'Nadja' Bares Fangs at the Sheldon

Bringing fresh blood to the vampire film genre, Michael Almereyda's Nadja, opening at the Mary Riepma Ross Theater on April 11, is a spellbinding brew of droll comedy, hallucinatory fantasy and lush eroticism.

In the title role, Elina Lowenshon creates a bloodsucker so formidable that Variety called her "one of the sexiest female vampires ever to bare her teeth on screen" and "the definitive modern vampire."

After Dr. Van Helsing drives a stake through her Dracula daddy's heart, he tracks Nadja and her twin brother Edgar who are hiding in the chiaroscuro after-hours netherworld of New York City. When Van Helsing enlists his nephew Jim in his efforts to kill the vampire twins, they discover that Jim's wife, Lucy, has already been seduced by Nadja and that Jim's half-sister Cassandra has fallen in love with Edgar.

The film's luminous black-and-white imagery alternates between 35mm and Pixelvision, which transports us into the hazy universe of vampiric unconscious. The alternations between the two visual domains shines a light on the film's main strategy -- finding the horrific in the everyday -- as well as its principal subjects: love and death; the monsters lurking within dysfunctional families; the anxiety and fear that shadow an unstable marriage; the pain of fleeting joy.

Briskly entertaining, the film is composed with ravishing images and haunting music by Simon Fisher Turner with several tracks by Portishead. Written and directed by Michael Almereyda and executive produced by David Lynch, Nadja is showing April 11 to 13. Screenings are at 7 and 9 p.m. April 11-12 and at 1, 3, 7 and 9 p.m. April 13.

Bali Dancers, Musician to Appear at the Lied

The Lied Center for Performing Arts invites audiences to experience another culture when the Dancers and Musicians of Bali appear on the main stage at 8 p.m. April 12.

Through highly stylized movements of the entire body set to exotic Asian melodies, the Dancers and Musicians of Bali relate traditional ideas, stories and myths. Among the selections programmed for their Lied Center performance, the ensemble will perform warrior dances and religious rituals, as well as several pieces created simply for entertainment.

Balinese dancing is based on Indian forms. In general, the Balinese methods require exacting articulation of limbs, isolation of various parts of he body, and fixed posture of hips and back. Alus dancers move gracefully, with eyes half closed, lips smiling and voices high and lyrical. Keras characters use bold, intense movements, eyes wide open, mouths frowning and voices filled with emotion.

The musical entourage that accompanies Balinese dancers is called gamelan. The orchestra is composed of percussion instruments, such as xylophones, gongs, chimes and drums.

Two pre-performance talks will be given by Laura Partridge Nedds, director of cultural arts programs for the Omaha Housing Authority and project director of the Ruth K. Solomon Girls Center Performing Arts Conservatory. Nedds will speak in the Lied Center's Steinhart Room 55 minutes before the performance and again at 30 minutes before curtain. Tickets are $20, $16 and $12.

'Nobody's Fool' Author to Read April 13

A fiction reading by nationally acclaimed novelist Richard Russo (shown at left) will be at 8 p.m. April 13 in the Love Library auditorium with a reception and book signing to follow. Russo is the author of the novels Mohawk, The Risk Pool, and Nobody's Fool, which was made into a major motion picture starring Paul Newman. The reading is free and open to the public. For more information, call Kate at 2-0911.

Sheldon Eyes Art of Social Conscience

A new exhibit opening April 12 at the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery explores the provocative subject of social commentary art created in the United States between 1930 and 1970.

In the Eye of the Storm: An Art of Conscience, 1930-1970 -- Selections From the Collection of Philip J. and Suzanne Schiller, is a four-decade overview revealing a unique perspective on how artists such as Romare Bearden, Rockwell Kent, Jacob Lawrence, Ben Shahn and George Tooker, among others, responded to some of the tumultuous events that rocked the United States during this century -- the Great Depression, the rise of fascism, World War II, McCarthyism, the Civil Rights movement and the Vietnam War. The exhibition's national tour began at the Terra Museum of American Art in Chicago, Ill., and includes the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery at UNL; the Knoxville Museum of Art in Knoxville, Tenn., and The Parrish Art Museum in Southampton, N.Y.

Selected by guest curator Andrea Swanson Honore, In the Eye of the Storm includes 62 paintings, drawing and prints by 51 artists who used their talents and energies to create visual commentaries on the most important economic, political and social developments of the 20th century. The exhibition is organized by The American Federation of Arts.

In the 1930s and early '40s, a wide circle of American artists worked with the belief that art could help change the world. They published magazines, held conferences, and organized exhibitions around contemporary social and political issues.

The exhibition is organized into six categories: The Great Depression; The American Scene in the 1930s; The Issue of Race; The Rise of Fascism; The Horrors of War/The Dangers of Peace; and Personal Statements. The selection includes classic examples of social realism from the 1930s and early 40s.

Artist William Wiley to Lecture April 24

Sheldon Exhibit Opens April 9

A series of "autobiographical assemblages" will be on display April 9 through July 7 in the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery Exhibition, William Wiley: Seed Corn, which features a full range of works by one artist expressed in painting, sculpture and prints, and drawn primarily from the Sheldon's permanent collection.

The gallery, along with the UNL Department of Art and Art History, will also host a public lecture by the artist at 5 p.m. April 24 in the Sheldon auditorium. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Wiley (in photo above) surfaced in the San Francisco Bay Area art world in the late 1960s when formalism was "in" and content was "out." Since then, the art world has come full circle and Wiley's works have taken on new significance, even though some critics believe his work is too well-made to square with the new fashion for gauche technique and angst-inflamed imagery.

The focal point of Seed Corn, an assemblage of paintings, sculpture, print and drawing is evidence of energetic, even aggressive artistic techniques. In his painting a kind of lurid beauty exists in images of test tubes and phrases such as "Where has all the seed corn gone?" It gives the impression of confusion and conflagration in a world gone haywire for reasons alluded to by graphic notations within the composition.

'Importance of Being Earnest' at the Howell

The Department of Theatre Arts and Dance presents its final mainstage production of the 95-96 season -- The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde and directed by Paul Steger, at 8 p.m. April 11-13 and 16-20 in the Howell Theatre.

The Importance of Being Earnest is a hilarious tale of mistaken identities. Tickets are $6 for students; $7 for faculty, staff, and senior citizens and $9 for all others. Call the box office for tickets at 2-2073 from noon to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and three hours prior to performances.

Theatrix to Stage 'To A God Unknown'

Theatrix continues its spring season with To a God Unknown, the premiere of a new play by Gloria Gaither and director by Andrew Hayes. The show will be at 8 p.m. April 12 and 13 at the Wagon Train Project, 512 S. Seventh St., third floor. Admission is free.

Based upon John Steinbeck's novel of the same name, this work-in-progress traces the spiritual and physical journey of Joseph Wayne, who represents the many Americans that made the journey west at the beginning of the 20th century. Some people went West for free land and some for spiritual revival. Wayne and his brothers settle in the rich California Valley area during the wet years. As the land dries, the family splits. The rains return only when Wayne makes the ultimate sacrifice.

'Tropical Gal Goes Tonto' at Mabel Lee

UNL Department of Theatre Arts and Dance presents Tropical Gal Goes Tonto at 8 p.m. April 11, 13 and 14 in Mabel Lee Hall Theater, Studio 304. Admission is free but donations are accepted.

An informal evening of new dances with choreography by visiting assistant professor Charlotte Adams, the concert will also include work by Dee Hughes, associate professor of dance, showcasing her expertise in folk dance.

The concert will include I Need You, danced by the UNL dance students and set to music by James Brown, Gene Pitney, and Henry Purcell. I Need You takes a comical, somewhat black look at obsessive desires for love.

A new work for 13 dances has been created with input from the UNL Dancers. The piece is set to Peter Schickele's String Quartet #1 "American Dreams," and explores moods created by six sections of the music which vary from a summer afternoon, to a hoe-down to the waltzing of women.

Guest performers Kim Burney and James Farren cavort and compete to Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik in the new duet All Wet and Adams will perform John M. Wilson's Waking Dreams.

Oratorio Chorus to Perform 'Seven From Heaven'

The UNL Oratorio Chorus, under the direction of James Hejduk, will be joined by organist Marcos Krieger in a program of seven beloved British anthems and liturgical works at 3 p.m. April 21 in Kimball Recital Hall. Admission is free and the public is cordially invited.

These pieces, all sung in English, form a bulwark of 20th century British sacred music. Included will be C. Hubert H. Parry's coronation anthem, Greater love hath no man, by John Ireland, and Edgar Bainton's setting from the Revelation of St. John, And I saw a new heaven.

Along with these anthems, several selections intended for liturgical use but often performed as concert pieces are also included. The hymn Te lucis ante terminum by Henry Balfour Gardiner will complement Benjamin Britten's first setting of the Te Deum, in C Major sung at matins, the morning office, and will be paired with William Walton's latter-day setting of the Jubilate Deo. A buoyantly rhythmic composition by Bryan Kelly of Mary's song of joy, the Magnificent, sung at vespers, will close the program.

For questions regarding these Scarlet pages, contact:
dtaurins@unlinfo.unl.edu
(402) 472-8518, Fax: (402) 472-7825