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

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.”