February 29, 2008 - Saint Mary's University of Minnesota

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14 February 29, 2008 Arts & Entertainment www.smumn.edu/cardinal Students to perform in 42nd annual Gaslight BY BECKY NEWBY Arts & Entertainment Editor Auditions for Saint Mary’s University’s 42nd annual Gaslight musical variety show were held Feb. 22 - 24 in the Toner Student Center basement. Gaslight performances will be held in the dining hall on Friday, March 7 at 8 p.m. and Saturday, March 8 at 7 and 10 p.m. The show will be hosted by the senior class of 2008 and will feature musical acts in genres such as country, acoustic, heavy metal, rock and pop, according to Lindsay Dickson, one of the senior class officers, “There were 55 students and 26 acts chosen to perform this year,” said Dickson. “That is much more than usual.” Gaslight 2007 featured 22 acts. A panel of five seniors and one staff member judged over 50 performances. Each audition was scored in various categories from stage presence to originality. Since Gaslight is scheduled to be a two-hour show, Dickson said the panel was forced to cut a lot of quality acts. Veteran Gaslight vocalist senior Moreen Bosch said she was amazed by the number of people who auditioned this year. Bosch will be performing in five different acts, including an original song written by senior Bryan Atchison and an acoustic version of Britney Spears’ “Give Me More.” “There were a lot of phenomenal girl singers who auditioned this year,” said Bosch. “Typically, many of the acts are fronted by men,” said Dickson. Junior Ali Fisch said she wanted to audition last year, but couldn’t get anything together in time. “There’s nothing like the high you get when you’re on stage in front of a live audience, doing what you love,” she said. This year Fischer will be singing “I Can’t Stand the Rain,” by Ann Peebles. Tickets are $6 in advance and $7 at the door. The proceeds will benefit the senior class to help with costs for senior week activities and the senior class gift. photo by Kristina Perkins Tim Hepner and Ryan Anderson entertain the judges with their Blues Brothers rendition. For further questions, contact Lindsay Dickson at lrdick04@smumn.edu or Anna Skonieczny at atskon04@smumn.edu. ‘Follies’ to take Winona community back in time BY AMY KALINA Managing Editor The Winona Health Auxiliary will present “Fabulous Fifties Follies,” a musical variety show featuring local singers, dancers and live music reminiscent of the 1950s decade, March 6 - 8 to raise money toward the purchase of a new dialysis machine for the Winona Health Dialysis Department. The benefit, which will be held at the Winona State Performing Arts Center, is a community-wide event and an important tradition within the Winona Health organization, said Sue Degallier, Auxiliary member and cochair of Follies. Held in Page Theatre at Saint Mary’s University in the past, Follies is a tradition close to the Saint Mary’s community as well. “Saint Mary’s students and faculty in particular appreciate both the value of the arts as well as the importance of service to one’s community and helping those in need,” said Chandu Valluri, a professor in the business department at Saint Mary’s as well as the publicity chair for the event. A “Casting Call” event was held Feb. 18 as an opportunity for participants from the Winona community to meet the director as well as kick off performer auditions and rehearsals. Rehearsals began Feb. 19 at Watkins Manor and will continue through the performances in March. The Follies organizers believe the event gives the Winona community an opportunity to join together in supporting an important local cause. “Any time a group joins together with the common goal of helping others, success is sure to follow,” said Degallier. “Winonans have a rich history of providing for those in their own community, as evidenced in the recent floods. Follies is another opportunity to support Winona.” Follies director Sherry Clarke has worked with Christopher Alan Productions Follies, an organization dedicated to providing resources for Follies fundraisers, for four years on an interim basis, and has extensive performance experience in song and theatre. Christopher Alan Productions works with organizations to put together Follies fundraisers, providing a director, a script, costumes, and music to prepare local performers for the show in less than three weeks. Winona Health Auxiliary has worked with CAP Follies in the past to create fun and successful fundraisers benefiting local health care. “The Follies is unique in that it comes along only every three years rather than annually,” said Degallier. “This year’s ’50s theme will give the show a fun twist — pun intended — and draw people of all ages.” This year’s show will center on a modern-day teenager who ventures back in time to the 1950s. From Nat King Cole to Elvis, “Fabulous Fifties Follies” promises to take audience members on a nostalgic journey down memory lane, entertaining for the entire family. The event marks the Winona Health Auxiliary’s first Follies performance since “Take Me Out to the Follies” in 2005. Tickets to the show are $12 and can be purchased at Midtown Foods, HyVee, and the Glady Miller Gift Shop at Winona Health. Performances will be held March 6 - 8 at 7:30 p.m. with an additional March 8 show at 2 p.m. Valluri encourages students to attend, as the show offers a unique entertainment option as well as provides an opportunity for local college students to help benefit the community at large. “Winona Health serves the entire local community,” said Valluri, who said the benefit is an appropriate lead into World Kidney Day, which is observed March 13. “Follies unites students with the people of Winona, both supporting a common goal. Students can show that the Winona community means something to them.”
www.smumn.edu/cardinal Arts & Entertainment February 29, 2008 15 Yah-hah! Second Page! Improv show grows in popularity BY ERIC LEAR Sports Editor Second Page, a student-run improv comedy group, has grown in popularity in recent years. There was a bit of concern last spring when, due to a scheduling conflict, the group had to move their performances to the Common Room, located on the third floor of Saint Mary’s Hall. “We were concerned that it [the location change] would turn off some people from coming to the show,” said Second Page President Katie Schares. “We hoped people thought we were funny enough to climb up three flights of stairs.” It turned out not to be a problem, and the three shows set an attendance record. In fact, seating began to be a problem. “We loaded that place [the BY NEIL LEIBUNDGUTH Cardinal Staff Mark Medoff’s “When You Comin’ Back, Red Ryder?” debuted Thursday at the Valencia Art Center’s Academy Theatre and will run through Monday, March 2. The play, set in New Mexico in the late 1960s, stars senior Matt Skjerven as Teddy, a Vietnam veteran who holds a diner hostage with the help of his hippy girlfriend Cheryl, played by sophomore Ali Fisch. Among the hostages are Stephen, a graveyard shift cook, played by Curtis Kempton; Angel, a waitress, played by Daniel Steub; Lyle, a gas station attendant, Common Room] with chairs, and people were standing,” Schares said. A larger buzz than normal seemed to grow for the next set of performances. “More people began showing up to Wednesday night meetings,” said Schares, who also noted that all are welcome and encouraged to attend. The group meets every Wednesday at 10 p.m. in the Common Room to work on improv games and have a good time. This fall Second Page was back in the Figliulio Recital Hall, which the group used as their show title, “Back to the Fig.” Schares spoke of the great turnout for those three shows as well. “Those were some of the best shows I have been a part of,” Schares said. Second Page members are considering taking Second Page in a different direction before this school year is over. “We are entertaining the idea of played by Andrew Winecke; and Clark, played by Bill Ronchak. Corey Ostroot and Caitlin Murphy are cast as a well-off couple named Richard and Clarisse. Director Gary Diomandes said he chose to direct this play for a number of reasons. The 60s and 70s era was included in this year’s rotation of genres and periods, and “When You Comin’ Back, Red Ryder?” “jumped to the top of [his] list.” “It is the first play that I teach in Theatre Appreciation, and every year the students in that class inquire as to why we do not do a production of it,” said Diomandes. Diomandes likes how the play examines the themes of control and manipulation. He also likes how it reflects the 60s culture and how it compares to our culture today. Diomandes said he grew up in a diner and knew the same types of people as the characters represented in the play. The stage manager for the show is Sara St. Laurent. working with some other on-campus groups ... SMU will have to wait and see,” Schares said. “Basically we have been trying to one-up ourselves each show,” Schares said. “We have some great ideas for the upcoming spring show.” The Second Page cast for this spring said they are anxiously awaiting the performances to see if their popularity continues to grow. “Regardless of attendance, we are going to put on a quality comedy show,” Schares said, “but we know we will have a great turnout.” Schares encourages that audience members come to more than one show because “you never know what you [will] get with improv comedy.” The spring shows are scheduled for Friday, March 28, at 7 and 10 p.m. and Saturday, March 29, at 10 p.m. ‘Red Ryder’ hits the stage at Valéncia Walt Claassen designed the set and lighting, Matt Clementz designed the sound, and Alice Flo designed the costumes. The shows are Thursday through Saturday and Monday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 3:00 p.m. Tickets for the show are $8 each or $6 for students with their student ID. photo by Kristina Perkins ‘The Vagina Monologues’ evokes emotion BY MARIA SULLIVAN Staff Writer Winona State University presented the “The Vagina Monologues,” written by Eve Ensler, on Feb. 22 and 23. “The Vagina Monologues” is a play featuring a number of monologues of women telling their views about the vagina through the lens of sex, love, rape, menstruation, mutilation, masturbation, or orgasm. Other monologues focused on the variety of names for the vagina and the vagina simply as a physical aspect of the female body. The main theme of this play is that the vagina is a tool of female empowerment and that women need to learn to love it, and themselves. The play was performed and directed by students from WSU as part of a local “V-day” campaign. According to the program from the play, “V-day is a global movement to end violence against women and girls that raises funds and awareness through benefit productions of playwright/founder Eve Ensler’s award winning play.” The producers and performers did an excellent job sending the message about how the vagina is supposed to be something that women are proud of, not ashamed of. One monologue in particular, called “Because He Liked to Look at It,” told the story of a woman who was ashamed of the way her vagina looked, but her opinion changed when she met a man who absolutely loved looking at her pubic area. She soon came to realize that it’s a beautiful thing and became proud of it. The monologues in this play are very graphic and can be shocking. It is, however, a play that everybody should see. One can expect to experience a bundle of emotions upon seeing this play, from laughter to anger. This year is the tenth anniversary of “The Vagina Monologues.”
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February 29, 2008 - Saint Mary's University of Minnesota

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