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Show The Daily Utah Chronicle. Openings 1977 Page Thirty-thre- e molly fowler nvi:JlL 1 Three theaters lend Broadway to flavor to University audiences I Presents Off-Off-Broad- way Iheie theaters aie thiee student-fundeof to sjeak on the I'nivmity campus: Ijees d Mainstage in Pioneer Memorial Theater (PMT), The Bulxock ITieatre, also in PMT. and Hie lab Theatre in the Geology Building. Thete aie other stages: Kingsbury Hall, Dante Building llieatre, and vaiious and sundry auditoriums spiead from the PE complex toOison Spencer Hall. But it is the first mentioned ihiee that at t as nut lei for our dramatic aits on campus. -- Each of these theaters is a completely diffeiem expt'iitnce from the othfi; comjuiing ihn would lx-- futile t ffoi i.All have produced good theater (whatever that means to you), and likewise they haeall given us our worst disasters. Examining the I'nivc rsity"s three stages is similar (if you will excuse this) to a examination of Broadway in v . onh (If s . that, it isfai fiom a simple task.) lees Mainstagf. gives impetus to all sons of creativity. The student fall season includes two original scripts, Shakes ware's "Twelfth Night" and "Stop ihe World I Want to Get Off". But let us not foigei The Lab Theatre. w something there. I doubt it. As does Off- it lakes the greatest c of the three. risks niul unit Hie lab is hidden in the Geology Building which is behind the I'niveisity Bookstore. It is a small square room, smaller than the average classroom, and in such a jxtsiiion that the Fire Marshall has decreed that not more ihan50jeoplecanbe in the room at any time. ..that inc hides cast and ciew. as well as the audience. ( Ilieieis really only one exit for the audience; a fire hazard lor more than :0, Once you miii will forget Everything in the Lib is a student prod u lion. The fall line-uitu hides "Hiimptv p Our own little puce of Bioadway, or the closest thing I'tah has to it. Mainstage is Rolxit Peterson (if you don't know the name. ..you will. Meanwhile replace it w ith something in the category of Robert Goulet). Mainstage is directors like John Eeainley or Tony 1 aimer. ..fiesh from New York or London. On occasion it's I'nivcrsity Professor Robert Mainstage isn't student theater. In fac t, rarely will you see a student playing a lead role cm Mainstage. If there are students doing something besides dancing or singing in the (horus, you won't see their names on the billboard advertising. Hyde-Wilso- n. Mainstage is Utah's largest and most professional theater. It's big business. If you like that kind of stuff, it's worth seeing. If you don't, it's worth seeing the sets, the costumes. :md the work of Musical Director Jim Pr igm re. As a rule those three aspects will never let you down. And then there's the Babcock Theatre. well-know- n Trie Babcock plays a dual role in theater on campus. A great deal of student theater is produced there (students as actors, direc tors and playwrights) and in addition, it has what has come to be known as 'the Classic Season'. The Babcock Classic Season this vear will include Anouilth's "Becketi ," "The ' I.ad Importance of Being Earnest, House Blues," and "The Marriage of Miss Trudie." Generally the classics are directed by students (mostly graduates) or Department of Theatre faculty. Its actors, though not restric ted to a student status, aie usually theater undergraduates. Rarely are they paid professionals. The other half of the Babcock season series of student-selecte- d, student-funde- is a d productions. Where Mainstage and Classic Series produc tions are not produced totally for the educational benefits of the campus, the Student Productions are. (Don't get me wrong, those students who get roles on Mainstage attain a considerable amount of knowledge from that expciiencc, but they also receive a paycheck. There's more of a repertory spirit to student productions, the repertory company being the current group of students in the department. (This is also seen in the Lab Theatre.) But what is the most exciting part of the Babcock is its versatility. The size of the room is the approximate size of Mainstage's stage alone. It's small enough to be intimate, yet large enough to c reate distance when needed. The stage itself is mobile. It can be a straight curtained area with procenium which can be on either side of the auditorium. Or, it can serve as theater in the round. Because the room is little more than six side exits and a pit with platforms (sans curtains), it t an be anything. This in itself Jo gjl hi led Nigger Dumpiv ." ..ml 'Cavitie-.,by Neil I'llny; "The together as one-.uiInfide ls of Spai i," Mitten and dmc ted by Diane Haun; "A Lion in Wintci ," The " v. I 1 I 1 1 I 1 s Nest," wnttcn and dinned by Mania Walke; and anoihei unselected play to le clirec ted by John Osbuin. Theodore Adoino says "the savage fears what is new." I supose this is why the BaUock and the Lib attract su h small audiences. Because student productions only run 1 lunsday through Satuiday in the lab, fewer than I(K) ever see a single production. And sadly, it is the same hundred ix'ople w ho see every play . These productions rarely teach the Mainstage ket holder. season-ti- c And they should. Not every play should go to Broadway. Not every play should Ik- done on Mainstage. Most Mainstage plays could never be done in the Babcockot lab. at least not the musicals. 3 Special Guest: JIMMY WITHERSPOON THURSDAY OCT. 27th Kingsbury Hall 8:00 p.m. - lab Theatres serve a different very purpose. They are more than costumes and lights and sets; they ate more than the They are what theater should lx They are communication, they ate guts, they are us. And they should lx- seen. If you dismiss the Babcock and lab because it's O'.Xeill and it's long and boring. ..or it's a neiv musical and a lousy bomb... or it's an unknoivn playwright; But the Babcock and sutx-rfictal- Tickets: $5.00 & $6.00 ($1.00 discount with current U. of U ID . Available October 3 at: Tape Head. Toad Tape, Round Records, and all 3 Odyssey Records - probably some theahe professor's daughter's husband, then you are scared and stupid... and most important, you are missing something. When you get to the lab or Balxmk, don't expect a lot of aesthetics. The seat is less than comfortable, the carpet torn (if there's carjxn), and you won't get a hearing aid. You won't need one. The Babcock and lab Theatre's are intimate theater. The lab is.so intimate you can smell Eddie Carbone has been at work all day. You can see Willy Loman cry. You as Nettie Cleary hurls might be a vase of loses to the floor. And the best of all, you an feci it. No squinting, no straining.. .it 'sail light there, two feet away. Presents just-misse- d clda Fic handler, "the theater place f physical actions and ph H.i, ,uin,jM .'its that when they reach their height, weir straining point, their necessity, but si into speech. ..just as song is speech unable to contain itself." Theater by definition is believable mimicking. If it entertains you, theater is MYSTERY Afcvi'p: is a entertainment. In that respect there are thr ee theaters on campus. All of them can offer at least entertainment. At times, all surpass that Each must be viewed in its place, as should the theater of New York.. .or any place. But in order to know theater, each should be viewed. Tuesday lt's September 27th mystery to us exactly where it is going to be. See the Chrony, Monday, September 26 for details. a 0 |