ARTS
The Michigan Daily Thursday, April 3, 1986 Page 5

Players revive
'open theater'

Chilton

lives up

to expectations

By Susannah Michaels
TF YOU SEE actors in masks
'Ipassing out flyers on the diag, don't
just pass them by. They are members
of the RC Players advertising their
upcoming performance. On April 4, 5,
10, and 11 at 8 p.m. in the East Quad
Auditorium, the RC Players will be
staging four one-act plays directed by
students.
The plays, Sandra and the Janitor
by William Packard, Calm Down
Mother by Megan Terry and Interview and
i otel by Jean-Claude van Itallie, embody
the ideas op "open theater" and "ensem-
ble technique."
"Open theater is a movement which
took place in the sixties, that breaks
away from traditional theater," says
Nancy Bishop, RC Sophomore and
director of Calm Down Mother and
Interview, adding "Open theater does
not focus on profit, but rather on
making a social point. The set is
minimal, such as wooden boxes, the
actors become set; the audience con-
centrates on the actors."
In the ensemble technique, all the
actors remain on stage during the
play, and represent several different
characters within each piece. This
closeness and constant change and in-
teraction make for a "tightly knit
cast," according to Bishop.
The actor's warm-up exercises cen-

ter around group cooperation, in-
teraction, and trust. The body and
simple sounds are more important
than words in the exercises and in the
plays themselves. For example, in In-
terview masked actors come together
one by one to form a human machine
in which each has his/her specific
mechanical motion and sound. "This
play is a satire exposing bureaucracy
and the human machine;
displacement of the human," com-
mented Bishop.
Motel, also a satire, and directed by
RC Junior Lou Charbonneau, is about
perversion and destruction. In this
short play, the actors are dolls in
homemade paper-mache masks.
Calm Down Mother is, according to
Bishop, a "transformation for
women." "The play," she says,
illustrates "women's relationships -
mother-daughter-sister; and
women's role in society." She adds:
"We say all the lines,
"but there is a myriad of ways you
can perform and block such plays. I
did the blocking for my two plays, but
as director I'm not being tyrannical.
I'm taking people's ideas- the plays
are directed by everyone."
The RC Players are a student-run
group that is interested in
"establishing a community of actors
and actresses." They organize
workshops, work with improvisation,
and present plays to the public.

By Julie Jurrjens
OW! EXPECTATIONS realized!
Alex Chilton's Tuesday night show
at the Blind Pig delivered on all it
promised. The R&R cult figure drew
from his lengthy career - beginning
in the '60s with the Box Tops, span-
ning the '70s with Big Star, and con-
tinuing into the '80s with a solo career
- to give a welcoming Pig audience a
well rounded set and two generous
encores.
The set began with a rendition of
Big Star's "On the Street," one of
several Big Star numbers performed
immaculately. The classic Chilton 45"
"Bangkok" followed, although hin-
dered a bit by the slower tempo adop-
ted by the band and somehow not as
striking as one might have hoped.
However, subsequent tunes, including
"Tee Ni Nee Ni Noo" from Chilton's
recent Feudalist Tarts EP, stood out as
Chilton apparently became more
comfortable with the receptive
audience. This apparent relaxation
grew as the the evening progressed
and substantially increased the
show's enjoyability.
Big Star's "When My Baby's Beside
Me" showcased Chilton's con-
siderable dexterity on guitar, as well
as that of his excellent sidemen, jazz
musicians Rene Coman (bass) and
Doug Garrison (drums).
Feudalist Tarts' "Lost My Job"
provided a tongue-in-cheek bluesy
break before Chilton kicked into his
two "biggest" hits, the Box Tops'
"The Letter" and Big Star's "Sep-
tember Gurls." Both were excellently
played and warmly received,
-especially after some goofing-around
on Chilton's part, when he sang
several bars before realizing his
guitar was unplugged.
The completely unexpected in-

clusion on an electrified Bach duet,
featuring Chilton and Coman,
delighted the audience if for no other
reason than its sheer incongruity.
Chilton remarked jokingly "I've been
practicing this for 15 years and still
haven't got it right," then moved on
into the scathingly cynical "No Sex"
and "Underclass," from his up-
coming EP. On the basis of what was
heard, it's something to look forward
to.
The set closed out with a cover of
Lou Christie's "I'm Gonna Make You
Mine," but Chilton was promptly
called back to two encores, high poin-
ts of which were Like Flies On Sher-
bert's "Hey Little Child," the Box
Tops' "Soul Deep," and a wonderfully
warm version of "Nightime," with
harmonica. The evening ended on a
version of Panther Burns' (with
whom Chilton frequently gigs) recent
tune "Tina the Go-Go Queen," which
glowed in all its kitchsy glory.
Although it was a bit slow in getting
rolling, Chilton and band provided a
great evening of solid musicianship
and excellent song craft. Looking
forward to seeing him again soon!
Read
and
Use
Daily
Classifeds

Merrily
Gabrielyn Watson and Norman Spivey perform in the School of Music
Opera Theater's production of Franz Lehar's 'The Merry Widow'. The
gifted Jay Lesenger directs the popular operetta set in turn of the century
Paris. Performances start tonight at the Power Center and run through
April 6th. Show times are 8 p.m. each night, but 2 p.m. on Sunday.


Broza brings Israeli touch to Ann Arbor

By Peter Ephross
HE SCENE was almost
T Kafkaesque. Three hundred Jews,
packed into a North American folk
club, listening to someone who had
been billed as the "Israeli Bruce
P pringsteen. "
When David Broza took the Ark
stage Sunday night, even his costume
seemed to match the spookiness: He
was dressed in all black. But by the
third song, the peace anthem "It will
be O.K." the eerieness had disap-
peard. When Broza suggested "let's
sing it (the chorus) kind of as a chant,
maybe as a prayer..." the audience
responded eagerly, as if the invitation
had been expected. The mood was set
and for the next two hours Broza
displayed viruousity on the guitar and
a sexy stage presence.

While the show as a whole was
certainly successful, it did have its
down points. Broza's voice, normally
hoarse, was even more so on Sunday.
He was unable to hit some of the loud
screams that characterize his rowdier
songs, most notably "Haifa" and
"Seniorita." In general, Broza
seemed tired, which although under-
standable because of his hectic
schedule, was definitely noticeable to
the audience. Controlled audience
participation was poor, and part of the
crowd acted as if they were disin-
terested parties at a religious service
rather than interested music fans who
had paid $7 and $8 for a ticket.
Positively, Broza displayed a witty,
if offensive, sense of humor. Before
"Bedouin Love Song," he dead-
panned, "I don't understand young
Bedouin couples anymore." On one of
his many rhumbas, which "are

always depressing because they
always deal with losers," Broza led
the female members in the audience
in a chorus of "he deserved it," while
simultaneously inviting and then
leading the men in drowning out the
words.
Broza also partially helped explain
a question that much of the audience
had, "What is this Israeli singer doing
in America?" by playing "Ambush,"
a poem written by Johns Hopkins
graduate Matthew Graham that
Broza had recently put to music.
Judging from this piece, Broza's time
in the U.S. is bearing artistic fruits.
When Broza talked about the Jewish
paranoia/guilt complex, everybody
laughed. When he sang a new song,
"My Brother, who's flying to Califor-
nia," he introduced it by dedicating it
to those who "leave Israel for a year
or two or 10 or 20..." There were many

in the audience who fit one of those
categories. And more than one person
looked a bit dreamy when he talked
about the "...white beaches, water
melons, and soldiers" you take with
you when you leave Israel.
So David Broza's concert at the Ark
Sunday night wasn't really
Kafkaesque; just a friendly, almos
family concert. And so what if Ark
owner Dave Siglin looked a bit befud
dled at the pre-concert chaos tha
made the Ark lobby seem like a bus
station in a Middle Eastern city?
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