UT offers Big Bang with experimental ensemble

By Rebecca Phillips / November 1, 2005

Taking on the task of reproducing both the far-away inception of the universe and the immediate creation of a piece of theater, this week’s Univeristy Theater productions of The Matchstick Theory and Valse are two exercises in experimentation. The shows, which are about an hour in length all together, are two original creations that should...

Weekend workshops: Three’s a charm

By Rebecca Phillips / November 1, 2005

University Theater’s “workshop” productions, which have minimal technical requirements and rehearse only 15 times before opening night, are meant to give directors and actors the opportunity to isolate the most basic elements of a dramatic piece such as character, staging, and timing in a low-pressure forum. For first-time directors or seasoned actors who want to...

Do the French know why they’re saying “non”?

By Rebecca Phillips / May 12, 2005

May 12, 2005—PARIS—In a highly scrutinized referendum on May 29, French voters will go to the polls to say “Oui” or “Non” to the European Union constitution. Opinion surveys conducted in March and April showed the “Non” vote ahead with 51 to 54 percent of respondents, while some new statistics from this month give the...

Chicago’s your final destination? Welcome Home

By Rebecca Phillips / April 28, 2005

April 28, 2005—CHICAGO—As my plane pulled up to the gate at Midway International Airport yesterday morning, the captain’s voice came over the loudspeaker to thank us for choosing ATA. “If you are continuing on to another city, we wish you a safe and comfortable journey. If Chicago is your final destination, welcome home.” I felt...

The French take their food very seriously

By Rebecca Phillips / April 14, 2005

When I make polite small-talk with a new French acquaintance, I am usually asked a thoroughly predictable series of extremely polite, routine questions concerning my stay in Paris. They would like to know where I’m from in the United States, how long I will be in France, what I’m studying here, where my apartment is,...

Reflexive Verbs and Self-Reflection in Paris

By Rebecca Phillips / April 5, 2005

“Non, Rebecca,” sighed Vanessa in exasperation, “we worked on this last time. On attend quelque chose ou on s’attend à quelque chose. Do you understand the difference?” My oral practice session on Wednesday morning had gone well enough, but I was apparently still having trouble making phrases with the reflexive verb s’attendre à (to expect)....

Sex and this city: The truth about French girls

By Rebecca Phillips / February 25, 2005

PARIS—The title of Mireille Guilian’s new diet book/memoir, French Women Don’t Get Fat (Chatto & Windus, 2005), is a bit of a misnomer, actually. The book ought to be called “Most French Women Don’t Overeat, and Neither Should You.” Of course, if this had been the title no one would really need to buy the...

Surviving psychotherapy without sarcasm

By Rebecca Phillips / January 28, 2005

January 27, 2005—PARIS—I don’t know very much about cars, but as the former driver of a used 1998 V-70 Volvo sedan, I do know that every few years, a car needs servicing. It is my belief that the same philosophy holds true for human beings—that is to say that we cannot continue to run flawlessly...

La dissertation: An antithese of one’s own

By Rebecca Phillips / January 13, 2005

January 12, 2005—PARIS—While putting off writing a paper on Antigone, I felt both contempt and appreciation for the style of la dissertation that I have been struggling with ever since French 205 last winter. It is excessively formal, relentlessly disciplined, and infuriatingly bureaucratic, but it does offer an appealing new way to look at both...

America “le ridicule”

By Rebecca Phillips / November 11, 2004

November 8, 2004—PARIS—Before I left for Paris, an old friend of mine offered me this piece of advice: “Just remember, Europeans will usually believe you if you tell them you’re Canadian.” I laughed it off, but on November 2, when one of the girls in my “Theatrical Aesthetics of Comedy” class asked me if I...

In France, “tact” is just a four-letter word

By Rebecca Phillips / October 31, 2004

October 28, 2004—PARIS—”The child may say ‘bonjour’ to the lady, even though he thinks that she is mean and ugly.” As we completed aloud example #5 on page 8 of the University of Chicago Paris Program grammar workbook, the class erupted in laughter. “Non,” explained Sylvie, our language and writing teacher/pedagogue/surrogate mother/director of the study...

“Bon Courage!”

By Rebecca Phillips / October 12, 2004

September 8, 2004—PARIS—In French, there are two ways to wish someone “good luck.” If you say “bonne chance,” it implies that they need dumb luck, the kind determined by fortune and the gods or the chain of events that results from how hard someone squeezes a catsup bottle on the other side of the Earth....

To brie, or not to brie? A viewpoint from across the pond

By Rebecca Phillips / October 2, 2004

September 2, 2004—SOMEWHERE OVER THE ATLANTIC—While waiting at the gate to board American Airlines flight 44 from New York’s JFK Airport to Paris’s Charles de Gaulle Airport, I caught eyes with a woman across the row of waiting-area chairs. We smiled politely at each other. A short while later, she noticed my left knee bouncing...