Adversity promotes diversity

Strong acting, script prevail in one-woman diversity play

by Cera Parkinson Se111ine/Reporter hat had the potential or becomingadisaster,actually in creased the meanin g and powe, of what ca n be called a wonderfully presented reality check.

Schuler Auditorium set the stage for an ex plosive one person show on the even ing of Feb. 4: a heart felt drama about cultural divcrsityinAmerica,md GenerationX.

''Faces of America" premi ered at the Los Angele s Theater Center in March of 1995 and was chosen to commemo rate th e 51 st annual United Nation s Day in 1996.

Thepiecewaswrittenand directed by Colin Cox. the Founder or Will and Compa ny. The Los Angeles based touring co mpany that first produced the play.

1l1eshowfemuresFran De Leo n. a notable ac lre ss who has worked wilh seve ral we ll known theater co mpanies includin gE..1.st West Players. The Pacific Resident Theatre Ensemble. The Educationa l Theatre Company und Will and Company. De Leon and Cox have taken their show to I 00 ci ti e:-. in20diffcrcntstates.

This performance was to be no different than past perfonnances

The stage was set, th e actor ready. the audience anxious. the pla y began.

Aboutfiveminutesintothe performance the light s came back on,andastra in ed voice asked everyonetoclearthcb uildin g(d ue

Movies

As Good As It Gets *** photobyNoppadolPaothong

When you go to a movie starring Jack Nicholson it's a given that it will be_well worth th e money. Thi s movie is no exceptio n. Nicholson plays an obsessive-compulsive novelist who foiled to lea rn how 10 edi t his thoughts before speaking th em. 0011·1 mis s thi s movie; you may walk ou t of the theater with a littl e hop in your step and an urge to be a bit more polite.

Art instructor David Clemons points out the texture of "Self- (

Referential Portal" by Margaret Gregg which is on display Boswell's Corner Art Gallery

Bagelby's dumps ( on competition

Free food draws small crowd to bagel contest~, by Wes Woods

Features Editor l_"h,

The sign read "Free bagels. Sign up at Ca rdinal Cafe or Educated ,:r.

Cup to help pick new Bagel Company. Fri. I p.m. in Educated Cup." 1

Free bagels means a free meal so I went.

Running the whole thin g was Bill Rutheford from food services. r' "A frozen product, a good quality that stude nt s like," was important j in choosing the bagel company, Rutheford sa id.

Students who participated in the event were handed a piece of paper ra1 and a pencil. There was also fre e coffee available. On the paper we re le th e differe nt bagel companies with a gradin g sca le. The scale used said I that five meant the bagel was exce ll e nt while a one meant very poor. The companies entered were Bagelby's. Bagel Basket. Bagel's on Broadway, Safeway and Tidyman's.

After trying to Find extra people (there were on ly about IO people total) the contest began.

''I'm surprised more people aren t up he re for free food.'' noted Betty Hendricks. sma ll business major.

The event consis ted of represe ntative s for each bagel company who gave their sp iel on what kind of bagel they had (New York or Ca li fornia) whe re th ey were located, how many stores the y had. how i£',I the y used only th e Finest ingred ients, etc. "P photobyRyanMacC lan athan to a bomb threat). Whatalmostseemedlikeit could beapa11oftheplaybecame rea l after a glance at De Leon's foc e. which d isplayed the same confusion.

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Fran de Leon and Colin Cox talk to the audience following their production of "Faces of America" Feb. 3 in Schuler Auditorium.

Popcorn Fomm Committee, took stageandproceededtogivea speec h. \vhich pumped up the audience. The show began, aga in De Leon took the stage and begm1 what she wou ld later say to be"the best performance she has given.''

I liked Bagels on Broadway the be st. Their N.Y. style fruit bagel I wasn't too hard. it wasn·1 too soft It was smooth. Second best wa s k Bage lb y's with their soft Ca liforn ia bagel with the apple cinna mon c ream c heese. Third was Bagel Basket with their chewy bagel. It was good, but it was like chewing on a tire. Tied for la st was Tidyman's and Safeway who:-.e ba gels tastc.:d lik e; a big. st inky dump. They used :ie way too much dough. go in g for the universal. na sty-tas te style

Student comments about the even t were positive.

Aseveryonereturnedtothe auditoriurnthercwasanamazing sense of pride.

Tony Stewart. professor, cosponsor and chair of the NIC

After about 30 minutes, the buildin g was deemed safe and · approximatelythreefounhsoFthe audienccretumto1heirsets. The script was composed of stories and clippin gs taken from interviews with 60 different people. She portrayed 9 characters, each of different ethnic backgrounds, ranging from a Navajo woman to a Mexican boy toan Eastern lndia11 girl. Each skit had it s own backdrop and co:-.tuming lasting anyw here from fi ve tot en minut esin length. De Leon did a amazing job movin g from one character to the next with no more th an seconds to rnakc theadjustment. Heracting skill were outstanding.and she had a firm grasp on the different dialect s. ltwasan ex tremelymo ving ''truthful portrayal of American society.·· with a well written script and an awesome actress.

'Killers' can't cut it

by Tristan Fitzgerald Sewi11e/Reporter

Many people have been saying for yea rs that Hollywood has turned the action mo ~ie into a pathetic ~rnd unbelievable story of triumph over all odds with the elements of plot and realism replaced by blood, gut s, and really big exp losio ns. Well. The Replacement Killers(**) seems to demonstratctheirpointquitenicely. Set in Manhatlan. Johnny Lee (Chow Yun-Fat) is a misunderstood assa ss in who really kill s peopl e because he has a big hean. When his boss ' son is killed by police, Lee is sent to kill the cop ' s son for revenge. He can't bring himself to krll the seven yea r old boy, and so other professional hit men arc se nt after him as well. Alon g the way he picks up th e help of a young document forger named Meg Coburn (Mira Servino). This duo then light s against all odds to save Lee·s family, and the cop's so n from the di sg runtled crime lord a ndhi sev ilh enchmen.

The movie was disappointing. It had a formulaic and predictable sto ry lin e that seldom straye d from the obvious. The director, Antoine Fuqua before this movi e had been in volved only in commercials and music videos suc h as Cooloi's Gangsa's Paradise, which by the way held many striking sim ilariti es to this film or so they say. It would be interesting to calculate the odds that th ese two heros could escape through impen etrab le walls of bullets and success fully defeat professional assassins wilh scars on th eir faces while sti ll maintain a 47:0 kill ratio in their favor.

The film is already a fl op in the far-east where it was released one week prior to its American debut.

On the tighte r si de, Chow did a good job llnding a balance between co ld hearted killer and moral sentimentalist. It was refreshing to view a film that featured actors less we ll known to Ame ri ca n audiences. Really it is difficult t~ swa llow when the sam e aclO.r plays eve rythit~ g from a killer cy borg, to a kmderga11en teac her and st ill pi cks up the class ic role of Mr. Freeze all with th e same unmistakable accent (not to me ntion any names or anything).

'Showgirls'

TITANIC ****

Thi s, the mo st expe nsive movie ever made , caused a tidal wav e in the box office. Costing ovcr$200 million it combines one of the most devas tatin g disasters in history with a twist of romance. It brings a tear to the eye and a g limpse of what th e sinking of Titanic might really ha ve been like Actors Leonardo DiCaprio (Romeo an Juliet) and KateWinslet(S e neseand Sensibility). A mu st sec. and don ' t wait for video.

For all tho se die hard action fans who reve l in predictable plots. fight scenes in dark alleyways and lots of people getting killed. thi s film is a sinke r. But, for those who enjoy silly little things such as plot, beli evab ilit y, meaning, suspcnseorai1is1iccontent, thi s film is a zero.

Hard Rain** Onestarisinjail. Th e other doesn't often play a bad guy. and looked very strained doing it. That should indi cate th e quality of thi s mo vie staring Christian Slater and Morgan Freeman, but surpri sin g ly, thcllickcloesitsjob-it entertains

Throwinafiery-spiriteclMinnie Driver ("Good Will Huntin g") and it becomes obvious what thi s really is - Slater vs. more bad guys than is eve n logica l. rescu in g the girl at th e last seco nd and se ttin g every thin g right - almost.

DespiteSlater'shalf-heaned performance, "Hard Rain'·isan entertaining short diversion.

Desperate Measures **

Who wouldn't go to desperate meas ures to save th e life ofa so neven ifit mea ns taking on a hardened killer who ha s the key to that life "T hat' s the premise of th e action thriller starrin g Andy Garcia as protective dad and Michael MOVIES continued on Page 11

"Free food's alw ay, good," said ASNIC pre s id e nt Shaswati Roy."\ ea could reall y go for a gia!'.:is of milk " added Jo sh Brown, pre-med major. le On Monday. th e results were posted and Bagleby's won the right to se ll bagels at the Educated Cup and the Cardinal Cafe as well as th e new SUB to be built.

I Quick Hits

Students, instructors to play free guitar gig J Bo~~~:~t~~~tl~~:~;;~'.~'.~~r~:.es~ }1f 'o~e 4 n~~~;· is"::r~ 11 ~n~ 1 ; ~ri of a;~t;~:rn'~;,~~;\~~::1:i~t::~,;'~:~~ :~';;:!~~their .~ Admissio n is free, so all one needs is ears and a bit of rh yt hm. On l~e roster to perform ,~ re stude nt s Pe~er Reardan, wh? writes ~rnd ~.: ;\ sh:~ s ::;~+i~:n~nV 1: ,n:e:~'~f~a~~~~: iii who will plaY acous ti c guitar and s in g some of his ow n mu~ic. NIC guitar instructor Paul Grove will perform an or iginal piece that he has written, and the group 'S idhe " w ill perform a guitar a nd vocal duo. A lso performing wil l be gu itari st J e rr y Williams of Whitworth Co ll ege and guita r in struc tor Leon Atk in so n of Gonzaga. T~e presentation is mad e possible through the Inland Empire Guitar Famrly.

Power's drummer holds percussion clinic

Drummer and percussionist, Garey Williams, approached Terry '1l Jones by phone about holdin g a percussion sem in ar e ntitl ed "Drumming With Style," since he was going to be coming to NIC to r play his drum~ anyway during a performance with Michael Powers. , ~i;';;,,'.,~:'~::~c~'.::~-,s or mu s ic degree from Central Washington \.

Unrversity and ha s published two books: "D rum se t Essent ial s Book

One" and "D rum set Essentials Book Two." He ha s been published in I the magazines Percussive Notes. Band World and Modern Drummer He ha s been playing the drums for more than 22 years and ha s I be e n playing with Powers for the la st two. He ha s performed wnh !1 gro up s. orchestras, symphonic wind ense mbles, jazz and commercial_ 1 groups and ha s recorded for radio and telev ision. He has played ol Bud Shank. Barney McClure, Howard Roberts, Joe Williams and Dizzy Gillespie.

Calendar

Feb. 21 Second "Saturday in Winter"

Music workshop at 9:30 a.m.

$7 admission in c ludes lun c h

Feb 26 "Eleemosynary" opens th e play will run Feb. 26-28 andMarch5-7in Schuler Auditorium

1

Feb. 28 Third "Saturday in Winter" Writing workshop at 9:30 a.m.

$7 admission in cl ude s lun c h

March2

"WearableArt"by Vicki Lambert Square on di spla y in corner an gallery until March27

It's lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believed in myself.

- Muhammad Ali