6B -The Michigan Daily - Wedsct, e4. - Thursday, February 22, 1996
Students search for love at Kuumba Dating Game
By Eugene Bowen
Daily Arts Writer
OK, so maybe it's been done many
times in the past. A group of wild and
crazy college students get together and
recreate some well-known game show
from yesteryear, then invite actual col-
lege students to participate and put on a
show that.involves a great deal of audi-
ence participation. The idea may not be
groundbreaking, but the result can be fun.
Take the Kuumba Dating Game: A
spoof of the old-school game show
where three hopefuls vie for a date with
some unknown person, who then elimi-
nates two of the contestants with a se-
ries of questions. With a specifically
African American flair, the Kuumba
Dating Game was guaranteed to garner
some outright guffaws, which explains
why a standing-room-only audience of
some 300 to 400 black University stu-
dents crowded the U-Club.
Questions and answers ranged from
the goofy and frivolous to the interest-
ing and serious. Ofthe fourwomen who
vied for senior football player Thomas
Guynas' love, it was first-year student
Velisha Thomas whose answers sparked
his interest.
"If I had a trapeze over my bed, what
kind of tricks would you perform for
me?" Guynas asked.
Thomas responded, "I'd tumble, roll
and flip right into your arms."
Such a beautiful answer deserved the
"awwww" the crowd crooned.
Not all was romantic, however, when
University students Joe Griffen, Andre
Hewitt and Daniel West tried for the
hand of the very lovely first-year stu-
dent, Chandan Morris.
Everyone could tell these guys were
about to clown when Morris asked West
for his idea of a perfect evening, and he
began, "I'd take you to the Oasis motel."
REVIEW
Kuumba
Dating Game
U-Club
Feb. 16, 1996
Hewitt got even raunchier. When
Morris stated her favorite slogan was
Nike's "Just Do It," he gave his favorite,
homemade slogan: "Just Hit It."
In the end, it was sophomore Joe Grif-
fin who got Morris' vote. No wonder.
When asked what he would do to earn her
approval he responded, "I probably
wouldn't do nothin'." How romantic.
Sophomore Kiera Fernandez had a
better batch ofmen to choose from-not
that that's saying much. When she asked
them to name what kind of exotic animal
they'd be, she got such well thought out
answers as "kangaroo" and "chipmunk."
Junior Keith Moton's answer definitely
got her attention: "I'd be a black panther,
'cause one night with me, you'll realize
how wild the shit can really get!"
Fernandez retorted, "One night with
me, you'll be too tame to talk like that."
"That's what I'm talkin' about, baby,"
was Moton's clever answer.
Khary Hornsby was able to get a little
freak out when Fernandez asked if she
were a Tootsie Pop, how many licks it
would take him to get to her center. His
response: "Fifteen. One for every time
you call out my name."
In the end, however, it was a psychol-
ogy major, Brandon Guinn, who won the
date.
Signs of African American female
strength were apparent throughout the
contest. When asked for her view of the
perfect man, Brittanie Chin responded:
"He has to realize that chivalry is not
dead. He must respect me like the queen
I am." Jaavon Kuykindall has a lot to live
up to as he chose her as his mystery date.
When asked by Marcus Ray what he
could do to make her the happiest
woman inthe world, Lakeisha Hamilton
stated, "The only thing you have to do
is be yourself and show me you're do-
ing everything to achieve your dreams."
It should come as no surprise that
Ray chose Hamilton as his date. He
certainly wouldn't have chosen the
freak-like Jasmine Guy whose response
to a question to compare her skills with
that ofan NBA player was cut out by an
audience heckler who shouted,
"Magic!" The jury's still out over
whether the pun was or wasn't intended.
The game show's intermission was
filled by "Images of Identity," a live
soap opera with an all-African Ameri-
can cast. Containing a few interesting
insights on male-female relationships
punctuated with farcical humor, the
story centered on two different areas of
a barber shop with women and men
talking amongst their respective gender
group about the quirks of the other.
This was very reminiscent of the gen-
der dialogues brought to life in last
year's controversial movie "Kids."
Humor was certainly the backbone of
"Images of Identity," much like the popu-
lar '70s television sitcom "Soap." Such1
plots as a catfight between two sorority
women while the rest of the cast chanted,
"Let the ho's fight," a drunk country girl
and the largest group member's anguish
that women only want him for his body
drew much laughter.
In the end, the Kuumba Dating Game
brought together eight lucky couples.
Sure, this game was humor-filled, but
don't laugh too hard at what may lie in
these couples' futures. People have met
Susan Sarandon as Sister Helen Prejean in "Dead Man Walking."
OSCARS
Continued from Page 18
from critical groups at the end of the
year, both lead actor Nicolas Cage and
director Mike Figgis appear to be front-
runners in their respective categories.
After all, Cage was named Best Actor
by the New York, Los Angeles and
National Society of Film Critics, the
National Board of Review and the
Hollywood Foreign Press Associa-
tion (which gives out the annual
Golden Globe Awards). Figgis was
also named Best Director by the Los
Angeles and National Society of Film
Critics.
Look for Cage's biggest competition
to come from Sean Penn for his role as
a condemned prisoner in "Dead Man
Walking." Though his was probably
too bleak a role for him to receive
commendation, Penn gave an inspiring
performance.
Figgis is certainly helped by the ab-
sence of "Sense and Sensibility"'s di-
rector, Ang Lee, in the directing cat-
egory -usually the director of the Best
Picture takes this prize as well. But,
assuming "Sense and Sensibility" wins
Best Picture, then all five directing
nominees have a much fairer chance of
victory.
Mel Gibson is another favorite in this
category, considering that he did an
admirable job crafting the spectacular
"Braveheart." Directors (who vote for
this award), however, may resent that
Gibson is an actor first; a true director,
they may think, deserves the prize more
than he. Such might be the problem for
actor Tim Robbins, who is nominated
for directing his masterpiece, "Dead
Man Walking." Despite his superb pro-
duction, he is impaired by both his
reputation as an actorand the extremely
depressing nature of his movie.
There's no clear front-runner in the
Best Actress Category; all five nomi-
nees gave outstanding performances,
and all deserve to win. The best perfor-
mance ofthe group is Susan Sarandon's
Sister Helen Prejean in "Dead Man
Contestants In the Kuumba Dating Game at the U Club last Friday.
WALKER VANDYKE/Daily in stranger ways.
Walking." She may be the closest thing
to a favorite in this category, given thf
she has been nominated numerous tim
yet has never won.
Other possible victors are Sharon
Stone ("Casino"), the Golden Globe
recipient, and EmmaThompson ("Sense
and Sensibility"), winner of the N-
tional Board of Review prize. Stone
gave an exceptional and atypical .per-
formance in Martin Scorsese's other-
wise flawed film, but she may be hin-
dered by her reputation as a sex-go
dess and/or dumb blonde. Expect
ompson to win if her film takes home
many other prizes, otherwise, the once-
victorious and many-times-nominated1
actress may have to settle for just the
nomination.
There is no doubt that, while the
selections for Best Picture are not im-
pressive, the acting nominees are. It is
in the acting category that some of the
most deserving and accomplished nomi-
nees in the whole program exist. C
sequently, look for man-of-the-momeT
Kevin Spacey to win the Best Support-
ing Actor award for his role in "The
Usual Suspects," and Joan Allen (who
gave an astonishing portrayal of Pat
Nixon in "Nixon") to take the prize as
Supporting Actress.
Each performer has already been
honored by the critics - Spacey won
the New York and National Board of
Review awards; Allen received acc
lades from the Los Angeles and Na-
tional Society of Film Critics. While
Spacey enjoys little competition r
only Ed Harris ("Apollo 13") and Bad
Pitt (12 Monkeys") should be con-
sidered - Allen may have a greater
challenge against Mira Sorvino
("Mighty Aphrodite"), -the winner of
both the New York critics' and Na-
tional Board of Review's awards.
Unfortunately, like the Best P
ture group, the nominees in many oth
categories are not nearly as appropri
ate as those in acting. While we can
expect "Braveheart" to capture many
of the artistic elements (cinematogra-
phy, costume design and makeup
awards seem destined to go to
Gibson's film), it is still absent from
the Best Art Direction category. Why
was it not nominated for that award as
well?
Similar questions arise when we
consider that "Batman Forever" was
nominated for a cinematography
award while "Apollo 13" wasn't; when
we notice that "Seven" and "Crimson,
Tide" - both worthy nominees i
many other categories - were give
nods for editing while "Sense and
Sensibility," "Casino" and "Nixon"
weren't; or when we realize that the
Best Original Score category has be
divided into "drama" and "musicale
comedy" sections.
The fact is, we can always question
the inclusion or omission of certat
people from certain categories, but
such queries could be without end:
Why were John Travolta ("Get
Shorty") or Nicole Kidman ("To Die
For") left out of the lead acting co64t
petitions? How were "The American
President," "Get Shorty," "T.
Story," "The Usual Suspects,
"Seven" and many other worthy mo
ies almost completely excluded? Wlf
is only one film ("Apollo 13") thaI
was shot and produced almost com
pletely in America, nominated for the
Best Picture award in this traditional
American ritual? Who knows ... vot-
ers do strange things sometimes.
Instead, let's simply enjoy the pro-
ceedings. Admire the winners, p
the losers and get a little nerv(
when someone says: "And the Oscar
goes to ... ." In the end, this ceremony
could be more entertaining than
watching many of the films them-
selves. The Academy Awards usually
are.
The 68th-Annual Academy Awards
will be televised on Monday, March
25th. They will be hosted by Whoopi
Goldberg.
A hilarious rivalry both on and off the football field.
by James Thurber and Elliott Nugent
_ U
Copyright C1989 Rosemary A. Thurber. From Collecting Himself, published by HarperCollins.
Directed by
Hal Cooper
Mendelssohn
Theatre
February 22-24
at 8 PM
February 25
at 2 PM
Tickets are
$16 and $12
Charge by phone:
313-764-045
Student seating is $6
with ID at the
League Ticket Office
UM School of Music
Dept. of Theatre
and Drama
A1
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