www. thevistaonline. corn The Student `()ice of the Lni\ crsit\ of Central Oklahoma Since 1903
FOLLIES GIVES NEWBIES CHANCE TO SHINE
Photos by Vista photographer Brenda O'Brian
Top: Kenna Copeland performs as Britney Spears during Freshman Follies 2008 on Friday, March 7 at Constitution Hall. Right: Brandon Robbins performs as Harry Potter during the skit, Shakespeare's Harry and Paris at Freshman Follies 2008. by Jordan Richison Staff Writer
The fourth annual Freshman Follies was held Friday in Constitution Hall in front of an estimated 500 people. Freshman Follies is a performing arts comedy show featuring some of UCO's most talented freshman showing off their acting, dancing and singing talents. Follies director Mikey Shellabarger said he was glad to be a part of this year's show. He said he was a cast member last year and wanted to be involved someway with this year's show. "I had such an amazing experience last year, I really wanted to be a part of giving that experience to other freshmen," Shellabarger said. The show started off with Shelby Hurst singing Stevie Wonders' 1968 upbeat hit "For Once In My Life". After his performance,
Hurst and Shelby Nelson apperead on stage together as parents of a teenage son, played by Clayton Roffey. The show revolved around skits that were related to the different stories and messages Hurst and Nelson were telling Roffey. The first skit of the night, was about a girl who was dating four guys at once. It was a spoof of the 2006 movie "John Tucker Must Die" called "Joan Tucker Must Die" One of those guys she was dating was a Star Wars fanatic named "McLovin" played by Brandon Robbins. Robbins' "McLovin" character stole the skit with his imaginative light saber battles and Star Wars pick up lines. At the end of the scene, his light saber battle with Sarah Landrum had the crowd roaring with laughter. Both Landrum and Robbins said this was their favorite part of the night.
"I'll never forget dancing around that stage with my light saber," Robbins said Robbins was the standout performer of the entire show with his various characters and personalities. After his performance of McLovin, he came on .stage as Clay Aiken singing his song "Invincible" during the "Shadow Date" skit. His cameo appearance as the former American Idol runner-up had the audience rolling with laughter. "Entertaining people is my favorite thing to do in the world. I'll never pass up the chance to make people laugh," Robbins said. The solo talents were also on display throughout the night. Nelson performed a very entertaining version of Rascal Flats' "I'm Moving On" and Keena Copeland came on stage and did a great energetic version of Betty Wright's song "In His Kiss." Shellabarger said they had
a total of 14 rehearsals this semester. He said besides all the rehearsing, the cast and executive board wrote and created all of the material for the show. In between skits, dancers Molly Cox, Courtney Dean, Gina Marie Foxhaven, Beth Marcotte and Jessica Osterman did a great job of entertaining the audience with different styles of dances. "It was great performing in front of all my friends and family who came to support me," Osterman said. Their role in the show couldn't have been any better. The way they came in and performed before each sketch was very well done. The way they were used in the show reminded me of the "Flygirls" from the popular comedy sketch show "In Living Color." Following the hilarious "Meet the Parents" theme
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Conference looks at sex and religion by Justin Langston Senior Staff Writer
Over the weekend, UCO hosted the Sexual Identity and Spirituality conference, a meeting set up by churches and religious organizations throughout the metro area that do not consider homosexuality to be a sickness nor a sin. The purpose of the summit was to reach out to the gay community to speak on a number of subjects concerning sexual identity, religious belief, sexual politics concerning religion and spirituality. The conference began on Friday night at 7 p.m. in
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Pegasus Theatre with a lecture about sex, sexual orientation and the Old Testament by Deborah Appler, a profo,sor of the Old Testament at Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pa. The lectured featured discussions concerning the ancient Hebrew laws concerning sex, explanations as to what the laws meant and why they were put in place and a discussion on the context that the laws were written in. After the initial lecture, there was 6 series of workshops grouped by time. There were seven workshops scheduled in each time block, with topics ranging from homophObia, the ex-gay life-
style and Biblical text concerning sexuality. The first set of workshops began immediately after Appler's lecture and lasted until 9:35 p.m. Friday. On Saturday, the workshops continued at 9 a.m. went until 10:15 a.m.. After a break, the final series of workshops began at 12:45 p.m. that afternoon and went until 2 p.m. Some of the workshops in the second and third blocks were expansions and continuations of discussions which started on Friday night. For instance, Appler continued her lecture that kicked off the conference in the third block of workshops. While the conference
Photo by Alex Gambill
Mon. through Thurs. at 5 p.m.
"Between too early and too late, there is never more than a moment." -Franz Werfel
AMERICA REACHING AN ALL-TIME LOW?
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was primarily focused on Christian theology, there were lectures concerning Judaism and Wicca, as well as some workshops that were completely religion-neutral, dealing more with politics or cultural issues surrounding human sexuality. The conference was sponsored by the Cathedral of Hope in Oklahoma City, the Church of Open Arms in Oklahoma City, the First Unitarian Church, UCO's GATE [Gay Alliance for Tolerance and Equality] and PFLAG-OKC [Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays].