University of Texas Austin - Cactus Yearbook (Austin, TX)

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high-brow play Jack, played by Michael Hart nan, drama junior, and Cioendolj n, played by Sara Addiaon, drama junior. Ignore Algernon, played by Vtnce Llngner, drama senior, during their romantic Interlude in the production of The Importance of Being Earnest. by Andrew Chin Old jokes are sometimes the best jokes, as the University Drama Department proved with a Feb. 22 performance of Oscar Wilde ' s 19th century comedy, The Importance of Being Earnest. Playing the two counterfeit suitors, Michael Hartman, drama junior, and Vince Lingner, drama senior, set a quick pace in the opening scene by delivering their lines directly to the audience. Jennifer Bacon-Blaine, graduate student in drama, issued posturing judgments to the crowd throughout the play, opinionating mainly for the sake of talking. An amused onlooker, she unified the production, riding each wave of absurd revelation. Sara Addison, drama junior, and Victoria Noone, drama senior, com- pleted the tableau of Victorian Lon- don by their preoccupation with trifles: watering plants, writing un- finished diary entries, serving bread and butter. The costumes and scenes were colored in understated pastels, which highlighted Wilde ' s sharp humor. The bright lighting throughout the production animated the stilted fineries of 19th century London. The resulting production delivered a narrative for viewing, not following. In a world where in matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity, is the vital thing, contrivance was the order for the evening. I Importance of Being Earnest

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Martha Swop - by Amy Kysela Start spreading the news, Broad- way and Austin have collided. The city and the University worked hand in hand engaging Broadway and regional theater tours of outstanding contemporary works in capital per- formances. Austin ' s Paramount Theatre and the GIT Perform- ing Arts Center united to present the Broadway to Austu By planning a joint season, the two theaters were able to produce Id musicals and performances in PAC and smaller, intimate show the Paramount. Another benefit of the series was the sale of just one set of coordinated season tickets, Para- mount Programming and Marketing Manager Paul Beutel said. This ticket package, he said, kept the cost of tickets down by eliminating com- petitive prices. Broadway to Austin turned out to be a positive public relations benefit for the Paramount and the PAC, Beutel said. Collectively, the two theaters sold more season tickets than either had in the past. The curtain opened on i Babies, a comedy starring Mickey Rooney. Classics such as Edmond Rostand ' s Cyrano, Cyrano ventured into days of chivalry, while Charles Dickens ' Great I ' is took viewers back to the industrial revolu- tion. Nui ' a British comedy farce, kept the audience laughing with its catastrophes. Song and dance dominated the stage of the PAC during perfor- mances of Rogers ' and Hart ' s Vou; and David Merrik ' s award-winning 42n The season ' s finale, The Lining d trew the curtain on what PAC Acting Administrative Director Jerry Harris described as a successful year for both the Para- mount and the PAC. Top: Noel Harrison hat .1 c .1. (us (horn removed as the Noict Off company provider moral support. Center: Valentin Kozloo and the company of On Your To perform the Prince Zenobla Ballet. Bottom: Don BougHton as Floyd Kink id vice tMce to Logan Houston a Graduate.

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Top Left: Celebrating their first looe are Proteus, played by John Catanzaro, graduate student In drama, and Julia, played by Linda Pennlngton, drama senior. In The Two Gentlemen of Verona. Top Right In the Drama Lab Theatre ' s performance of Catastrophe. Dan Scott, drama senior, and Rebecca Boyd, drama senior, satirize modem day faclsm. Bottom: Fern, portrayed by Paige Thompson, drama sophomore, pleads uiith her Uncle Homer, Dan Scott, drama senior, to tpare the pig she nas befriended In Charlotte ' s Web. Al phoun h, Afen Simttt Importance of Betng Eamnl 69