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Features
Art exhibit shows multimedia talents
■ see page 2
Opinion
Suspicious of the National State of
Affairs
■ see page 7
Sports
Going Cup crazy in the Carolinas
■ see page 4
Volume 37 Issue 11
The University of North Carolina at Asheville
UNCA takes top awards at Theater Olympics
Becky Reese
News Reporter
j The UNCA chapter of the United
Institute of Theater Tech-
lology (USITT) recently claimed
Ip awards at the Theater Technol-
3gy Olympics, including the na
tional title.
“The Tech Olympics are more of
I social event where all the under-
jraduates get together at the con
ference than [a competition], but
still important because we’re
the best,” said Lachlen Smith, a
lophomore design theatre major.
It’s a fun thing, too.”
The Theater Olympics test the
skills of students involved in the
ater production and design. Skills
include prop shifts, lighting, sound,
stage plug wiring and knot tying.
Currently, time determines who
/ins events. Judges penalize tech
nicians who make mistakes by add-
nore time added to the
technician’s total time.
‘If yQn’re doing [a sldll] during a
practical application, like during a
show, in the event you make too
much noise, that would be disturb-
the audience members and
they’ll add on five seconds to your
’ said Jenny Prather, a senior
theatre major.
If you drop something or
lething’s not in the right place,
they’ll add time to your score. That’s
basically true of all events. If you
don’t do something right, or if
there’s a safety consideration that
you didn’t take into account, a lot
of times they’ll add to your score.”
However, the events have begun
0 take a tUrn towards creativity as
well. Next year, new events may be
added.
‘They’re talking about having dif
ferent events with a little more de
sign aspect to it or trouble shooting
COURTESY OF ROBERT BOWEN
Lachlen Smith and Jenny Prather compete in the lighting competi
tion at the Theater Olympics. Smith and Prather’s team went on to
win both first place and the national title.
COURTESY OF ROB ERT BOWEN
Two teams from the UNCA chapter of the United States Institute of
Theater Technology (USITT) participated in the Theater Techno
logical Olympics. The teams took the top awards and honors.
“You don't do it for the glory or the
adoration of it because most of the time
the audiences are totally unaware of all
the work that goes into putting up a
show.” ~
Jenny Prather,
senior theatre major
aspect to it, which will be really
nice,” said Johannes Pikel, a junior
technical theatre major.
“The events now are all based on
time, and that’s the only thing
they’re reallyjudged by,” said Smith.
“That’s why it’s changing, because
they don’t feel it’s the best way to
judge events like that because they
feel like safety is such an important
The Tech Olympics are not sim
ply a competition. The event also
gives students a chance to learn new
skills they may not have learned
otherwise. ^
“If you don’t know how to tie all
the knots that they ask you to, you
can learn from other people then
try out the event,” said Pikel. “It’s
also a learning experience. There is
a practical application into what
you will be doing for the rest of
your life.”
The Tech Olympics are part of
the USITT national convention,
which students and professionals
from all over the nation attend.
UNCA has the oldest chapter in
the nation.
“I’m not sure how many teams
[were there],” said Smith. “There
were probably about 10 schools
though, and they had various teams.
We had two teams from our school. ”
Several UNCA theater students
took top honors at this year’s Tech
Olympics. UNCA sent two teams
to the event.
The first team, consisting of Jenny
Bowen, Jessica Kammerud,
Johannes Pikel, Jenny Prather and
Lachlen Smith, took first place and
the national title, according to the
UNCA Web site.
The second team won second place
at the event. This team included
Don Engle, Mike Henning, Den
nis Woods and Kate Yuhas.
Individual awards were also given.
Bowen won the knot tying compe
tition for the fourth consecutive
year, according to the UNCA Web
See THEATER Page 8
Multimedia students receive awards
Kristen Ruggeri
News Reporter
UNCA’s multimedia arts and sci
ence program is growing in popu
larity and also gaining recognition
three students earned top awards
the Carolina’s premier Electronic
Media Festival.
‘Multimedia arts and science
(MMAS) is a good challenge and a
chance to learn a lot of different
programs,” said Tabitha Bailey, a
senior MMAS major and winner of
the Game Design: General category.
The Carolina’s Electronic Media
Festival (EM), held in Charlotte
last month, is an electronic media
competition accepting entries of
Work from college students in North
Carolina and South Carolina.
The EM Festival stirves to recog
nize top electronic media design
students, according to the UNCA
Web site.
‘I submitted a 30-second, 3-D
animated movie using MAYA,” said
Erik Perkins, a junior MMAS ma
jor and winner of the Best of Show
and Animated Story/Narrative cat
egories. “It was probably the thing
I’ve worked the hardest on since
I’ve been at school here.”
From 130 entries submitted,
UNCA took home four top awards
including first place honors in the
categories Best of Show, Animated
Story/Narrative, Digital Video:
Long and Game Design: General,
according to the UNCA Web site.
“UNCA won in four of the 12
categories, and no other school that
entered in the festival accomplished
that,” said Nick Owens, a senior
MMAS major and first place win
ner in the Digital Video; Long cat
egory.
The EM Festival was open to any
one with an interest in electronic
media, according to the UNCA
Web site.
“The contestants ranged from art
students to computer science stu
dents. It was a nice spread,” said
Owens.
UNCA is one of the first under
graduate schools to offer a multi-
MAX TAINTOR/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Tabitha Bailey, a senior multimedia arts and science student, won
the game design: general cateory at the EM festival.
media major, according to David
Bourne, a MMAS lecturer.
“Most schools that are doing the
things we are doing don’t call it
multimedia,” said Bourne. “We
were one of the first in the country
at the undergraduate level to have a
multimedia department that was
specifically started for the disci-
phne.”
Other schools usually have the
same sort of program in their art or
computer science departments, ac
cording to Bourne.
When first created in 1998, the
department expected to have only
56 rnajors within the first four to
five years, according to Mary Anna
LaFratta, director of MMAS in an
e-mail.
“Different departments decided
we could use the strong liberal jrts
basis of UNCA to create an inter
disciplinary department that would
use computers to make interactive
media and video animation,” said
Bourne.
The major’s growing popularity
has proved the initial estimates
wrong.
As of fall 2002, 88 students had
declared MMAS as their major,
according to LaFratta.
This year the major is becoming
one of the largest majors at UNCA,
according to Bourne.
Serving UNCA Since 1982
April24, 2003
U.S. talks with
North Korea
uncertain
Laura Logeman
News Reporter
North Korea withdrew from the
Global Arms Control Treaty after
making the statement that the war
with Iraq demonstrated the need
for a strong military defense against
the United States Apr. 10.
United Nations Security Council
members expressed their worry over
the tension between North Korea
and the U.S. Apr. 9. However, the
U.N. did not condemn North Ko
rea for leaving the treaty, according
to The Associated Press.
North Korea claims that follow
ing the U.S. plan for disarmament
would provide the U.S. with the
perfect opportunity to invade, ac
cording to The Associated Press.
“The Iraqi war launched by the
U.S. pre-emptive attack clearly
proves that a war can be prevented
and the security of the country and
the nation can be ensured only when
one has physical deterrent force,”
said KCNA, a North Korea news
agency, according to The Associated
Press.
“I’d say it seems like a military
move,” said Nathan Batson, a
sophomore multimedia arts and
science major. “Cutting off politi
cal ties and building ranged weap
ons doesn’t seem like a country that
wants to talk.”
Washington says it seeks a peace
ful resolution with North Korea,
but military foijce is not out of the
question, according to The Associ
ated Press.
Although North Korea has not
claimed to have nuclear weapons,
U.S. officials say that it has already
developed one or two atomic
bombs, according to The Associated
“In today’s s^tc of world affairs
where every country is in fear for its
sovereignty, having nuclear weap
ons can greatly increase the stability
ofyour regime,” said Josh Salpeter,
an undeclared freshman. “The abil
ity of countries to keep countries
without nuclear weapons from hav
ing nuclear weapons of their own
increases their security.”
With the success of the war in
Iraq, many people think that the
U.S. might turn their attention to
North Korea and start another war.
“I think that if Iraq was attacked
because of their nuclear weapons
then there is no reason why North
Korea would be allowed to have
theirs, ” said Zeljko Mataic, a sopho
more multimedia arts and science
major and international student
from Croatia.
Adnan Abbasi, another interna
tional student from Pakistan, had a
differing view.
“I don’t think it’s worth going to
war for,” said Abbasi.
North Korea asked South Korea
for high-level talks, making a con
ciliatory gesture, Apr. 19. A
Pyongyang official sent a message
through KCNA saying that the two
Koreas “need to resourcefully settle
the issue of inter-Korean relations
by the nation itself through na
tional cooperation,” according to
The Associated Press.
See MMAS Page 8
WWW. unca. edulbanner
See NORTH KOREA Page 8