0 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 BOOK SALE! sat. sept.21 9am-9pm Pendleton rm. MICHIGAN UNION Michigan Alliance for Disarmament 99s-5871 1 41= 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. en r- a a er .p- m Id n- ot ly ly eve Id ly as 's, at re us ry n- 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 J j , i f ; _ ,_ ti. , .. , : <>; - '' - ° _ r> ' ': .: ." : . ,: ,. { k > .: . : . °.k 0 b I WANTm"n:: YA... M MARY ELCB WASH-F KSMAPA IXTF 16TMr CAR I WWM FRW NArt1oNW d ° c National is the way to go. You can rent a car if you're 18 or older, have a valid driver's license, current student I.D. and cash deposit. Stop by to fill out qualifica- tion form at least 24-hours in advance. You pay for gas used and return car to renting location. We also accept most major cred- it cards. PER $22DAY SS / ipilif S " / / ,j~r UKC ClIS Iflt~!t .I NO MILEAGE CHARGE * Weekend rate available noon Thursday through Monday. Rates will be slightly lower for drivers over 25. ., like this Pontiac Sunbird. .,:: I