Event Article

"No! No! No! I want more life in it," shouts the director, Tom Blank, as "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie," FC's theatre arts fall play, begins production.

The department will start this year off with a new man at the helm. "High quality performances that's may goal," said Gary Krinke, the new Theatre Department chairman: "We've done some great things in the past, and I just want to maintain what we have going for us: quality," Krinke said.

"The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" is being directed by Blank. The play is set in a girls' conservatory school in Edenburgh, Scotland, from 1931 to 1938. It shows the life of Brodie and the powerful effect she had on her set of girls, so powerful that it leads to her "assassination."

"One of the reasons I like this play is because it has a lot of good roles for women," Krinke said. "And women have made up the majority of the department in the past," he added.

Other productions this year include "Chicago," a musical vaudeville comedy; "Much Ado About Nothing" by Shakespeare; and, at the end of the season, a play called "Life Spirit." Also this year workshop productions of "Bus Stop" and "The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail" will be presented.

"One thing I really want to impress on people, Krinke said, "is that auditions for all the shows are open to all students, and not just theatre majors. We're always looking for new talent, trained or untrained. There's no experience necessary." The department is also looking forward to doing more children's plays this year-adults performing for children. "Once we get our program for children going, we hope to do some full-scale children's shows like "Peter Pan," said Krinke. "Children's theatre can be very rewarding performance-wise and also

money-wise," he added.

"Money, though, doesn't seem to be a big problem with us, but we could always use more of it. We try to make enough on one play so that we can start all over again with another," Krinke said.

On the academic side, the department has added two more classes this fall. "Theatre History" and a new course in costume design, taught by newly acquired instructor Mela Hoyt Heydon, will be Offered. The, costume class will have a second semester project of designing and. making costumes for a renaissance fair in the spring.

Another class that students are attending is "Theatre Appreciation," commonly known as "go to theatre class." In this class the students attend 12 plays in the Los Angeles area and learn about current trends in today's plays. The fee for the class is $50-65.

Tickets for the upcoming shows will be on sale at the fine arts box office and range from $3 for general admission to $2 for students and seniors. "It continues to be the best investment . for the money," Kririke said.