10 | The Behrend Beacon
‘Perspectives’ added
to life’s situations
Bv Annie Sevin
staff writer
Behrend will present six one-act plays at
Behrend’s Studio Theater at 8 p.m. tonight. Gen
eral admission is $5 and students may attend for
$3. Tickets can be purchased at the Rub Desk in
Reed, or reservations can be arranged by calling
898-6242.
Collectively, the plays are titled “Perspectives,”
and include events revolving around the paranor
mal, troubled relationships and life and death situ
ations. The plays that have been selected are win
ners of the prestigious annual “Actors Theatre of
Louisville’s National Ten-Minute Play Contest.”
They include: Michael Dixon and Val Smith’s
“Breaking the Chain,” Richard Strand’s “The Guest
of Honor,” William Mastrosimone’s “Precipice,”
Jeffrey Sweet’s “Cover,” John Sheehy's “Gave Her
the Eye” and Jerome Hairston’s “40-Minute Fin
ish.”
All of the actors performing in “Perspectives”
are Behrend students under the direction of Dr.
Christine Mangone. The fifteen cast members are
Aaron Amandola, Tanaz Balaporia, Prema Bangera,
Wendy Boyce, Brad Fitch, Amanda Golia, Jeremy
Korwek, Julie Kosin, Christine Lajzo, Zach Mentz,
Steve O’Donnell, Marvin Sanderson, John
Stranahan, Xenia Tomlinson and Megan Whitesel.
The company has very good vibes about the pro
gram. Julie Kosin 01 MATH, who plays Beth in
"Breaking the Chain” said, “I’m really impressed
with how well everyone’s doing and I think the
show’s going to be really g00d... people are going
to really enjoy it.”
Mangone says she had an interesting motive for
choosing one-act plays rather than a full-length pro
duction, “The reason I wanted to do a series of one-
In politics,
America compared to redheaded woman
By Eric Edwards
The Orlando Sentinel
Some people have difficulty understanding poli
tics. Generally, politics are easy to hide from, ex
cept for the presidential elections every four years.
Then the airwaves are filled with almost as many
political ads as beer ads.
You can see why this phenomenon spooks people.
The public can stand only about one political ad
for every 50 beer ads.
Fortunately for the electorate, 1 have a deep un
derstanding of politics that goes back to my days
as manager for my junior prom date's class-trea
surer campaign. I got her elected, and she went with
me to the prom. Simple.
It was then I realized politics is like dating. Al-
low me to explain.
Think of America as a gorgeous redhead whom
every guy wants to date. She's not terribly proac
tive about seeking out the right man, she's more
traditional; she waits for him to find her. And when
he does find her and is able to convince her of his
undying love and devotion, she may consent to date
him. usually for a minimum of four years.
I know what you're thinking: Four years is a long
time to date without getting married, but since my
metaphorical woman is a huge land mass, I think
you'll let me slide if I don't explain why she can
never get married.
So she dates her man (she hasn't yet seriously
considered dating women or minorities, but the
more rich white guys she goes out with, the better
the alternatives look), and things usually start out
pretty well. They share the standard six-month hon
eymoon period, during which she overlooks all of
his flaws because she's still intoxicated by his origi
nal seduction.
But even the best seductions wear off, and she is
left wondering if she picked the right guy. Fortu
nately for the guy, she's very traditional and has a
hard time dumping anyone until his four years is
up.
When that time comes, however, she can expect
some serious courtship. Crowds of men gather at
her door and wrestle each other for the right to battle
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act was to give as many Behrend students as pos
sible a chance to be a part of it. By doing one-acts,
it enables students that don’t have a lot of time to
commit to a full-length play to be able to rehearse
a ten-minute p1ay....”
Mangone also thought that this type of perfor
mance would have a wide range of appeal.
“Some of the plays are very funny, some are com
pletely absurd, and some are very curious, so it
should be a well rounded evening for audiences.”
Jeremy Korwek 01 BUS concurred with Dr.
Mangone, saying, “I think a lot of people will en
joy it.. .it’s going to appeal to any audience out there
if you like comedies, dramas, or whatever.”
Korwek, who plays Marty in “Cover,” also com
mented on the experience of rehearsing one-act
plays, “There [are] some benefits and some down
sides [of one-act plays]. The benefit is you don’t
have to memorize four acts; the downside is you
don’t get to memorize four acts.”
Steve O’Donnell 07 HIST, another cast member
and President of the Drama Organization was
pleased with this fall’s program and company say
ing, “I’ve been in a lot of shows at Behrend, [and]
this is one of the most diverse and talented casts
I’ve ever worked with.”
Amanda Golia 03 FINAN plays Diane in the
comedy-drama play “Cover.” She too says, “It’s
really fun working with [Dr. Mangone] and the cast.
The people who are in it really make it so much
fun.”
Mangone said Behrend usually presents two per
formances a year, one in the fall and one in the
spring. The fall program is normally drama or com
edy and the in the spring comes a musical. Addi
tional performances of “Perspectives” will be held
from Oct. 30-31 and Nov. 3-7; Sunday Matinees
begin at 2 p.m.
itfs all fair
her current boyfriend for her affections. It's a try
ing time for everyone, especially her. After four
years, she is bound to have some problems with
her man. He has made mistakes. Men always do.
So here's this new guy. He has a nice smile and
promises her the world, just like every guy be
fore him. She knows in her heart that courtship
involves some hyperbole, so it's up to her to fig
ure out if the new man holds more promise than
the old man.
She's lucky, though. When the old guy sees that
he has made mistakes and that she has her doubts,
he has time to step up and act like the man he
promised he would be four years ago.
I bet every woman wishes she had a constant
suitor to keep her current man in check. If we were
all worried about our girlfriends dumping us for
some other jerk, we'd be on our best behavior all
the time.
This is a lesson for candidates and boyfriends
everywhere. We will all make mistakes; we will
all do things later on that we wish we could take
back. And when the shining new knight comes
forward to steal the hand of our fair lady, it's im
portant for us to know how to react.
Our instinct may be to close our eyes and pre
tend that nothing is wrong, that she is being irra
tional and faint of heart. But that's a mistake. I
know because I've made it.
What I learned is that we men need to own up
to and acknowledge our sins. We need to tell our
women that in the last four years (or 14 months
as the case may be), we have learned a lot about
each other. We have made mistakes that, if we
had known better, we would not have made. But
after all the time and love we have shared, we
have learned her wants and needs and are deeply
committed to giving her those things because she
is the most important woman in our world.
That's what any women who has ever loved a
man and then fallen to doubt needs to hear. She
needs to know that we are finally paying atten
tion. She needs to know that we are finally going
to put her interests before our own. Finally, she
can stop worrying about learning someone else's
bad habits because all she really wants to do is
give her love to us. At least for the next four years.
Help support
troops overseas
By Meghan 800 l
staff writer
Penn State Behrend’s Residence Life Team
is pulling together a Support the Troops care
package project so that our soldiers will have
food and necessities for the holiday season.
Jaime Russell, coordinator for Residence
Life, is the head of this project and Residence
Life, ROTC, Lambda Sigma and anyone else
willing to help involved. The team is looking
for faculty, staff and students to submit the
names and addresses of those serving our coun
try overseas. They are going to try their best
to send packages to all of those soldiers.
Russell is looking for all types of donations
that include the following items: baked goods
(anything homemade), AT&T phone cards,
candy (no chocolate - it will melt), gum, maga
zines, white socks, coffee, playing cards, beef
jerkey, and miscellaneous toiletries (please be
creative with the donations). They are also
asking for letters and homemade cards because
they will be a great addition to every package
sent.
“I became inspired to organize this project
because my brother and first cousin are both
being deployed to Iraq before Thanksgiving,”
said Russell. “I wanted to show my support
on a larger scale, and I thought this would be
the perfect way to do it.”
“This is the first time the Residence Life
Team put together this type of project. It has
been done before by other organizations on
campus. This is an excellent project for our
campus to get involved in,” states Deepti Soni,
Resident Assistant. “This is a great way to
show gratitude toward our troops especially
around the holiday season!”
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It is encouraged that department offices, resi
dence hall floors, student organizations, etc.
to take up collections and become involved.
“Our goal for this project,” states Russell, “is
to get the entire campus involved - students,
faculty and staff!”
Ted Reider, member of 336 Military Policy
Badallian out of Pittsburgh, PA, as well as a
member of US Army Reserves for three years,
has been deployed to Iraq, outside of Baghdad,
since Feb. 04. His position with the rear group
is what’s called a Family Readiness Group Li
aison (FRG). This group does many projects,
like the Behrend program but they also orga
nize activities for the family and friends of the
soldiers over seas.
“Everyone wants to be with their loved ones,
but parting for overseas assignments is one
facet of being a soldier in today’s military,”
states Reider.
“All soldiers have an obligation to perform
and deployment is part of the job. When re
ceiving these packages, it not only boosts their
moral but lets them know that they are thought
and cared about by their family, friends and
community members.”
Russell and team members are having a
“Packing Party” Nov. 4, 5-7 p.m. in Reed 115
to get the packages ready for shipment. They
would like to send them as soon as possible,
directly after the 4, to ensure that they arrive
in time for the holidays. It will depend on how
much money they have to fund the shipping,
as to how quickly the packages will be shipped.
If anyone is interested in taking part in the
project, please contact Jaime Russell in Stu
dent Affairs in Reed 115. She can be reached
at X6lll or ilr3l@psu.edu.
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