6 THURSDAY, JULY 20, 2006 This fall, it’s all in the bag Junior helped to design satchel BY EMILY LUGER STAFF WRITER When first-year students enter the University in the fall, they face an array of decisions. More specifically, they face an array of costs, including, but not limited to, dorm supplies, comput ers, meal plans, notebooks, books —and, naturally, a bag into which said supplies may be put. Until now, university book stores nationwide have offered similar products to help students lug around their supplies. Experts say leather-bound black computer bags, backpacks and decorative but not very functional messenger bags rank among the most popular of purchases. So when Penelope Manasco, for mer executive at GlaxoSmithKline and owner of startup company Penelope, asked her neighbor University junior Rachael Ostrowski to help her create an affordable, functional and styl ish computer case for female stu dents, Ostrowski jumped at the opportunity to help make students’ purchasing decisions a little easier and a little more fun. A business major, Ostrowski hit the streets when working on a design. She interviewed students at parties, in classes and around campus and asked them their opinion of the prototype bags that Town should take music to the streets We Chapel Hill residents love to do it in the street. It’s how we celebrate national basketball championships and ring in Halloween. It’s the way we measure University milestones and acknowledge achievements. By our standards, it just isn’t an event unless it involves at least 30,000 people gathering uptown. And whether it’s something spontaneous (the NCAA win in 2005), something planned (Halloween) or something in between (the now-defunct Apple Chill), the town has proven it can usually handle huge crowds between the curbs. About 50,000 people celebrat ed Halloween on Franklin Street last year and— all things consid ered it went pretty well. But the town remains com mitted to keeping alive what has become a Chapel Hill tradition, making street events as safe an Named Best Kept I aveda institute (and Most Affordable) chapel hill SALON & S pA Beauty Secret.” 1 • •I’OmS.".: Wr-oo Bos: Of ,’f>o6 ' nurture anew you. I 20% Off | i any hair or nail service booked on i Tuesday or Wednesday* 1 ; Call today! 919.960.4769 i AVEDA I 200 West Franklin Street | 919.960.4769 | www.avedachapelhitl.com Lavifat Healthy Mex! ?*?***** jpjpk | l ,.j l |[|„ 1 lik ken t|tii'.vt<„.• v m : • '..■,. ....,-,'.'l ~;,.| | ; ,n, ■ (ifliif,-,.,.ft,. sir>-n imiVi !j-. .1 ,ii\‘ii,.,„i, ■ nifiiu options ...and more phisa, " ' rM'-iu . , liii i!..i,riiiisinv-i [0 11,1 , i.a ~t ill.- Win all nifStkiiii Ix'crs s2;on Moiidays Manasco had given her. “The bag has transformed tre mendously,” said Ostrowski, 20. “(Manasco) basically took my feedback and changed the pockets around, changed some zippers and made the bag wider so students could fit their books in there, as well as their laptops. “She had me go with one model and then changed things and had me go with the next model.” Those prototypes eventu ally became the Go Girl Laptop Messenger Bag, which comes in various bright colors and also can be monogrammed or sequined to make them more personal. Manasco, whose college-aged son, Travis, encouraged her to target a college market with her company, found her neighbor a perfect fit for her role as market researcher. “I knew she was a business major and a go-getter,” Manasco explained. “And she was very excited to do it.” The research taught Manasco exactly what she needed to know about the college market, from the average laptop size to students’ color preferences. “It was such a great experience because we learned that (what the college women wanted) was com pletely different than the business women," Manasco said. “They all wanted style, and they all wanted function, but there were definite changes made for the Go Girl bags.” The final product includes a spot H JIM WALSH SENIOR WRITER experience as possible. So with all the attention given to facilitating these major events, and with all the support from the students who attend them, it seems odd we’re still lacking one particu lar kind of street-centered activity. Why can’t we get a major music festival in downtown Chapel Hill? As summer bums on, the idea of music outdoors is inescapable. They’re a summer mainstay in major metropolitan areas. Chicago hosts summer street fairs nearly every weekend. Lollapalooza —a concert in the city’s downtown park is huge. COURTESY OF PENELOPE The Go Girl laptop bag came to fruition after UNC junior Rachael Ostrowski researched what female students wanted from their bags. for pens, an iPod and a water bot tle, as well as a waterproof inside pocket for a 15-inch laptop and sufficient room for books. Ostrowski said she thinks it will prove popular for co-eds all over the country. “I think (Manasco) did a really good job with the style, using different fabrics and different designs,” she said. “It’s fashionable and is not your typical over-the shoulder computer bag.” Both Manasco and Ostrowski mentioned that the biggest seller thus far is the polka-dot design, a specific request by women with whom Ostrowski spoke. For the future, Manasco is thinking big. The South by Southwest music festival in Austin essentially a larger Chapel Hill has become one of the most successful and anticipated music events each year. So is the Siren Music Festival on New York’s Coney Island. On Saturday, The Village Voice hosted the event with headliners Stars and Scissor Sisters. It was awesome. Of course, Chapel Hill is not Chicago or New York. But it is a cultural center, home to a well spring of talent and fandom, mak ing a large-scale music festival seem a manageable undertaking. Perhaps summer isn’t the time, but it could be done. And it would be awesome. Somebody should probably get on that. The Siren Music Festival fea tured a lineup that just as easily could have been featured at Cat’s Cradle or Local 506. Last year’s Siren show featured indie favorite Spoon, a band on Better Ingredients" jj Better Pizza. \ jSSIp - f Accepts I ! Bid rdM f $ UNC onecard ? * r _ HOURS \ dfcmk.'iib mtlimLM- OUIV Mon-Wed 10am-2am : A Thurs-Sat 10am-3am ; ■ CJiAA Sunday 11am-lam jj Buffalo Papa John's Pizza ’ 1 W 607-B W. PranMin St. \ 111* BB 932-7575 WlllfllC WW Order Pizza Online! If 1 www.papajohns.com y riSTpA*7 s^ e ~ r ” 1 LARGE I 2 MEDIUM a . A PIZZA SQ99 11 -TOPPING $1(1 00 ?J 3- TOPPINGS 51*”“ PIZZAS IV Nrt v>didh any other o*w Wbdoniy participating locators Customer pays • Noi valid with any other otter Vatod only at participabng locations Customer pays llappkcaMe sales tax. AdMonM toppngs extra Good lor carry-ort or delivery m a* applicable sales tax Additional toppings extra Good lor carry-out or debwry ““i**" l " ___ __ ____ wee ( mwoMntm Maws “We are going to be getting distri bution through electronic retailers,” she said. “We’d like to get into the travel magazines and, for the Go Girl bag, a bigger collegiate market.” This season, Go Girl bags will be offered at UNC, the University of Virginia and N.C. State. One design, Ostrowski men tioned, includes the Wolfpack logo as the design on the inside liner —a feature that, she thinks, will prove popular. Manasco agrees. “We hope, in two years, every body knows about Go Girls —and they’re carrying one.” Contact the Features Editor atfeatures@unc.edu. the Chapel Hill-based Merge record label. So it’s not like we’re strangers to this kind of music. We just don’t get to listen to it outdoors. The town got a good taste of a large-scale festival when it helped to host the Signal electronic music festival in April. The weekend festival, which featured more than 40 electronic artists performing at Triangle venues, was a start, but it was scattered. And it was indoors. Chapel Hill has all the ingre dients for a great music festival when the school year starts: an agreeable thoroughfare, rabid support for local music and an affinity for tomfoolery. I’m just saying that doing it in the street is a good idea, and somebody should start thinking about it. I already have. Contact Jim Walsh at walshjp@email.unc.edu. Theater’s lineup boasts variety Local group announces new schedule BY WILL HALMAN STAFF WRITER In the coming season at the Deep Dish Theater, challenge is not just a theme in the shows the company will be producing. “Every year, we have more peo ple involved, and responsibility gets spread a little more broadly, but there are an awful lot of cracks for things to fall through. And there aren’t very many of us to pick them up.” said Paul Frellick, Deep Dish’s artistic director, founder and, commonly, director of a show. But of course, each show is about challenge, too. “The plays are about people in extreme situations and taking on new challenges and finding their way through situations they’re not necessarily entirely prepared for,” Frellick said. “Orson’s Shadow,” the first show of the season, not surprisingly, is directed by Frellick. Set in a theater with, as Frellick puts it, the “larger-than-life personalities” of Orson Welles, Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh as characters, the show examines the creation of art and celebrity status. The second show, “The Exonerated,” tells the stories of seven people who were sentenced to death and later found innocent. Frellick calls it a “docu-drama” that “relies less on theatricality than really on the stories them selves.” “The Rivals” is the third show of the season. Set in the English town of Bath in the 17705, it fea tures a group of people trying to make sense of their lives amidst romantic tumult. “There’s a marvelous comic energy to it that still works today,” said Frellick. At the season’s end, Frellick will direct a brand new play, “The Gratitude of Wasps,” by Durham playwright Adam Sobsey. Deep Dish has not yet hosted a premiere in their theater, making this anew challenge for the com pany. “We’re finally going to take that big step,” Frellick said. The company “got very excited about it” when Sobsey revealed “The Gratitude of Wasps” in an early draft. But Frellick recognizes a “risky proposition,” as he puts it. “You can’t cite the New York reviews or send people to the library to read it.” A change this season at Deep Dish is the seating. While the theater will still seat 75, the audience will be more com fortable. “We have installed new padded tfipK i Tf/lflW ~ yjH* UNC Faculty/Staff/Students Tickets Available Online www.carolinaperformingarts.org ’ v g *%hb m R Hatty (Tor Hrrl Deep Dish's 2006-07 season Aug. 24 - Sept. 16 “Orson's Shadow" Directed by Paul Frellick ► An off-Broadway hit about the personalities of Orson Welles, Sir Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh ... in the same room. Oct 26 - Nov. 18 “The Exonerated’ Directed by Anthony Lea ► A documentary-style play that explores the true stories of people who were sentenced to death and subsequently found innocent. Feb. 15 - March 10 'The Rivals’ Director TBA ► A pillar of Western drama, “The Rivals” plays out the misadventures of playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan's famous characters Lydia Languish, Jack Absolute and Mrs. Malaprop. April 26 - May 19 'The Gratitude of Wasps" Directed by Paul Frellick ► A black comedy from Triangle native Adam Sobsey about a summer vacation at a North Carolina beach house that proves to be anything but. http://www.deepdishtheater.org seats so we’ll be asking hopefully a lot less sacrifice on the part of our audience,” says Frellick. Deep Dish offers a $6 ticket night on the first Thursday after each show opens. Called Cheap Dish Night, it’s the optimal choice for students, who also get a discounted price on regular show nights. The company’s unusual location was the result of a lack of theater space in town. Disappointed about the lack of theater space in town, Frellick pro posed using University Mali’s space for the production of a theater show to the mall’s management. They agreed, and the produc tion of “Beckett’s Endgame” that resulted was a success to the point that Frellick turned the one-shot deal into a fully opera tional, four-shows-a-season the ater company. Ticket prices are sls for adults, sl3 for seniors, and $lO for stu dents. The first Cheap Dish Night will be held Aug. 31. Contact the ACtE Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu.