Fri, Jul 28, 2006
July 28-30, 2006
LIED CENTER FOR PERFORMING ARTS, STARTING SEPT 8
U.N. Ambassador Bolton, McGovern, Authors Headline Thompson Season
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John R. Bolton will lead off the 2006-07 E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a lecture at 3:30 p.m. Sept. 8 at the Lied Center for Performing Arts, 301 N. 12th St.
Bolton's lecture is the first of five in this year's series. All Thompson Forum lectures are free and open to the public. Other lecturers in the forum's 19th season are culture and political expert and best-selling author Azar Nafisi, statesman George McGovern, author and economist Clyde Prestowitz, and public health expert and best-selling author Sherwin Nuland. The forum's 2006-07 theme is "Challenges and Change." For more information and a full list of speakers, visit the E.N. Thompson Forum website.
E.N. THOMPSON FORUM
LIED CENTER JOHNNY CARSON THEATRE
Repertory Theatre Presents Ominum Gatherum
The Nebraska Repertory Theatre, the professional wing of the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film, continues its 39th season July 19 with a piping hot slice of satire: Ominum Gatherum. By Theresa Rebeck and Alexandra Gersten-Vassilaros, Ominum Gatherum is a lavish gourmet dinner party engineered by a dithery hostess, not unlike Martha Stewart, in a city not unlike New York, where "a collection of peculiar souls" gather to enjoy wit and incendiary conversation, spiced with chutney encrusted seared salmon (catered by Lincoln's own Chez Hay). Omnium Gatherum, defined as a Òmiscellaneous collection (as of things or persons)", features eight people, all with very different opinions, from very different places in life. They have been brought together by Suzie (Judith K. Hart), who is determined to host the perfect dinner party with the perfect food, the perfect table, and the perfect topics of conversation.
There is Roger, the novelist, played by UNL graduate actor Jim Hopkins; Lydia, a staunch feminist and vegan, played by Lincoln's own Melissa Lewis; Julia, devoted to her vision, played by Katherine Nora LeRoy, an actress with a UNL MFA who now lives in New York City; Khalid, the party's Arab guest, played by professional actor Dale Westgaard; Terence, a proper English pundit, played by Omaha's Paul R. Coate; Jeff, a firefighter, played by UNL graduate actor Greg Parmeter, and a surprise guest, played by UNL senior theatre major William Heafer. This collection of people will have you debating with your friends for several days.
Performances are July 28, 29, August 1, 2, 3 at 7:30 pm, and July 30 at 2:00 pm in the Lied Cener's Johnny Carson Theater, 11th & Q in Lincoln. Season Passes, which allow the purchaser unlimited attendance at NRT 2006 performances and each of the Destinations performances, are available for $45, $40 faculty/staff and senior citizens, and $25 students. Individual tickets are $20, $18 faculty/staff and seniors, and $10 students. Tickets and passes may be purchased at the Lied Center Ticket Office, 301 N 12th St. in Lincoln, 11 am to 5:30 pm Monday through Friday, and one hour prior to performances in the designated theatre lobby. Via Telephone: 402-472-4747 or toll free 800-432-3231.
NEBRASKA REPERTORY THEATRE
Repertory Theatre Presents Ominum Gatherum
There is Roger, the novelist, played by UNL graduate actor Jim Hopkins; Lydia, a staunch feminist and vegan, played by Lincoln's own Melissa Lewis; Julia, devoted to her vision, played by Katherine Nora LeRoy, an actress with a UNL MFA who now lives in New York City; Khalid, the party's Arab guest, played by professional actor Dale Westgaard; Terence, a proper English pundit, played by Omaha's Paul R. Coate; Jeff, a firefighter, played by UNL graduate actor Greg Parmeter, and a surprise guest, played by UNL senior theatre major William Heafer. This collection of people will have you debating with your friends for several days.
Performances are July 28, 29, August 1, 2, 3 at 7:30 pm, and July 30 at 2:00 pm in the Lied Cener's Johnny Carson Theater, 11th & Q in Lincoln. Season Passes, which allow the purchaser unlimited attendance at NRT 2006 performances and each of the Destinations performances, are available for $45, $40 faculty/staff and senior citizens, and $25 students. Individual tickets are $20, $18 faculty/staff and seniors, and $10 students. Tickets and passes may be purchased at the Lied Center Ticket Office, 301 N 12th St. in Lincoln, 11 am to 5:30 pm Monday through Friday, and one hour prior to performances in the designated theatre lobby. Via Telephone: 402-472-4747 or toll free 800-432-3231.
NEBRASKA REPERTORY THEATRE
MARY RIEPMA ROSS MEDIA ARTS CENTER
L'Enfant, Wordplay Show at the Ross
UNL's Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center presents L'Enfant, and Wordplay. Both films will be playing through August 3.
ean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne present another uncompromising, emotionally devastating depiction of human struggle with L'Enfant. Winner of the Palme d'Or at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival (their second, after 1999's Rosetta), the film opens just as 20-year-old Bruno (Jeremie Renier) and his 18-year-old girlfriend Sonia (Deborah Francois) have welcomed their first child into the world. A small-time crook with no big-time leads, Bruno decides to sneak away with his son, Jimmy, and sell him for a hefty chunk of money. But when he tries to justify his actions to Sonia, assuring her that they'll have another baby, she collapses in shock. While she recuperates in the hospital, Bruno realizes that he's made a horrendous mistake, and embarks on an impassioned quest to get his son back and redeem himself to Sonia. As in their other fictional feature films, the Dardennes use handheld cinematography, realistic acting, and a music-free soundtrack to create a poetically heightened sense of reality. The result is a supremely humane work of art. Featuring another powerful performance from frequent Dardennes collaborator Renier, L'Enfant also boasts an unforgettable performance from newcomer François, who fills the screen with an honesty rarely seen.
Fifty million Americans do crossword puzzles each week, many in the venerable New York Times, which published its first puzzle in 1942. For the past 12 years, the man whose name has been indelibly linked to the Times crosswords is editor Will Shortz. In Wordplay, director Patrick Creadon presents an entertaining and informative look at Shortz's work and that of the puzzle constructors with whom he collaborates. As these pros demonstrate how to create a crossword, Creadon cleverly integrates interviews with celebrity crossword solvers, including Bill Clinton, Bob Dole, Jon Stewart, Ken Burns, the Indigo Girls, and others. While Creadon's access to Shortz enables a fascinating insight into what makes crosswords tick, it's the unexpectedly riveting coverage of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, an annual competition founded by Shortz that makes Wordplay really shine. Profiles of a number of intelligent and ingratiating contestants reveal their unique personalities as they prepare for and attend the tournament. Though on the surface, this part of the film resembles other recent documentaries exploring competitions like spelling bees or Scrabble, the focus for participants here is as much on the overarching sense of community their love of crosswords fosters as on winning. Wordplay emerges as an engrossing, yet lighthearted, portrait of an American institution, and its masterful execution produces the same satisfaction as completing a particularly ingenious and challenging puzzle.
More information is available at the Ross website.
MRRMAC | L'ENFANT | WORDPLAY
L'Enfant, Wordplay Show at the Ross
UNL's Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center presents L'Enfant, and Wordplay. Both films will be playing through August 3.
Fifty million Americans do crossword puzzles each week, many in the venerable New York Times, which published its first puzzle in 1942. For the past 12 years, the man whose name has been indelibly linked to the Times crosswords is editor Will Shortz. In Wordplay, director Patrick Creadon presents an entertaining and informative look at Shortz's work and that of the puzzle constructors with whom he collaborates. As these pros demonstrate how to create a crossword, Creadon cleverly integrates interviews with celebrity crossword solvers, including Bill Clinton, Bob Dole, Jon Stewart, Ken Burns, the Indigo Girls, and others. While Creadon's access to Shortz enables a fascinating insight into what makes crosswords tick, it's the unexpectedly riveting coverage of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, an annual competition founded by Shortz that makes Wordplay really shine. Profiles of a number of intelligent and ingratiating contestants reveal their unique personalities as they prepare for and attend the tournament. Though on the surface, this part of the film resembles other recent documentaries exploring competitions like spelling bees or Scrabble, the focus for participants here is as much on the overarching sense of community their love of crosswords fosters as on winning. Wordplay emerges as an engrossing, yet lighthearted, portrait of an American institution, and its masterful execution produces the same satisfaction as completing a particularly ingenious and challenging puzzle.
More information is available at the Ross website.
MRRMAC | L'ENFANT | WORDPLAY
