Mount Hood

Drama, Jesus and rock and roll

By: Kinsey Bushart
Staff Writer

The new theater season has begun; the next two shows to be put on by Pentacle Theater are the drama “Emma’s Child” which was originally written by Kristine Thatcher, and the rock musical “Jesus Christ, Superstar” with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice.

“Emma’s Child” was originally produced at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in April of 1995 and this year will be directed by Joe Silva.

According to The Statesman Journal, Silva said that “there was no doubt in his mind about taking it on,” while lead actress Laura Davis, who is playing Jean Farrell, has a personal connection to the plot of the drama.
As the mother of two adopted children herself, Davis had faced various difficulties in the adoption process similar to those of her character.

The story of the play “Emma’s Child” is about a woman named Jean and the attachment she grows for the child she hopes to adopt from a woman named Emma. Over the course of the birth mother’s pregnancy, the hopeful Jean faces many difficulties in her marriage as well as her friendships. This drama about family, hardship and perseverance is one to attend when looking for hope in the future.

“Jesus Christ, Superstar” is a rock musical that debuted in 1971 on Broadway. The story is of the retelling and detailing of Jesus Christ’s final days. The entire musical has no spoken dialogue, with a storyline loosely based on the Gospel’s accounts on Jesus’s final week. It’s chart-topping songs won Andrew Lloyd Webber the Drama Desk Award for Most Promising Composer. The Drama Desk Award is an annual award given in recognition of achievements in the theater among Broadway, Off Broadway and Off-Off Broadway productions.

The musical’s cast has been announced and is available on Pentacle’s website, as well as its director Geri Sanders, though as of yet there is no other information from cast or crew.

“Emma’s Child” is going to be at the Pentacle Theater March 3-24, and “Jesus Christ, Superstar” will begin showing April 14 to May 6.

Contact the author at kbushart16@wou.edu

Editor’s Picks

By: Ashton Newton
Entertainment Editor

Editor’s Recommendations

One of the best bands around right now is Bear’s Den. Formed in 2012, Bear’s Den is a relatively new band but one that has been making quite a name for themselves in the folk scene.

Bear’s Den has released two studio albums, “Islands” and “Red Earth & Pouring Rain,” as well as four extended-plays. Their newest single, “Berlin” was released in December.

The biggest appeal of Bear’s Den is their accessibility for a wide audience. While their main genre is folk, they do have fast paced rock music as well and sounds that would appeal to country fans. Their lyrics tell stories and are often relatable.

One of my favorite parts of Bear’s Den’s Music is its ability to evoke both happiness and sadness at the same time.

Editor’s Disparagement

Despite receiving decent reviews from critics, I’ve found the new videogame “For Honor” to be very underwhelming. The concept is incredible and the execution is satisfying at times, but the game is a nest of connectivity issues and rough bugs. It’s too rough around the edges to warrant spending $60 on it.

“For Honor” is a multiplayer fighting game that pits players against each other in melee combat. The graphics are stunning and the game has its moments, but Ubisoft is known for their difficult releases for games with unfinished aspects and massive server issues.

The game will be good in time, but until the many issues are worked out and the price drops, buying it now is a waste of money and will only bring irritation.

Contact the author at journalentertainment@wou.edu

A different kind of Shakespeare

By: Ashton Newton
Entertainment Editor

Western students are hitting the stage once again with the upcoming performances of Ken Ludwig’s “Shakespeare in Hollywood”.

Directed by Western’s Ted deChatelet, “Shakespeare in Hollywood” features a cast of Western students who have been hard at work rehearsing for the play.

“‘Shakespeare in Hollywood’ is based around ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ by William Shakespeare. Oberyn and Puck, the two fairies in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream,’ come to Hollywood and find themselves in Hollywood by accident and have a bunch of hijinks and run around Hollywood making a bunch of mayhem” said Hunter Atkin, sophomore Bachelor of Fine Arts acting major and cast member.

“It’s a fictional story about the making of the film ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ back in the 1930s, it’s a real film” added John Bryant, sophomore Bachelor of Fine Arts theatre major and cast member.

Much like Western theatre’s previous production “All in the Timing,” “Shakespeare in Hollywood” is a comedy focused on bringing laughs and lightheartedness to campus.

“The play’s farcical, which pretty much just means slapstick, ridiculous comedy, way over the top acting, very heightened. It’s hilarious” said Atkin.

“With this being a comedy, we get to lighten the mood with the 1930s setting. It makes it easy to go with the setting. Some of the costumes and props we use coincide with it being in the 1930s, so it is harder than if the play was in modern day, but it didn’t make it difficult and we were still able to have fun with it” added Bryant.

Reflecting on being in the cast, Atkin said, “My favorite part of being in the cast is that Ted, the director, pretty much let the cast decide what’s happening in the play. He let us do whatever we want. He gave us the scripts, gave us the parts and just let us go, so he had an image in his head, but we really just threw out ideas and just did stuff and he just kept it in and kept integrating all of our ideas together.”

“Ted’s a really good director. A lot of directors will just say ‘this is what I want, do it this way,’ but what Ted does with his actors is he will give suggestions, but he’ll also trust his actors and see what they will bring to the table. It’s a nice mix of what we can bring and if something doesn’t work, he can fine tune it” said Bryant.

While working on “Shakespeare in Hollywood,” the cast had a great time working together has cast members and as friends. Asked separately about a story that stuck out during rehearsals, Atkin and Bryant reflected on the same event.

“Our director, Ted, was hanging out and we were rehearsing a bit where one of the characters comes on with a wine glass and gives it to another character very nonchalantly, because he’s the big boss man. We did it a few times and Ted was worried that we were going to drop the wine glass, so he comes up and takes it from one of the characters and asks our stage manager if it was plastic and drops it on the ground, the wine glass shattered and we had to take five minutes to clean it up. It was hilarious” said Atkin.

“Everybody just bust out laughing, it was really funny. We haven’t gotten to a stressful point overall where we’re too stressed about the play or things are tense. It feels really chill throughout because we’re working on such a fun show” added Bryant.

In the end, “Shakespeare in Hollywood” is a fun, audience pleasing comedy.

“Overall, I hope this is a show audiences get to enjoy. It’s a farce, it’s a chance to kick back and have a laugh. I hope it’s an opportunity for students and faculty of Western who may have busy lives, so I hope it’s a chance to leave this world and get immersed in this. Not for our sake, but to give everyone a break from the stresses of life” said Bryant.

“Shakespeare in Hollywood” runs in Rice Auditorium from March 2-4 and 8-11 at 7:30 p.m. with March 5 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $14, $10 for seniors and $8 for Western students.

Contact the author at journalentertainment@wou.edu

Review: Collide

By: Ashton Newton
Entertainment Editor

Part “Fast and Furious” and part “Ocean’s Eleven,” “Collide” is an over the top action film with an incredible cast. The film follows an ex-criminal named Casey, played by Nicholas Hoult, who has to return to a life of crime to save his dying girlfriend, played by Felicity Jones.

From start to finish, both Jones and Hoult give uninspired performances. Their love story is the root of the film, but their bland performances didn’t leave me rooting for them.

Ben Kingsley plays a crime lord named Geran. Kingsley’s performance is over the top. Complete with his distracting fake Turkish accent, every time Kingsley is on screen it’s hard to see past his ridiculousness and to understand what is happening.

The highlight of the film is Anthony Hopkins’ sinister villain, a crime lord who Casey wrongs at the beginning of the film. Hopkins is in his groove with this role as he jumps from monologue to monologue in a style.

The plot is bland, weak and predictable. There’s not much that goes on in between Hoult getting tortured by bad guys and running from them in car chases. The character interactions mean almost nothing unless Hopkins is on screen, and Hoult dealing with the emotional implications of his situation is so cheesy at times that I laughed out loud.

The setting of Germany is one of the best parts. Watching car chases unfold in the German countryside and on the Autobahn is out of the norm of action films and makes for a very interesting experience. Especially when there’s not much to look at during the overly lengthy and uninteresting action scenes.

When trying to have emotional or romantic moments, “Collide” fails completely. The film attempts to be rooted in romance, but any romance appears to be exposition that is rushed so people can shoot each other faster. Casey’s race to save his girlfriend means nothing because there are no emotional connections to these characters due to their lackluster performances.

Overall, “Collide” is a poor excuse for a film and a complete waste of time. The cool German setting and Anthony Hopkins’ performance aren’t even enough to keep this film from being something worth spending time or money on.

Contact the author at journalentertainment@wou.edu

¼
+ Anthony Hopkins being Anthony Hopkins
– Paper thin plot

Listen up

By: Alyssa James
Staff Writer

Unlike other forms of entertainment that are popular amongst the college crowd such as television, music and movies, there is one that is under-appreciated: the podcast. Podcasts can cover a wide variety of topics, from news to technology to history. For students, there are plenty of podcasts worth checking out.

One such podcast is “Modern Love” through WBUR. It is based off the New York Times column and explores the rollercoaster that is love. The premise of the podcast is sharing stories about love, whether they are truly happy stories or more trivial. A new podcast is released every Thursday and can be found on www.wbur.org/modernlove.

“Reply All” is a podcast with a different focus: the internet and technology. However, according to Nick Quah from Vulture, “Despite the name, ‘Reply All’ isn’t a podcast about technology – it’s a podcast that tells gorgeous, painfully human stories that happen to have bits of technology sprinkled in.” To find out more about this podcast or to subscribe to it, visit www.gimletmedia.com/reply-all/.

For a more well-known podcast, TED Talks are available to listen to through the TED radio show, co-produced by NPR and TED. TED Talks discuss creative ways of thinking, new inventions and out-of-the-box ideas. At www.npr.org/programs/ted-radio-hour/, there is more information about where to listen.

Whether hanging out in a dorm, driving around or waiting for another next class to start, listening to a podcast can be an entertaining way of spending one’s time.

Contact the author at ajames16@wou.edu

Review: “Legion”

By: Ashton Newton
Entertainment Editor

Marvel’s plan to take over the world has been well-executed so far. In both film and television, Marvel has continually put out great content and the newest TV show “Legion” is no different.

Currently in its first season, FX’s “Legion” follows the Marvel comics character David Haller as he begins to learn that his lifelong mental illness is, in fact, his strong mutant abilities.

The first two episodes of “Legion” started the series off on a fantastic note. The trailers and promos didn’t reveal many plot details, so viewers were left in the dark until the show premiered.

“Fargo” writer Noah Hawley brings his masterful writing to the show, making viewers question the reality of the situations from start to finish.

The premiere episode follows a nonlinear timeline, so the show has viewers constantly second guessing themselves from start to finish.

The premiere episode also features a fabulously made one-shot action scene. Marvel has played with one-shots in the past, specifically with seasons one and two of “Daredevil” and I think that the one shot in “Legion” takes the cake.

The characters in “Legion” are brought to life by stunning performances. David, played by Dan Stevens, is a relatable, funny and tragic character. Stevens does an excellent job of showing David’s struggles with mental illness and his change as the world around him opens up.

Rachel Keller plays Syd, another patient in the hospital and ally of David. She also does a great job of portraying her character’s mental illness.

The emotional connection between Syd and David is one of the biggest highlights of the first two episodes. They have to work together to adapt their feelings for each other to their illnesses.

After only two episodes, I’m already fully engaged in the lives and struggles of the characters. Between Hawley’s writing and the fantastic lead performances, “Legion” is one of the best new shows around. Still early in the season, now is the perfect time to start watching.

Catch “Legion” on FX every Wednesday at 10 p.m.

Contact the author at journalentertainment@wou.edu

Community spotlight: My Mom’s Basement

By: Ashton Newton
Entertainment Editor

It’s difficult to drive down Main Street in Monmouth without seeing the blue building with the words “My Mom’s Basement” on the front.
Within walking distance of Western, My Mom’s Basement is both a game store and a gathering place for people to come and play card games or board games together.

“We just had our seventh year anniversary last month. We’ve been here serving the community for all that time.” said Michael Haynes, owner of My Mom’s Basement.

“Magic the Gathering is the most popular game in the store,” said Haynes. “They have over 20 million people across the world playing this game. We offer a wide variety of singles and packs for the game and we also offer both sanctioned and unsanctioned events for people to come in and play, and we have regularly scheduled games that we play every week.”

Magic the Gathering is the world’s most popular strategy card game. My Mom’s Basement does weekly “Friday Night Magic” events every Friday at 6 p.m. For those interested in Magic the Gathering, there is an online version of the game called “Magic Duels” available for iPhone, PC and Xbox One to learn the ropes. My Mom’s Basement also offers a free welcome pack for those who’ve never played but it’s first come first serve.

“We also sponsor ‘Dungeons and Dragons’ on Wednesdays. That is the number one role-playing game in the world currently. We offer games, books, dice and all the accoutrements that go with it,” said Haynes. “We’re also entertaining other games that are gaining in popularity like ‘Yugioh’, ‘Pokemon’, a game called ‘Force of Will’ and other board games and card games.”

For those who have never played these games before, My Mom’s Basement is a friendly and welcoming place to come in and learn.

“We’ve pretty much always got somebody here that’s willing to sit down and play and teach, so just walk in the door,” said Chad Harrington, Western graduate and My Mom’s Basement staff member.

“We actually have games for people to come in, sit down and play. We have demonstration games. People don’t want to spend $80 and find out it’s a crappy game. They can come down here and say ‘I’ve always wanted to try that’, pull it off the wall and see if they like it,” said Haynes.

Haynes also stressed that My Mom’s Basement is a social place where people can get together and play. Coming with a group of friends is encouraged.

“A lot of these games get a bad reputation because there’s a whole thing of ‘nerds are so secluded and reclusive’,” said Haynes. “They have this really bad reputation of being non-social and that’s not the truth at all. All of these games, you have to be social.”

“You wouldn’t believe the kinds of people who want to come in and sit down,” added Harrington. “There are people from all walks of life here. We have firefighters, paramedics, people from all walks of life can get together and join in some kind of a fantasy.”

My Mom’s Basement opens at 12 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

Contact the author at journalentertainment@wou.edu

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