The Michigan Daily - Weekend etc. - March 5, 1992 - Page 5 Vf { ;+..,;r'}{"IIYU TA1. r.J :i ''yf fff.} . r"}""r: +r . ' rcfVYY r .;" ""c i}Y. f.:. f." {:ii* f. "++" '""",N " "V*:.:.;V.x }}' J.4.'V'y e'::v" /, n N , by Darcy Lockman To most, the * -~ -word 'accident' . hasnegative con- notations. Whether preceded by 'car' or followed by 'prone', it is a term met with apprehension. But student directors David Kirshenbaum and Clint Bond, along with student choreographer Michol Sherman, have a certain attachment to the aforementioned word, as all three began their theater careers quite accidentally. "I fell into it by chance junior year of high school. My friends were doing a perfornance and asked me to direct it. I just kept at it when I got here," explains Kirshenbaum. 'Kept at it' is putting it mildly. Since his arrival in Ann Arbor in the fall of 1988, Kirshenbaum has worked on shows such as Grease, Guys and Dolls, Cabaret and Afterthoughts. He is currently working on Chess, and just recently finished Better All the Time. Kirschenbaum not only directed Time but wrote the script, music, and lyrics for the musical as well. "I want to be a lyricist. I'm getting my Bachelor of Musical Arts in theory and composition," he says. Sherman also has an ache for the big time. After his graduation in May, he hopes to get a fellowship in directing, and then go on to work in musical theater. le first took part in choreography when his sixth grade class performed a version of Annie Get Your Gun. And he's been in- volved with theater and dancing ever since, not only as a choreographer, but as a dancer as well, performing both professionally and on campus in such shows as Oklahoma, Hair, Chicago and Pippin. While he loves to perform, choreography is his fa- vorite part of theater. "It's a lot of work," says Sherman. "Some pieces just come to you, but others need to be worked and reworked. When you see a piece coming together, that's when it's rewarding." Like Kirshenbaum and Sherman, Bond began his theater career quite by chance and at a tender age, when he was made director of his fourth grade play. He has been drawn to di- recting ever since, and recently was involved with A Moon for the Misbegotten in the Basement Arts. "It's a challenge." says Bond, "The hardest thing to do as a director is to make anything look honest. It's also difficult to learn that your ideas can't always take precedence. It's like a parental thing. You can't tell your kids what to do, you've just got to help them see the right thing to do." While working with the per- formers is a major part of directing and choreographing, a great deal of the work takes place offstage. It is common for a director to spend months on a show before actually beginning work with the performers. "You have to really take a piece apart before directing it," says Bond. "I try to understand and look at dif- ferent angles of a character. It's nec- essary to be familiar with all the ways a character can be played so that you can understand the one way that an actor is going to do it," he concludes. With all the time spent organiz- ing a performance, classes and studying can be difficult to manage. "For a while, I was living for the stress in a way. Rehearsing is such a good feeling. It's so much the oppo- site of academic life," says Sherman, a pre-med psychology major, who is putting medical school on hold to pursue a theater career. Kirshenbaum also finds the time aspect stressful. "The hours never stop. I've never known anyone working on a show who's ever felt they were on schedule. There aren't enough hours in a day.". Although time may be in de- mand, all three manage to carry full class loads and still stay active in the theater. For them, putting together performances is just as much, if not more, a part of their education as the time spent in the classroom. And each director interviewed, while still in school, is working with energetic drive to get experience and build a resume that will help him enter the "real world" of theater. "People who want to get in- volved should do as much as they possibly can without flunking out," advises Kirshenbaum, who says, "A good resume implies that people liked what you did." It's motivation which is needed to get a chance in professional theater. Kirshenbaum, Sherman and Bond know this and are working to get that edge. All three know, however, that theatrical success is more than just money and fame. "Making it has different defini- tions. If someone enjoys one of my plays, or if I connect with an actor, than I've made it," says Bond. Kirshenbaum says a much of success is chance. "You need to be aggres- sive, but you also need to be lucky. A lot of it has to do with being in the right place at the right time." What ever happened to Madonna? Has anyone noticed how putrid Madonna looks nowadays? I kinda attribute this to the way her "feminist" discourse is roughly parallel to the "pro-Black" stance of degenerate rap acts like Too Short, Eazy-E and 2 Live Crew. Madonna's proud to be a woman, even if her most vivid expressions reek of self-hatred and self-immolation. She degrades herself and sells millions of records by exploiting her own sexuality. She gives head to a gigantic Evian bottle on film and joyously masturbates before a stadium-sized crowd in Canada. This is what we want to see, isn't it? My guess is that even a girl like Madonna has to change - you know, evolve. Note then the order of my six favorites as related to the progres- sion of her career: 6. "Love Song" - This was absolutely inevitable. In a ballad having nothing to do with love, two seriously lapsed Christian (well, a Christian "reformist" and the ultimate Catholic school girl) subversive freaks come together with scandalous results. 5. "Like a Prayer" - Madonna discovers the gospel choir and her ultimate weapon, sexual sublimation, builds to unexpected, meteoric powers. Astounding. 4. "Act of Contrition" - Two lapsed Christian subversive freaks discover, to their eternal damnation, that they're headed straight to Hell. Great guitar from Prince. 3. "Vogue" - Madonna discovers alternative sexuality and, as Sandra Bernhard might attest, the results are spectacular. Madonna's icy veneer serves house's sterile sensuality perfectly, and her Bette Davis rap renders her nigh invincible. 2. "Express Yourself" - Once again, the house format serves her well. The video is brilliant, with Madonna shouting "respect yourself!" while crawling on her hands and knees, drinking cold milk from a bowl on a floor. 1. "Justify My Love" - She's not your sister. She's not your mother. She's not your lover. She's the woman who ripped off Public Enemy and Ingrid Chavez at one and the same time. Tell me she can't grab her dick with the best of 'em. Come on. - Forrest-Mack Dog Nasty A strange brew of animation The National Film Board of Canada's Animation Festival Various directors by Chris Lepley The Michigan Theater's showing of The National Film Board of Canada's Animation Festival has presented us with a rare opportunity. This could be the first year in many of our lives when we can watch the Academy Awards, secure in the knowledge that we know who de- serves the Oscar for best animated short. That's right, this year you can say with assurance after it loses, "Man, 'Blackfly' shoulda got it. They got hosed." The Festival opens right up with a yawn. Although Brian Duch- scherer's "The Balgonie Birdman" is a masterpiece of puppet animation with some exciting action scenes, the film is mostly a bore. But the good thing about the Festival is that nothing lasts very long - so if a film is dumb, at least it's short. Some classic moments from previous Festivals are included in this film in celebration of the NFB's 50th anniversary. These past ani- mated shorts are alternately beauti- ful, poignant and comic. Caroline Leafs "Two Sisters" is a scratch film which tells the story of a disfigured writer and her sister who live in isolation. The animation is sparse and difficult to decipher at times, but the emotions are crystal clear. "Strings," Wendy Tilby's short, has been nominated for an Academy Award, but instead of Tilby's confusing portrait of two strangers getting their drains fixed, give the Oscar to Christopher Hinton's "Blackfly," a comedic, dramatized folk-song about being eaten alive by bugs in Northern Ontario. While I may be biased from watching too much Bugs Bunny, I found the funny shorts to be the highlights of the festival. Les Drew's "Every Dog's Guide to the Playground" and Richard Condie's "The Apprentice" were both hilari- ous, but the biting irony of Suzanne. Gervais' and Jacques Giraldeau's "The Irises" - a comment on the insane price ($54,000,000) paid for Vincent Van Gogh's "The Irises" - and John Weldon's "The Lump" - a story of popularity and power - were the most engaging. THE NATIONAL FILM BOARD OF CANADA'S ANIMATION FES- TIVAL plays tonight at 7 p.m., Saturday at 5:15 p.m. and Sunday at 4:30 p.m. at the Michigan Theater. Gilda Radner (center) got an impish start in the 1968 production of "The Elves and The Shoemaker" at the Lydia. Giv e $50,000 to the U and get a theater named for dear ol' Mom Wally By Carina A. Bacon T o many of us .T avid theatergo- ers, the name Lydia Mendel- ssohn sparks ma- ny memories. The minute you, walk in the door of the intimate 674-seat theater, you are struck by its quaint old-fashioned charm. The dim lighting, red velour seats, crystal chandeliers and gently sloping aisles are rich with tradition. Maybe you have acted upon her proscenium stage, played an instru- ment in her curved orchestra pit, worked behind the scenes, or just enjoyed one of her many perfor- mances. However you have come to know the Mendelssohn Theatre, have you ever wondered who the real woman was behind the name? According to Ralph Beebe, Mendelssohn house manager, Lydia was the wife of Louis Mendelssohn, who died in 1901. She had no affiliation with the University, but when the women of the Michigan League needed mon- ey, her son, Gordon Mendelssohn, donated $50,000 in her memory. "Lydia" is now in her 63rd year here at the University, and the changes to the theater have been relatively minor. While air condi- tioning was added and front stage steps were removed, everything else remained intact. In 1979, just before the theater's 50th birthday, a benefit performance enabled some modern renovations, without losing the playhouse's old-fash- ioned charm. The Mendelssohn Theatre has been home to a variety of commu- nity theatrical organizations, stu- dent productions, and, in former years, touring companies. Jeffrey Kuras, managing director of University Productions, explained the process by which performances end up on University stages. "University Productions main- tains the building and is in charge of scheduling, but there are three major groups who are in charge of producing the shows: the Office of Major Events, University Musical Society and the School of Music." The scheduling office begins to plan performances around May or June for the entire upcoming year. Groups such as Gilbert & Sullivan, Musket and SophShow receive pri- ority before times are offered to other theatrical organizations. Within the School of Music and the Department of Theatre and Drama, each type of show to be performed is chosen by that par- ticular department from musical theater to dance to opera. Perfor- mances range from classical to contemporary, with department members keeping track of the ratio of women to men and making sure to include diverse cultures. Saturday at 5:15 p.m. and Sunday at 4:30 p.m. at the Michigan Theater. A timfeless' classic ~The scarab M- Bracelet Wally The Safety Dog stars in "Every Dog's Guide to the Playground." available as Diversity Facilitators -experience with workshop 30 hours of training on facilitation skills opportunity to presentations, teaching and racism, sexism, heterosexism and other imn it the and/or small group facilitation forms o iscrimination provie