Daily Herald the Brown
vol. cxliv, no. 36 | Friday, March 13, 2009 | Serving the community daily since 1891
s p ot l i g h t
Tricks of the trade With PW show, Brown is about to become even more magical
By Sophia Li Features Editor
Andrew Evans ’09 has picked up a few tricks in his time — magic tricks, that is. He even invented one, inspired by the Fourth of July. The trick begins with someone picking a card. Then the magician buries a fuse and lights it. The fuse burns to the ground and explodes in puff of smoke. And the card? “Burnt and buried underneath the dirt,” Evans said. Evans, a magician since he was in eighth grade, has long been entranced by the tricks and illusions of a trade that deals in secrecy and the power of mystery. Enchanted by the lure of the impossible, he has moved past purchasing props — he now devises his own tricks. “You figure out what would be cool if it could happen, but it can’t,” Evans said. “And you figure out how to make it happen.” Evans has used this curiosity to build a repertoire large enough to put on an hour-long spectacle, “Illusions of Grandeur,” which will run at Production Workshop this weekend.
Conjuring up a bag of tricks The show, which Evans prepared in part by spending hours researching magic tricks in the John Hay Library, includes elements far more complicated than the plastic toy tricks he played with as a young child. Evans said he started taking the hobby more seriously after his eighthgrade teacher made a card that Evans selected rise out of the deck. He had never seen a magic trick like that before, and after his teacher told him about a magic shop in nearby Seattle, he was spellbound. “Great magic seems so unattainable that figuring out that you can buy it is sort of terrifying,” Evans said. At the same time, he added, he was excited by the idea that anyone can access such powers of illusion. Evans performs tricks whenever he has a deck of cards, he said. His favorite part about doing magic is the reaction it can provoke. “When someone is so floored by something (that) they’re like, ‘I don’t care how it’s done,’ that’s cool,” Evans said. “That’s the moment of magic that you live for.” Evans has been hired to perform magic at birthday parties, weddings continued on page 6
Ashley Hess / Herald File Photo
Though the University was not planning to build a new pool before structural deficiencies forced the Smith Swim Center’s destruction, that project will now leapfrog construction of the long-planned Nelson Fitness Center.
New pool to advance without fitness center by Brigitta Greene Senior Staff Writer
Acknowledging fundraising difficulties for the proposed Nelson Fitness Center, the University is currently discussing with donors how best to proceed with the project, and it is likely to move forward with a new pool independent of the fitness center, said Richard Spies, executive vice president for planning and senior adviser to President Ruth Simmons. Officials had once hoped to build the new pool and the fitness
center in tandem, as they will occupy adjacent lots, Spies said. But a $14.75 million bequest toward construction on a new swim center, which the Corporation formally accepted last month, may allow the University to break ground on a new pool long before plans for the fitness center are finalized. While the fitness center donors — of whom there are “less than a dozen” — are being consulted, the project, which has been in the planning stages for about five years, is currently “on hold.” Spies said the fitness center and
the new pool would ideally be designed and built at the same time. “If it were possible, we would want to plan them together,” he said. “It all depends on fundraising questions.” The University cannot begin construction on either project until 90 percent of the funds are identified under guidelines set by the Corporation at their meeting in February, Spies said. But while about half of the funds for the $50 million project were “pledged” by 2007, the cash currently on hand continued on page 4
Bookstore’s new digs, cafe a hit so far Alum’s play draws laughs, crowds Off Broadway By Emma Berry Staf f Writer
inside
After months of renovations, traffic at the Brown Bookstore is picking up again, said Assistant Vice President for Financial and Administrative Services Elizabeth Gentr y, who is ser ving as the bookstore’s interim director. The renovations, which included adding a new cafe and relocating the textbook section, began in August. Though initial plans called for work to be finished in early Januar y, workers were still finishing up when students returned from winter break, Gentr y said. But by mid-Februar y, all of the “little things” had been “cleared up,” she said. The store celebrated its grand opening on March 5, with food, live music and a ceremonial ribbon-cutting. The store’s new look comes with expanded hours as well.
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Brown’s Masters in Fine Arts program on the advice of playwright and teacher Mac Wellman. Studying in “The story about the black boy- Providence under Professor of Literfriends and the racist parents. Write ary Arts Paula Vogel, Gionfriddo said that up and re-apply to Brown. You’ll she felt free to write plays that general get in.” audiences wouldn’t necessarily have In the script of Gina Gionfriddo’s sprung for. MFA ’97 critically lauded Off-Broad“There wasn’t a lot of emphasis way play “Becky on being produShaw,” that piece ARTS & CULTURE ceable,” she exof advice — given plained. to a character who is a Brown drop“She’s unshockable,” Gionfriddo out with a complicated life story — is said of Vogel, who is currently on followed by a much-needed “beat.” leave as the chair of the playwriting That’s because the line never fails to program at Yale. “I thought I could get an enormous laugh. write anything.” For Gionfriddo, Brown isn’t just a At the same time, the style she was useful signifier for the liberal guilt that developing as a writer was distinct the play good-naturedly pokes fun at. from what novelist David Shields ’78 It also represents an important stage has called “the Brown aesthetic” — in the sharp-tongued playwright’s ar- metatheatrical gestures, fractured nartistic development. ratives and an often-ironic embrace of After graduating from Barnard continued on page 5 College in 1991, Gionfriddo entered By Ben Hyman Arts & Culture Editor
Courtesy of Elizabeth Gentry
Brown Bookstore staff celebrated the official completion of the renovations at a ribbon-cutting ceremony last week.
The cafe — officially called the College Hill Cafe, but operated by Blue State Coffee — and the general books area are now open until 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
Bookstore personnel are “still adjusting” to the remodeled space and new hours, Gentr y said. But despite some kinks, Gencontinued on page 2
Arts, 5
Sports, 7
Opinions, 11
fusion fever The Fusion Dance Company will perform its annual show this weekend.
bears v. dogs Men’s hockey travels to New Haven to take on No. 10 Yale this weekend.
Green BeaNS Drew Harris ’11 wants coffee companies to exhibit more environmental concern.
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