Play sheds convention

'Ele emosynary' set to open with vet eran actor as roo kie di recto r

by Cory Rosdahl Se11tim,f

Reponer

If the ti tle of Elecmo:-.ynary" in timi dates, it should. This co mpe llin g production follows three generation:-. of strong a nd vic ious wo me n who strugg le to understand thei r separat e. ye l co nn ec ted, lives and what itmcanstogiveandrece ive.

This play is an unconventional play th at exp lo res t he de li cate relat ion~hips of these women through d ia logue. It opens in Schuler Audi1or iu m. Feb. 26.

Lee Blessing's compelling script follows 1hree generntions of strong and vic ious women who strugg\c to understand their separate. yet connected. liwsand what it meanstogiveandreccivc.

It is a play in memory that will g ive the audience a deepe r look at the li ves of these women. de<.il ing wi th their se para ti on from society and the harsh reality of dea ling with munda ne idea ls.

The show has some faces that arc common to the NIC stage. The part of Dorothea. played by theater vetera n Tr ish Glie nna. is an ambi tious woman constantly yearning for the impossib le. He r lofty ideals clash with the earthbound instincts of her daughte r, Artie G lienna was last seen at NIC in the play "The Glass Menagerie" in the foll of 1996.

Rebecca Morrison play the part of Arlemi.,. who craves normal st ru ctures and norma l relationsh ips. Art ie constant ly tries to e lu de the e mo t ional c lai ms of her mothe r and da ug ht er wi th littl e s uccess.

MoiTison was last seen in the one-ac t plays NIC put on la st sp ring

The 1x1n of Echo. the precocious gra ndda ughter, is played by NIC student Mia Fra,ie r. Echo is dete rmi ned to wi n the na ti ona l spe ll ing championship. and :,;he obsesses over-esote ric words. FraLier was in last fall"s NIC drama depa11111ent production of ''The Grapes of Wra th··

The play is directed by North Idaho resident Jack Bannon. who is known r01 hi .'- work in televis ion and movies Ba nnon appeared in the [970s movk "Little Big Man" and in va ri ous telev ision shows such as MacGyver. Night Cou11. and St. Elsewhere. He was last seen in a local venue in Coeur d"A lene Summe r T heate r' s 1996 production of ''The Best Litt le Whorehouse in Texas:·

Th is will. however. be his directi ng dcbul.

·'It's new and different:· Bannon said but it's nice because I have so many great people working with me. both on and off stage.''

He a lso no ted one major d ifference be twee n ac tin g and d irec ting.

''With acting.·· Bannon sa id, "yo u ·rc mo re self-cente red. As a direc tor yo u relate to eve rybody. The re a !Ol of peoplt.: invo lved·· Craig Schmidt. assistant d irector of t he show. said it has bee n a pleas ure to work with Bannon.

··Everyone is so profe ss ional. it 's great:· sta ted Schmidt "We are ahead of schedule. a nd I am expecting a n outsta nd in g show.'' Fraz ie r also had praise for the rook ie d irector. ne,~ 1 ~/,;~~~ys~~~ iti~'~;p~ kiti 1 t lt: :~:cJ,:~ r ~' 11~:~' ;;~:11 it·:~~~

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Blessing is a fa med Portl and pl ayw rig ht who is abo know for his wo rk, "Th-e Baseba ll Mo nolog ues."

··Eleemosynary'· is a 90-mi nu tc p lay t hat plays Feb. 26-28 and March 5-7. All shows start al 7:JO p.m in Sc hul e r A ud t1 ori um tn

Boswe ll Ha ll. The a udie nce will s it o n the stage o n ri se rs so sca trn g is limited. Tickets a re $5 for adu lts. $J fo r se ni ors a nd $ 1 for c hil dre n NIC students and staff are admilled free with a va lid NIC ID. Bab ies will not be adm itted to the show. Ca ll th e NIC box office for ticket

Informat ion: 769- 7780

To be or not to be a class ic

0K I ll admi t th at once in a hi le som elhing co mes along that' s etern al. Somelh mg Lhat will never be old and never lose it s appeal. Things li ke blue jea nsand the Bib lea ndbrea thin gan d stuff. These are the kind of thi ngs that j ust do n' t go away, even if you wish they would like old Hond as and stupidit y.

But, t.h e probl emwithth ese eternal stap les of soc iety is th at the reasont.h ey aree tcrna l is bec au seso man ypeopl e like them.A nd sin ce lhi s istrne. people havestartedtry in g to imm orta li zeeverythin g.a nd lh e ,,_. problem with that is 99.9 pe rcentofth ese th ingsare j ust not wo rth y of Shak es peare statu s Mos t o f th ese un wo rth y imm o rt a ls c an be co mb in ed in to o ne e nco mp assi ng wo rd : re t ro.

Retro isa\Vord th at hm;bee n (a nd most li kely wi ll con ti nue to be) used to describe once-pop ul ar stuff that was, long ago, dec id ed to be too stupid tokeeparounda ny longer.

l know. Wh y don'tth cy just callthi sstuff stu pid , if that's what it is? We ll. long ago, that 's just what Lhey did bu t today it's ca lled retro. because it 's popu lar or some thin g.

It bo ils dow n li ke this: If so methi ng is old and stup id, ii need not wo try. Someday peo ple will think it 's cool agai n.

Like Jimm y Carter OK lknow what yo u re thinkin g so what! Peopl e ca n like what th ey wan na like. And yo u' rc ba sicall y justabi g wa lking dandruff fl ake for suggestin g oth erw ise. so why do n t you just shut yo ur cakeho le!T

And you wo uld of co urse, be ri ght if that was what I was sugges ti ng. But it' s not. I free ly admit that people have the right 10 lik e all th e Nick-a1-Ni1e, be ll -bott omed B.S. 1hat they want. When l get a litt le testy is when th ey stru1 desc 1ibing thi ss tuff as cla ss ica l andimm orta l like it was a Bi g Mac or so mething.

And there's a milli on thi ngs like th at. Th ings that peo ple need to chill ou t abo ut , like di sco and the anny and Scooby Dao. Th ese .u·e the ki nds of thi ngs that people need to rea li ze They were neve r in tended to reac h (and ;.u-e never go in g to reac h) Bu gs Bunn y or profan ity sti.llu s. Thi s may sound tri via l and do wnri ght loopy, but be fo re you di sregard my argum ent like toe -nail lin t just take a littl cs tcpbackand thin kabou l thi s: photobyJosieTow nsdin

These thin gs (both 1he immotta ls and the wann abes) are at the ve ry fo undati on of all that Ame ri can s ho ld dear Our co untry is still youn g enough th at what we establi sh as cl ass ics an d imm o11als will be loo ked back on the way th e Egypti ans look bac k on the al iens from Starga te.

"Eleemons ynary" cast membe rs rehearse fo r the ir upco ming performances The play ope ns Feb 26