EnLertainment
March 22.2000
Cape Fear Shakespeare hosts Toga party
Hiroshi Sueyoshi exhbh
in Randall Ubrary
Wilmington artist Hiroshi Sueyoshi has a col
lection of original ceramic works on display in
Randall Library from March 7 to April 14. The
works will be displayed in the library’s art exhibit
area A meet the artist reception will start at 4
p.m. March 23 and last until 6 p.m.
■^Iross Indecency” playing
at Thalian Hall
Opera House Theatre Company will perform
tlie play “Gross Indecency” March 22-26. The
play tells the stoiy of Oscar Wilde, who faced
three trials that changed his life, art and reputa
tion. All performances are at 8 p.m. in Thalian
Hall’s Studio Theatre. Tickets are $10, no dis
counts are available. Seating is general admis
sion. Tickets are available from the Thalian Hall
box office
Symphony presents concert
wHh guest violinist
The Wilmington Symphony Orchestra wiU
feature violinist Yayoi Toda March 25 at 8 p.m.
and March 26 at 4 p.m. in Kenan Auditorium.
The program will include the Violin Concerto of
Samuel Barber and Beethoven’s Sympony No. 6
(“Pastoral"). Tickets cost $ 16, $ 14 or $4 and are
available through the Kenan Hall box office.
Sorority holding benefit
golf tournament
The UNCW chapter of Alpha Phi’s fourth
annual charity golf tournament will be March 25
at Beau Rivage Resort and Golf Qub. Tee times
sre 8 a.m and 1:30 p.m. The tournament costs
$25 per person for four member teams. Proceeds
benefit the Alpha ITii Foundation, which helps
women in need of cardiac care, breast cancer re-
S6arch and grants scholarships.
History professor signs
new book
History professor Kathleen Berkeley will sign
copies of her new book, “The Women’s Libera
tion Movement in America tonight at 7:30 p.m.
at Bames and Noble’s Bookstore at 322 S. Col
lege Rd.
by MAI HAMRICK
Copy Editor
For seven summers Cape Fear
Shakespeare(CFS) has performed classic produc
tions without a single ticket sale or fundraising
event Over 6,000people attended the four week
ends of free performances in 1999.
To kick off the 2000 season, the company held
a toga party/fundraiser at the Blue Post Pub and
Billiards March 15. Admission was $10, and
guests were treated to heavy hors d’oeurvres and
music provided by DJ Steve Coley Money col
lected at the party, along with donations, will
help fund this summer’s production of “Pericles,
the Prince of Tyre.”
“We wanted to do something that was a Uttie
more personal to remind people that CFS is com
ing up and to get people to audition,” said
Marianne Nubel, founding member of the com
pany and production manager of “Pericles.”
CFS is “slowly expanding our services” ac
cording to Nubel. Besides the toga party, the com
pany is holding a free question and answer pro
gram for those interested in the play and the
production. The program will be held March 25
at 2 p.m. upstairs in the New Hanover County
Library’s downtown branch. Those in attendance
will be able to meet the director, Michael
Cranberry, and ask questions about the play, CFS
and upcoming auditions.
“We chose ‘Pericles’ because it is an excel
lent play with excellent roles for actors. Also be
cause few people know about it” said Cranberry,
who has been associated with CFS forfive years.
He recognized the challenges in staging a play
Cape Fear Shakespeare founding
member Marianne Nubel and her
husband, Chris Nubel, attended a
toga party/fundraiser for the upcom
ing CFS season.
with several settings spanning many countries.
“[It is] one of the reasons people don’t pro
duce this play. We perform outdoors. We have to
suggest everything .. .we will suggest different
settings by picking costumes that bring up a par
ticular country in people’s minds,”said Granberry.
UNCW theater iastmctor and general man
ager Ed Wagenseller was the fust CFS director
As a first year graduate student at UNC-Chapel
Hill, he directed the production of “As You Like
It.”
“It was the first time 1 had ever directed
Shakespeare. It was about 70 minutes. 1 edited it
down to nothing. MariannelNubel] had a really
good singing voice, so I made her sing... I cut out
the entire storyline of Phoebe. It was frastrating
at times and exciting at times. It was the most
rewarding thing I have ever done,” Wagenseller
said.
“A mother and .son stopped and thanked me
saying that they could never afford to see
Shakespeare in the theater,” he added.
Since its genesis, CFS has perfonned outdoors,
first in the gardens of the DeRossett house (now
City Club, 23 S 2"^ street), currently at Greenfield
Lake Amphitheatre. Solicited donations carry the
budget thrcxigh opening night, and donations at
show time help keep the producTion going through
the month of performances. All the actors are
volunteers.
Performing plays that stretch for hours with
little unity of time or location and a small budget
creates unique problems in outdoor performances.
“It teaches you how to do theater wi.hout a
budget” Wagenseller said. “You go back and look
at history. They didn’t change sets. They were
working the dialogue.. .the plays are timeless.”
His full support is behind the new director.
“With Michael Granberry we have one of the
strongest Shakespeare directors around,”
Wagenseller said.
For more information alxxit CFS’s summer
schedule, call 341-4602.
Japanese animation isn’t just for lids
by MEGAN O’BRIEN
A & E Editor
AnimEigo, the Wilmington-based
Japanese animation importers and trans
lators, began in 1989 as a joke. Owner
Robert Woodhead was working on a
video game with a friend who was in
terested in Japanese animation.
Woodhead was also playing with com
puter video at the time, and his friend
asked if Woodhead could write a pro
gram to subtitle these films.
“His original idea was just to subtitle
some of these films and give them away
at his animation club....something that
today is called ‘fan-subbing,
Woodhead said. "1 thought about it for
a minute and said ‘Well, I’m in Japan
all the time on business, why don’t 1 just
get some licenses and we’ll actually sell
the things?’ After we got off the floor
A character from “Bubblegum Crisis,"
one of the many anime films
AnimEigo imports from Japan.
from laughing...why not give it a try?
And that's how the company got
started.”
Since its rather humble beginnings,
AnimeEigo has grown a “fair bit,”
Woodhead said. Although Woodhead
still works primarily with the software
that actually adds the subtitles and
dubbed voices to the films, he likes the
business overall.
“It’s still a niche Qompany, but it does
very well and we have a very dedicated
customer base, quite a few thousand
people who buy just about everything we
do,” he said. “It’s a nice business that
provides enjoyable work.”
UNCW sophomore and long-time
anime fan Jayme Westman currently
works as a production assistant at
AnimEigo, and she also enjoys her work.
“Where else do you get paid to watch
cartoons?” she said.
The company takes its name from the
Japanese words for animation (anime.
which actually comes from French) and
See ANIME, page 17