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ARTS
The Michigan Daily Thursday, September 19, 1985 Page 5
'6 Rooms, .River View'
is no classified ad
By Lauren Schreiber
F OR THOSE of you unfamiliar
F with the abreviation 6 Rms Riv
Vu, seen typically in classified ads
and this week on promotional posters
all over town, the translation is Six
Rooms, River View-a house for sale,
and also a romantic comedy opening
tonight at The Ann Arbor Civic
Theatre.
6 Rms Riv Vu is the story of two
New York couples, the Millers and the
Friedmans, both looking for an inex-
pensive apartment. The building they
and up at is occupied by an in-
teresting group of tenants, including a
colorful superintendent, a pregnant
woman, and the lady in 4A.
That night, two strangers, Anne
Miller and Paul Friedman are ac-
cidentally locked in the apartment by
Eddie, the superintendent. Unexpec-
tedly thrown together, Anne and Paul
discover they have a lot in common -
both are attractive, married, and are
becoming a bit bored with their lives.
. They find themselves attracted to
each other.
ay The remainder of the evening is
of spent discussing their feelings on af-
t fairs and fidelity. The play is two ac-
at ts, spanning an afternoon, evening,
and the next morning. The next mor-
e ning is concerned with the reper-
e cussions of the night before.
e."It's funny to think of this as being
le. a period piece," said Cathy Foltin,
l director of the play. Originally per-
formed in 1972, many of the themes of
6 Rms Riv Vu deal with the Me
Generation philosophy of that charac-
terized by the '70s. "Open marriages
became a fad then," noted Foltin.
Foltin and members of the cast used
old college yearbooks to help resear-
ch the play and the characters.
Donna Alter, who portrays Anne,
*Musical 't
E AFROMUSICOLOGY Society
and Common Ground Theatre
Ensemble present Our Time of Day,
"the most exciting thing to come to
Ann Arbor," in a long time, according
to Morris Lawrence, writer and
musical composer of the play.
Elise Bryant, director of the play,
has directed plays for Common
Ground Theatre since 1982, including
the acclaimed Children of a Lesser
God and Junkie, but this is her first
musical.
Bryant and Chris Wakefield,
another member of Common Ground
Theatre, adapted Our Time for the
stage from the original story by
Lawrence, who is director of the
Afromusicology Society. Mr.
Lawrence also directs the popular
Washtenaw Community College Jazz
Band.
Our Time of Day, Common
Ground's second musical, is a whole
emotional range of choral and solo
numbers backed by a score of Afro-
Brazilian music.
explained how Foltin used games to
help the cast develop their charac-
ters. "Cathy has really given us a
great idea," said Alter. We did all
kinds of things in rehearsal --played
Twenty Questions using our charac-
ters, and role reversals. It really
made a difference."
See APARTMENT, Page 6
O debut
The play is a "historical-type
musical, a story of liberation," said
Lawrence. Set on a plantation in
Brazil, it tells the story of a family
struggling with their life as slaves,
"re-establishing how to be free all
over again." In particular, it concer-
ns the "strength of the woman, and
her fight to keep herself whole,"
Lawrence said.
The joint production team has been
working six days a week since last fall
for the four scheduled performances.
Our Time of Day promises to be a
unique and entertaining show, the
kind that has DON'T MISS written all
over it.
Performances are. Thursday
through Saturday at 8 p.m., with a
matinee performance at 2 p.m. on
Sunday, at Lydia Mendelssohn
Theater in the Michigan League.
Tickets are available at Ticketworld
outlets, the Michigan Union Box Of-
fice, and Schoolkids' Records.
-David Yount
Members of the jazz-funk-rock-dance band Astra Light rehearse in Markley Hall.
Astralight to reunite tonight
By Alan Paul
Q What do a San Antonio Computer
Operations Manager, an East
Lansing TV producer, a University
dental student, and a University of
Cincinnatti teaching assistant have in
common?
A: They are all members of the
jazz/funk/rock band, Astralight.
la Tonight Astra Light will perform
together for the first time in over two
years. AstraLight was formed in 1979
when all six members were local
University freshmen (bassist Eric
Hamilton attended Eastern
Michigan.) They played together
through their four years of school,
gaining popularity year by year.
Sax player Garland Campbell, now
an associate producer for WLNS TV in
East Lansing, explains, "The first
*; time we played at Rick's we were
billed as popular dorm and frat band.
From that we built ourselves into a
popular club band."
AstraLight's farewell show was at
the 1983 summer art fair. All six
members had graduated that spring
and the band split up as they all pur-
sued their careers.
"When we started, we set
guidelines," Campbell says. "We
knew that music woul donly be as big
as our studies allowed."
"We were students, not professional
musicians," guitarist Ray Thonks ad-
ds. "Most of the other club bands were
40-hour-a-week musicians."
The studying seems to have paid
off. Thonks is now in dentistry school
while Hamilton is a computer
operator in Texas. Drummer Matt
"Machine Gun" Watson is teaching
percussion in Cincinnati. Trombonist
Brian Robson and keyboard player
Mark Brandt have remained in Ann
Arbor. Robson, having recently
received his masters degree in trom-
bone performance, is working at
Comerica Bank, while Brandt is in his
final year of Medical School at the
University.
According to Campbell, "We're still
somewhat in touch. Though contact
fades over the years, we're still great
friends."
Hamilton adds, "The last few days
have made up for the last few years."
The reunion began to unfold when
Thonks learned in May that Hamilton
would be in town for a week in the fall.
Thonks relayed this information to
Campbell who thought "it would be
great to rehearse." Shortly thereafter
Campbell bumped into Rick "Coach"
Novak, of Rick's American Cafe. The
affable sax player mentioned to
Novak that the band was thinking of
having a reunion and the Rick's
manager and part owner was very en-
thusiastic.
"I can't say enough about Coach; he
was very instrumental in our
reunion," says Campbell.
Shortly after speaking to Novak,
Campbell made ten long distance
calls in one day.
"Everyone seemed into it so I
figured where there's a will there's a
way. I knew then that I'd be willing to
put time into it," Campbell recalls.
Hamilton adds, "Garland did all the
leg work. He was the catalyst."
"I spend countless hours on the
phone coordinating everything. It's
important to do this right because
these guys are like brothers. We grew
real close. If all six couldn't have done
it, it wouldn't be a reunion-just a
bunch of friends getting together,"
Campbell says.
AstraLight began as an instrumen-
tal jazz band, playing three dates
their freshman year for a gross in-
come of zero dollars.
"You only make money playing
what a crowd wants to hear," Thonks
says. "We had to change our sound."
The band began incorporating
more and more contemporary dance
songs into their set, with everyone
contributing vocal support.
"Thursday night we will play a little
bit of everything," says Hamilton.
"Reunion tunes, medleys, hot dance
numbers, funk/rock."
"I'd like to say that we were going
to play current tunes but we're not a
GIANT
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sat. sept.21 9am-9pm
Pendleton rm.
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working band and we just can't.
Campbell says. "We'll probably pla
a lot of tunes that were hot a couple
years ago. We were here from '79 1
'83 so we want to hit the people th4
were here then also."
Before their performanc
A4traLight will have held thre
rehearsals this week. However, eac
one will include different peopl
Though they will not have a fu
rehearsal, all six members have bee
practicing with a tape of their '83 pe
formance.
Because AstraLight is not
working band, they no longer have
PA system. This, along. with oth(
equipment is being donated by Eclil
se Jazz.
"Without help from Eclipse, Pris:
Productions, and Rick's, we woul
have been unable to do this," Can
pbell says. "We just would have g
together and jammed, but we real
wanted to reach people-especial
our old fans."
Campbell adds, "By the time w
graduated, we learned what we cou
do and what we couldn't and we on
tried to -do what we could. That wE
the key to our success."
Thursday night at Rick'
AstraLight will once again do wh4
they do best. As Thonk says, "We'r
going to throw down.''
The opening act is Cadeu a Vot
who will provide a "Contemporar
sound. The band is anchored by Can
pbells' brother Dave on the drums.
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THURSDAY
Long Island
Ice Tea Night
FREE PIZZA
1 0:00 p.m. - Close
338 S. STATE
996-9191
PSYCHOLOGY & RELIGION PROGRAM
Thursday, Sept. 19, 1985
.First Meeting, 8:00p.m.
(at Hillel)
In its second year, Hillel's Psychology & Religion program is
establishing an on-going group to meet every other Thursday to
explore the dimensions of spiritualify, the connection between indi-
vidual personality and religious experience. Issues of alienation and
wholeness, action and faith, control and self-surrender will be ex-
amined. Alice Brunner, a Clinical psychologist from the Office of
Student Counseling Services, will help guide the group whose
members may come from a variety of religious and nonreligious
orientations.
llild For more information,
call 663-3336.
1429 HILL STREET
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You pay for gas used and return car to
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