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Thursday, November 18, 1999 - Page 2 NEWS Guest Director visits for Students weave yarns at presentation of Scapin WMC Tellabration event If they didn't know it already, Joann Decker auditorium. Hay's students are quickly finding out that Tellabration is a national event held the spinning a good yarn is a great tool to calm Saturday before Thanksgiving and has been fidgety youngsters. celebrated on every continent except Aruarc- In fact, good stories should captivate any tiea. audience, said Hay, a college instructor and The event is the creation of J.G. "Paw- professional storyteller. Paw" Pinkerton who, during the first year, Hay and the students in her "The Art of helped put together six sites in his home state Story Telling" graduate course will try to of Connecticut. Designed to build grassroots do just that as they tell stories for all ages support for the age-old art of storytelling, it atTellabration '99 On the Hill, a storytelling moved to a few more states in 1989 and in extravaganza on Saturday, Nov. 20. 1990 spread nationwide with sponsorship "Listeners wilt hear humorous tales, from the National Storytelling Association. folklore, heartwarming stories, and much "The magic of storytelling is that there's more," Hay said. "There will be something an intimacy between the teller and the lis- for everyone." The program, upon request, tener," Hay said. "It is like sitting down and can also be interpreted for the hearing im- having a conversation, so there's a bond that paired. develops. Storytelling reveals the spirit of the The schedule includes a presentation for teller, and it nurtures the spirit of the listener. preschoolers from 9:30- 10 am; children in One child even told me that he would rath~r kindergarten and first grade from 10:30-11 listen to a good story than play video games." am; grades 2-3 from 11:30 am-12:15 pm; Arevalo, the guest storyteller, is a cel- and grades 4-6 from 12:45 pm-l :30 pm. All ebrated percussionist who has performed programs for young, school-age children with Rusted Root and Shari Belafonte. He will be held in Decker auditorium in Lewis plans to highlight stories in the Native Ameri- Hall and are free and open to the public. can and Mayan rhythm traditions at his mati- Nery Arevalo, a nationally-known sto- nee concert. ryteller and musician, will present a con- "He's absolutely spellbinding and a per- cert for school-age children and adults from fect complement to our program," Hay said. 2-2:30 pm in Decker auditorium. Tickets For more information call the WMC pub- are $3. lic information department at 41 0-857-2290 The evening storytelling concert, recom- For a sign language interpreter call 41 0-857- mended for ages 10 to adult, because of a 2518 by Nov. 17. ghost story, will be held at 7·30 pm also in Courtesy of Public Information Housekeeping staff shorthanded and frustrated Continued from page 1 competitive with housekeepers' salar[ies] However. with the current situation, that Bob Garman, actor, writer, and director, directs Scaptnjo- WMC's viewing pleasure. Moliere's right now." comedy is presented in a variety of styles of theater. The play ends irs run this weekend. system is not working as well as it used to. Currently, WMC is completing a mar- In addition to their problems with sal- CATHY PENDORJ.' Cassie Domser, a junior theatre arts major, ket survey to determine where it stands in ary, many of the housekeepers feel they lack StaJJWrifer says, "It was cool working with a new direc- relationship to the salaries of similar em- the respect of their bosses. For the latest WMC Theatre production. tor. The cast is fun and I like it." ployers. The information, combined with One housekeeper said, "We are always Scapin, a new director has come aboard. Bob Freshman biology major David Trader, the possibility of extra money in the criticized, no matter how good a job we do. Garman, a seasoned actor and director, has a playing the role of Sylvestre in Scapin, also school's budget, will determine whether They tend to pick on us a lot, not only our long time membership with a political satire agrees. or not the salaries for housekeepers in- bosses, but others, too." group called "Gross National Product," an "[Garman] is a great guy to work with. crease. The housekeepers interviewed said that improvisation troupe called "Comedy really free spirited. Anything is possible. We Recently, the college increased the sal- Whelan is not the one doing the criticizing, Spartz." can try anything once, and if it doesn't work, ary of campus safety officers, because, ac- yet they were reluctant to say who was. He writes, acts, directs, and sometimes we throw it but and try again. He's done a cording to Steback, "We weren't competi- "With all of the crap we put up with, lit- eats fire at the Maryland Renaissance Festi- great job," said Trader. tive in the marketplace." erally, like cleaning up vomit, diarrhea, you val. Also, he teaches theater at Eleanor When asked about future plans with And Sodexho, the company contracted name it, we deserve more respect from ev- Roosevelt High School. WMC, Garman said he has enjoyed his time by the college to run the dining services, eryone," said one housekeeper. EquippedwithaBFAinactingatVirginia at WMC and "plans on making [himself] also increased the salary of their workers. The housekeeper also noted that, al- Commonwealth University and a MFA in available to [the theatre department] as seen Ethan Seidel, the vice president of Admin- though they collectively receive a lot of directing at City University of New York, fit." istration and Finance. said that was also harsh criticism from their peers, the students Garman was invited to WMC to direct the Garman says that Scapin is a play about done because the college was not competi- are never the ones to complain. Molierecomedy Scapin, chosen by Alpha Psi "scams, theatre. and joy," and the audience tive with other employers and that they Whelan also appreciates the entire stu- Omega. would enjoy it because it is "funny." needed to fill in their staff. dent body, saying, "The students are great. Ironically Garman, having directed the The play is the story of a scheming ser- Many of the housekeepers on campus They really appreciate the job we do here, play three times previously, said. "I'll never vant who's witty and mischievous nature get believe that they are extremely underpaid, and they show us a lot of respect. Just the direct it again." him in trouble as much as it gets him out of and they feel that is the reason they are other day two students from Albert Norman Garman shares his experience that al- it. understaffed. "Oh yeah, we're definitely Ward Hall presented two of my employees though acting can be a hassle, directing is This will be Scapin's second running underpaid, and that's the main reason we with a fruit basket." easy for him. Garman believes in the impor- weekend. The play starts at 8:00 pm .Tick- can't fill the remaining spots," said one Whelan admits that their job is tough; tance of artistic freedom and tries to use as ets are at the box office. The charge is $3 for housekeeper, who wished to remain however, he said that his staff is comprised much actor input as possible. Stage ma,nager students and 5$ for adults. anonymous. of great people who do great work. The main result of being understaffed "These people do a great job of complet- is that the housekeeping department, as a ing their work with what they are given," whole, has to complete more tasks than said Whelan. "Even at 3 pm, when most of they normally would have to complete. the shifts are over, the workers always come "We are shorthanded, and because of into my office smiling, never dragging their that, many of us have had to do things that heads." Whelan went on to say, "We do our we shouldn't have to do," said one house- job because we care about the college. and keeper. we care about a healthy and h\l.PPY environ- In some buildings on campus, one ment." housekeeper is responsible for cleaning the And although they are successful in com- entire building. Whelan.developed a sys- pleting their jobs now, one employee is wor- tem where at least two housekeepers are ried about the future. "We are trying to main- assigned to a specific building. which tain a high level of quality with less re- "helps the housekeepers to complete their sources, and how long do you think we will lobs much easier." be able to do that?"