January 23, 2004
Spring season opens with double bill
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Two original works written and directed by graduate students in Southern Illinois University Carbondale's speech communication department start off the Marion Kleinau Theatre's spring performance season Thursday through Saturday, Jan. 29-31.
The opening double bill features Sachiko Tankei's "On Becoming Japerican," highlighting the struggle of fitting into a new culture while keeping faith with the old, and Lynne E. T. Farrell's "Twilight," which examines the beginnings and the end of life from the vantage point of middle age. Tickets cost $5 ($3 for those with student identification).
Details of other shows on tap for spring appear below. All Kleinau performances begin at 8 p.m. in the theater on the second floor of the Communications Building, and no one is seated after a performance starts.
Thursday, March 25, through Saturday, March 27: "Skinny Legs and All," an adaptation of Tom Robbins' novel written and directed by SIUC associate professor Elyse L. Pineau; $5 ($3 for students with ID). This 1990 story of Ellen Cherry, frustrated painter and waitress at the Isaac and Ishmael restaurant in New York City, mixes with observations by a philosophical can of beans, a dirty sock, a silver dessert spoon, a painted stick and a sacred conch shell to offer an offbeat take on race, religion, politics, marriage, money and art.
Wednesday, April 28: Performing Culture spotlight performances, free. Selected performances by undergraduates enrolled in Speech Communication 201, a University core curriculum course designed as an in-depth look at the ways people communicate with each other.
Saturday, May 1: Advanced classes spotlight performances; free. Cream-of-the-crop presentations chosen from both advanced undergraduate and graduate students in performance studies.
For more information, call 618/453-2291 weekdays between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
Designed to hone student skills and showcase the role of performance in shaping society and culture, the annual Kleinau series exemplifies SIUC's twin aspirations of promoting excellence in academics and of reaching out to others through coordinating major cultural outreach programs as outlined in the Southern at 150 initiative, a long-range plan that focuses on the University's growth.