ARTS the Michigan Daily Thursday, November 30, 1989 Page 5 Carpenter to practice craft Ian Knauer and Patrick J. Beller play in Noel Coward's Present ""id"""t Laughter. The past is sure to take a sardonic, yet subtle, beating. Cowardly wit in Present Laughter BY JAY PEKALA To mark the 50th anniversary of Sir Noel Coward's comedy Present Laughter, University Productions is tackling the British wit's sardonic look at entertainment and entertaining in the stylish 1930s as part of the School of Music's Power Series 1989-90. University professor Philip Kerr directs the production; in the past few seasons, he has brought The Taming of the Shrew, The Skin of Our Teeth, and last year's Midsummer Night's Dream to the Power Center. The cast includes students from both the theater and musical theater programs. Describing the play, Kerr says, "Present Laughter is one of Coward's brisk and sophisticated light comedies. The play centers around a middle- aged idol and his household of friends, ex-wives, debutantes, and eccentrics. As he plans his next triumphant tour, managers and budding playwrights descend on him in a dizzying spiral of intrigue and complications." Kerr is not new to the Present Laughter script, either, having performed it numerous times. The design team of Gary Decker, Tracy Eck, and John Gutowski have combined forces to create the glamorous set, lights, and costumes of the wealthy group of British highbrows in the late '30s. Each has worked meticulously to provide the students with a historically accurate world in which to perform. Decker's spacious library set is richly cluttered with furniture, books, photographs, and other knick-knacks that add to the lived-in look. Eck's lighting'ranges from creating early morning sun through four double-story windows to casting the dim glow of small incandescent sconces along a staircase. Gutowski's costumes wrap his actors in double-breasted pinstripes, silk robes, overcoats, skirt suits, and sequined evening gowns. What remains to be seen is how well the young cast can handle Coward's eloquent play of words and manners. PR ESENT LAUGHTER starts tonight at the Power Center at 8p.m. and plays tomorrow and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are $10 and $7; student seating is $5 with I.D. Tickets can be purchased at the ticket office in the Michigan League. BY MARK SWARTZ With her second album, State of the Heart, flying high on the Country charts, Mary Chapin Carpenter seems destined to be one of the more successful of the new wave of young songwriters. Carpenter per- forms at the Ark tonight. FYI: She is not related to Harry Chapin or the Carpenters. Daily: A lot of the songs on State of the Heart have a strong narrative quality. "This Shirt" and "Goodbye Again" could be short stories. Where do you get the ideas for your songs? Mary Chapin Carpenter: I tend to write from experience. A lot of them are stories about people I know or myself. I feel free to exploit the lives of my friends. I try to be delib- erate and accurate. The truer the song rings to me, the more satisfied I'm going to be with it. Songwriting is sort of hard. I can't really pick apart a song and say this came this place and that came from that place. It's more a process of turning it into a story and not overanalyzing it. D: What can a song do that a story can't? MCC- A song is a vehicle to tell a story as is a novel or a short story. With songs, there's music too, and that to me is what accentuates a Mary Chapin Carpenter, who will perform at the Ark tonight, is an apt storyteller, proving that musical notes don't invalidate words. mood or emphasizes a feeling that I'm trying to express. D: And the type of music you play, that kind of country or folk or what- ever seems particularly suited for storytelling. MCC: I guess, but there's lots of the Ark? story songs in rock and roll, too. MCC: Actually, it'll be my second, D: True. Chuck Berry is a great sto- although the first time was so many ryteller. years ago that I don't even remember MCC: Sure! what year it was. It was on a night D: Is this your first time playing at See CARPENTER, page 7 Grand Opening! 1121 S'outA Xitst 665-9595 Midnight Madness Specials At least 20% discount on merchandise December 1st 9:30 a.m. -11:00 p.m. December 2nd 9:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. e kinko'is the copy center HOURS OPEN 7 DAYS OPEN 241 niversity Michigan Union 540 E. L X070 662-1222 761-4 OPEN 24 1220 S. Ur 747-9 HOURS Liberty 4539 1 S Macintosh'computers have always been easy to use. But they've never been this easy to own. Presenting The Macintosh Sale. Through January 31, you can save hundreds of dollars on a variety of Apple*Macintosh computers and peripherals. 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