Page 8 - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, January 26, 1989
Playwright's fame came quickly
BY MARK SHAIMAN
TO win a Tony Award for Best Drama of the
Broadway season is an achievement of a lifetime.
But at the age of 31, David Henry Hwang has al-
ready accomplished this with his play, M.
Butterfly.
This evening, Hwang will be on campus to
lecture and read from his work as part of the
UMASC Asian American Lecture Series in con-
junctipn with the Asian American Law Students
Association.
While the Tony is Hwang's most prestigious
award, it is not his first. In 1980, he won off-
Broadway's Obie award for F.O.B., which he
wrote as a college senior while studying English
literature at Stanford University. F.O.B. is a
light-hearted look at how newly arrived Chinese
assimilate to American customs.
After a year of study at Yale's Drama school,
he moved to New York to continue his writing.
In the following years, The Dance and the Rail-
road and Family Devotions were both produced.
Again these plays dealt with Chinese in America,
although Hwang himself was born in the U.S.
and grew up in a family that distanced itself from
its Asian roots.
Because of the theme of his works, Hwang
was labeled an expert on Asian-American-ness, a
role he never realized he was creating for himself.
In response, his next play, Rich Relatives, was
about a non-Asian, and it was not well received.
Next came M. Butterfly, a story of a French
diplomat who has a 19-year love affair with a
paramour who turns out to be a spy - and a
man. It may sound unbelievable, but it's based
on fact. And more than just shock value, this
play provides insight on East-West and male-fe-
male relationships. And it earned Hwang his
Tony.
Hwang's newest project is1000 Airplanes on
the Roof, a multi-media production he worked
on with composer Philip Glass and designer
Jeremy Silbin.1000 Airplanes was performed in
Ann Arbor last November, selling enough tickets
at the Michigan Theater to add a second show
that evening. This work is a science-fiction
opera, and on alternating nights the sole character
is played by either a man or a woman in order to
show that it is an Everyperson.
Hwang's work has come incredibly far in ten
years. Tonight's appearance will be a chance to
see what he will bring to us in the future.
DAVID HENRY HWANG will lecture and read
from his work tonight at 7 p.m. in Room 100,
Hutchins Hall, Law Quadrangle.
01
Author voices conflict of Arab in Israel
BY JAY PINKA
AUTHOR Anton Shammas leaves
behind him a type of Dead Sea
Scroll turned modernist in his latest
novel Arabesques. Bridging the gap
between two conflicting cultures,
and crossing to our continent,
Shammas rivals James Michener in
his saga of his family's fortunes
from the 1830s to the 1980s.
Shammas, a Christian and an
Arab, lyrically interweaves his
experiences in an Arab village with
fiction in the biblically allusive He-
brew of Arabesques. The book be-
came a best-seller after its 1986 de-
but in Israel.
Shammas' sardonic tone, reflec-
tive of his sense of alienation as a
Palestinian immersed in Jewish cul-
ture, broke through in various
newspapers, such as the Jerusalem
weekly Kol Ha'ir. An example of
his strength of viewpoint is his at-
tributing the terrorism of Arabs by
Jews to the 1948 Declaration of In-
dependence, which claims "the Jew-
ish State in the Land of Israel... will
maintain the complete social and
political equality for all its citizens,
irrespective of religion,race, and
sex." In his article protesting the
Law of Return, (which states any
Jew may immigrate to Israel, gain-
ing immediate citizenship), Sham-
mas argued that a mononational
Jewish State will result in destruc-
tion of democracy.
But through his mastery of both
Arabic and Hebrew, Shammas
demonstrates his desire to integrate
the two cultures. He has published
several volumes of poetry in both
languages. Born in Israel in 1950, he
graduated with a degree in English
Literature from Hebrew University,
Jerusalem.
Shammas' diverse societal and
artistic experiences are dramatized in
Part Three of Arabesques, in which
he develops a second narrator, who
stops in France en route to a writer's
workshop in the United States. The
conclusion results in a confusion
over authorship as the new character,
"Bar-On," and Shammas' cousin,
claim to be the authentic authors of
the narrative - much as the ele-
ments of his divergent background
each claim shares of Shammas' own
life.
ANTON SHAMMAS will speak at
5 p.m. today at the Rackham East
Conference Room.
Look Your Best!
- 6 Barber Stylists
For MEN & WOMEN!!!
DASCOLA STYLISTS
Opposite Jacobson's
668-9329
John Minock (left) and Jack Adalist perform in Georg
Buchner's Woyzeck, the story of a soldier who tries to
make sense of his life through violence.
What exactly
is a oyzec.
BY CHERIE CURRY
WOYZECK!"
"A what?"
"You mean who. Woyzeck is a common soldier in Georg Buchner's
anti-romantic comedy and starkly realistic tradgedy with expressionist
overtones."
"Oh. His character is put into a modern drama?"
"You mean Georg?"
"No, Woyzeck. It's about the life of Woyzeck, right?"
"Very good, and the story is traced with irony and compassion. Seem-
ingly stupid, Woyzeck attempts to make sense out of his life and goes
through a series of almost mystic experiences."
"How does he make sense out of his life?"
"Woyzeck engages himself in some very violent acts, but I can't re-
veal anymore, otherwise the whole plot would be exposed. I think Direc-
tor Simon Ha would agree."
"Who?"
"You find it funny?"
"You said it was who before."
"Forget it."
Ann Arbor Civic Theatre (AACT) proudly presents WOYZECK .by
Georg Buchner, directed by Simon ha. Production dates are January 26-
28, February 2-4, 9-11 at 8 p.m. Tickets on sale at AACT, and can be
purchased Monday-Friday, from 1 p.m.-4 p.m., and starting at 7:15 the
evening of the performances. Tickets are $5 each, Two-for-one (2 tickets
for $5) for Thursday performances. Group rates are available.
A
WANTED: STUDENT
PHONATHON
CALLERS
Part Time Employment
The School of Education will interview students by phone who will
be hired to call alumni nationwide for an alumni fundraising
phonathon.
. Phonathon held Sunday through Thursday, February 14 - March 24,
excluding Spring Break
. Callers will be expected to work two of the five nights each week
with some opportunity for additional hours
- $5.00 per hour, incentives, bonus pay, plus great work experience
For interviews, call 763-4060 TODAY!!!
The University of Michigan is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity employer.
TAMPA
s179 Non-Stop, Fri & Sat
LAUDERDALE
$199 Non-Stop, Sat-Sat
Continental Charters
CANCUN
$280 Non-Stop. Sat-Sat
28 Comp. Pkgs. fr. $469
ACAPUL CD
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280Com Pkgs fr469
BAHAMAS
FREEPORT
Non-StopFlights, Fri/Mon
Continental Charters
ar from Detroit Metro. Hotei pkg~s quoted based on 3 4/room dbH 0CC avail
Prints
Continued from Page 7
Ernst and Matta. Ernst, one of the
earliest European Surrealists, com-
bines many figures and backgrounds
in his works, based on the concept of
free association. Matta's prints, on
the other hand, are entirely imagi-
nary, filled with abstract shapes. The
artist conveys a surging sense of vi-
tality in his etching, "The Far West."
Another salient aspect of Surreal-
ist art, sexual symbolism, as mani-
fested in dreams, is evident in Arshile
Gorky's lithograph, "Painter and
Model." Several other artists seek
emotional expression based on this
introspective methodology of exam-
ining the self. Moreover, the artists
of the exhibit employ numerous
stylistic mediums, such as color
etchings, lithographs, and color
aquatint.
The exhibit, co-ordinated by Mu-
seum curator Hilarie Faberman, cbn-
sists of several prints created by
artists from various nations, inclbd-
ing Chile, France, Cuba, and the
United States.
The University Museum of ArA
celebrates Surrealism in a broader
context as well, by organizing vari-
ous 20th century art exhibits
displaying the pluralism of art in our
present age. The Surrealist Print
gallery is an enjoyable and enriching
creation that allows us to experience
20th century art to its fullest.
The Surrealist Prints will be on disO
play at the University Museum' of.
Art (West Gallery) for approximately
two more weeks. The Museun's
hours are Tues.- Fri., 10 am-4 in,
and Sat.-Sun.,1-5 pm. For further
information, please contact Hilaie
Faberman at 764-0395.
II
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INFORMATIONAL MEETINGS FOR:
IMIRTl
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1P,
Il
Spring-Summer 1989
I
II
II
Study Abroad Programs are as follows:
1U111
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LONDON, SUMMER
Thursday January 26, 7:00 P.M.
Tappan Hall, Room 180
PARIS, SPRING
Monday January 30, 4:00 P.M.
MLB 4th Floor Commons
FLORENCE, SUMMER
Tuesday January 31, 4:00 P.M.
MLB 4th Floor Commons
011
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Tuesday January 31
MLB Room B-116
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