October 3, 1969
The N.C. Essay
Page 6
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He began rehearsals for Mr*
Roberts by saying: "My Uncle Curly
is going to turn up quite frequently
in this bloody play." You may have
seen him about campus in his conser
vative red co^t, red jeans, and red
boots. (Not Uncle Curly; Barry Boys!)
He is visiting director at the School
of Drama where, aside from his pight-
ly duties to the anti-war play, he
teaches several classes of Shake
speare.
Barry is not just a breath of
fresh air, he’s a bloody blizzard!
His enthusiasm for his work is con
tagious, though baffling at times.
And he has his own definite ideas!
When one, during the course of
rehearsal, reaches an artistic cross
road, Uncle Barry is one to say:
TAKE THAT ONE, DAMN IT." It’s great.
His ability to rake one over the e:
coals is also frightening, and very
effective- perhaps because of his ”
directness; something we haven’t re
cently been accustomed to here.
His knowledge of Shakespeare
boarders on genius. How else could
he spend over an hour on six lines
from Macbeth and keep the class on
the edge of their seats?
A CHRISTMAS SPECIAL by David Wood
I was walking through the prac
tice tooms yesterday whistling. "It's
Beginning To Look a Lot Like Christ
mas" and for me it was. Then I no
ticed the puzzled and somewhat sym
pathetic stares from several musi
cians. Let me try to explain my
state of mind, then.
Our local television station,
WSJS, has given us (The North Caro
lina School of the Arts) permission
to do a Christmas special, thirty
minutes in length, to be aired dur
ing December. If it is a good one,
they will probably give us a tele
vision show once a week.
Our idea is to do a Christmas
story for children of all ages c
called Christmas Is. Someone else
has described it as a cross between
The Wizard of Oz and Peanuts. It is!
Christmas Is a story of a small
boy who sets out to find out what
Christmas is. During his search
he asks a Christmas tree, Rudolph
the Red nose Reindeer, Old Ebineezer
Scrooge, and Santa Claus. What
Christmas turns out to be is the
climax of his search.
If^we video tape the show, it
will be done in the WSJS studio; if
we film it, it will be done on loca
tion around the city.
But we need help. It is all
original - every bit of it. We
need musicians, an arranger.
His knowledge of the "business"
is of great importance to us at school
because Barry sees many things wrong
with this place in comparison. This
is nothing new, I realize, except that
Barry has whatever it takes to come
out in the open with it. And in the
opinion of this writer, we need jnore
of that.
FILLER
It isn't usual
that an introduction
is type written
well spaaed and
mainly used for
need of spaoe^
hut this place
is not usual
so I'm told
hy any standard^
(yours or mine)
Yet I shall
hy powerful pen
push you into
this nonintroduotion
shall We say
for artistic merit
(and extra space)
which is needed '
in such things
as sdhoot ar^
its unholy news.
My fellow people
you are bequeathed
with a dream
as wide as . :
Ohio and deep
as Saint Louis.
Such things as
schools and newspapers
have a dream
that within someday
there are so
many really things
that no filler
is for one
shiney nickel and
dime ever needed.
Jim Bobbitt
dancers - the works! No pay is
involved, only a lot of love and
perhaps a warm Christmas spirit one
month early.
We must be ready to shoot in
November, so contact me if you would
like to work on it. Who knows! You
might even learn what Christmas really
is,too.
Naturally, the question has
arisen from us all: Would he con
sider staying? You have only to
speak to him to find the answer. He
is considering. Then comes, perhaps,
an even more important question:
Could Barry Boys survive here?
Perhaps, and even more honestly,
could the North Carolina School of
the Arts survive Barry Boys.
If he does stay, even for a
while, a compromise, or even some
changes will have to occur. That
is evident. And in order for him
to consider staying he will have to
see evidence of those changes. But
Barry will have to find something
else as well. He will have to find
HIS sort of "artistic nourishment"
here, as well as offering what he
can tfo the students. "Ah, there’s
the rub," because life here in the
south is quite different from the
life Barry seems geared to. Whether
or not he, as well as the school,
could make the adjustment remains
to be seen.
The attachment, finally, boils
down to the students here, and
Barrj’s relationships to them,
both as a teacher and friend. Do
they want him badly enough to try
to gear themselved to his level of
professionalism? That, too, re
mains to be seen.
In case you haven’t met him
and might not get a chance to, may
I make one suggestion. Read the
play that he is directing before
you see it. Or if you’d rather
go into it with a clear mind, read
it later; but do read it. See for
yourself the lifegiving energy
he is.' laboring to pump into it,
and what he has done to bring it
into a more realistic frame^work
for.today’s.audience.
n€UU Dlft€CTOff
(con't from page 4)
w o r k i n g j processes of the pro
fessional actor.
As a performer he was reader
for the Soviet poet, Yevgeny
Yevtushenko on his tour of the
United States in 1966. The tour
included readings in the Library
of Congress, the universities of
Chicago and Berkeley and at the
State Theater in Lincoln Center
which drew the largest audience
ever to attend a poetry reading in
the United States.
As a teacher of acting and
other theater skills, Boys has
worked for the London Academy of
Music and Dramatic Arts, the Webber
Douglas School and the New School
for Social Research. He is
currently associated with the
American Academy of Dramatic Arts
and the Juilliard School in New
York.