Anna and Chris present Marie and Bruce

"'Marie and Bruce' lures audience into abusive marriage relationship," Daily Tar Heel, 12/6/91

By MONDY LAMB
Omnibus Editor

"Marie and Bruce," a story about all the things a woman caught in an abusive marriage wants to tell her husband, is a dark, introspective look at the cycles of an abusive relationship. "The play is striking and offensive for the purpose of making people sit up and think," said Chris Quails, who plays Bruce in the production by The Campus Theatre. "Marie and Bruce," the second production to emerge from the recently formed group, portrays the reality of an abusive relationship as seen through a woman's imagination.

It opens with a couple in bed, the sum of the reality in which Marie and Bruce live. As Marie draws the audience into her imagination, she explains her treatment at Bruce's hands and her plans to leave him. In her imagination, she also speaks to him as she's never spoken to him before, telling him her true thoughts. In her imagination, she doesn't have to be the wife who takes abuse silently. Although the play is set in Marie's imagination, this actually makes her experiences more real. Rather than experiencing an objective, idealized point of view, members of the audience come to know Marie's thoughts as she addresses them directly, telling them about Bruce's behavior and attempting to bring them to her way of understanding her husband.

"She tries to get the audience on her side," said Anna Weinstein, who plays Marie. "At one point she says to the audience, 'He is such an asshole. Can't you see this?'" Because the play ends right back where it began, "Marie and Bruce" leaves the audience, rather than the characters, searching for a resolution. Perhaps that is the message: As a representation of abusive relationships, the play leaves no solution for the couple because the only solution available is one that Marie, representative of most people, won't take. "A lot of time people get trapped in a relationship and say they are going to break through and leave, but they come right back," Quails said. Weinstein said, "Marie is a weak person who wants very much to be strong."

Quails said the biggest challenge was keeping the humor in this very dark comedy. "It's a dark look at social interaction and deep personal relationships," he said. Much of the action takes place at an imaginary party in which Marie's thoughts serve as the conversations of the party guests.

The rest of the cast Coke Whitworth, Sarah E. Ruccio, Sarabeth Fields, Duncan Boothby, Tom Quinn and Patrick Emerson all play dual roles as party guests. Additionally, John Svara and John Bell will provide special music, and Clint Curtis will perform originally choreographed dance. As well as acting in the lead roles, Quails directs, and Weinstein assists.

"Marie and Bruce" will he presented at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday in Great Hall of the Union.

Pink House politics: Invite to Mark and Joe's swearing-in

Never made it to C-line's for Thanksgiving break

As you know, I spent Thanksgiving in Chapel Hill. Most of the time I was hanging out with three of my friends - Clint, Dana, and one of Dana's good friends, N'Gai. Got much studying done, and listened to a lot of John Coltrane. Have you ever heard his version of "My Favorite Things"? To say it is very beautiful would be an understatement.

...

I'm really enjoying living off campus with my friends. Now that we're all settled into our house, our utility costs have stabilized at about $40 per person, per month. We all pay for things like lightbulbs, paper towels, and toilet paper communally. We also went in on a newspaper subscription and cable TV.

- letter to Dad

(Note from 2009 - to say I "got much studying done" that Thanksgiving break was the biggest overstatement ever. We had been invited down to C-line's place in Charlotte for the meal, but were having far too good of a time by ourselves at the Pink House to motivate.

Eventually, everyone got tired of paying for communal household supplies and I started vic'ing whatever paper products we needed from UNC. It was some scratchy-ass toilet paper, but the price was right. I seem to remember a hacker hooking us up with free cable at some point, but maybe that's just wishful thinking, because I also remember lots of trips to the Time Warner cable office up at Timberlyne to pay our late bills.)

Your vote will make the difference

Hand-colored prior to election day by tireless Chilton campaign volunteer Caitlin Reed, sitting at a card table in the Pink House living room.

The kind of stuff our parents only dreamed of

Calendar, Daily Tar Heel, 10/10/91

Saturday, October 12. THE DADA VEDAS at The Pink House. Call 933-1002 for details.

Caitlin, Caitlin, Caitlin...

I don't remember a lot about the Pink House parties, just the anticipation and the feeling that I'd see everyone I liked. I do remember lying on the floor one time and watching the room spin after getting drunk and high and Erik standing over me saying, "Caitlin, Caitlin, Caitlin..." with youth-corrupting glee.


Pink House O.G.'s – our first party, October 1991. Photo courtesy of Jess Deltac.

I also remember you guys hawking t-shirts for a Pink House party.


Shirt designed by Jess Deltac.

I can't remember which one of course, but I was very impressed, at the time, about the fact that there could be a party big enough to have its own t-shirts.

I mean other than those horrid frat ones with the Old Well and Tar Heel footprints on the back. I think Finis had a vintage Tony Deifell Furious Party shirt that I coveted, though it was before my time, along with his limited edition Threshold t-shirt, the green one where the guy had earth eyes.


Photo courtesy of Mark Chilton.

- Caitlin Reed, 2009

(Note from 2014 - I've always wondered why I didn't go see Nirvana play at the Cradle in the fall of '91, seeing as how Nevermind was one of the CD's we wore out playing that semester on the Pink House boombox. Well, as it turns out, that now-legendary gig took place on Friday, October 4th, the night before we hosted our very first Pink House party, which was a joint celebration of Lydia's birthday and Dada Veda's first public performance. So obviously, we were all a little preoccupied that weekend.)

Do the Right Thing (i.e., the dishes!)

(Click for larger image)

It will be the shit!

How goes it, homey. Did you and yer Dad kick back and go out hunting for Boston babes on Thursday, or what? You would have enjoyed Babyhead, but this week's dance party promises to be three times as hype. Zoiks! Listen, enclosed is your copy of the lease. Give me a call when you get this, o.k.? Hopefully I'll talk wid you in the next couple of days, but you never know. This is Monday morning - I'm going to New Hampshire tonight and coming back tomorrow night. Then I'm planning to come up to Boston on Thursday morning – or maybe Wednesday night, to hang out with Erica. If you want to come to R.I. with me on Thursday then we'll hook up.

And what about the D-man? Is he back home yet, or what? Well, bitch, having just talked to you on the phone I guess I know the answers to all the above questions, but what the hell.

Man, this housing thing is gonna be so fly. Far fucking-out fly, that's how fly, plus def, dope and braggadocious. It will be the shit! Been talking with all the hippies I know up here who live in communal houses with friends at schools like Brown, Yale, Middlebury, etc., and asking them how they handle the food arrangements. How would you feel about everybody cooking a big vegetarian meal of their choice one day a week, with everybody taking turns going shopping once a week (on the day that no one cooks, maybe Sunday?) for the whole batch of ingredients each person would need to make their stuff? Just one possible way of doing it. Brothers gonna work it out!

For yer info: In Chapel Hill, I have a CD player, bookshelves, single loft, VCR, color TV, ugly striped couch, small table, computer with printer, and a comfortable desk chair. I will be bringing a desk and bureau with me from Rhode Island. The small table, couch, VCR and TV all will probably find homes elsewhere in the house - everything else I'm planning to put in the room.

Lollapalooza this Friday in Massachusetts and I'm most anticipatory. Do not feed the alligators, for they will bite you. Peace!

- letter to Clint

(Note from 2009 - Following our infamous cross-country road trip with Dana and Preston, Clint was teaching tennis that summer at Curry College, just outside of Boston. We got to hang out a little, since I was up in Rhode Island all summer, spending many of my weekends chasing a girl who lived in a run-down apartment building near Kenmore Square that had rooftop access and an amazing view of the city.

Thinking my frantic spring quest to find off-campus housing for the fall had come up short, I was ecstatic when Sylvia Chi called me in mid-July to let me know the Pink House was ours if I could wrangle up enough roommates to fill it. She had previously told me that at least two other groups of prospective tenants were ahead of us on the waiting list, and either they both flaked out or she decided we were the most responsible crew of the bunch. Little did Sylvia know.

Clint, myself, and Raj had already agreed to live together, and commitments from Lydia, Jess and Shyam materialized after a marathon round of interstate phone calls to every head I could think of who didn't already have their housing plans nailed down. All the pieces fell into place, and Raj and Lydia were the first ones to move in on August 1st.)

How the children of the 70's brought back Disco

"Disco Mania: Bee Gees And Leisure Suits Live," New York Times, 5/6/91

Campus Life: North Carolina

By KYLE YORK SPENCER

Photo: Students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have become fascinated with the look and mood of the 1970's by reviving its clothes, music and slang. Students attended a recent party at a local club where they danced to disco music and, some, wore bell-bottoms. (Duane Hall for The New York Times). Courtesy of Elizabeth Dryman Deifell.

When Dayna Baird, a senior English major at the University of North Carolina, packed her polyester bell-bottoms and sent them home, she had not yet received her invitation to the 1970's disco night at the local dance club here. But when the invitation arrived, she immediately called her parents in Dublin, Ohio, to send back the pants.

Ms. Baird is an avid disco dancer who knows the name of the Brady Bunch's singing group and who owns a leisure suit. She is not an oddity here. She is one of hundreds of students who have caught on to a 1970's craze.

Many attribute its popularity to the first annual 70's dance held in the student union on Feb. 9. About 500 students turned out to model leisure suits, show off disco steps and demonstrate their knowledge of '70's trivia. Since then, the music of K.C. and the Sunshine Band, Abba and assorted other '70's bands can often be heard at fraternity parties, local clubs' parties, and sometimes even the cafeteria.

'Can't Get Enough of It'

"I don't think it's really big," Ms. Baird said. "But the people who love it really love it."

The resurgence of clothes, music and slang from the 1970's may not be big, but local shopkeepers and disc jockeys say it is affecting their business. At Time After Time, a vintage clothing shop in Chapel Hill, bell-bottoms and acetate shirts are making a comeback, said a clerk, Kelvin Nivens.

At WXYC, the campus radio station, a disk jockey, Erik Ose, a sophomore history major from Providence, R.I., said, "When we play a 70's song, something say from the Bee Gees or Earth, Wind and Fire, the switchboards light up. People can't get enough of it.

At the Skylight Exchange, one of Chapel Hill's cafe-bookstores, 70's music blares in the background, and employees are frequently caught touching up on old dance steps.

To hear aficionados tell it, being a '70's fan is not always easy. "Sometimes I think I'm so weird," Ms. Baird said. "I don't know why I'm so into this."

Katie Milbrooks, night manager of the Skylight Exchange, said she recently sold a "Saturday Night Fever" soundtrack to a customer who insisted on a bag because he didn't want to be seen carrying a disco album.

Mr. Ose suggested that the 70's music and fashion revival represents a kind of rebelliousness. "Disco was shunned for so long, it was made out to be the evil entity," he said. "Since its inception, it's never been so cool to like disco. As time passes, people will realize this."

For many fans, the 70's look and talk still is not cool, which is what makes it hot. "It's so cheesy that it's cool; it's so bad that it's great," said Stacy Philpott, a junior psychology major from Asheboro, N.C.

Polyester Clings Together

"Everyone looked so disgusting then," said Susan Hunter, whose house is full of 70's paraphernalia. The Chapel Hill resident, who graduated last spring with degrees in French comparative literature, calls the era "hideous" but "dynamite."

Mr. Philpott admitted that to avoid ridicule, most 70's fans do not flaunt their leisure suits on a daily basis. "They dress up when they get together -- but never alone," he said.

Recently, Mr. Philpott and Ms. Hunter had an opportunity to do just that when they were hosts to a Karen Carpenter theme party honoring Ms. Carpenter, the singer who died in 1983.

Some fans say that by latching on to the 70's, they are coping with the past and coming to terms with their childhood. Ms. Baird said it reminded her of elementary school, when she practiced dance steps in the basement with girlfriends.

Mr. Philpott said his fascination with the 70's represents a return to lost innocence. He said that when he was young he listened to the Village People and was unaffected by the Watergate scandal.

Ms. Hunter explains the resurgence quite simply. "We are children of the 70's," she said.

The Making of the African Queen

"Play presents a view of homosexuality," Daily Tar Heel, 4/12/91

By MARA LEE
Staff Writer

Don't be fooled. "The Making of the African Queen," showing in the Union Cabaret Friday and Saturday, is not a documentary about Katharine Hepburn.

Senior Paul Dawson wrote, directed, and stars in this one-man show to give a personal account of "one gay's journey into light." "It's about growing up in a very repressive atmosphere coming to terms with homosexuality in Helmsville," he said. The play uses monologues, modern dance, classical music, pop music, and even disco to express Dawson's thoughts.

Killian Manning choreographed the show. "I had a lot of thoughts going through my head," Manning said. "I realized I had spent a lot of time looking for scripts these thoughts might apply to. I just bought a journal and started writing them down I just took it everywhere I went. "About a month and a half later, I decided this was my show."

Dawson said he had deliberately chosen to present "African Queen" in the Union. "I wanted this play to be in the Student Union rather than in the drama building because it deals so directly with the University in many cases. The audience is so important. Hopefully this play will be seen by some of the people that really need to see it and not (be) preaching to the converted."

Angela Crisp, producer of the play and representative of the Theater Arts Committee, said, "We support students to come up with incredible, creative pieces like this. We felt it was a subject that needed to be talked about." Clint Curtis, one of the dancers, said he had chosen to work on the show for several reasons. "I wanted to be a little more open-minded about the subject. I think in the beginning that was the biggest thing I had to set aside, being in this gay and lesbian piece not worrying if people thought I was homosexual. It really didn't matter."

The play speaks to several audiences, Dawson said. "Among other things, it will offer an identity for a group of people who don't often see things portrayed that they can relate to. And of course, I'm being vague and I don't need to. I'm speaking of gays. "It's a challenge to your tolerance. I hope it leads us to look at the tolerance we have and why we have certain fears and hatred, because sometimes I don't think we know."

Curtis said, "It's a very personal play just because it has a lot to do with this life we've all been closed off to." Crisp said the script was much more than just an informative piece. "Some monologues are very humorous. Some are bitter. Some are heartbreaking. It's powerful, startling, shocking, intense and ultimately positive. There are so many feelings running throughout He does this incredible Katharine Hepburn imitation." Dawson said, "I think it's a type of play that I've not seen around here. It draws on popular music, modern dance, a one-man show. "It's a very frank play, and this is a subject that is rarely expressed frankly. And that kind of visibility is what we need now."

"The Making of the African Queen; Or, One Gay's Journey Into Light" will be playing at 8 pm. April 12 and 13 in the Union Cabaret. Admission is free. A discussion will follow. It is sponsored by TAC of the Union Activities Board and the Carolina Gay and Lesbian Association.

(Note from 2014: This one-man show was a tour-de-force, mixing personal memoir with modern dance, and reaching a particularly emotional climax when Sylvester's You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) came booming at top volume through the Cabaret's sound system.

Besides being the most heartfelt testimony I've ever witnessed of what it meant to grow up black and gay in Jesse Halms' North Carolina, this night made me want to throw a disco party there, a dream we later realized in early 1997 with Pez on the wheels of steel. Why the Student Union eventually chose to destroy the Cabaret in the name of "renovations" is a shame and tragedy, because it was an amazing, versatile performance space.

Fifteen years later, Paul Dawson went on to appear in John Cameron Mitchell's infamous 2006 film Shortbus. As the above article makes clear, Clint was one of the dancers, Killian Manning did the choreography, and Angela Crisp produced the play. As I remember, I had a little thing for Angela around this time. Paul Ferguson was both assistant director and a script consultant.)

Surrender scoundrel!

Daily Tar Heel, 4/4/91

Jess Deltac, a sophomore from Charlotte, playfully bashes Clint Curtis, a freshman from Iowa City, Iowa, with a Chinese yo-yo. waving a white flag. The students were encountered in the Pit Wednesday.

First Annual WXYC 70's Dance

The first annual 70's dance (was) held in the student union on Feb. 9. About 500 students turned out to model leisure suits, show off disco steps and demonstrate their knowledge of '70's trivia.

- "Disco Mania: Bee Gees And Leisure Suits Live," New York Times, 5/6/91