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Show 4 Wednesday, February 23, 2011 ARTS www.dailyutahchronicle.corn The pressure of getting in Pioneer Theatre Company's new play examines the long, fraught process of applying to college Devin Richey PHOTO ILLUSTRATION COURTESY ALEXANDER WEISMAN An evaluative piece on the stress involved with standardized testing and on the advantages of the wealthy, "In" began its run at the Pioneer Theatre Company on Friday. EDITOR'S CHOICE by Mohammad Allam Slowing down to appreciate simple beauty T he Academy Awards air Sunday, and among the popular and widely seen nominated films lies the obscure gem, "The Illusionist," which is up for an award in the Best Animation category. Other entries in this category include "Toy Story 3" and "How to Train Your Dragon." The story, set in 195os Scotland, follows an old, traveling illusionist on his journey across Europe, looking for stages to perform his dated act. On one of the stops, he encounters a teenage girl, Alice, who becomes fascinated with his acts, believing in their magic. Alice joins him on his travels, and the two develop a father-daughter relationship. What follows is an interesting reflection on how newer generations are less inclined to find beauty or fascination in simplicity, instead favoring glitzy, loud and commercial entertainment. This is reflective of the film itself, as some raised in today's fast-paced culture will not be able to connect with this slow, contemplative film. In the film, the illusionist and his fellow performers, a clown and a puppeteer, become less wanted. A pop rock band, Billy Boy and the Britoons, is shown performing to a wild and excited young crowd as they perform silly and over-the-top antics such as rolling around on the floor as they sing, while the crowd eggs them on to several encores. All of this occurs as the illusionist watches, waiting to perform his simple act, having to prepare himself several times, as the band plays well into his scheduled time. He eventually performs to a lone grandmother and child. Throughout the film, the cultural value of the illusionist and his fellow performers declines as the clown toys with suicide and the puppeteer is later shown as a beggar on the street. The puppeteer's mannequin is shown in a pawn shop interspersed throughout a few scenes, first labeled at a low price, and eventually advertised as free—symbolic of these See ILLUSIONIST Page 10 bulk of this pressure is placed on Sara by de facto presumption, even as Jordy taunts STAFF WRITER Sara in her efforts to teach him through his unwillingness to learn. The relationEvery year, prestigious universities receive thousands of applications from ships between the three change drastically prospective students. However, the univerduring the play, at times misleading the sities need to accept only those freshmen audience into anticipating generic plot detheir classes can handle without lessening vices before surprising them with unique their academic standard. With such fierce twists. Wohl's Pioneer Memorial Theatre play competition, to what lengths will students and their parents go to get in? last season, "Touch(ed)," carried similar Set against tension with the Bush-era equally good backdrop of results. The rising coridea of creating porate greed a retrospective and arrogant view of the mindsets of intricacies of a invincibility, time not even Bess Wohl's a decade old is latest play "In" as interesting shows an amaas it is effecteur novelist tive. Sara never and SAT tutor believes that who is chalJordy deserves lenged to get to have an PHOTO COURTESY ALEXANDER WEISMAN the spoiled son academic of an affluent family into Harvard Univeradvantage that he has not earned, seesity. ing other helpless students struggle over The task goes well at first. Jordy, the son their inexpensive guide books, but she has (Jason Ralph), makes improbable progress been persuaded by heaps of money to help on his practice test scores and his tutor him maintain an undeserved superiority. Sara (Juilliard graduate Julie Jesneck) finds Ulterior motivations have presented themboth him and his mother Pammie (Alexselves as a running theme in Wohl's plays. andra Neil) interested in her unpublished The set is made up of a small front book. room surrounded by 13 massive, empty The actors' performances are great, as SAT tests. These set pieces represent that would be expected in a play with only impending college admissions are just three characters. Pammie heaps unreal exaround the corner, but some of them are pectations onto Jordy, most notably his faalso functional as well. The sets in Pioneer ther's Harvard legacy, despite his distaste See GETTING IN Page 10 for school, testing and even reading. The Festival allows glimpse into the adventurous outdoors Sandy Schaefer STAFF WRITER White-knuckle recreation from the comfort of a theater chair is all the rage this week at the 2011 Banff Film Festival. The event commenced Tuesday at Kingsbury Hall and will continue through Thursday. The Outdoor Recreation Program has hosted the film festival for the past two decades. It serves as a means of showcasing quality documentaries about highoctane sports and nature-based activities such as extreme climbing, skiing and water paddling. ORP manager Robert Jones considers the Banff Film Festival useful, as it encourages interest in outdoor recreation in students of all creeds by allowing them to experience the more vivid side of the activity through the protective lens of cinema. Festival entries include footage that captures a diverse collection of exotic locations and geographical formations from JEFF MCGRATH/The Daily Utah Chronicle The Banff Film Festival kicked off Tuesday at Kingsbury Hall and will run through Thursday. around the globe. With that as the backdrop, stories about experienced climbers, hikers and expeditioners become more interesting to learn about and more colorful to watch unfold on the big screen. Among the titles screened Tuesday night was Alastair Lee's "The Asgard Project," which chronicles the efforts of See FILM Page 10 For podcast joker, nothing is off-limits Alex Noshirvan STAFF WRITER Marc Maron has been around the comedy scene for years, residing just under the radar of pop culture. However, since launching his "WTF with Marc Maron" podcast, Maron has seen his stock steadily rise. Maron performs tonight at the Wiseguys Comedy Club in his first visit to Utah. Maron boasts a witty and self-deprecating sense of humor that is jarringly raw in nature. No one and nothing is off-limits. Maron is at his best when he is breaking himself down and examining his trials and tribulations. "I approach the podcast as a performance, because the performance element is the toughest part of making the show on my end," Maron said. Maron, 47, started out on the standard comic route, playing clubs from New York to Los Angeles for years, taping comedy specials for Comedy Central and HBO and appearing on "Conan." In addition, he has hosted several radio shows, which are the precursor to his now-hit podcast. Maron's podcast debuted Aug. 29, 2009. In his first episodes, Maron would stay after hours at a radio station and produce the podcast without anyone's knowledge. Eventually, the podcast show moved to Maron's garage, a fact that he proudly boasts on many episodes. "We get guys to come in and hang out in the garage," Maron said. "From there, it's an organic conversation that can go in many different directions." The "WTF" podcast was ranked third in the Top io Comedy Podcasts of 2009 on iTunes, trailing only Adam Carolla and Ricky Gervais. The guests See MARON Page 10 PHOTO COURTESY MARCMARON.COM Comedian Marc Maron performs tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Wiseguys Comedy Club in West Valley. |
