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Get ur; The Puppet Regin season with a collec the absurd to the re O! _ I naven i figured 11 anythi LUCY ARNOLD Features Editor "Wacky, silly, kooky, out there, spastic, groovy, neato, cool, swell and more fun than brushing your teeth with wire gauze any day." That's the second most appropriate description of the Puppet Regime's new show, "Mandatory Picnic," written by Jayce T. Tromsness, Charles R. Harper and George S. Mount. The best way to describe it can be summed up in two words: you can't. "It's a really hard one to describe," said sophomore Nate Whitworth, one of the actors. "It's basically Saturday Night Live-kind of stuff. Some of it is really wild, off-the-wall stuff." "Mandatory Picnic" is not exactly your basic cohesive one-main-plot kind of play. "It's about 15 different scenes varying from a talk show host turned angel of death to three people talking in a car called 'Stream of Consciousness,'" said junior Patrick Holland, director of "Mandatory Picnic." I /?mjffi %1BP^ .^flj WjgKmr fm SlfilfP^iPk wwy/ ''* Show date: December 6,1995 Location- Hall, Located F - i? The Gan le opens their 1995-9< tion of skits ranging fi ally nuts. So, in casej t out vet. don't exnect ing normal. Graduate student Sarah Schnadig { elaborated on her role as the transformed i talk show host. 1 "I'm doing a 20-minute monologue that i was written for me," she said. "It's about a { woman who's a host for a kid's show. She's 1 basically losing it." "Mandatory Picnic" is being run by the 1 student organization Puppet Regime. c "We produce, direct and run the entire i show ourselves," Whitworth said. "The university helps by giving us the space. It's t open to anybody, not just theater majors." I This particular production has been full 1 of opportunities for undergraduates. Seven r out of the nine cast members, as well as the director, are undergraduates. "Fm the first undergraduate to direct at c the Puppet Regime in three years," Holland i said. "With this show, my intent was to get c a lot of undergraduates involved." J Students involved with "Mandatory Picnic" ? are gaming experience as tney worK witn t more other actors in a sort of "mentoring" '* ' ^1 Mggpp^ I .^.^. ..; H v ' ^mi i^. ^ js ^fegg:g| Time: 7:0 in Wardlaw - beside the horse sta 'aid for in part with student activity fees. Person necock H9ML9H Tuesday, Decei % > rom you jrogram. The more experienced people act is supports and information bases for the ess experienced performers. Holland in ^articular has enjoyed the benefits of this jrogram as he ventures into his first fullength play as director. "A lot of times they'll point out something ' wouldn't have noticed," he said. "It's good m both ends having a graduate student or i more experienced actor around." The cast of "Mandatory Picnic" includes ranie Haddad, Matt Engle, Sarah Schnadig, ^ate Whitworth, Patrick Baxeley, Tawnya Pamplin, Amy Dietz, Ali Freeman and Christa IVyford. The show opens today at 8 p.m. at Benson rheatre. Benson Theatre is located on the ?mer of South Bull Street and Whaley Street, icross from the Bates House on the USC ampus. "Mandatory Picnic" will run through Sunday and all performances will begin at 5 p.m. Tickets are $3 for students and $5 for he general public. First-come, first-seated. "It's just craziness," Holland said. i liiSH ^ ^ 1 H I 0 pm tue s needing special assistance for disabilities, plea: iiber 5,1995 Br * * ?b J i m QP /X v;-M :m gl I 1 n K*, ,yfl IE? I M ** V^^Hnrag ^t* < Jkta^jjj^^ flj PC5]j 8y| At top: Matt Engle finds himself being seduced Haddad). Above: Nate Whitworth, Patrick Baxeley, are all twisted up in some wild positions. It's a "Ma sponsored by: MAS & : ft AMERICAN C Carolina ^ production! A &AAAS ^ re call Carolina Productions at 777-7130. M Hl a wr* t ipr ? lff> JK iMf W Sl|F w HH 1* PUPPET REGIME by yet another Tina (Janie All Freeman and Amy Dietz ndatory Picnic " thing. IterCard l c 1 I r t r i ouegiate talent searTh "O