4The Daily Tar HeelFriday, January 20, 1984
Mime troupe to perform in Carrboro
A rmy is not laughing in 'Streamers
By IVY MILLIARD
Surf Writer
North Carolina's professional mime theatre, TOUCH,
recently received a $6,000 grant from the state to help it reach
even wider audiences with its inventive brand of mime.
This weekend TOUCH will give a benefit performance at
their homebase, the Art School in Carrboro, Friday and Satur
day at 8 p.m. They also will give a special children's perfor
mance Saturday at 2 p.m. titled "The Wizard Who Couldn't
Smile" and other stories.
Unlike more traditional mimes, which bring to most minds
somber, serious figures in whiteface pulling on invisible ropes,
the three members of TOUCH use masks, costumes, music and
noise and they never wear whiteface during their perfor
mances. '
Jef Lambdin, one of the mimes, explained that the group's
work is about human beings, not clowns, and that whiteface
hides the face and makes a person less human.
"Mime is an art form to be played a couple of ways," Lamb
din said. "It can be a guessing game with the audience trying to
figure out what you're doing. In our work that's taken for
granted, and the objects we deal with are just part of the land
scape. "That lets us focus on characters, their relationships on stage
a 'i the situations they' jr.."
I ambdin, along wi;h mimes Sheila Kerrigan and Skip
Mendler, pianist Paul Whetstone and a lighting designer, try to
include original pieces and improvisations based on audience
suggestions in their performances.
"We're trying to take mime to the limit of what you can do,"
Kerrigan said. "For us mime is what we can communicate non
vcrbally but not silently. We put mime in the content of the
theatre, so we have a fusion of both."
Both Kerrigan and Lambdin said they are very excited about
the grant, which was channeled from the State Department of
Cultured Resources for ti ; Theatre Arts section or the North
Carolina Arts Council.
Lambdin said part of therant money would be used as a
salary support for a staff to handle the administrative duties of
the group to give the performers more time to woi k on their art.
The largest part of the money will go to sponsor a South
eastern Regional Mime Festival in Greensboro at UNC-G during
Memorial Day weekend in May, Lambdin said.
"Artists will be attending from Alabama, Georgia and North
Carolina the best mimes in the Southeast," Lambdin said.
"There will be two nights of shows featuring six mime groups
and three days of workshops."
Lambdin said that TOUCH is the only mime company
recognized as a professional theatre in this state, and one of the
few such groups which tours frequently.
Founded in 1976, the group's members come from diverse
backgrounds. Lambdin said he left Colorado State University,
where he was a forestry major, to study mime after seeing his
first mime performance, because he was impressed with how
people were communicating at an emotional level with mime.
Kerrigan said she took ballet for eight years when she was
growing up in New York, but a knee injury forced her to stop
dancing. It was then that she became interested in mime.
"It was a challenge to me, because I was so terrible at it in the
beginning," Kerrigan said. "I ended up studying it for five
years.
Skip Mendler, who later joined the group, studied at Harvard
University and founded an improvisational theatre group before
moving to North Carolina.
The three met in a mime school, and since then TOUCH has
traveled in a 16-state region giving thousands of performances
and workshops.
TOUCH'S evening show, called 1984: A Question of Balance,
deals with issues as love and hazardous waste in a way that is
both funny and serious.
One piece, called simply "Garbage," deals with an ordinary
object like trash. We see it every day but do not always realize
what dangerous effects it could have on us in the future, Ker
rigan said.
"Our pieces are a series of related images," Lambdin said
"It's like an animated film sometimes a culmination of all the
images you see. Not just a story."
Tickets for the Friday and Saturday performances are $4 for
Art School members and $5 for non-members. The children's
show is $2 for members and $2.50 for non-members. Call
942-2041 for more information.
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DENNIS POTTER MARTIN CRUZ SMITH Z'Z? RALF D. BODE. A. S C.
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4TH WEEK! 2:15 o 4:45 o .7:15 o' 9:45
SBCS to zofi business
meeting Sunday
The Sexuality Education and Counsel
ing Service will hold a business meeting at
8 p.m. Sunday in the Union. The meeting
had previously been announced as on
Monday. All volunteers are invited.
By JEFF GROVE
Arts Editor
The first scene of Robert Altman's
new film, Streamers, is a good metaphor
for the whole movie. Two combat
weary sergeants tie a firecracker to a
sleeping soldier's bunk. They attack
several yards of fuse to the firecracker,
light the fuse and wait for the results of
their prank. Streamers itself is a long
fuse tensely burning down to an ex
plosive climax..
Review
Altman, responsible for directing
such films as MASH, McCabe and
Mrs. Miller and Nashville, has said of
his newest work, "To synopsize
Streamers is not impossible, but I think
it is inadvisable. The storyline the se
quence of events is one thing, but its
meaning is quite another."
The statement is true but misleading.
The story of the film is just as en
grossing as its deeper meaning. The set
ting of the film is a stateside U.S. Army
base in 1965. While Sgt. Rooney and
Sgt. Cokes dream of going to Vietnam
to "kill some gooks," three young
draftees in their charge are forced to
deal with social, racial and sexual ten
sions. Richie, an educated, somewhat elitist
homosexual, spends his time making
witty reservations on the Neander-'
thalisms of his cronies. Billy, an All
American boy from a small Wisconsin
town, asserts his masculinity by reacting
heatedly to Richie's teasing. Roger, a
Southern black man, rolls with the
punches as a way of getting along. Into
this set-up walks Carlyle, a street-wise
black draftee looking for "the colored
boy" he has heard lives in the barracks.
Carlyle' s recurring presence leads the
film to its violent, exhausting conclu
sion. The actors in the film form such a
tightly knit ensemble that they jointly
won a single Best Actor award at last
year's Venice Film Festival, but in
dividual performances can be singled
out.
Mitchell Lichtenstein's Richie ex
presses his inner conflict about his sex
uality without being a stereotypical
"self-tortured pansy." His obvious in
telligence engages the audience's sym
pathy. As Carlyle, Michael Wright gives the
most overtly emotional performance in
the film. Trapped in a world that wants
io strip him of his identity and indi
viduality, he plays by his own rules.
Wright makes Carlyle's actions seem
almost acceptable because he shows that
Carlyle is a victim of his own instincts.
Matthew Modine's Billy, a somewhat
brooding characterization, seethes with
repelled fascination at Richie's cn
croachments. Roger, in the capable
hands of David Alan Grier, emerges as
a character slowly grasping at truth.
Guy Boyd and George Dzundza are ef
fective as Sgts. Rooney and Cokes, and
Dzundza has two powerhouse
monologues which he makes especially
compelling.
David Rabe's script, a slightly cut
version of his 1975 play, is brilliantly
written. Its overwhelming sense of op
pression is mirrored in Steve Altman's
one-room set design and Norman
Smith's tight editing.
The main idea of the film seems to be
that violence is an unavoidable result
' when the army or any other group
robs people of their individuality. The
opening and closing credits, which are
superimposed over shots of a crack drill
team at work, symbolize this message.
Altman also seeks in Streamers to ex
plore masculinity and courage odd
themes from a director known for his
sensitivity in working with women in
such films as Three Women and Come
Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean,
Jimmy Dean. Is it more "masculine"
for Billy and Roger to go outside and
play basketball than it is for Richie to
stay inside because he does not need to
"prove" his manhood? Is Carlyle less
brave than Rooney and Cokes because
he's openly scared of combat, or is he
braver because he admits his fears while
the sergeants hide theirs? Altman never
really resolves these questions because
there are no answers.
This is where the title of the film
comes into play. Rooney and Cokes tell
stories about "streamers"
paratroopers struggling in mid-air when
their parachutes fail. Everyone in
Streamers is grappling with thin air, too
blinded by fear to see any escape from
his situation.
That's a very different tone than was
manifest in Altman's last film on a
military theme, MA SH. But the two
films are not so dissimilar; each deals
with people being put into combat
against their will and inventing their -own
way out. Altman himself admits
the similarity; he has said that
MA SH and Streamers are the same
story only he isn't laughing any
more.
housing
From page 1
Kuncl said that when the new
500-resident dorm opened next fall, more
upperclassmen would be able to return to
campus.
Last fall the housing department was
1 WEEK ONLY
Educating
Rita
7:00 9:00
PG
I
I NCNBPLA. ROSEMARY
967-8284
able to find space for more up
perclassmen in a shorter span of time
than the previous year, Kuncl said. He at
tributed this success to better communi
cation with the students.
The rates for on-campus housing have
not been set. Kuncl said he would present
the projected budget and rate recom
mendations to the Housing Advisory
Board, the Residence Hall Association
and Odum Village family housing com
munity. It will then go to the administra
tion. Kuncl said he expected an estimate
by Feb. 1, and a final figure within a few
weeks.
CHAINSAW
HORROR
Pieces
7:15 9:15
WCHL LATE SHOWSFRI. & SAT. 11:30
THE ROSE ANIMAL HOUSE
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THE CAROLINA THEATRE
"MORE STARTLING AND POWERFUL
than it was as a play. . . People hungry
for a movie of substance will be riveted
and rewarded." waii street Joumai
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NC Premiere Tonight!
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original uncut version
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DEBRA WINGER
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yr The Ne
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Friday & Saturday
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amus. amd edy with ths come from? Where do
PgiKFLAJ&NGOS
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JOHN WAT CK j)
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I C2
they go when the sun
goes down?
Isn't there a law
or something?"
-N.Y. POST
E In color from . .
f Saliva F.lms NO ONE UNDER 18
FINAL
WEEK
Robert Duvall
Friday, January 27:
Meryle Streep in
SILKWOOD
m iiii
L
I t
o A r
"BEST ACTOR
-NY Film Critics
-LA Film Critics
-Natl Board of Review
5 GOLDEN GLOBE
NOMINATIONS
BEST PICTURE, BEST ACTOR.
BEST DIRECTOR, BEST SONG
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
MUST END THURSDAY
320 5:20 750 950
V)
Sequences in this movie
will make your jaw drop open
in amazement. . .
an utterly absorbing drama
a sensory feast." David Ansen.
NEWSWEEK
A CARROLL BALLARD FILM
NEVER CRY
A TRUE STORY
From Walt Disney Productions
1
PRESENTED IN KINTEK STEREO
EXCLUSIVELY AT THE VARSITY
3:00 5:00 7:05 9:10
THE Daily Crossword by Elaine D. Schorr
1
ACROSS
Scarlett's
home
5 African
antelope
10 Devious
doing
14 Skip
15 Director
King
16 Menu
mixture
17 Stop
19 Stop (with
"in")
20 Deleting
item
21 Distinct
23 Drag along
25 Got the
message!
26 Mockingbird
state
30 if not
33 Church an
nouncement 34 Conductor
Georg
36 Pair
37 Stupid one
38 Paris pops
39 Coconut
fiber
40 Calendar
abbr.
41 "Green Hat"
author
42 Moroccan
port
43 Husky owner
45 Hemlock
drinker
Yesterday's Puzzle Solved:
XmSlTriPTR E S A TSIAISIHI
10. A Rj OILER 'MUTE
A R C A ;U NIP" E R W AJT E B
SHIM e n-JSBEa. mm
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TTv A E L IT AGENDA
!!I R IM. en. j To A.u.8.
ANII"II.II ilf.ll
12084
47 Tissue -swelling
49 Seven
50 Pleasure
seeker
53 Vilifies
57 "Unto us
is given"
58 Closedown
60 Computer
fodder
61 Moray -catcher
62 Big brass
63 Decamped
64 Play
65 Prognosti
cation DOWN
1 Drink too
much
Asian river
Stymied
Turns in
side out
6 Writer
Yutang
7 Puts two
and two
together
8 One who
observes
9 Quitters
10 Horse of a
color
11 Took to
one's heels
2
3
4
5
12 Settled
down
13 Horsehair
18 Signs of
the times
22 Vedlc god
24 Painter's
prop
28 Letter
group
27 Ausculta
tion sounds
28 Stopped
29 Skin woes
31 Retinue
32 Shore birds
35 Gauzy
materials
33 Guaranteed
33 be (expires)
41 So be it
42 Muscle
problem
44 " choose
to run"
48 Rhythmic
pause In
melody
. 48 Son of
Jacob
50 Pluvial
bombardment
51 Fief drudge
52 Max. fiber
54 Like a hive
55 Court wear
58 Arch
59 Pro (for
the nonce)
E9
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-I- I I I rl l l I i Hril
1934 Tribune Company Syndicate, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
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