Show mmmm m 'A1 ‘ftSIBfllflMIHfll laBmamtfms V $-- ( h photos by EH Luce rOHe raid Journal President Hall under the bright lights Utah State Last President Kermit Hall made his acting debut on the Morgan Theatre stage At this point an attentive reader might inquire “What the heck?” But you mad that right: the univer-sity’s chief administrator took on a small role in the contemporary opera “Eight Songs for a Mad King” The production was a collaboration among the USU theater music and art departll ments and will wrap up on Saturday night The opera is a surreal look at the madness of England’s King George whose part was played by visiting artist Robert Osborne Hall portrayed the King’s Keeper who is tasked with carrying out the monarch’s bizarre ' orders and at one point has to dance ‘There were no casualties” Hall interview on joked in a had “I a Thursday great time I’d been through all the rehearsals and I thought the performance turned out to be my high point I recognized that I’d only have one opportunity to dp it so I did it as well as I could” Hall was recruited by director Wednesday sans-Ha- post-sho- w Artemis Preeshl early in die school year who worked to find a role where Hall could try his hand at acting without as he sai “undermining the production” “I pretty much lucked into a role that if I can just keep one molecule in my brain in front of die other and my fern in the right direction it will be fine” he said “I was telling some of the students that it was my hope to do a nice Othello or a Hamlet but on reflection this is perfectly suited to me Just a sad gesture here and a benign look there will be adequate" But Hall’s acting aspirations weren’t actually the motivation for his accepting the role “It’s part of my job to see how different pieces of the university operate” he explained “Especially those pieces of die university that require an intense amount of student involvement and that’s the case here” Hall said he feels it’s important to leave the ‘‘rarefied air” of his office often and get into the mix “I’m just curious about how different parts of the university operate” he said “I spend some time in the locker rooms the energy plant and I'spend some time teaching This is just another face of the university to see” One of die challenges in incorporating Hall into the production was accommodating his schedule espe- daily during Utah’s legislative season “Pealing with the Legislature now that’s truly high theater” Hall quipped “But Artemis has been very good about providing times when I need to there It’s worked because she and her colleagues have made it work In total Hall was onstage for neatly eight minutes a time frame that was “appropriately proportioned to my talents” While watching the rest of the performance fromthe wing he got a taste of the organized chaos of k theater presentation “What interested me the most was watching the actors” he said “On one hand they were very intense and on the other extraordinarily blase The only way to many those two up is through something called experience” Hall also said that he probably wouldn’t have made it through his eight minutes on stage (which felt like an interior from Edinburgh Scotland is tiie next featured speaker in the Visiting Interim Designer Series at Utah State' University Puffin speaks Wednesday Match 3 at 4:30 pm in die Eccfes Science Learning Center Auditorium The event is free and the public is invited ' The subject is Puffin’s presentation is “Great Houses of Scotland” In addition to his lecture Duffin will be on campus for a week working with students in the university’s Interior Design program ' Duffin is a noted figurein interior design and decoration in Scotland He started his career at age l6 as ah apprentice to the late James Thomson influential designer in Great Britain He completed his first Commission at age 17 and continued gaining his professional qualifications through a combina-tionnight school classes and correspondence courses He ' worked for a time in London with several design greats before returning to Scotland to open his own design practice Design commissions range from of and a Mod Kina Talg i for “28in the i -- Jine Arts Center j poet office hi the £pednjm Utah State i with current ID are ! free 797-030- 5 30) without the assistance of his cast mates “The students were just great" he said “They helped President Hall get to where lie needed to be with all the grace and understanding that only can accord ” youth ' But has Hall been bitten by the theater bug? Will he return to the bright lights again? “I think I’ve done my feting twice the first time and the last time” he laughed “I learned a lot but going back for more lessons while probably helpful to me wouldn’t be beneficial to the future of the theater” 7 Jeremy Pugh Cache Magazine editor -- Call for entries Design lecture Malcolm W Puffin CO a 15th century castle in Munich Germany and a royal palace near Frankfurt to work in America' ' Spain France and England In 1999 he became one of the youngest members of the then IDDA now BIDDA (British' Interim Design Association) and was nominated in 1999 as Interior Designer of the Year Described as one of tiie top 35 interior designers in the world and published in the “Interior Elite” who’s who in design Duffin’s work hasbeen reg- ularly featured in magazines and y featured on television AVA gallery is celebrating National T he Women’s History month wife an exhibition ' “Women Inspiring Hope and Possibility” at the ThatcherYoung mansion from March 19 through April 10 : The exhibit’s opening reception will be part of the March 19 Cache Valley Gallery walk from 6 to9pnL - The AVA is currently accepting submissions “celebrating women" of all mediums through March 13 Please submit up to five works With title price medium and contact information to the AVA gallery 35 W 100 South in the Tlutcher Young mansion There is a $3 entry fee per work Call for any additional information1' 753-297- 0' d) CD 2 |