0 ARTS The Michigan Daily Friday, February 16, 1990 Page 8 0 Onward! rewrites Soviet history BY ILANA TRACHTMAN THIS weekend, audiences at the Trueblood Theater will be able to experience glasnost firsthand. A project sponsored by the Insti- tute for the Humanities, the Department of Theatre and Drama and the Brecht Company will not only produce, for the first time in English, the controversial Soviet play On- ward! Onward! Onward!, but will also bring the playwright, Mikhail Shatrov, to the university for a symposium on Monday concerning images of Lenin. "Without multi-party elections, without freedom of the press and assembly, without the free interplay of opinion, then any polit- ical institution beins to rot...," Rosa Lux- emborg warns V.I. Lenin in the play. The characters, played by RC sophomore Amy Freedman and Department of Theatre and Drama professor Leigh Woods, are part of a very special reinterpretation of Russian his- tory. In Onward! Onward! Onward! 22 prominent figures in Soviet history visit Lenin at his hideout on the eve of the Rus- sian revolution of 1917, and through each's unique philosophical and experiential per- spective, explore what is to come of the rev- olution. Publication of the play caused a scandal in the Soviet Union, even before it was pro- duced. This is because Shatrov paints a criti- cal picture of the Soviet history books' ac- count of the revolution. Most significant is that the Lenin Shatrov scripts takes some re- sponsibility for the Stalin years. In addition, certain people who have been conspicuously missing from Soviet history books, such as Leon Trotsky, figure prominently in the play. Because of the importance the reinterpre- tation of Lenin's ideology plays in justify- ing current events in Soviet politics, the play is especially relevant right now. Jane Burbank, associate professor of history in LSA, wrote "So close is this link between art and politics that a position on the play was a sound indicator of where one stood in general on Gorbachev and his program of re- form." The play also causes us to consider the recording of history in general. "History," says director and RC drama professor Martin Walsh, "is an act of interpretation. It is also a product of the age that writes the history." Burbank, Walsh, and Woods undertook the production of the play after Shatrov agreed to speak at the symposium. Of Sha- trov's many plays, Onward! Onward! On- ward! was chosen to be performed because it has never been produced in English, it is his most recent work, and it is newly translated. The production has become both an intel- lectual and theatrical pursuit. Burbank is teaching a special course in the RC on the Russianrevolution. Drama students in the RC began a two credit mini-course in De- cember to research the play. Over winter break, students were assigned political per- sonalities to research in depth, in order to give the actors a clear and comprehensive de- scription of the characters' ideologies and appearances. The result is a "staged reading" or what Walsh calls a "script in hand production." Due to time constraints, a simple reading was originally planned. However, enthusi- asm has prompted over one-third of the play to be memorized and blocked. It is staged as, theater in the round, which means that the audience sits on all four sides of the stage and the actors play to the whole room. The cast is made up of students and faculty. Walsh both directs the performance and plays Stalin, while Woods plays Lenin. The play. also features RC professors Peter Ferrran and, Bob Brown, and LSA professor John Lawler-' Walsh says he hopes the audiences come away from the "elaborate illustrated lecture" with "a better sense-of events, and the ability to interpret new developments (in Soviet af- fairs) in more depth." ONWARD! ONWARD ONWARD! will be performed at 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and at 2 p.m. on Sunday in the Trueblood Veil uncovers elements of culture Blind Boys BY KENNETH CHOW B EYOND the Veil, a play pre- sented by the all-student Black The- ater Ensemble, with a little help from Basement Arts, comes appro- priately during Black history month. The play educates its audience about African-American culture, history and heritage. But it does so in a way different from that of a narrative anecdote. The performance is kept on an abstract level, and is made up of a sequence of chronological events. Through the events, various aspects of the African-American experience are depicted. The performers take up a variety of roles such as proud slaves, sorrowful people with cheer- ful masks, and non-conformists but the clichdd natureof these roles puts them in danger of being mistaken for stereotypes. With symbols and gestures, the play touches on simple African vil- lage life, the capturing of Black slaves, and the assimilation of Blacks into a white society. Then, with poems and songs, it moves to a bring gospel to the masses more abstract level, exploring the psychology of African Americans through different stages of history up to the present day. "It's easy to tell history, but it's the poems that cap- ture ideas and concepts," said Michelle Wilson, one of the play's two lyricists. Wilson said it wasn't difficult to find documents on Black history in the libraries. However, after research- ing the, 1960s, she says she con- fronted unanswered questions about modern history and realized that she must fill in the missing pieces of in- formation by herself, from her own knowledge and experience as a mem- ber of the new generation. Others can also gain knowledge from this research, Wilson says. "Beyond the Veil is more than just a performance," she says, "It's an experience to raise one's own conscience." BEYOND THE VEIL will be per- formed today at 5 p.m. in the Arena Theater in the Frieze Building. BY PETER SHAPIRO IT is truly a shame that the large majority of the American popula- tion knows gospel music only through the church scene in The Blues Brothers or from the white bread heresies of Amy Grant or even, God forbid, Stryper. Gospel has given rise to the only uniquely American art form, aside from the almost extinct Native American culture: blues and its subsequent hybrids. Synthesizing European choral singing and African-American in- terpretations of Bible stories in the form of spirituals, gospel was the first musical form with African tonalities to gain widespread acceptance in the Western world. Despite the pres- ence of these so-called "blue notes," gospel music is at once soothing and ecstatic. This versa- tility has allowed it to influence every form to come after it; the scales and communal exuberance in jazz, the wavering melisma in the blues, harmonizing and falsetto in doo-wop and soul, and all of these in rock 'n' roll. All this, of course, ignores the fact that gospel has started the careers of everyone from Aretha Franklin to Little Richard to Otis Redding to Sam Cooke. Aside from Mahalia Jackson, whose career lasted nearly 60 years, the longestgospel career without going secular belongs to See BOYS, page 9 0 Save this photo. These autographs may be a collector's item one day. An added benefit is the extra group member in this limited edition picture, only $9.99 with a free Ginsu knife thrown in for good measure. NYC Opera revives bohemia 7k4m Cta41d BY MARY BETH BARBER FEW tickets are left for the New York City Opera National Com- pany's performance of Giacomo Puccini's La Boheme this weekend at the Power Center, sponsored by the University Musical Society. Avid opera fans bought tickets as early as last April, resulting in an al- ready sold-out Saturday night per- formance and packed houses for both performances on Sunday. The traveling company, an off- shoot of the NY City Opera and founded by the legendary opera star Beverly Sills in 1979, features some of the best young talent in the field and is a training ground for young singers and performers, says Michael Kondziolka of UMS. "It's exciting to hear young talent and know these are future stars," he continues. "Residents of Ann Arbor don't get to see opera that often," especially of this high reputation. La Boheme is the tale of four young artists attempting to survive on Paris' Left Bank in the early 19th century, socializing with the other bohemians at the romanticized Parisian cafes, not unlike our own Ann Arbor esoteric hangouts. Rodolfo, the poet, falls in love with Mimi, only to have their love doomed by poverty. While their love is tender, the on-and-off romance of the painter Marcello and the fickle Musetta reaches a crescendo with the bitter argument and parting of the i t L.. couple. Mimi and Rodolfo are re- united, but only moments before her death. Supertitles, simultaneous visual translations of the original Italian projected above the stage, will en- able even the newest of opera-goers to understand the story without ob- structing the drama; the titles para- phrase the text to clarify without in- terrupting the action. Two prominent individuals of the company are Michigan graduates: the 29-piece orchestra will be conducted by University School of Music graduates Mark Gibson, the com- pany's new music director (evenings) and William Robertson (matinee). Because of the overwhelming popularity of this event and the fact that this is the only stop in Michi- gan for the company, up to one- fourth of the audience will be from out of town, predicts Michael Gow- ing of UMS and Burton Memorial Tower Box Office Manager. Those desiring tickets should get them quick; this isn't an event to miss. p.m.and 8 p.m. and can be pur- chased at the Burton Memorial" Tower Box Office from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. today and from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. tomorrow. Prices are $20-$30. A limited number of student rush tickets for the Sunday night perfor- mance will be on sale tomorrow be-' tween 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. For more information, call the Burton Tower Box Office at 764-2538 during busi ness hours. 2171a1 R'I 'Hfi id f RESTAURANT "24 YEARS EXPERIENCE" CHEF JAN, TOP GOLD MEDAL WINNER OF DETROIT COBO HALL NATIONAL CONTEST Sponsored by Michigan Restaurant Association Michigan Chefs De Cuisine Association BLUE RIBBON BEST CHEF AWARD IN WASHINGTON D.C. LUNCHEON SPECIAL, 11:30 A.M.-3 P.M. - CHEF JAN HAD DEMONSTRATED HIS COOK- ING ARTS ON CHINA TV STATION & WEI- CHUAN VOCATIONAL SCHOOL FOR 3 YEARS - CHEF JAN ALSO COOKED PRESIDENT'S NA- TIONAL BANQUET. - CHEF'JAN WAS INVITED TO DEMONSTRATE HIS SPECIAL COOKING TECHNIQUES ON CHANNEL 4 IN WASHINGTON D.C. ON THE SUNDAY SHOW. Sm mer Housin M Will you be working, doing an internship. or enjoying a summer in New York? You can N ew live in the heart of Greenwich Village as an NYU Associate or join us and take a course in our exciting summer sessions if you wish. Y Minutes from New York's business and cultural centers c Apartment-style and traditional residences; single and double occupancy * Outstanding sports-recreation facility " Includes the New York Experience, an enjoyable noncredit program exploring career, life, and culture in New York ity * Over 1,000 undergraduate, graduate, and professional courses offered day and evening at New York UlniVFrMitV