The Michigan Daily--Thursday, January 17, 1980--- Page5 Local 'Lion and Jewel' enters college theatre competition 8 Ball Tournament W in ier;'o to Kent State lor ACU-I1 regionals. at the Union. By GILLIAM BOLLING Tuesday night's performance at the frueblood Theatre of The Lion and the Jewel was a rehearsal - the production was being shown once again to the community before it travels to Akron, Ohio to participate in the American College Theatre Festival regional com- petition. Missing were certain set pieces, and the lights which were used when the show was first sponsored in November as part of the university's Showcase Series. But, despite the ab- , ence of certain polished touches, a necessity due to the show being packed up and transported to Ohio this weekend, The Lion and the Jewel suf- fered from no lack of energy and en- thusiasm. The play is the tale of the small African bush village of Ilujinle, written by Nigerian-born Wole Soyinka, it con- cerns the story of the village's foremost beauty and how she is courted by both the tribal chief and the young Wester- nized school teacher who seeks to. modernize the backward villagers. The Lion and the Jewel is this year's entry in the American College Theatre Festival, which is sponsored by The Amoco companies and presented by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Per- forming Arts in Washington, D.C. The festival first began in 1967 to provide a national showcase for university theatre. More than 2,000 schools are in- vited to participate in the competition, with each entry screened on its home campus by a member of the ACTF regional committee. THE PRODUCTION is now on the first part of its journal to national festival in Washington. It was chosen to be shown in the Great Lakes Regional Festival along with five other plays, among them Wayne State University's production of Brian Friel's Philadelphia, Here I Come and Ohio State's production of James Goldman's The Lion in Winter. The Lion and the Jewel will be presented at the Univer- sity of Akron on Friday, January 18 at 9:00 p.m., where it will be judged on the basis of presentation, choice of presen- tation for talent available, and the ability of the show to travel. Up to ten shows chosen from regional festivals will make the final trip to the Kennedy Center in the spring., The play has the look of a winner. Ph.D. student and teaching as- sistant. Janice Reid directed the production. She has a degree in African literature and is currently stydying the works of Wole Soyinka, the a play's author. She chose the play, which features an all-black cast, largely to give the many talented members of the black community a chance to perform. WHEN PRESENTED in November, the first indication of The Lion's suc- cess was evident at the box-office. The play was one of the most successful in the Showcase series history, breaking all previous box-office records. The ACTF judges must have agreed with th the play's enthusiastic reception, as they not only chose it as a festival com- petitor, but also cited two cast mem- bers for excellence. Junye Brown and Marietta Baylis, respectively playing the tribal chief Bale Baroka and his oldest wife Sadiku, were both nominated for the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarships. Each is now eligible for a $2,000 scholarship and a trip to Washington for individual auditions. Janice Reid made a final choice with features a strong, large and exuberant cast which is called upon to display their-talents in the areas of acting, singing, and dancing. With a few minor adjustments to accommodate the stage in Akron, the multi-leveled jungle set will provide a lush backdrop for the play's colorful language and the - roduction's sensual, energized dancing. If the production of The Lion and the Jewel shown in the competition in Akron is as high-spirited and involving as it was in Ann Arbor, then in the spring, the show will surely be Washington-bound. -/ r/ I I R EC OR D S By MARK DIGHTON Hey kids, welcome to the Wave of the Week Show. Let's see, in our first shows we covered punk, then new wave, then 7 ower pop, then no wave. . . now, ake way for technopop. As defined by someone who ought to know better by now, technopop combines catchy pop melodies (a la the Raspberries or Hollies) with the energy of power pop (a la Blondie or Cheap Trick) and the odd view of rock music possible only af- 'p (PSOIA 14N 0 , '. -- album and has since been replaced by a new guitarist. As a result, their sound is no longer as full and orchestrated as it once was, but is now correspondingly more direct and attack-oriented. Another major change is that this album tends to be a bit more restrained than their previous work. This could be due to the group's feeling that they needed to mellow out a bit for their new American audience, though I doubt that a group of such undeniable musical in- tegrity could stoop to such pandering. I think it more likely that their new producer, .Steve Lillywhite (most known for his production of the emotionally frigid pretentiorockers Ultravox), misunderstood the en- deaiing -enthusiasm and dynamic power of this group. Thus, Drums and Wires cannot come close to matching the unquenchable pop frenzy of this group's first two albums, White Music and Go 2. Yet, it still manages to both challenge and excite. Much of this is due to the mastery that each of the members of XTC display on their instruments. When separated, each of the instruments could almost seem irrelevant (if not contradictory)- to the remainder of the song. Yet combined they manage to blend effortlessly. Obviously a great deal of thought goes into the importan- ce of each sound to the song. .\nhwj,,g is taken for granted. When a simple walking bass line would be sufficient, Colin Moulding insists on throwing in acrobatic leaps and death-defying feats. Andy Partridge's discordantly oriental rhythm guitar and pseudo- psychedelic cocktail jazz leads are also an important part of the group's sound. And, of course, their wry, cynical vocals are unmistakable. The cynicism that drips from their vocals is also apparent in their lyrics, into which they obviously put as much creative forethought as their playing. Few of their subjects would even be at- tempted (and probably not even under- stood) by their pop counterparts. On this album alone they tackle such sub- jects as the political emergence of China and the place of the family in modern society with a unique point of view and an intelligent sense of humor. On "Real by Reel," for example, they deal with governmental supervision of its citizens. "In this hidden time, ignorance may help you to cope Rehearsing for crimes, in government cinemascope. They can film you at work They can tape what you think They can tape what you say They can blur your I.D. so you won't know what's what Now I lay me down to sleep Knowing that your lenses peep Now I eat my daily bread And into the tape spool I'll be] FED." Many of their songs deal with this issue of the ineffectiveness of the in- dividual in the face of modern mass society. They commonly use a parent- child metaphor to convey the in- dividual's position in relation to the government. In fact, many of their songs deal with issues in a somewhat childlike way, only to accentuate their threatening and thought-provoking for- ce. "Scissor Man," though clearly told as a fairy tale about a sort of bogey man that punishes bad boys and girls, is just as obviously also referring to the enor- mous powers of society to punish any of us for the slightest deviation from the norm. Obviously XTC have put up with this sort of pressure before, since they've ignored all musical norms since their inception. With an almost total disregard for these traditions, they have created an intelligent, catchy, demanding album with Drums and Wires. Even if it is not their best work, it nevertheless remains far above the rest of modern rock music in stretching our musical imaginations and setting our toes to tapping. And that's probably exactly what they'll do live when they open for the Police at the Michigan Theater here in Ann Arbor on January 22. The Lion and the Jewel. The play Join the Arts Page 1.\\& r 'dQ eye ^qf e e~O\tO Q0 o O' s ee P 7 j\ ,4 a $ ter Roxy Music. Technopop groups are distinguishable from your run-of-the- mill power pop groups by their com- paratively complex use of studio production (even occasionally in- cluding a disco-ish sense of sound separation), increased reliance, on keyboards, and tendencies toward ;dissonance. This particular feature was precipitated by an auspicious recent event in the rise of technopop - the fir- st American release by the foremost British technopop group, XTC. The album, Drums and Wires, which is ac- tually their third LP, also contains the single, "Making Plans for Nigel," which is reportedly making a strong impact in all the right American narkets. Yes, finally, after two faultlessly brilliant and entertaining albums and one equally appealing EP, the American public may actually get its first taste of this challenging quartet. This album represents other impor- tant changes for the band. For one, their keyboardist left after their last WASHINGTON (AP)-The first American life insurance agent was Israel Whelen of Philadelphia. The American Council of Life In- surance says Whelen began selling life insurance in 1807 on behalf of a London- based company. I eIrnpses An Evening w ith.... A -R :-< Fridav, February 8-8:00 and 11:09 p.