$u$ I A A woman looks at violence Hv Nancy Melich V I f v, s' f i Since that time Still Late" has been produced at the Arena Stage in Washington, DC., the Empty Space in Seattle the Eureka in San Fran-ciseBarney Simon and Athol Fugards Market Theatre in Johannesburg, South Africa, and by theater companies in Israel and Canada Ad- Tribune Stuff Writer The acerbic New York critic John Simon took playwright Emily Mann to task a few years ago. calling her play "Still Life." an "imposition" and her characters, "historically preposterous." The inference was that Ms. Mann had fabricated a trio of distasteful human beings, put them into a play and unleashed their violence on the American theater in an attempt to make a "radically chic statement about the Vietnam War. As is often the case, there were more than a few people who chose to differ with Mr. Simon. Following its premiere in 11)81 at Chicago's Goodman Theatre, "Still Life went on to New York's American Place Theatre where it received an Obie for the best production of the year. Each actor of (he cast was similarly honored as was Ms. Mann for tier direction and the play for best drama r, ditional productions are scheduled in France for the summer and in Germany and England in the fall. Thursday, the documentary-style- d drama opens a 12 performance run at The Salt Lake Acting Company. 168 W. 5th North. Ms Mann, who makes her home in New York, will attend the March 30 pre sentation as well as lead a discussion. "Facing Vietnam: "Still Life' as a Cultural Document." at 9 30 p m. that evening. (See related story Page The play concerns Mark, a Vietnam veteran, his wife. Cheryl, and his lover. Nadine. In the production, the three sit on a bare stage, do not interact with each other, but rather look directly at the audience and talk about their unprettv lives. "Still Life" is not pleasant, nor was that the author's intention. "The play is about violence on the (war) field. said Ms. Mann from her Westchester County home, "as well as violence at home and in bed. It is about women living with violence -with it coming at them and also w ith them giving it out am not trying to write the same play that A1 Brown wrote ("Back to Back' a comedy) and did so quite beautifully This is realit circulates ly Cheryls play around the character of Mark. The Vietnam War is the wrapping around the play, not the center ol it." 1 Ms Mann does believe, however, that the play has been widely produced because of its Vietnam aspect "That is its universal appeal what war does to individuals, to a society that watches the effects of war. which is certainly not a new idea for a play. The Greeks were writing about that long ago. I just E-5- .) three-memb- . See Page Column . 1 jf ISlje Art , .. iVf V-'- ? "4: ", tfdjtJ'1 n?' New York writer Emily Mann w ill come to Utah to see Salt Lake Acting Com- panys version of her play. jialt akr tribune Sunday, March Section E ,4 $ 18, 1981 .,,, to ' tY "t Entertainment & yCC V.v 1 Page 'lf Burch Manns dance is of America tinues each summer to choreograph the school's annual "Festival of the in which her American West, troupe performs. While American Folk Ballet frequently in Logan and now Cedar City, it has yet to dance in Salt Lake City. That will change this weekend when the company, most of whose members still live in Southern California, will debut in s Salt Lake City in benefit for the Special Olympics. Concerts are scheduled Friday and Saturday at 8 p m, with a matinee Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Capitol Theatre. The style of American Folk Ballet has been described by the late dance critic Walter Terry as "fast and noisy, quiet and contemplative, tender and religious, nostalgic and It all works and is inpatriotic disputably American. "Indisputably American" is a description Burch Mann appreciates for when she founded the compato capny it was with one purpose ture through her own style of dance the spirit of America's Golden Age. "I've stripped away all that is superficial and extraneous just as our pioneers did. I wanted to capture the time of Americas innocence when we were like the land open and generous. I wanted an aadience to Bv Helen Forsberg Tribune Staff Writer CEDAR CITY Her house, adorned with the mementos and n dart of one who is well traveled, sits on a quiet street in this small southern Utah college town. Until two years ago. home for Burch Mann was bustling Southern California, where the choreographer had founded her dance troupe, the American Folk Ballet. 20 years earlier. But in the summer of 1982, Gerald R. Sherratt, president of Southern Utah State College, persuaded the native Texan to move to Utah in hopes of developing a dance depart-- , ment at the college. It is move which Mann now considers a stroke of fortune. Its been wonderful to live in such a pleasant place with people all around who shower you with such a caring attitude." she says. "I know that at my age. even at best. I'm on the last it) or 15 years of the run. These are the last productive years of my life, and I consider it a gift to be able to live and produce in such a quiet and harmonious place." Though Pasadena was her home-basfor several decades. Utah was - ub-jet- perfo-mance- ... - e an equally familiar stomping ground. For more than 10 years she chaired Utah State University's summer dance workshop and con - leave the theater renewed, uplifted, feeling that man is worth saving and life worth the struggle. Burch Mann, named after her aunt Burch, who was herself named after a family physician, a Dr. Burch, was born the oldest of four children of Lottie and Grover Mann, in a small town just outside of Decatur. Texas. When Burch was 10, the family meved to Oklahoma, at her mother's insistence, in search of a better education for the Mann children. Life then, as Mann remembers it. was indeed difficult, but made bearable by her mothers bravery, courage and love of beauty. The only qualities I admire in myself I get from my mother. She never settled for anything less than excellence." The move to Glenpool, Okla., proved to be a beneficial one. for the land on which the rural school sat was rich in oil. "The principal, Mr. Iauley." remembers Mann, "must have been a marvelous educator. He immediately went to New York and hired the finest teachers. The primary teacher started at the unheard of salary of $250 a month and was the talk of the state. "They brought in a dance teacher, a gymnast, and from France a man to design the auditorium. It was an enormous school. 3.000 students, and it had the best of everything." Mann, then a third grader, was selected to be a member of the schools gymnastic showteam. Although I always had loved to move, I guess you could say thats where my in Glenlove for dance started pool, Okla. Thats quite unbelievable because no one had really heard of dancing. At 17 Burch left home for New York with 50 cents in her pocket. Her father had died and there was no money for college. Til Merer forget the day I arrived in New York. I was never more frightened in my life. I would have gone back home, but I knew I couldn't. I knew had to stay and face it. It was the and a time of revolution in dance. The great ballet masters had arrived from Russia, giving great vitality and push to the ballet world, she remembers. And of course, that was the time of earliest modern dance, when those who found ballet too sentimental and restricted, were searching for their own style of expression. Mann devoted most of her time to ballet, but occasionally sneaked away to study tap and classical modern dance from Doris Humphrey, still her favorite choreogra-Se- e Column 1 Page 7 " . ' XX ; ft.,' -V 1 mid-192- E-1- & Photo bv Bovd Redington Burch Mann, founder of the American Folk Ballet, brings troupe to Capitol Theatre Friday, Saturday. TWO DAYS ANTIQUE AUCTION Extravaganza0 SATURDAY, MARCH 24 SUNDAY, MARCH 25 Champagne Preview 1 1 1 C AM PM hour prior to sale 1422 So. 700 W. The Gallery : m V, - v (Y " ''I' V f gf .f j-,- tit Limited Seating ., No Children Please p eeV' X 4' p Wi- let" &$ 1006, $13 Right: vjiqa'',,."' n rt 'Jut J( A uf.P'll 'MM' Truly Fitting It n t'DH tu .titnjU' P"1 !,Ht.,l Pi U! "v J.ik .It .! ' t" 1 ' I" Id- h ' ' tii, ih.n $4 vO'i t-- H u ''it pX 1 i. i i I Linlmt) 5.?. TRUNZO Auctioneers, Inc. One of the Nation's Largest Auction Houses 422 South 700 West, SLC 972-2- 1 21 CHALK GARDCn IROLLtY SOUARb DEER VALLEY elulicUe 1 N Oqih.n City Mull 7CM1 Coutei T 'T' W Sale Conducted by 1 C- ' fV yvrm;rnvt NOTE: b ,v 1054 $18 ' - Sx- - CUibvIlCHl Set! li.J lor ? 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