A 's Cox explores human interaction By RONA KOBELL "I don't love you anymore," Wil- liam told his wife Molly one after- noon as they sat together in the den. We, as readers, don't know Molly or William, but we know the impact of that terrifying phrase. AuthorElizabeth Cox is also aware of its impact, which is why she leads into her novel "The Ragged Way People Fall Out of Love" with that very sentence. Her captivating title begins to tell the story of a family that splits apart and how love relation- ships endure painful separations. "This is a story about how love goes on -- for the children, for the parents - in the midst of people breaking apart," Cox said. As amother of two, Cox adds that she focuses more on children and their love rela- tionships because "when the family breaks apart, that's where my sympa- thies lie." The children in the novel are in- deed courageous and perceptive. Be- fore William leaves home, his 16- year-old son, Joe, asks him, "What's the matter with you andmom?" When William dodges the question, Joe at- tempts to mitigate his father's guilt by saying "lots of my friends' parents have split" as he casually sticks a fishing rod back into the stream. Cox's portrayal of children as strong, resilient characters further establishes her theory that people need courage to love. "It takes more cour- age to love someone than people know," Cox said. "The difficulty is that we're not taught that we need the courage. These children have it." As the story continues, the reader meets other characters in the family, and other developments surface. No matter how many new familial en- tanglements arise, the first line ech- oes in the reader's ear with a frighten- ing familiarity. Thirteen pages after Molly hears those words for the first time, she cannot separate herself from their meaning. " 'I don't love you' kept coming intoMolly's mind. 'Any- more' came in separately sometimes. Just that word, alone, like a song that makes you think of the whole thing, a refrain played in so many ways." Cox believes that the familiarity of this theme and its repetition causes readers to identify with Molly, bridg- ing the gap between fictitious charac- ters and real emotions. "When some- thing hurts you like this, it haunts you. I feel as if the first line ["I don't love you anymore"] is entering Molly's mind again and again, as it might enter our minds." Cox remains loyal to the family and human interaction theme in her first novel, "Familiar Ground." In this story, an elderly man processes the details of his brother's violent death and forgives himself along the way. Cox, who recently remarried, remains deeply attached to her own family members, who inspired the compos- ite characters in her novels. While most of her novels are set in the southern United States, Cox hopes that her stories will appeal to all audi- ences. A native of North Carolina, Cox moonlights in Ann Arbor as a visiting professor fora graduate-level creative writing course. She will be- gin teaching at Duke University in January. Cox currently resides in Boston, where she is working on a new novel and collection of short stories. Al- though she has partially completed these works, she cannot disclose their outcomes. "I write books without an idea of what's going to happen," she explained. "It's a matter of discovery, not decision." ELIZABETH COX readsfrom her work at Rackham Amphitheatre, S p.m., Thursday 21. "The Pope and the Witch" will be playing at Arena Theater. Pope' stuns Catholics By ROBIN BARRY This weekend Basement Arts opens its season with "The Pope and The Witch," a highly controversial comedy, written by Dario Fo. It's described as hilarious slap-stick in which anything can happen and does. This play pokes fun at the Pope, the Vatican and the rest of the Catholic hierarchy. It shows how out of touch these public figures are with today's issues. "However," the director, Joe Gold tells us, "It does not make fun of the Catholic religion, only the hypocrisies and backwards beliefs of these author- *ty figures." This play doesn't hold back. Within the course of the action, some pretty outrageous things happen. The plot revolves around a press conference the Pope tries to call. He then gets stage fright and goes into convulsions. In trying to remedy his affliction, his colleagues end up calling in the question- able character, Alisa Donadoni, a 'healer,' who was raised by witch doctors. There are also some wild assassination attempts on the Pope's life. One of these attempts misses the Pope and accidentally ends up taking out his parakeet instead. The Pope also ends up taking heroin, and making a complete bumbling fool of himself. "What's cool about this play," Gold explained, "Is that it's not preachy, it relates it's message through humor in a way that anyone can *nderstand." "The Pope and The Witch," deals with some very current issues. It was written only four years ago, and translated into English just last year. It looks at subjects like, abortion, birth control and drug rehabilitation. The playwright left instructions in the script entitling the director to update and adapt the piece for its audience. The action of this piece, therefore, takes place in 1993. Gold said that he tried to bring this production closer to today's University students. Gold said that the reason he chose this piece was because of its intimacy with the audience. The Arena Theater is small and only makes room for a imited number, so the audience will be very close to the action. Gold described the production as having an ensemble feel. "There are nine actors and a lot of double casting, the actors are very involved with the action of the play." He said that this involvement is helping the actors fine-tune the comedy. Gold explained, "We still do a lot of fooling around with the script and the action of the play, we take out something that's funny and replace it with something else that's hilarious." Joe Gold is a senior BFA theater student. This is the second play he's directed with Basement Arts. His first one was, "A Hopeful Interview With Satan." Joe has also performed in many productions. Basement Arts does 10 student shows a term. Gold said Basement Arts *upplied important experience to everyone involved. "It gives students the chance to put on experimental pieces that otherwise, might not be seen." Gold's production of "The Pope and The Witch" is a great example of this. It guarantees a million laughs. This crazy farce should be a lot of fun. THE POPE AND THE WITCH will be presented October 21 at 5p.m., 22 at 5 and 10:30p.m., and 23 at 2p.m. at the Arena Theater in the Frieze Building. Admission is free. For more information or to reserve seats call Joe Gold 930-2597. Cox Artist's collages surprise A By KARIN SKAGGS Be prepared to be surprised by Hannah Hoch's strange world of magazine cut-outs. Human heads find them- selves stuck to bodies of babies and dogs, large, luscious lips shout from a puny face, and a dwarfed body is overpowered by a head of half woman, half monkey. Yet behind these frightening and humorous juxtapositions is the artist, Hannah Hoch, who defined collage in the early 20th century, and in turn opened the doors to an entirely new medium in modern art. Hoch's work is on view at the Museum of Art in "Hannah Hoch: Collages," an exhibition which spans her Hannah Hochs: Collages University Museum ofArt Through November 28, 1993 inexhaustible playfulness with the mediuim over a period of four decades. These images of fragmented bodies and mythic animal-men actually stem from the foundations of the Berlin Dada in 1918. Hoch was the only woman of a group of artists, architects and thespians actively rebelling against the First World War. They protested the growing nationalistic pride of their country: hatred between nations supported by the bourgeois society who supposedly encouraged art and thought. Irrational images and ironic laughter per- petuated the Berlin Dada group, who sought to explore the hypocrisy of German society. Collage, or photomontage, became the most direct means for this group of social rebels to create complex, politically loaded images. Because they collected scraps from everyday life in magazines, newspaper clippings, or advertisements, the medium was cheap and universal. Hoch wrote that collage meant "cutting things up, reas- sembling them, sticking them together and inducing for- eign elements - in other words, alienation" - an apt definition from the artist who defined the medium. Her collages at the Museum of Art demonstrate much more than just areplacement of disparate images; they are imbued with the chaos and randomness that the Dadaists embraced, at once critical of society, mass media and ideals of femininity. Female beauty is questioned in "Made for a Party" of 1926. An oversized head is carefully spliced onto a smaller body of a woman seated in a leotard and tights. Cropped just above the nose, the head signifies the feminine, with its dominating lipsticked mouth of pearly white teeth. Spiral-like fragments creep down the edges of the face, suggesting ringlets of hair, and echoing the curves of the female figure. An eye stares out from the bottom left corner, perhaps symbolizing the male gaze upon these elements of typical femininity. Jumping between the fragmented, fetishized body, the smiling mouth and the invasive eye, the viewer becomes a part of this intrusive environment. Certain works are politically-pointed, such as "Heads of State," 1919. This early collage mocks two govern- ment officials, the Reich's president and defense minister, presenting them in bathing suits against pastel colors. The background is delicately textured, created by repeatedly ironing over scraps of material. Other images seem to explore the shock value of displaced features. "Half Caste," 1924, presents a woman's Collage, or photomontage, became the most direct means for this group of social rebels to create complex, politically loaded images. face of non-European origin. The image twists into a doll- like mask by one simple alteration: smaller, dark red, female lips are placed slightly askew on the original image. Both amusing and disturbing, the woman's face takes on an unnaturally ponderous expression. Hoch's rearrangement of parts continues in "Children" of 1925. This image is seriously funny - a baby's face has been spliced and rearranged with huge, puffy eyes and a scream- ing mouth. This image confirms a person's darkest night- mares of babysitting or childbearing. It seems that much of H6ch's intention is to leave her images up for interpretation. The viewer is persuaded to respond, encouraged to draw upon his or her personal collage of images and memory to devise a meaning for the works. A personal, self-conscious interaction with H(ch's collages is possible in this comprehensive exhibit.. "Hannah Hbch: Collages" remains on view at the Museum of Art until November 28. Quirky 'Time Indefinite' Tonight is the second-to-last night to catch "Time Indefinite" at the Michigan Theater. The docu- mentary marks Boston area film- maker Ross McElwee's follow-up to his art house hit "Sherman's March." Made with the same tongue-in-cheektpanache that Michael Moore tapped into in "Roger & Me," yet thankfully be- reft of any profound political in- dictments, "Time" is a quirky, hi- larious project that manages to both glorify and, at the same time, poke fun at the American South. Exam- ining the demographical gamut with a wonderful consistency, the pic- ture has a jumpy, home-made feel that realizes itself well within its rural, honest setting. "Time Indefi- nite" will play tonight at 7:00 and Saturday at 7:10 at the Michigan Theater. Art as Perception "Rudolph Arnheim: A Life In Art," a documentary from Califor- nia State-Long Beach about the life and career of University Art School professor Rudolph Arnheim will be shown this afternoon at 4:15 p.m. in the Marsh Room located in the Frieze Building. The documentary film, sponsored by the Communi- cations Department, focuses on Arnheim's groundbreaking theories on the psychology of perception. In presenting his argument, Arnheim, who has penned such academic fa- vorites as "Film As Art," deals pri- marily with his book "The Power of the Center." eworking of 'Dangerous Liaisons' scorches By DAN O'DONNELL "Quartet," Heiner Muller's re- working of "Dangerous Liaisons," entertains with more than a few unex- pected and stunning twists. The drama is set in an air raid shelter after World ar II1, but set in the style of the Trench Baroque period. Simon Ha, directorof last season's smash hit "Yankee Dawg You Die," is golden. The staging, lighting and choreography was all fantastic. To Quartet The Performance Network tober 15, 1993 call the set "sparse" would be a trav- esty; it was nothing less than concise. Every light, sound and moving prop met the actors' performances 1991, and Milan Kundera's "Jacques and His Master," 1989), playing the character of Merteuil for a moment. The leads, Pettit and veteran regional actor Mark Randemacher, traded roles several times in the course of the play. The actors shifted and fused roles so seamlessly. Both lead's performances were captivating. My eyes were wa- tering in their every monologue be- cause I dared not blink for fear I'd miss something. Their performances were stunning. Sex and Death, Power and Plea- sure, Sadism and Masochism, Poetry and the Obscene: Muller's Quartet takes us on the gray razor's edge of ambiguity. If you've read some Mar- quis de Sade then this play will bring "Philosophy in the Bedroom" to mind, modern literature fan or prescriber, you may just love Quartet. This play runs through October 31st. Quartet is playing at the Performance Network Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8p.m., and Sundays at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 general admission, $7 students! seniors, (don't forget!) Pay-What- You-Can Thursdays. TheCUnversity of \lichiga0 Career Planning Placement Plan to attend... L AW DAY Wednesday, October 20, 1993 10:00 am - 2:00 pm Michigan Union *Meet with admissions officers from US law schools *Investigate employment options available to graduating seniors, *ather information on lawrelateri camns Sex and Death. Power Order your college ring NOW. ° '