as in 1973, was being a loser, someone trapped be- tween untenable personal standards and equally impossible societal expectations. Among a number of other themes, Shaw's play Mrs. Warren's Profession ex- plores the cost of female success in a male world. Michigan Reportory '73 opened a strong production of the play at the Power Center Wednesday night. Mrs. Warren's Profession details the conflict between Kitty Warren, a beau- tiful and charming woman who has pulled herself up from the gutter through a ca- reer as a prostitute and manager of a collection of European- whorehouses, and her daughter Vivienne, raised to be a lady, educated at Cambridge, and shock- ed to discover the nature of her moth- er's business. The mainstay and central mover of the production is Vivienne Lenk in the role of Mrs. Warren herself. Lek's perform- ance is always competent, subtle and sympathetic, reaching deeply moving peaks during the play's more serious por- tions. Thanks to Lenk, the entertaining pro- duction conveys Mrs. Warren as more than the whore with the heart of gold or a premise in the playwright's argument on the morality of money and class. Lenk's characterization sometimes transforms Mrs. Warren into a universal tragic fig- ure in whom all women might recognize some of themselves or their futures. 'PERHAPS EVEN more notable in a lo- cal performance is the company's pro- fessional handling of the turn of the cen- tury setting and humor which other pro- ductions often leave so tiresome. Veteran director William Halstead keeps the play's pacing fast but never pan- icky, and the whole cast exercises admir- able restraint in piecing Shaw's con- glomeration of one-line sparklers into a witty but homan whole. Judy Levitt as Mrs. Warren's daughter Vivienne is as charming, vigorous and de- cisive as any competent old-fashioned heroine. But while Levitt keeps the action moving, she sometimes appears to gloss over the complexities of Vivienne's seem- ingly liberated haracter, full of uncon- ventional strength and determination but also, in her mother's words, a "pious, canting, hard, selfish woman." A more comprehending interpretation of Vivienne could have lent added richness to the mother-daughter confrontation. AS VIVIENNE'S suitor Frank Gardner, Kenneth Marshall turns in a properly' winning performance. Well-cast as the handsome ruffian with hidden social scrup- les, Marshall keeps Frank likeable des- pite his ever so clever banter. Evan Jeffries, who plays Mrs. War- ren's old friend Mr. Praed, also performs admirably in a delicate role, only occas- ionally overstressing Praed's silliness. Christopher Connell as Sir George Crofts plays the upper class bounder ade- quately. Laurence Coven as Frank's fath- er, the Rev. Samuel Gardner provides quite a few funny moments of counter- point to the Warren family action, but direction of his role seems purposely to reject Shaw's blustering characterization of the minister, a pity for the production as whole. A well-deserved round of applause for the ingenius set design rose from the audience at the begining of the fourth act. Robert Franklin has created three scenes which are both witty and unpre- tentious. Light design by Craig W o 1f also offered some happy surprises. Cos- tuming by Zelma Weisfeld is entertain- ing and sometimes excellent. HALSTEAD'S DIRECTION, obviously ex- perienced, faces the sticky problem of reconciling within one production Shaw's clever parlor wit and some important treatment of interpersonal relationships and social themes. At best, the juxtaposition of humor and seriousness could have rendered both more powerful. In the present production, hu- mor sometimes undercuts otherwise ex- cellent serious scenes. However, aud- iences response to Wednesday night's per- formance made it obvious that this draw- back does not greatly hamper the play's effect. Bigelow Toys. He heroically saves the corporation's advertising campaign with his laughing Flahooley doll invention, only to become entangled in corporate pressure and politics. In a dream sequence, Cloud finds the solution to his responsibilities in the form of a magic genie. The genie, however, re- solved to conjure 'up Flahooleys forever, cannot be stopped, even when the world economy is threatened by overproduction. And the complications go on .. . CONTEMPORARY REFERENCES to ecology, politics, and Watergate sprinkle the plot, sometimes quite humorous, but usually appearing as forced attempts to update the production. The exchanges be- tween Cloud's girlfriend and her competi- tor for Cloud's affection, the boss's secre- tary, are particularly corny. Flahooley was obviously written as a vehicle for 1950's values with a 1950's per- spective about what is funny. Unlike some dramatic material, this one doesn't seem to have enough universality to be ressur- ected. The musical score, too, with lyrics by E. Y. Harburg shows its age. Yet, due to the recent 1950's oldies revival, a few numbers appropriately choreographed make for some pleasant listening. "Jump" and "Come Back, Little Genie" are two of the more memorable pieces. UNFORTUNATELY on the play's open- ing night, Wednesday, many of the ly- rics were inaudible because of the band's volume and because the choruses often seemed to be singing in a range too low for their capability. The spectrum of voice quality was ex- tremely wide. Michael Kaplan as B. G. Bigelow deserves special praise for n o t only his penetrating voice, but also for his excellent portrayal of the "toycoon." Peter Kornbluh as Cloud and Elizabeth Kelly as his girlfriend were both a bit weak, Kelly especially in her stiff danc- ing. .George Tourtellotte as the genie cer- tainly knew how to move, but Amanda Kelly, cast as a seductive Middle Eastern princess, approached her belly dancing role as though she were afraid of her own sexuality. AMONG THE PRODUCTION'S interest- ing little touches was a set designed to look like a tinker-toy construction - fit- ting for the scene of a toy corporation. A collection of four beautifully made marion- ettes added to the atmosphere. Despite those extra touches, however, producer and director Michael Harrah's production does not succeed in keeping the Flahooley script aflpat. The script has a marked tendency to sink repeatedly after it raises hopes.