Tallahassee Democrat du lieu suivant : Tallahassee, Florida • Page 13

TO) TCi Tallahassee Democrat July 11, 1986 Featu d) Reel Tips, 2 Movie reviews, 4 Comics, 8 ludio Theatre offers cure for summertime blues television in a short-lived but pioneering series in 1975. Three FSU students Christine Ur-baniak, Kim Pereira and James Lawrence will split the directing chores for an evening of Thornton Wilder one-act plays "Infancy," "Childhood" and "The Happy Journey of Trenton and Camden." The Wilder sketches will have their first run July 18. Wilder is probably best known for his classic American play "Our Town." "Baltimore" and "Butler" were chosen for an older, adult audience and contain some rough language and sophisticated subject matter, Olsen said. The Wilder plays were added apecifically for family attendance. "If it's successful this summer we'll try to expand it next year," Olsen said.

"The Hot 1 Baltimore" 8:15 p.m. July 16 and 17; also, July 25, Aug. 2 and 3 at Conradi Theatre, 119 Williams Building. Tickets: $3, general public; $2, students and senior citizens; Season subscription: $6 and $4. Call ticket office: 644-6500.

No reservations needed; general seating. Play contains rough language and adult situations. "Three One-Act Comedies" by Thornton Wilder, July 18, 19, 24, 27 30 at 8:15, Studio Theatre. "What the Butler Saw" by Joe Or-ton, July 20, 23, 26, 31 Aug. 1, 8:15 p.m.

Studio Theatre. Adult situations. "Hot fun in the lummertime" Sly Stone By Mark Hinton Democrat ataff writer Boy George is undergoing heroin-addiction treatment, the state is making us wear our seat belts, the Four Arts gallery had its death warrant signed and the city of Tallahassee doesn't open up the fire hydrants so we can play in the water. All this and Dog Days aren't even here yet. In a summer that's hard pressed for a few laughs, a group of local college students may offer some relief.

Florida State University's Studio Theater will produce a summer repertory of humorous works at the Conradi Theatre. The Summer Studio Repertory Theatre opens next week with La ford Wilson's "Hot I Baltimore" and will run through Aug. 3. Two other comedies are scheduled to run along with "Baltimore" on a rotating basis. FSU professor and repertory leader Charles Olsen said the productions will give the 21 students who make up the repertory company an opportunity to broaden their theater experience.

"During the school year, the students are broken down into specific studies such as directing, acting or lighting and other technical aspects." "With a repertory, everybody does a 4i- 1 little bit of everything. "I think it helps when the members of the troupe are thinking about and involved in all aspects of the play the lighting, the costumes, the acting and even the posters. "That's bound to give you a different approach to a work," he said. The Studio repertory also gives many students who weren't chosen for the Summer Musical Theater program in Panama City Beach a chance to perform this summer, Olsen said. "The dean (Gil Lazier) was behind it and we decided this would be a great time for a comedy repertory," said Olsen.

The last summer repertory at Studio was in 1981. Olsen will direct Joe Orton's "What the Butler Saw," opening July 20. Orton's popular and much-produced farce concerns an English psychiatrist who makes amorous advances toward his prospective secretary and inadvertently sets off a chain of ludicrous misunderstandings. The British playwright has experienced a resurgence recently. The Broadway revival of his play "Loot" was nominated for five Tony Awards this year.

FSU drama professor Doug O'Dell takes over the directorial duties for "Hot 1 Baltimore." The play, about a pack of lovable misfits and losers in a soon-to-be-demolished Baltimore hotel, won an Obie Award for best off-Broadway play in 1973. The comedy-drama was later adapted for Jon Nalon'trMUnc FSU's Summer Studio Repertory will produce some hot comedies Barnett collection holds some of Tallahassee's best Visual I Jv ARTS a Betty Rubenstein -1 1 If you want to survey the best art produced in Tallahassee over the years, just walk into the downtown office of the Barnett Bank where two newly acquired works, Fred Holschuh's "Rooster" and Karl Zerbe's "Dancing Couple," now preside over the Customer Service Lobby. Since Holschuh no longer works in metal, his "Rooster" is already a rarity. "Dancing Couple" is from one of Zerbe's most important series. Further along in the lobby, Ralph Hurst's sculpture, "Florida Deer," and Cecelia Cunningham's stunning acanthus vase bring the pulse of life to an otherwise unfeeling space.

Both Robert Crosby, bank president since July of 1985, and Fred McCord, recently retired chairman and chief executive officer and a member of the bank board of directors, beam proudly over the art collection. Most of the credit for this fine collection goes to McCord, who in only four years, used his own judgment and at various times the advice of art consultants John Han-Ion, Richard Puckett, Marcia Orr and Ron Yrabedra to select the cream of the Tallahassee art crop. He hopes to catalog the collection and send it traveling in the near future. From the basement vault, cheered by Jeannie Britt's triptych-ceramic wall relief, to the fifth-floor cash management department, McCord has covered the bank's walls, stairwells, and executive offices with watercolors, acrylics, oil paintings and sculptures from the art studios of Tallahassee. Now, nearly out of space, McCord still hopes to fill the holes he thinks exist in the collection.

"I wish we had something by Ken Fa-lana, Artemis Jegart and Agnes Harrison," McCord said. Other major gaps exist. For example, there are no photographs and no works by several Tallahassee artists with national reputations, among them enamelist William Harper and Janice Hartwell. But in almost every case, McCord 's selections represent the best current work of the artists chosen. For example, Stuart Riordan's dramatic "Andante con Brio," Ruth Deshaies' "Lake Geneva," Nancy Reid Gunn's "Early Bird Song" and Ed Jonas' "Thistle" mark these painters' top achievements.

This is not true for Trevor Bell or Mitzi Kessler, whose paintings are more dramatic in a larger scale. Better landscapes exist by Dean Gioia and John Stanford. Roland Hockett's eagle is out of place in the Installment Loan Department lobby and needs revision. The collection could benefit from one of M.A.D. Keatley's new abstractions, along with the art deco patterned work of Beth Appleton.

The recent purchase of Zerbe's "Dancing Couple" not only adds prestige to the bank's collection (a companion "Dancing Couple" is owned by the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York), but also will help to provide funding for the video of Zerbe's career now production in Tallahassee by Peter Barton. Born in Berlin in 1903, Zerbe came to America in 1935 after extensive training in Europe. Follow-: ing his 18 years as the Head of the Department of Painting at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Zerbe came to Florida State University in 1954. When he died in 1972, Zerbe was remembered as a major innovator who restored interest in encaustic painting (using wax as a base instead of water or oil) and who was among the first to experiment with the newly manufactured acrylic paint. Silk screen prints by Zerbe, of which the Barnett Bank owns a series of 11, are considered among the finest examples in that medium.

When questioned recently about which work was his favorite, McCord was reluctant to reply, a characteristic trait of the true collector. He cares more for a representative body of work than promoting his own particular taste. With a budget of between $50,000 and $100,000, McCord said he was not sure exactly how much he has spent or what the current See ART, 4B Low-power W17AB packs quite, a punch By R.C. Morgan-Wilde Democrat staff writer Tallahassee television's new kid on the block arrived 26 months ago and has been been on a roll for the past year, in spite of its low-power broadcast signal. W17AB-TV, Channel 17 (cable 13), became Tallahassee's first low power television station in May 1984.

It was intended orginally as a re-broadcasting facility for a Panama City station, but became the area's only independent television outlet instead. When Phipps Broadcasting the area's television leader, bought W17AB this spring, at least one question generated speculation: When an existing TV firm buys another TV station in the same market, how does it affect their competition with each other? Phipps also owns WCTV, Channel 6, the local CBS affiliate. It isn't against Federal Communications Commission regulations, and the FCC approved the deal. But Phipps' ownership of two TV stations in one market is unique. Officials at the stations say Phipps' acquisition of W17AB is merely an example of a booming business looking for new challenges.

"Channel 17 is a commercial TV station," explained Chuck Sawyer, production manager at Wr17AB. "We're in the business to make a profit and compete with the other stations in this market." "If the station is going to be successful, we had to own it," said Dennis Boyle, Phipps' president. Boyle and Jerry Williams, programming director for both stations, said that Phipps plans to design programming at Channel 17 as an alternative to that of Channel 6, with an emphasis on programs for children and minorities. The FCC intended to bring minorities into broadcasting with the advent of low power television. In the commission's September 1980 notice of its intent to create a new category of television, the FCC said it wanted to "open up the airwaves to new media voices," especially to black, Hispanic, American Indian and other minorities.

W17AB already has more minority programming, such as "Ebony-Jet Showcase" and "Essence," than any other local commercial TV station, Sawyer asserted. Other special-interest local programs are expected to follow. Beginning in the fall, a 13-week call-in series hosted by Florida State University's new basketball coach, Pat Kennedy, is planned. "We're working toward making Channel 17 more community-based," Boyle explained. But, he added, "The bottom line is that Phipps intends to make the station profitable." W17AB's former-owner, Octagon Broadcasting, and Phipps have had increasing success during the past year in reaching this goal.

Topping everything else was the purchase itself. Phipps took ownership May 1. However, there were earlier sign of progress at the station: In early 1985, W17AB became the first low power TV station in the country to have its programs listed in quarterly Arbitron Ratings Co. television viewers-survey book 1 In July 1985, W17AB's Arbitron ratings ranked the station as See W17AB, 4B Mark Wallheiaer Democrat Ray Wiley started out a rock 'n' roller before taking to country ooiniSiry sonifi)GttDin) Ray Wiley tasted the big time on tour with Murphey By Mike Rychlik Special to the Democrat My hopes are up. But I've been through this before.

Somebody can say something on the back of the bus one day and forget it the next. Ray Wiley WFSU-TV drive starts strong mailing. The effort is to have members contribute without the 5- to 10-minute program breaks normally associated with money-raising on Public Broadcasting Service stations. The station's money goal is $130,000. On television it takes the station about one day to raise $14,000, said Donna McHugh, who is heading the effort.

By R.C. Morgan-Wilde Democrat staff writer WFSU-TV's "Don't Give Me a Break" money-raising campaign had generated about $25,000 on Thursday, said a station spokeswoman. The money-raising campaign is the station's attempt to eliminate on-air membership solicitation pledge-breaks during the "Summerfest" national drive in August. The new-fangled drive was launched in mid-June with news-reel-styled television commercials, billboards, and a mass- When Michael Martin Murphey was pulling into town to play at the Musical Moon on May 1, local guitarist and country music aficionado Ray Wiley already had a pair of tickets for the show. As it turned out, Wiley didn't need them.

He had received a phone call that afternoon from Moon co-owner Grant Peeples, who asked him to fill in for Murphey's pedal-steel guitarist. The musician couldn't perform because of a death in his family. At first, Wiley said, he wasn't too enthusiastic. He wasn't very familiar with Murphey's wide range of material and he had little time to prepare. And before things got better, they got worse.

When Wiley arrived for a rehearsal and sound check, his amp, which he had never had any problems with, went dead. By then, Wiley said, he felt like he could come unglued, but Murphey's laid-back attitude made him feel at ease. He quickly became familiar with Murphey's style, worked his way through the amp problem and, at the concert that night, Wiley shone like a would-be star. The home-town audience at the Moon was pleasantly surprised to see a familiar face on stage, and greeted each of Wiley's adept solos with a warm ovation. "I really appreciated the backing I got that night at the Moon," Wiley said.

"It made me understand that Tallahassee people do appreciate their local musicians." Murphey was so impressed with Wiley's perfor- mance that he invited him to go on the road with his group until the regular pedal-steel and fiddle player returned. The result for Wiley was a taste of the big time: a week and a half on a tour bus, four concert dates, and a chance to rub elbows with country celebrities such as Roy Acuff, Exile, Jerry Reed, and Earl Thomas Conley. The experience had a profound affect on Wiley's own aspirations. "I sort of got spoiled riding on that bus, meeting those celebrities, and playing concerts in front of 5,000 people," he reflected. "It was like being a star for a week.

"Right now, I'm waiting to hear back from Murphey. His fiddlepedal steel player might be leaving the group, but Murphey prefers someone who can play both instruments," Wiley said. And he does use a lot of fiddle in his music." Even if this instrumentalist job doesn't pan out, Murphey was impressed enough with Wiley's attitude to offer him a job working with his entourage peddling cassettes and records. See WILEY, 4B $130,000 iIjQto.ooo El El'-'" WFSU-TV $30,000 1J0.000.