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CITY PACES
by BRAD AARON
CINEMA BECOMES
"ALPS PLAYHOUSE"
The arts are coming back to the Alps
Cinema.
The Quad-State Children's Theatre Company,
Inc. (QUEST), a non-profit children's theater
organization, has negotiated a three-year lease
for the space that previously housed the Alps
Art Cinema. QUEST plans to renovate and trans
form it into a performance art space called the
"Alps Playhouse."
"Rick Bedell (president and technical
director of QUEST) came up with the idea," says
QUEST artistic director and secretary-treasurer
Ralph Stevens. "When the Alps theater closed
down the second time, he said if it wasn't going
to re-open, the space would be great for a per
formance theater... Since then, we've waited
for the place to be vacant and available. Finally,
IN OTHER NEWS...
«* / « •
An analysis of 1998 U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) data reveals that
Georgia electric utilities are the largest
toxic air polluters in the state. Examination
of the EPA report by the Georgia
AirKcepers Campaign and Clear the Air
says that the Atlanta-based Southern
Company was responsible for 10 percent of
all electric utility emissions in the U.S. that
year, making it "worst in the nation for
total toxic releases and air emissions."
Georgia ranked sixth among U.S. states for
highest emissions of toxic pollutants from
coal- and oil-burning power plants. See air-
keeper.org for more information.
Washington, D.C.-based watchdog group
Public Citizen is formally challenging the
Food and Drug Administration's (PDA) deci
sion to legalize high-level irradiation of
eggs. The FDA claims exposing eggs to radi
ation will kill harmful micro-organisms and
extend shelf life. Public Citizen cites U.S.
Army studies from the 1960s and 70s that
revealed "serious health problems in lab
animals that ate irradiated food," including
cancer. The group says the FDA cited only
seven out of 490 known studies to make its
case for irradiation safety. According to
Public Citizen, three of those seven studies
have never been translated to English, and
each based its findings on radiation levels
"far below" what is now permitted by the
FDA. The FDA already allows irradiating of
flour, spices, fruits, vegetables, poultry,
pork and beef. For more information, go to
dtizen.org.
Ranking the health care systems of its
191 member states, the World Health
Organization (WHO) listed the US 37th in
overall performance, though the country
spends a higher portion of its gross
domestic product on health care than any
other nation. The "World Health Report
2000" gave its highest marks among "major
countries" to France, followed by Italy and
Spain. The United Kingdom ranked 18th.
Sub-Saharan African nations filled the
bottom of the list, where HIV and AIDS
have reduced newborn life expectancies to
40 years or less. The report foui.d that in
many countries, the poor pay a higher per
centage of their incomes for health care
than the rich. It recommends that govern
ments "extend health insurance to as large
a percentage of the population as possible."
The full text is available on-line at who.org.
in July, we got to see the place and we thought
it was perfect."
Renovation plans for the Alps Playhouse
include a 200-seat auditorium, a small prosce
nium stage with a fly system, wing space, a
backstage area, dressing rooms, a light ana
sound booth, a concession stand, box office
and handicapped-accessible restrooms. QUEST
hopes the project will be completed by the end
of fall.
"It will be quite a bit of work. Ws have to
build the stage and dressing rooms Luckily, the
old projection room is perfect for a light and
sound booth," says Stevens. "Everything else
has been taken out. It is vacant, which will
make it easier to work."
According to QUEST, the projected cost of
renovation is $50,000. Labor expenses will be
alleviated by the fact that all work will be done
by QUEST officers and local volunteers enthusi
astic about having a new perfonnance space.
QUEST has been busy applying for grants and
seeking tax-deductible cash donations and is
seeking contributions of building materials,
lighting and sound equipment, furniture, cur
tains, seats and other theatrical necessities.
The Alps Playhouse will serve as heme for
QUEST, which has staged productions of Annie,
Pippi Longstocking and Oliver at the Morton
Theatre, as well as a production of Little Women
at the Athens Community Th n atre (Town 8>
Gown).
Currently QUEST holds children's theater
classes and is co-produdng a Theatre Cat pro
duction of Caesar, which opens Thursday,
August 24 at the Seney-Stovall Chapel.
Though QUEST is a children's theater organi
zation, it is taking steps to include others in its
new venture.
"We would like to work with other theater
groups, particularly independent groups like
Theatre Cat," says Stevens. "W«* will encourage
portable shows for groups that don't have their
own theatre space. WeTl make sure were clearly
less expensive than other theaters.
"I think our theater will encourage a lot of
independent groups to do more productions. It's
an alternative to standing in line for a Town &
Gown Second Stage or raising a fortune to rent
another theater, which discourages smaller
groups."
QUEST plans to put up three to four shows
yearly, with the possibility of independent pro
ductions pushing the total number of perfor
mances above 10 shows per year. The group
plans to rent the theater on either an hourly or
daily basis, with QUEST productions and chil
dren's theater having top priority.
"We think children are under-used in area
theater," says Stevens. "For a long time, ACT
was the only children's theater in town. Most of
the elementary schools don't even have any
drama. We want to give children who don't do
plays in their schools the chance to be stars."
For more information on QUEST, call 208-
1036 or e-mail qsct^tyahoo.com. (Geoff Can)
GEORGIA GREENS EYE
PRESIDENCY, SENATE
'There is only one state where we know we
will not be on the ballot, and that is Georgia."
Nader 2000 campaigp manager Theresa Amatc.
spoke to a small crowd of reporters at a Ralph
Nader/Winona LaDuke press conference in
Washington, D.C., on August 7.
The Green Party nominated Ralph Nader as
its Residential candidate in June. Nader, a con
sumer advocate whose crusades in the 1960s
and '70s were instrumental in everything from
improved auto safety tc the founding of the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
and the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA), selected Native
American environmental activist Winona
LaDuke as his running mate.
Nader is on the ballots of 20 states, Amato
announced, and has enough signatures pending
verification to appear on 14 more. Nader and
the Greens are still collecting signatures in 11
states, and Nader has filed suit in four others
challenging their ballot access laws.
The Georgia Green Party failed to obtain the
35,000-plus signatures needed to get Nader on
the November ballot. By the July 11 deadline,
the party had accumulated an estimated 10,000
signatures.
But Georgia Green Party Secretary Hugh
Esco says he is surprised by Amato's statement,
since he is in the process of finding an attorney
to help get Nader on the ballot.
Tm not giving up that a court order will
put Nader/LaDuke on the ballot in Georgia,"
says Esco. "We're proceeding with that inten
tion."
Just in case, the party is also launching a
write-in campaign with a goal of 40,000 votes
for Nader/LaDuke. That number would guar
antee Green Party candidates statewide ballot
access in 2002, according to Esco.
Esco says the race for the U.S. Senate seat
of the late Paul Coverdell will provide the Green
Party with an opportunity to raise awareness of
the strict ballot access laws which kept Nader
off the Georgia ballot (see City Pages, April 5,
on-line at flagpole.com). The Senate race, to be
decided in November, is non-partisan, so its
only requirements are an application and a
filing fee.
On August 2, state Greens chose Athens
native Jeff Gates as their candidate for U.S.
Senate. A Vietnam veteran and former partner
in the Washington, D.C., office of the Atlanta
law firm Powell, Goldstein, Frazer, and Murphy;
Gates is president of the Atlanta-based Shared
Capitalism Institute, an economic policy organi
zation. He has authored several books on eco
nomic policy issues, and is an MBA instructor at
Emory University.
"Democracy faces a crisis," Gates said in a
prepared statement. "Vigorous political debate
has been stifled by a dangerous political fusion
that leaves us with two parties of one persua
sion. We propose to replace those who wculd
have us led by the fickle tastes of finance and
the notoriously unreliable values of Wall
Street."
"This ain't a choice between [Zell] Miller and
[Mack] Mattingly," says Esco. "It's not a choice
between Democrats and Republicans. We have
some real alternatives. This is really an oppor
tunity for folks to say 'we've had enough.'"
MUSICIAN'S RESOURCE
CENTER SET TO OPEN
Nearly four years after 2 2-year-old guitarist
Nugi Phillips ended his five-year struggle with
depression by taking his own life, the founda
tion bearing his name is poised to begin
serving the Athens music community.
In the wake of Phillips' suicide in November
of 1956, his family purchased a vacant ware
house at the comer of Williams and Oconee
Streets and, through the Nugi Phillips Memorial
Foundation, began raising money for a music
complex and counseling center called Nugi's
Space.
Nugi’s Space is "where musicians can come
to practice in an affordable, secure environ
ment," reads a description of the facility at
nucis-space.org. "We will also act as a resource
center for musicians. Whether their question is
how to make a CD, how to cope with the stress
of life in a rock band, or how to feel good,
Nugi's Space will be the place they can turn to.
We will make sure that they can find the help
that they need and that they can afford to pay
for it."
Nugi's mother, Linda Fhillips, is president of
the Foundation. She says Nugi's Space will
begin renting practice rooms on September 1,
and will initially operate from eight to 12 hours
per day.
"What we want to do is see what the need
is, or what requests we get, and then we will
adjust according to that," Phillips says.
All proceeds from Nugi's Space will be used
for ongoing programs and maintenance.
The Foundation got a recent boost from the
Yamaha Corporation, which donated guitars,
keyboards and a drum set to the center. Phillips
says Yamaha representative John Messerschmidt
contacted her after picking up a Nugi's Space
brochure in an Athens restaurant.
"It's a project that he's very interested in,"
says Phillips. Yamaha's public relations firm,
Giles Communications, will also be circulating
information about Nugi's Space in various trade
journals, accoiding to Phillips.
"We're really excited," she says. "We've had
some really good things happen. It's been like
that since we started." C
Nugi's Space, a resource center to provide practice space and counseling for local musicians is scheduled to
open September 1. It is appropriately located in the shadow of the famous steeple, a music scene landmark.
AUGUST 16, 2000