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Wednesday, November 28, 2012 - 5A

The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Wednesday, November 28, 2012 - 5A

'Wisbom' to delve
into human nature

"You ain't gettin' nun of this."
Characters creep
under skin in Asylum'

'U' Prof. OyamO's
play to tell story of
Vietnam protests
By TEHREEM SAJJAD
DailyArts Writer
It's 1968. The United States is
at war with Vietnam. As always,
there are those who oppose it.
They lead the
anti-war move- Wisbom
ment with high
spirits, holding Thursday at
picket signs 7:30 p.m.,
and letting Friday and
their voices be Saturday at
heard in the 8 p.m.and
streets. Sunday at
This week, 2p.m.
under the
direction of Arthar Miller
Associate Pro- Theatre
fessor Mbala Free
Nkanga, the
School of Music, Theatre &
Dance presents Ann Arbor audi-
ences with "Wisbom," a play
that captures the deeds of one of
these anti-war activist groups.
But, unlike most anti-war
groups, this particular collec-
tion of individuals went further
than most when attempting to
make a statement about what
they thought was right.

"It's one thing to hold pick-
et signs, but it's quite another
thing to drop bombs - or to
try to drop bombs - especially
when you're not ready, especial-
ly when you're all crazy," said
"Wisbom" playwright OyamO
Gordon, a professor of theater
and a writer-in-residence at the
University.
Set during the '60s on the
campus of Wisconsin Universi-
ty, "Wisbom" shines light on an
inexperienced anti-war group
that accentuated its disapprov-
al of the war by attempting to
bombard facilities the group
considered to be affiliated with
the war movement. Though the
group's actions conveyed their
strong criticism of the war, what
the members of the group did
also resulted in the killing of
an innocent man. In that sense,
"Wisbom" is a play that aims to
find justification for the actions
of one particular group, of peo-
ple, and in doing so, it questions
humanity.
"Human beings are the
strangest animals on earth -
the strangest because we think
we are the smartest, but no other
animal pollutes like we do,"
OyamO explained. "No other
animal has created nuclear
weapons and dropped them on
each other; o other animals fight

for religious reasons or political
reasons - no other animal - just
us.
"You should think about what
you're doing and that whatever
it is you are going to do ends
up being responsible," OyamO
continued. "You need to place
things carefully because if you
don't, you end up with a tragedy
- like the death of an innocent
man."
OyamO's plays have appeared
on stage across the country as
well as internationally. Some
of his works include "Famous
Orpheus," "Boundless Grace,"
"The Resurrection of Lady Les-
ter" and "Sorcerer's Apprentice."
He was commissioned by the
Madison Repertory Company
to produce "Wisbom" in 2003,
and it premiered at the Madison
Repertory's Fall Festival of the
Future in September 2004.
For OyamO, "Wisbom" serves
to entertain a wide range of audi-
ences: Those who find the '60s
enlightening, younger individu-
als who like to see action-filled
plays and those who are looking to
experience the America that was
sunk in war a few decades back.
"What is a human being? I
think it's a question that we
have to keep asking ourselves,"
OyamO said. "What are we and
what are we doing here?"

By JULIAN AIDAN
DailyArts Writer
It's not enough for a TV series to
cram extraterrestrials, mutants,
demonic possession, sociopaths,
homophobia,
misogyny,
chronic mas-
turbation and American
Nazis into less
than six hours. Horror
No, "American Story:
Horror Story: Asylum
Asylum" has
also managed Season Two
to probe the Midseason
depths of Oedi- Wednesdays
pal complexes, atl10 p.m.
abandonment,
nymphomania FX
and vehicu-
lar manslaughter, among oth-
ers, relentlessly bombarding the
viewer with wave after wave of
discomfort.
The brilliant and demented
writers behind this season's hor-
rorfest have managed to deify an
alcoholic and sadistic nun, put the
devil in the skin of the initially
most naive and pathetic character
and convince viewers that a mur-
derer of nearly 50 years was a kind
and magnanimous therapist with
the best of intentions. The mid-
season premiere, titled "The Ori-
ginsof Monstrosity," playsheavily
with the pasts and justifications
of the series' biggest and baddest
characters.
Head Bitch in Charge Sister
Jude's (Jessica Lange) fall from
grace has been heavily foreshad-
owed, from her distinctly un-
sister-like penchant for slinky
lingerie, to a weakness for cognac.

With a past only illuminated via
the occasional flashback or whis-
per under her breath, Sister Jude
has gone from a cruel crone prone
to caning, to a vulnerable and
unappreciated devotee with an
idea she won't see come tp frui-
tion.
The nature of the relationship
between the enigmatic Mon-
signor (Joseph Fiennes) - the
object of Jude's affection - and
the terrifying Dr. Arthur Arden/
Hans Graper (James Crom-
well) becomes less opaque after
nymphomaniac Shelley's (Chloe
Sevigny) hospitalization. Upon
putting Shelley (who has com-
pleted her transformation from
insatiable Skrillex look-a-like to
legless, irradiated, tuberculosis-
and-syphilis-infected sac of pus)
out of her misery, the Monsignor
confronts Arden about his work
in a well-shot sequence that high-
lights the horrifying extent of the
doctor's destructive influence.
Dr. Oliver-Thredson (Zach-
ary Quinto) evolves from a low-
grade, deceptive bastard into
the incarnation of journalist
Lana Winters's (Sarah Paulson)
fears, toying with her desire to
be reunited with her deceased
lover. In a seriesof gut-wrench-
ingly awkward scenes, Thredson
describes his profound mommy
issuesin depthheaping ahelping
of heebie-jeebies to the already
bleak and stomach-turning sea-
son. His and Lana's midseason
arc ends with the bone-chilling
line, "Baby needs colostrum,"
eliciting more goosebumps and
dry heaves than the entire first
season.
But a chilling new charac-

ter makes an appearance: Jenny
(Nikki Hahn), an unfeeling little
girl who, apparently added for
pure shock value, ends up kill-
ing her entire family and lying
through her teeth about it after-
ward. As one of the weaker addi-
tions to the cast so far, the innately
evil child provides a tangible con-
trast to the deranged adults in the
series, but little else so far.
The devil is in
the details.
Unsurprisingly, the midseason
manages to create as many ques-
tions as it answers. Sister Mary
Eunice (Lily Rabe) has become
less and less subtle about her
being the physical incarnation of
Satan, casually informing Jenny
of this fact before killing Jude's
Nazi-hunting informant. Arden,
grateful for Mary Eunice's inef-
fable devotion, swears his soul
to her in exchange for protec-
tion. Signing over your soul to the
Devil apparently isn't as big a deal
when you're a crazed surgeon and
war criminal operating under a
fake name.
Going forward, the teaser at
the end of the midseason intro-
duces an angelic figure and what
appears to be Mary Eunice/Satan
flinging Arden across his lab. Just
in case aliens, freaks of nature
and psychopaths weren't enough,
the future promises more of the
supernatural for the residents of
Briarcliff and the show's devoted
viewership.

UMMA exhibitbuilt
on shaky- foundation

By MAX RADWIN
DailyArts Writer
Taped to t'he fa wall of my
room, forming a sort of dishev-
eled collage, are postcards from
art museums I've visited over
the years. Every time I go to a
museum for the first time, I stop
in the gift shop on my way out
and buy a postcard of my favor-
ite work. The only rule is that I
must have seen it in the gallery
on that day.
But spending hours in a muse-
um isn't everyone's thing; I get
that. And I don't think it has to
be. Life is confusing, and we all
have our own artistic outlets to
help us escape and keep sane. It
could come in the form of writ-
ing, music, comics, whatever.
For me, it happens to involve
taping postcards to the wall,
even if I haven't been looking at
them all too much lately - the
fact that they're there is all that
matters anyway.
So of course I was excited
when, in September, the Univer-
sity of Michigan Museum of Art
opened a Benjamin West exhibit
running thrdugh Jan. 13. But
was anyone else? The pieces on
show and the people coming to
view them really got me think-
ing about what role that massive
half Beaux-Arts, half minimal-
ist Frankenstein of a building
known as UMMA is actually
playing for the student body.
There's a lot of good in the
exhibit, but it certainly has its
weaknesses. Benjamin West is
arguably one of America's best
artists. He was one of the first

Americans to study in Italy, and a revolutionary one at that -
his contributions - to Neoclas- don't let my criticisms fool you.
sicism are indispensable. "The But exhibitions, ones advertised
Death of General Wolfe" (1776)' with big banners on a museum's
is perhaps his magnum opus. It's front steps, should offer more
impressive that the Clements than just one big-name piece.
Library was able to acquire one Yet that is exactly what it
of the original copies. ButI, per- does. UMMA, is squeezing as
sonally, am not a huge fan. It fits much publicity out of the dry
the mold of a history painting General Wolfe sponge as it can.
to a dime, but whether any of Surrounding it are preparatory
West's techniques actually work studies, uninteresting depic-
is up to you. tions of Wolfe's death by mostly
obscure artists and maps of Que-
bec. Oh - is that an Audubon?
No, it's a Mark Catesby. UMMA
HIOw can is too good of a museum to be
UM M A sta displaying these works just to
J boast one piece.
relevant? It's naive to think students
would rush the front steps if
the curators were to throw in
another Copley or a Trumbull.
The whole picture points to But building an exhibit around
the bleeding General Wolfe. But a weak foundation, which seems
the blood, struggling to fit into like grasping for traffic, doesn't
illusionary space, appears to be do anything for its integrity,
sitting on the surface of the can- either. The hard truth is that
vas rather than the surface of his UMMA wants to draw students,
shirt. The blood fails - and not but students have other artistic
intentionally either - to convince outlets.
me that someone is actually dying Art isn't something you can
or that I should care. The whole force people to ingest. You can't
thing seems like an exercise in make it popular and you can't
genre, not in substance. expect it to generate revenue.
Looking around the A. Alfred But a world without it - where
Taubman Gallery, I see the usual it can't be turned to in times of
visitors perusing about: sketch- need - is bleak and emotionless.
ers, elderly women and parents So for now, what's most impor-
trying hopelessly to inject some tant is that the museum is there
culture into their five-year-olds' at all. That, like my postcards, it
lives. Where are the students? should simply exist as a resource,
Unless my visits are just poor- to be tapped for the qualities
ly timed, they are few and far it does possess when they are
between. sought after. The students who
Wolfe is a masterpiece, and choose to could be in luck.

'Great Heights' to put
humorous spin on religion

By PAIGE PFLEGER
For theDaily
It isn't often that a play cen-
ters on the question "What if God
was one of us?" However, Tyler
Dean - School.
of Music, The- From Such
atre & Dance
sophomore Great
and playwright Heights
- brought
this idea to Thursday,
fruition in his Friday and
play, "From Saturday at 7
Such Great p.m. and Friday
Heights." Dean atl p.m.
places God, Walgreen
named Jamie,
as a child who DramaCools:
grows up in Free
contemporary
society and eventually goes off to
college where he meets and falls
in love with an atheist.
How does one go about casting
God?
"It was very difficult," said
School of MT&D junior and
director Elisabeth Frankel. "The
character is written very spe-
cifically - shy and introverted,
nerdy sense of humor. We didn't
have to cast someone that looks
like Hercules or has the lead-
ership abilities of Moses, you
know? We wanted to cast some-
one who looks normal, and then

you loo
extraor
Scho
Austin
The
ist que
adds a
ginus c
reason
swered
as if h
though
"He,
nuts be
one pr
said.
Ba
big
Fran
"strikin
hopes
matter,
membe
"The
image o
very us
that asr
likabili

k closer and he is kind of Though the subject matter is
rdinary." more serious and dramatic, the
ol of MT&D sophomore show plays up the humorous
Andres fit the part. aspects of being God, showing
show asks existential- Andres developing a God com-
stions of its audience and plex.
twist to standard reli- Frankel spent the first two
oncepts. For example, the days of rehearsals talking
some prayers go unan- through Dean's concepts and dis-
is because Jamie feels cussing how these concepts made
e's intruding on people's the cast feel. At 16 people, the cast
ts. is larger than the average Base-
actually thinks he is going ment cast, so managing them on
cause he can hear every- a stage the size of Walgreen's was
aying to him," Frankel a challenge for Frankel.
"Everyone gets along so well,
and the rehearsal process is so
liberating," she said. "We're
La always laughing and having a
great time."
sem ent Arts Dean has put a lot of faith in
Frankel to help his vision come to
ist to tackle fruition. He is currently a lead in
"A Midsummer's Night Dream,"
rger themes. and Frankel said he had the ten-
dency to take a break from his
rehearsal to check in on the cast.
"We love that he is so involved
kel called the concept in so many other projects and
ag" and "severe," but trusted us with his work," Fran-
that the touchy subject kel said.
won't offend any audience More than anything, Frankel
rs. is excited to present this piece of
show certainly gives an work to audiences and showcase
f God that people won't be Dean's writing skills.
ed to, but Austin handles "There are no walls to his
pect with such respect and imagination," Frankel said. "It is
ty," she said. just infinite."


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