The Olympian from Olympia, Washington • 16

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 8 2002 (Wampum ON STACE The Olympia High School Drama Club presents Man Who Came to Dinner" at 730 pm today Saturday and Feb 15-16 at the Olympia High School Performing Arts Center Set in a small Ohio town the three-act comedy tells the story of an irascible radio personality Sheridan Whiteside who changes the lives of a family he stays with after he breaks his hip on the ice Call 360-753-8921 for more SPOTUCHT Join Lacey Parks and Recreation and Tumwater Parks and Recreation for an overnight skiing and snowboarding adventure at Snoqualmie Pass and Summit Inn Ffees of $185 cover tour leaders transportation two nights kxiging one pizza dinner and two day-and-night lift tickets Feb 20-22 Call 360-491-0857 to register and attend a mandatory pre-trip meeting Wednesday also a snow-tubing event at Sno-qualmie from 9 ajn to 4 pm Feh 18 for a fee of $25 Call 360-491-0857 to register Leading 'lion Feb 10: Singer Rosanna Tavarez of Eden's Crush is 25 Fab II: Actress Jennifer Alston is 33 Singer D'Angelo is 28 Singer-actress Brandy is 23 Singer Kelly Rowland of Child Is 2L it Feb 12: Actor Josh Brolin is 34 Actress Christina Ricci Is 22 Fab 13: Actress Mena Su-varifs23 Feb 14: Singer Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty is 30 Feb 15: Cartoonist Matt Greening is 48 Singer Brandon Boyd of Incubus is 26 Fab Ifie Actor Jeremy Bulloch (Boba Fett in "The Empire Strikes Is 56 Rapper-actor Ice-T is 44 Seethe play What: North Thurston High School's winter play "The Uon the Witch and the WRITTEN BY TEENS FOR TEENS i Continues with 7:30 pm performances today Saturday and Feb 14-16 Where: North Thurston Performing Arts Center 600 Sleater-Kinney Road Admission: Adults $5 Students $5 to $3 Information: Call COUNT ON SWASHBUCKLING FUN Student-directed play takes teens into land of Narnia ANNIE LY FOR THE OLYMPIAN LACEY Some of North Thurston High School's students been themselves lately And the annual winter play is the reason why Tonight and next week Thurston's drama department will present "The Lion the Witch and the based on the classic book by CJS Lewis adapted to play by Joseph Robinette Fictional in as many ways as one can imagine the story describes the adventure of four children in a magical land called Nar-nia During their quest to defeat the evil witch who reigns over Narnia the children find help in the likes of elves talking animals even Father Christmas NTHS actors and actresses have been inside this world of Narnia during rehearsals daily after for several weds "I wanted to try out for this play because it was NTHS junior Mike Anderson said "It has a fantasy theme that's aimed at a younger Joe NctatsonThe Olympian Cast members of "The Lion the Witch and the Hstan to director Heme Ktttermann during dress reheersal Monday show what been working Smith said Tve never dime anything like this before and ifs fun learning all these new things and seeing vfoat goes Characters Performing a play as fictitious as this one many students have the challenge of getting deep into character Emily Reus who plays the evil witch of Narnia found some difficulty when rehearsing her in front offoe entire cast By the end of rehearsal however everyone was satisfied Bradley Layoen a junior at North Thurston coincidentally gets to play his favorite animal He gets into his character of an evil wolf by speaking his lines in a gruff voice and moving as if he feels a sense of paranoia Nervous? Nerves are anything but calm for some students before a performance in front of a large audi- tint Colin McPike a junior at North Thurston tries to overcome that amdety by going over his lines See UON Page B5 ask someone to Salerno a senior and a stage manager ia familiar with Ninth drama department She has worked with past productions such as "Story and the high fall play cue foe fights indicate stage entrances and take care at last-' necessary Salerno said "The stage managers make sure foe acton have what they need to perform their best Our job it to handle things so that they have to worry when Production Auditions for "The Lion the Witch and foe began in late November and foe cast was announced a wed: later Students' who auditioned ranged from North Thunton acting veterans such as Emily Reus and Kim Owens both seniors to such as freshmen Cassie Smith and Alyssa Benson 1 "I like being onstage Ifs cool to be in front of everybody and to schools especially at a school such as North Thurston where a number of students are active in theater mi drama However The Lion the Witch and foe Wardrobe is the first full-length production directed by a student at the North Thurston Performing Art Center Previous student-directed productions were usually one-act plays NTHS junior Hanna Kittexman is the director for the play assisted by student stage managers Mike Hill and Gina Salerno while NTHS rlrama tpariw ITjHiww TViwq serves as foe overall adviser Though Kktennant been a stage manager for previous pUys if her first time directing a play and so she enjoys foe gnat cast the way ideas flow and how things are always open to creativity "Working with a mythical play like this one allows me to envision some things foe way I want them to but sometimes ifs hard con-' veying the exact ideas from my mind to the Kitterman said "I have to put into consideration the actors' limits toa Obviously I Count off Cristo1 it it PG-13 Lacey 8 Shelton and Yelm nn aving never read I story of betrayal and re-U venge I walked into Count of Monte Cristo" expecting nothing more than a competent swashbuckler But director Kevin Reynolds has delivered a tremendously entertaining throwback to Richard Three a refreshingly simple story with a noble mistreated hero and his slimy nemesis Edmund Dantes (Jim Caviezel) has it all a loving fiancee a dear friend and a brand new promotion to captain of the ship he serves on That is until he is unjustly arrested for treason Apparently his friend Mondego (Guy Pearce) so keen on perfect life and decides to take it mom him Imprisoned for 13 years Dantes spends his time do ing two things: educating himself in foe ways of culture and the sword and plotting a horrible revenge against all those who mistreated him The movie is long and foil but the story itself is rlainrir and traight- forward You know for whom to root and at whom to hiss which is a pleasant change from the tortured anti-heroes of late A movie worth seeing with 1 an audience "Monte Cristo offers plenty of reasons to laugh gasp and cheer The only purpose is to entertain die audience There are no campaigns for Oscars here just some great hammy performances and killer swordplay The delightful lack of pretentiousness makes this movie so much easier to swallow unlike previous effort "Robin Hood: Prince of That film took itself far too seriously and imriftvi unintentional langhtw at moments of seriousness It was only enjoyable when Alan Sheriff of Nottingham was on screen He really let loose and by enjoying the role himself let the audience enjoy themselves The three male leads of Christo" Caviezel Pearce and Richard Harris as Dantes' tutoi all steal the show from each other S'ving wonderfully campy per-rmances that allow the audi- The Monte it Rating: Playing: Cinemas Cinemas Cinemas Directing Many people are familiar with the North Thurston Performing Arts Center Not only does it host a number of plays inside its (foots several times a yeai the facility also stages various community events as wdL So so special about this particular play? -Simply put student DAN MCLELLAN MOVIE REVIEW i ence to swallow some of the unwieldy and silly lines of dialogue Pearce shines above the rest for being utterly loathsome as Mon-By the end of the movie the wants this guy dead The object of both affection is Mercedes Hie name is unimportant as is her portrayal of the emotionally tortured love interest She handle such an important part and the movie suffers because of it Her lines are delivered with a Shakespearean seriousness and this Shakespeare She is one of the few weaknesses of "Monte The other main weakness is die inclusion of cheesy action-hero catch-- phrases such as Tm a Count not a Neither needed nor wanted these anachronistic moments pulled me out of my enjoyment and took away from the overall experience Say what you will about Kevin Reynolds can direct exciting action scenes And "Cristo is foil of them from innovative sword fights to a daring escape from a prison this is meant to be a thrill ride for the audience and for die most part it succeeds Aside from lack-luster performance and some inappropriate lines of dialogue "The Count of Monte Cristo is a genuinely entertaining film from start to finish with not one but three great performances highly recommended to fens of adventure or to anyone for hat matter Daniel McLellan Is a freshman at Olympia High School What is your dream car? HEATHER CHRISTIAN 18 Senior at River Ridge High School purple Toyota Jot NichotaonTha Olympian Hanna Mtterman director dtscuiaea costume modiflcatloni with Emity Rem who plays the wttchquoan character in "The Lion the Witch and the Students will perform the play today Saturday and Feb 14-16 Study links drinking promiscuity among teens METASAK18 Senior at River Ridge High School Jaguar XJ220 with 520 horsepower and 600 torque the most beautiful car in the BY KAREN THOMAS GANNETT NEWS SERVICE A new survey out Thursday shows that teens and young adults who use alcohol are seven times more likely to have sex and twice as likely to have sex with four or more partners than nondrinking teens The survey of L200 13-to 24-year-olds also indicates nearly one out of four sexually active youths have unprotected sex because been drinking or using drugs Yet most substance-abuse programs don't address sex and most sex-education classes delve into substance use says Joseph Califana president of foe National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse Tfcens pay a heavy price for that "tremendous he says you believe if you believe in abstinence and the moral imperative for teens not to have intercourse until they get married then they have got to understand the relationship between drinking and drugs and encourage them to avoid drink- Sand he says you eve sex is the inevitable right of passage for teens and you want them to have safe sex then get through to them that drinking and drugging certainly will put them in situations where they will have unsafe The survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation was a focus at a conference Thursday in New York looking at the relationship between sex and drinking and using drugs Among other findings: Mora than a quretre of 15- to IT-yearolds (29 percent) say substance use influenced their decision to do something sexual more than a third (37 percent) of those 18 to 24 say drinking or using drugs influenced them Half of aN teens and young adults say "people their mix drugs or alcohol and sex a lot About one out of four 15- to 17-year-olds (24 percent) say sexually than they planned because they were drinking or using drugs It's even more prevalent among those 18 to 24 (31 percent) According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 79 percent of high school students report having tried alcohol at least once Half of ninth- to 12fo-graders have had sexual intercourse and 65 percent will by the time they graduate Copies of the survey can be found on the Web at wwwJtffoig STEPHEN CROWLEY 16 Sophomore at River Ridge High School A red 2002 Honda Civic fully loaded Good sound system made format racing By Sim CtvntAXympian latfi Pits Caps tmttm Vr.