The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Friday, A pril 9, 2010 - 5
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Friday, April 9, 2010 - 5
'12' jurors take
the stage tonight
A stage adaptation of
'Twelve Angry Men'
0 keeps its made-for-
the-screen feel
By BRAD SANDERS
DailyArts Writer
Though the arduous experience
of jury duty isn't something that
many people
want to experi-
ence, Basement
Arts's new play, Tonight at 7
"12," makes p.m. and 11 p.m.,
the experi- tomorrow
ence actually a7 p.m.
enjoyable. TheS
director, LSA SDtudio Ore Waigreen
drcoLA Drama Center
senior Lincoln Free
Boehm, adapt-
ed it from the
original teleplay "Twelve Angry
Men"by Reginald Rosewith chang-
es that allowed for a co-ed cast.
The show follows 12 white
jurors who must decide whether
a black man is guilty of patricide.
They immediately vote guilty, with
the exception of one juror who con-
vinces the others to think logically
and put their prejudices aside.
"Something that's really cool
about this play, more. so than
any other play, is that there is an
immense transformation of each
character from the first to last
page," said Boehm, who is also an
opinion columnist for the Daily.
"When they first come into the
juror's room they know nothing
about each other, but they develop
these unique relationships that are
very telling about who they are."
Each juror retains an air of ano-
nymity as none are ever named -
only numbered - throughout the
production.
Thomas Wolfson, a Music,
Theatre & Dance senior who plays
Juror 4, commented on his char-
acter's contributions to the group
dynamics.
"I play a man who is less guided
by his emotions and more by his
intellect," Wolfson said. "It's sort of
myfunctiontobethevoiceofreason
in many circumstances, although I
do believe the boy is guilty."
Boehm has been passionate about
this play since high school, when he
picked it for a reportsimply because
it was first alphabetically.
"I sat down with it one night
not really knowing what I was
getting myself into, and then an
hour and a half later my eyes were
glued to the text," Boehm said. "I
think it's a really captivating play
and it's something that draws the
audience in."
Having worked in television,
Boehm has done well in translat-
ing what was originally a television
production into a staged play.
"I've worked for Conan O'Brien
for the past two years, and have had
experience working with directors
in television," Boehm said. "The
staging and everything in '12' has
more of a producing-for-film-and-
television feel to it than the stage.
That's an exciting thing about
showing it here, very few have seen
'Twelve Angry Men' produced
onstage."
According to Wolfson, the cast
of "12" is composed of some of the
most talented students in the Uni-
versity's Performance BFA program
including Joey Richter, a School of
Music, Theatre, & Dance junior
who performed in previous Base-
ment Arts productions "Me and My
Dick" and "A Very Potter Musical."
"This is one of the most excel-
lent casts I've seen assembled in the
Basement Arts program. I think a
lot of people will realize that - that
super group of actors," Wolfson
said. "There's a lot of actors in the
cast that I've known for many years,
so we can sort of all finish each oth-
ers sentences and can predict each
other's moves."
"While the cast is upperclass-
man-heavy, we do have freshmen
and sophomores too," Boehm added.
"It is a diverse cast, and they have
made my job as a director that much
easier. A lot of these people have put
their egos aside to take smaller sup-
porting roles, just because of the
opportunity to work with everyone
that is in this show."
WhileStudio One ofthe Walgreen
Drama Center may not always be the
ideal set for multiple-setting plays, it
has worked very well for "12."
"As far as representing a claus-
trophobic jury room in real time,
I thought it was perfect," Boehm
said. "There will also be filmed
aspects in the show, so it's kind of
a multimedia production. We've
got a very strong set that (has) been
designed from grants that we've
gotten, which not many Basement
shows can do."
One thing that Boehm is sure of
is that the audience members will
not be checking their phones con-
stantly to see when they can leave.
"You don't want people to come
see a show and wish they weren't
there. This is a show I'm 100 per-
cent confident people aren't going
to be sitting there wondering when
it's ending," Boehm said. "They will
be engrossed in the storyline, and
it's going to hit them hard."
"Look at him. Where are his meerkat manners?"
A .wonderful 'Life'
By CAROLYN KLARECKI
Senior Arts Editor
BBC and Discovery changed
the television world with "Planet
Earth." This
nature docu-
mentary took us
where no other Lie
cameras had pre-
viously gone. It Sundays at
captured incred- 8 p.m-
ibly rare and Discovery
awe-inspiring
natural moments
on only the best HD cameras, and
most important, it destroyed the
stigma plaguing nature shows
everywhere: that they're boring
and didactic. With the critical
acclaim and popularity of "Plan-
et Earth," BBC and Discovery
teamed up once more to bring us
"Life."
"Life" doesn't really differ much
from "Planet Earth," but why mess
with a good thing? While "Earth"
would center each episode in a
stunning location (deserts, caves,
etc.), "Life" allows for an in-depth
look at unique plants and animals
with each installment focusing on
different types of life (future epi-
sodes are titled "Plants," "Insects"
and "Hunters and Hunted").
Oprah Winfrey offers her voice
for the narration, replacing Sigour-
ney Weaver, who narrated "Earth."
Winfrey's narration is subtle and
not recognizable. It fits appropri-
ately with the BBC/Discovery vibe
- she doesn't give out free stuff or
promote a book club, which might
actually be a downer depending
on how you look at it. Those who
were die-hard fans of David Atten-
borough's calming voice on the UK
version of "Earth" will be pleased
to know his soft British accent has
returned for the British version of
"Life" as well.
"Life" follows the precedent set
by "Earth" of having nothing less
than absolutely stunning footage.
The high-definition, slow-motion
shot of a chameleon extending its
long, sticky tongue to capture a
praying mantis could be replayed
at least 50 times before getting old.
Also following "Earth," each hour-
long episode ends with a 10-minute
short "Life on Location" detailing
the efforts behind obtaining this
spectacular footage. Showing the
great lengths to which the crew
went makes the series even more
impressive.
"Life" attempts to narrow down
the broad subject matter of "Plan-
et Earth," but it doesn't exactly
achieve its goal. The overarching
theme of the episode titled "Chal-
lenges of Life" could be applied to
any living thing. And so, especially
in the first episode, the segments
didn't feel nearly cohesive enough.
The premiere episode alone fea-
tures bottlenose dolphins, chee-
tahs, killer whales, crabeater seals,
tufted capuchins, flying fish, Venus
flytraps, hippos, strawberry poi-
son-dart frogs, giant octopi, chin-
strap penguins, stalk-eyed flies
and ibexes. Each organism could
have had its own episode dedicated
to documenting the extraordinary
challenges it faces, so the few min-
utes each received was nowhere
near enough.
Though perhaps that's what
keeps "Life" fresh and entic-
ing. It's clear the show will never
spend an entire hour on some-
thing mundane; the alternative
Oprah narrates
in Discovery's
new nature epic.
is a bombardment of incredible
images detailing the fantastic phe-
nomenon of life. "Life" definitely
lives up to the precedent set by its
original series, but after a success
like "Planet Earth," it doesn't seem
possible for BBC and Discovery to
do much wrong.
A divine comedy
from Basement Arts
By SHARON JACOBS
Assistant Arts Editor
This week, Basement Arts
wants you to "Raise the Praise."
After playing two shows at Eastern
Michigan
University,
"Altar Boyz"
will take Tonight and
the stage tomorrow at 9 p.m.,
at the Wal- Sunday at S p.m.
green Drama
Center this Walgreen Drama Center
Friday. Free
The show
is a musi-
cal spoof about a fictitious Chris-
tian boy band of the same name.
It follows the Altar Boyz as the
band sings and dances its way
through the last stop on its "Raise
the Praise" world tour. But with a
poppy '90s five-piece headlining
in a Jesus-centric world, this is no
everyday concert.
"(In the musical) Sony has spon-
sored this machine that reads
the souls in the audience - how
many souls are lost and are in sin,"
explained Erik Heitz, the Music,
Theatre & Dance senior directing
"Altar Boyz."
"As the show goes, the Boyz'
goal is - through their teachings,
through the lessons, the things
they've learned in Bible school,
through the songs that they wrote
and stories they tell - to get that
number down and down and
down," he added.
The show pokes friendly fun at
both religion and '90s pre-teen cul-
ture - particularly appropriate for
the college-aged set.
"We all grew up with *NSYNC
and Backstreet Boys and 98, and all
the girls goo-gooed and gaahed and
all the guys pretended to hate it, but
actually secretly at home knew all
the songs," Hietz said.
Music, Theatre & Dance junior
Eric Maier confessed his preference
for *NSYNC as a youth.
"I feel like now (boy bands are)
retro," Maier said. "My friend's in a
band and when they play house par-
ties they'll always throw in one old-
school boy band number, and that's
the number that brings down the
house, because everyone just is like,
'This was my childhood."'
Maier plays Abraham, the "quiet
Jewish boy trying to fit into the
(Christian) boy band."
The Altar Boyz' only non-Cath-
olic, Abraham was recruited to the
group after writing a term paper
for bandmate Luke. But regardless
Boy bands and
Bibles collide at
Walgreen.
of how much religion dictates the
Altar Boyz' motivation, each mem-
ber of the Altar Boyz has his own
boy-band persona.
"Luke wears a lot of ghetto gear
because he's kind of the rapper out
of the gang, and then Matthew is like
the 'heartthrob,' so he's in a tank top
and a bandana," said Cody Davis, a
Music, Theatre & Dance junior.
Davis's character, Juan, was left
on the steps of a church-in Tijuana
as a baby and was raised by nuns.
"The nuns taught (Juan) the
ways of the Bible and how to speak
with a Spanish accent," Davis said.
Mark, the band member of
ambiguous sexual orientation,
"sings a song called 'Epiphany,'
where you think he's going to
come out of the closet, but he actu-
ally confesses that he's a Catholic,"
Davis added.
Heitz said that the show is "very
farcical and it does spoof a lot of
things," but it shouldn't offend the
religious.
"I grew up in Oklahoma, in the
Bible Belt," Davis said. "I still go to
church today, and I love this show. I
think it's hysterical."
Adding to the silly humor is the
synchronized choreography in the
production - all of which, like the
acting and directing, is organized
by students. During the number
"Everybody Fits," the band mem-
bers snap and step in sync as they
belt lyrics of questionable political
correctness, like "It doesn't matter
if you're yellow or white or red / It
doesn't matter if you're pregnant
and you're unwed."
Abraham finishes the song with
a contorted facial expression and a
falsetto reminder summing up the
show's ultimate message: Everyone
- people of all religions and even the
occasional snappily dressed former
pre-teen idol - fits in God's family.
Opposable thumbs: great for the monkeys, less great for the rocks.
A Hellish portrayal of the South
By EMMA JESZKE
Daily Arts Writer
It's not difficult to picture your-
self in the dreadful heat of southern
Mississippi
after watching Orpheus
five minutes
of The Rude D neg
Mechanicals Tonight and
rehearse in tomorrow at 8
the Student p.m.,tomorrow
Theatre Arts and Sunday
Complex. at 2 .m.
Luckily for the p
cast, this heat- MendelssohnTheatre
ed challenge Tickets from $3
(amongothers,
like rehearsing over Groove) helped
to get its production of Tennessee
Williams's "Orpheus Descending"
up to the caliber for which it strove.
The Rude Mechanicals will grace
the stage of the Lydia Mendelssohn
Theatre starting tonight.
Although the actionof"Orpheus"
takes place in an unnamed Missis-
sippi town in the script, director
Kacie Smith, a junior in the School
of Music, Theatre & Dance, was
most interested in emphasizing
that this town is Hell.
"The design elements create a
strange, unrealistic environment
in which these characters move
and live," Smith wrote in an e-mail
interview. "They are never aware
that they are in Hell, but every
character is there for a reason."
"Orpheus" follows a group of
characters, each faced with a set of
oppressions that create his or her
own personal Hell. For instance,
Carol C
Theatre
Lytle, i<
Smithc
tively fa
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is a "st
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what st
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way the
Smitt
the they
- beyo
utrere, played by Music, - was made possible by the large
& Dance junior Devin budget allotted for the production.
s a "reckless free spirit," With more than $14,000 given to
wrote, who "self-destruc- The Rude Mechanicals from the
ollows her own path and University Activities Center for
up for her own convic- the production, Smith and her cre-
while lead character Lady ative team were able to achieve the
rong, proud, independent large-scale design concept required
who has been scarred and to elicit the emotional response the
d by a painful life." drama calls for.
character's personal strug- "In the final moments of the play,
under the umbrella of an we are not only flying an actor, but
riolent arc, depicting a town also using projections, sound, live
ruthless toward those they musicians, lighting and fog," Smith
foreigners" and characters wrote. "The budget gives us the
nclude brutally violent men ability to expand the design con-
sipy women who "celebrate cept to match the expansiveness of
uffering of others," Smith the drama."
As a Georgia native, Lytle finds
Koch, a Music Theatre & that Tennessee Williams is less
unior who plays Val, said often performed in Michigan and
uck out for him was "the students should grasp the oppor-
which towns can set their tunity to see a big budget, student-
les." produced southern drama.
"We read every Willams play in
high school," Lytle said. "We allread
'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof' and 'Glass
pheus' makes Menagerie,' and I feel like those are
cliches at this point. But this is one of
own rules. Williams's firstplays that heworked
on throughout his career."
The play was initially written
said the town functions as as "Battle of Angels" in 1940, but
ectly becauseofthis, stating after it was poorly received, Wil-
ase in power "have created liams rewrote the play as "Orpheus
rd within this town that Descending" and it premiered on
have ... anything to do with Broadway in 1957.
decency and everything to "(Williams) was very passion-
controlling the world the ate about this play and about this
y see fit." story," Lytle said, "and I feel like
h explained that conveying this is a chance to see something
me and mood of "Orpheus" you wouldn't normally see in very
nd the work of the actors liberal Ann Arbor."
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THE SUMMER?
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