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Page 8 -The Michigan Daily-Wednesday, April 13, 1988
Sa ferstein'
s Oh,
Ramona!'
Oh,
wow!
By Linda Gardner
A sporadically confusing but
enthusiastic OhRamona! played
to a sellout crowd at the Perfor-
mance Network last weekend. This
was a play for the audience and to
the audience, from the moment the
actors took the stage. No matter
how much the characters spoke to
the spectators and involved them in
the production, surreality (and often
just plain weirdness) kept the line
between actors and audience intact.
Outrageousness and extremities
ruled the visual impact of the play.
Not that it was overdone - the
play struck a perfect balance be-
tween the "normality" of sane real-
ity and the chaos of near-insanity.
To some, the overlapping speeches
and the shrieking voices of "the
girls" made comprehension difficult
at times; others encountered diffi-
culty in seeing from the side
bleachers.
But nobody could complain
about the attention given to the au-
dience which was enhanced by
bright costumes and equally color-
ful acting. All in fun, one "girl"
wrote a male patron's phone num-
ber on her hand at the beginning of
the show, and periodically made
him the target of winks and smiles.
Ramona ran into the audience to
give away her soap bubbles early in
the show and the spectator obliged
by blowing bubbles for the entire
length of the play. Who's the real
actor here?
Johanna Boorman excelled as
Ramona, coming from behind the
bleachers to instantly draw the
audience in with convincing story-
telling. She laughed and settled
down to talk, and the audience
laughed, and settled in to listen.
"There's a pole here!" she began,
referring to the trademark center-
stage pole of the Performance Net-
work, and continued with a solil-
oquy that seemed impromptu but
held onto Naomi Saferstein's care-
fully written ideas.
Elderly Henry Horwitz
(WCBN's Professor arwulf arwulf)
and teenager Luthor Hanks (Mike
Rubin) played the perfect antitheti-
cal rivals for Ramona's attention.
Henry's mismatched argyle socks
and Luthor's multicolored basket-
ball only served as background in-
formation to support the believable
acting. The script seemed a bit un-
natural as Luthor reminisced about
being a kingfisher, but the
communication between the two
was genuine. Always maintaining
his cool, Luthor exclaimed
"Dude...!"(his trademark), and
Henry answered "Dude ...?" mock-
ingly, but never lost his dignity
even when he hopped around crying
"Boop Boop Boop!" Once again,
the only complaint was that many
of their important lines in later
scenes were incomprehensible dur-
ing the confusing proliferation of
voices and actions.
Even as Ramona's monologues
gained their effectiveness from con-
tact with an audience, the emotional
scenes seemed to lose some inten-
sity for the same reason. Perhaps
the hilarious bird suit that Henry
donned at the end made it difficult
for the action to be taken seriously.
The flip-flop scenes between Ra-
mona and Henry and Ramona and
Luthor made up for any misunder-
standings though; twice near the
end a sentimental moment lurched
without warning into a new chaotic
mess, and the well-rehearsed tension
stretched from wall to wall. The fi-
nal indifference of Henry, continu-
ing to adjust his Halloween cos-
tume, and Luthor, rapping with his
whole body at the front of the
stage, was chilling as the "girls"
literally took Ramona over, smear-
ing her face with make-up and
brandishing a ceramic cake. These
were amateur actors?
A major source of the reigning
confusion was the trio of "girls" (or
"women," as they prefer to be
called). The "bachelorettes"
consistently demanded attention -
if not from the flirting and pouting
that accompanied their every move,
then from the makeup and extrava-
gant neon costumes (by
Demetrius). With wigs that stood a
foot high and skin-tight pants, the
"girls" milked every move for
maximum effect.
The audience seemed a bit con-
fused when the lights blacked out,
but who wouldn't be confused from
the abundant action and noise? Soap
bubbles floated from the bleachers
nonetheless.
Editor's note: The Sunday eve-
ning performance of OH, RA-
MONA! was reviewed.
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Doily Photo by ROBIN LOZNAK
Elderly Henry Horwitz (WCBN's Professor arwulf arwulf) fights for Ramona's attention in 'Oh, Ramona!'
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Bears
Continued from Page 5
itless energy, The Bears roared bril-
liantly through their originals, as
well as guitar-madman covers of
"Purple Haze" and King Crimson's
"Elephant Talk." Throughout their
slapstick intros, Belew, Fetters and
Nyswonger took to growling, "Arrr
... we're the Bears!" while clawing at
the air - to the delight of the crowd.
Tonight, you can see for yourself
that these are pretty wild guys for' a
group with a boring name.
THE BEARS will perform
tonight at the Nectarine Ballroom.
Showtime is 7:30 p.m. and tickets
are $1250.
Holocaust Commemoration Day
BERNARD, MEDNICKI
Thursday, April 14
4:00pm at Hillel,
339 E. Liberty
A Belgian Jew, Mednicki will discuss
his adventures posing as a Catholic
while working with the French Resistance
during World War 11.
PASS
IT
AROUND I
WORK ON YOUR
RESUME THIS FAL.
Do you lie awake at night wondering what that recruiter is going to do with
your resume when you're ready for a full-time job after graduation? Your
resume that doesn't show any "relevant work experience"?
At BNR, the research and development subsidiary of Northern Telecom, we
have excellent co-op jobs for fall semester we want to fill NOW, where you'll
apply the skills you already have and learn things you won't get in school.
You'll get a breather from all-nighters and pressure exams, and be chal-
lenged by something other than the next quiz. And when you graduate with
maybe a year's worth of relevant, valuable work experience, your resume
will go right to the top of the recruiters' pile. And you might get some sleep
for a change.
We have positions available in the following majors and areas:
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6
The University0f Michigan
iceof
Financial
Aid
2011 Student Activities Building
FALL & WINTER 1988-89
APPLICATION DEADLINE
FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 1988
To ensure priority consideration for financial aid* for the coming school year, continuing students
must submit complete application materials by the priority deadline. A complete application
consists of a 1988-89 Office of Financial Aid application form, the Family Financial Statement
report (from ACT), student and parental copies of the 1987 Federal income tax returns, and
other documents if requested. The Office of Financial Aid must have a complete application by:
FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 1988
*University Grant, Michigan Opportunity Grant, Supplemental Grant, Work Study Programs,
Perkins Loan (formerly NDSL), and Guaranteed Student Loan (GSL).
OFFICE HOURS:
Mon.-Fri. 8:15-11:45 and 1:00-4:00
Thurs. 10:00-11:45 and 1:00-4:00
QUESTIONS?
Call Us!
763-6600
* Computer Science,
Computer Engineering
* Computer/Electrical
Engineering
" Computer Science,
Electrical Engineering,
Math (grad or undergrad)
" Electrical Engineering,
Computer Science,
Math (grad or undergrad)
" Engineering Physics
" Electrical Engineering
(graduate level)
" Computer Science
Software
Development
Silicon Design-
LSI Engineering
Network Analysis
or Planning
Market Analysis
Digital Hardware
Hardware Development
Information Center
ri
SHOW YOUR TRUE COLORS -
CHECK OUT OUR FRESH SPRING
MERCHANDISE!
20-50% off
all merchandise
*ofer good April 18-29th, excludes
Balfourjewelry, customized paddles
and mugs.
A
4 f.
Contact your co-op office today, or send your resume to:
BNR