s 'U' festival of female films is experimental and1 By ALEX "Growing u aseries of film a and about womr intriguing explc contemporary c hat it meanst erica. As presente Department oft and Video, and' grams, the serie nity to both e: social issues an good experimen "Blood Ora -ndrea, portray g on the edg confusion that g Out" by Tamn autobiographica hood, using dia "The Politi Debusk, explor women are affe lence. "GoodDi ,parringer and ttina Fabos c placed homema Probably m group are Tran T culum" and Lu challenging (ANDRA TWIN ing Stones." p Female," the third in "Operculum," a 14-minute explo- nd video showcases by ration of eyelid surgery and its preva- en, is a capacious and lence as a measure taken by Asian oration of the lives of women, is an initially underwhelming women, questioning but ultimately disturbing documentary. to grow up female in A powerful split-screen image con- trasts stills of a young Asian girl con- d by the University's templating surgery with an explicitly Communication, Film detailed account ofone doctor involved Women's Studies Pro- with theoutrageous, under-the-eye, pre- s provides an opportu- frontal lobotomy process of the 1950s. xamine contemporary The juxtaposition of the horror of lo- nd to see some really botomy and of what this girl is doing, ntal film. coupled by the sheer callousness of nges," by Kirsten D' both surgeons is striking, to say the vs a young girl, teeter- least. e of puberty and the "Casting Stones" is a stark narra- goes with it. "Odd Girl tive that combines surreal imagery, 1y Rae Carland, is an stop-motion animation and eerie, cere- al look at a queer child- bral home-videos. It offers a startling ry-like memory clips. portrayal of a mother's life lost to can- es of Fear," by Cara cer, told as a memory piece by her es the ways in which daughter. Visually, the high-quality and ected by fears of vio- general innovation of the project serves nner, Hon," by Corinne to transcend the assumed limits of such showcase organizer a low-budget production. oncerns an older, dis- The same may be said of the festi- ker. val as a whole. Apartheid hits all imthe 'RSA' By J. DAVID BERRY The University Department of Theatre and Drama's latest endeavor is an in-depth, personal look into the horrors of apartheid in the Republic of South Africa. "Born in the RSA," written by well-known South African playwright Barney Simon, opens Thursday at the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre and runs through the weekend. The play shows apartheid through the eyes of the people it touches each day, whether it be a Black activist or a white victimizer. Simon, the playwright, has strung the show together with monologues by each of the characters to make it more clear just how deeply each of these people are affected. The play is meant to take the audience step-by-step down the trail apartheid has blazed in the war- torn country, examining it from every possible angle and taking in every possible viewpoint. Creating this kind of intense experience in a University production has been a challenge for new University faculty member Dr. Renee A. Simmons. As to why Simmons chose this play for her Ann Arbor directorial debut, she said, "I've done this show before and me being new to the University, I wanted to make a strong statement about who I was." She also feels that it is important to continue to focus on South Africa and try to understand exactly who these people are. Based on real life interviews, these characters are very much alive with a strong foundation in reality. Though she has performed in "RSA" before, Simmons chose to take this production in a different direction. The script has very little stage direction or choreography, so Simmons has added singing and dancing to help move the show along and create a more real "soundtrack" to the action. This will also serve, she feels, to embody the joy and the spirit of these repressed people who fought so long for freedom. Contributing the music will be the six-member Bichinis Bia Congo Company. Of course, Simmons' main resources for creating the proper feel of the show were her actors themselves. She witnessed each actor going on a very long and exciting growing process to reach the intense emotional commitment needed for this production. "Each actor needed to go through stages," said Simmons. "It See RSA, Page 8 ATTENTION DISPLAY ADVERTISERS: The Michigan Daily has scheduled the following EARLY DEADLINES for Thanksgiving Break. PUBLICATION DATEE 9 Monday, November 28 Monday, November 21 Tuesday, November 29 Tuesday, November 22 Wednesday, November 30 Tuesday, November 22 ost revelatory of the t. Kim-Trang's "Oper- cretia Knapp's "Cast- GROWING UP FEMALE is playing November 16 & 17at1210 Chemistry Building. Admission is free. Lakeisha Harrison stars in "Born in the RSA," opening tomorrow night. Empire strikes brass with a fresh, new sound By BRIAN WISE "It's funny," explained Rolf nedvig, leader of the Empire Brass. "When you think of the string quartet, with 400 years of literature to choose from, we just don't have it. We have to make our own music - which is really half of the fun." Regarded as one of the world's finest brass quintets, EmpireBrass have accepted the factthatthere isn'tawealth of"pure" repertoire currently available ,r a medium only some 40 years old. Nevertheless, they are a group that refuses to be limited by such conven- tion. Attesting to that fact is a series of best-selling CDs featuring an output that extends from Bach and Handel to blues and Broadway arrangements. The five players in this Boston- based ensemble have all held leading positions with major American Orches- . It currently consists of Smedvig 4z Jeffrey Curnow on trumpet; Eric Ruske on French horn, R. Douglas Wright on trombone and Kenneth Amis on tuba. While the group has periodi- cally undergone membership changes in its 23-year history, Smedvig has maintained his role as a sort of com- mander-in-chief. The year was 1971, when a group of young musicians from the summer *isic program at Tanglewood were selected to perform a landmark piece that was to be premiered in Washing- ton D.C. later that year. That piece was Leonard Bernstein's "Mass," and it was to be directed by the composer himself. "As with any piece," Smedvig said, "you get familiar with it, and all of the sudden you want to play some other *Jsic as well. So, about the fifth week 'ofperforming, several ofus (brassplay- ers) started playing in quintets back- stage. We began playing these Bach Trio Sonatas, and Lenny would come back and help us, and show us how to breathe and take time, and so on. "We enjoyed playing together enough, and when we got back to Bos- ton we started this group called Empire Brass ... It was kind of an incestuous little bunch from Tanglewood." This incestuous bunch eventually went on to regularly tour North America and Europe, as well as the Far East a num- ber of times. The quintet performs over 100 con- certs a year and seems to accept no limits in its possibilities, as Smedvig explained, "We're musical whores. We'll go anywhere and play with any- body and do anything. We feel right at home either alone on the concert stage or collaboration with an ensemble, which is something not all chamber music groups can put a claim to." The Empire Brass' most recent re- cording is entitled "Passage (138 B.C. - A.D. 1611)." As the title would suggest, it is a collection of modal chant-based music, dating largely from Medieval and Renaissance times. Their approach, however, is hardly an au- thentic rendering of the medium. The group's sound is augmented on several pieces with rhythm tracks and atmo- spheric effects provided by a synth, fretless bass, percussion and guitars. "It's kind of a dark, haunting, spiri- tual record," Smedvig said. "For me, it's the first record I've put together that conveys a real mood." Smedvig admits that by broaden- ing their own musical horizons, the group wishes to attract new, younger listeners. "I'm hoping to get into a younger person's head music-wise, because I'm watching classical music audiences die right before my very eyes. I really hope that people can listen to and relate to this music, and understand that this is classical music." For the Empire Brass, the word "clas- sical" doesn't have to connote rigidity or being bound to the same old musical conventions and formulas. THE EMPIRE BRASS will perform with the DSO and Erich Kunzel at Orchestra Hall, Thursday at 8 p. i. Friday and Saturday at 8:30 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. Tickets are $15-$50 and are available at Ticketmaster or at Orchestra Hall Box Office. Call (313) 833-3700. m UBS Securities Inc. cordially invites you to attend an informal presentation on Opportunities in Trading & Sales and Investment Banking New York ";yid, y: Los Agee ,-)4rea Toronto San Frncsc London Paris Zurich Frankfurt Milan Madrid Tokyo Taipei HongKon Sina po , Sydney Wednesday, November 16th, 1994 at 7:00 PM The Michigan League "Michigan Room" IRec eption Immediately 1Follown i =1 _- u