News Scrapbook 1986-1988

San Diego, CA (San Diego Co.) San Diego Union (Cir. D. 217,089) (Cir. S. 341,840)

Los Angeles, CA (Los Angeles Co) Times (San Diego Ed.) (Cir. D 50,010) (Cir. S 55,573) JAN 23 1987

JAN 22 1987

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7\1/eek's gross healthy f oi~breamgirls' here I n eight performances last week at the Civic Theatre, the nation- al company of "Dreamgirls"

USD Takes Tough Defens~~. to USP and Santa Clara By C FPLEMAN• Times Staff Writer N FRA CISCO-There is a nat1!nally ranked buketball team In anD1ego. ort of. The Univ it of S~ego h;s V it n lie e ens1vely•ran • car d f se with a Ing fifth in condns~~ defensive 58 8 avera an 5 f ld g',al rcentage at 40.. I " "Wear playing better dehfe~Dese, E USD coac • · ~aid Hank gan, been the most fen has always That's been ohd parl of our game.t few weeks. e pecially true tthee f l~t better and and 11 rebou_nds against Santa Clara and 12 points and 10 rebounds againstVSF. "He [Thompson] got frill;;I'ated and stalled out," Egan said. What he has to do is just play as har~ as he can. ow, he's making a conn- . d do1·ng his part rather buuon an . _ than worrying about doing every • thing." ,. Thompson leads the • scormg al 16.4, followed by h' ah 7 4 3 ints and a team- 1g · at 11. po d p I Leonard av- rebounds. Guar au erages 10.1 points.

earned $370,679, a healthy increase over the $288,976 recorded by the company in San Francisco the previ- ous week. And the figure would have been higher here, says Dixie Burton of the sponsoring San Diego Playgoers, if the Civic Theatre could add more seats for the weekends. Friday and Saturday performanc- es of "Dreamgirls" were sold out and over 400 patrons were turned away, Burton says, whereas seats were empty early in the week. Until SAn Diego is judged as a multiweek town by roadshow pro- ducers, Burton says, patrons are well-advised to book shows early in the week. When "Cats" finally comes to town, almost certainly this year, she expects all performances to be sold out !ore th show opens. Compari1on1: In its 81st anniver- sary issue, Weekly Variety, "the show business bible," gives special attention to three American cities In New York, Richard Hummler writes that, although things didn't get worse, they certainly didn't get better for theater, citing another season of drops in both attendance and income. He blames a list of woes including resistance to high ticket prices, decay of government support, the new tax laws, stubborn labor unions and the lack of play- wrights in tune with mass tastes. From Los Angeles, Bill Edwards reports more theaters available but less product for them, noting in par- ticular a series of touring produc- tions announced but then canceled.

Helen Hayes, 86, the reigning queen of the American Theater, will visit San Diego briefly this weekend as the guest of the Universit of San Diego for the annual President's Club Dinner. She will arrive by air from Meiico City and attend, in close order, a press conference, a cocktail party and a dinner Saturday night. She will leave Sunday after- noon, hopefully after being allowed to sleep in. Bowery schedule: The present production of "Bent" at the Bowery Theatre continues to sell out, so it will run at least until February, ac- cording to Robyn Hunt, the theaten associate artistic director. Steve Perason will direct himself, Hunt, Jeff Okey and pianist Marta Zevan in Michael Tabori's "Brecht on Brecht," opening Feb. 6 for late eve- ning performances Fridays and Sat- urdays. Hunt will join performance artist Eleanor Antin for Antin's "Who Cares About a Ballerina?," opening Feb. 26. The March show at the Bowery will be Michael Cris- tofer's "The Shadow Box," to be staged by Alan Bridgewater. And, on dark nights starting next month, there will be UCSD student produc- tions. Also scheduled: The Mission Playhouse will feature Martin Gerr- ish as a doughty old English actor and Tom Kilroy as his dresser in Ronald Harwood's ''The Dresser," opening Feb. 12. Edythe Pirazzini also bas cast Katherine Faulconer, Ginger Perry, Dana Hooley, Donald Pugh and William S. Farnum.... The Fiesta Dinner Theatre will fol- low the seven-week run of Jim Lakin's "Tom Foolery," opening to- morrow with the Mickey .Finn crew from Las Vegas, with Ira Levin's "Deathtrap" March 11 and Lee Kal- cheim's "Breakfast With Les and Bess," starting April 26.... And, at Southwestern College in Chula Vista, William Virchis has begun casting "Leader of the Pack," a pop musical based on the 1960s hits of composer Elle Greenwich opening in March.

Wc commurnca " help one another. "r orero

USF 02:5, 2-2) is corning off road lo~~t.'S to St. Marys and USO. The Dons are 10-1 at home, but have lost all three ga_mes against USO since Jim Brovelh, the former USO coach, took over. Last season, USO beat USF, 67-59. at San Franc1~co and, 72-39, at home. Despite iniur1es to thre~ key playe1s, the Dons are, muc improved over last seasons 7-21. record. "We kind of overpowered them last year ," Egan said. "But you have to d count last year. Tkh1s . p etty good bas et- year, they reA.alo~ better than last ball team. year." USF center Mark McCathrion leads the team in rebounds g·f average l and is averaging . . omts. Guard Rodney Tent10n ~laying wit a mask because o_f a broken no -~. has a 9.2 scoring- average. L ading scorer Patnck Clardy ( 15 point average) has missed four consecutive ga!lles be- cause of an .flkle sprain. His status is questionatle tomght.

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3. J and tied with Gocnza~a lace n the West oas tonfe n e going into torng~t s game lit the Urnver ity t ofSan~~ rranr1 co They play a Cl ra Saturday night. The e re rematches of WCAC TT)() , played last week at USD, thtre the Toreros are 7 -0. Santa Clara made 33% of its hot!! from the field Thur day rnght d lo t 73 _ 51 Two nights later, t" F m;de 39.6% of its shots and Jo t. 68-56. "The fact that we've don~ it held teams to poor-shooting !11ghts) against several opponenJs m an we have somethmg to 0 ¼ 1th It," Egan aid Un offense, USD has been led by forward 11s Madden and a reiuve- nat d Scott 'l'homp on. Madden had 23 points and 11 rebounds agamst USF After sub-par garr_ies at Gonzaga and Portland t NO we k ago, Thompson had 23 pomts '

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All this makes the other city up- date - Kathlyn Russell's compre- hensive position paper on San Diego's "year marked by new the- ater openings, burgeoning audiences and courageous premieres" - all the more upbeat by comparison. As has been noted here and there, it's hard to remain modest these days. Local Beat: Broadway director John Tillinger has been signed by the Old Globe to stage the world premiere of A.R. Gurney Jr.'s "An- other Antigone" in March. Tillinger's recent credits include "Loot," "Corpse!" and Gurney's "The Perfect Party" in New York last season....

San Francisco, CA (San Francisco Co.) Chronicle (Cir. D. 630,954) (Cir. Sat. 483,291)

JAN 2 3 1987

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TOUGH YEAR FOR USF'S TE TION

l e sensed he had bee>n presslnl! in the game, Icy Ing to lmpr old friend. from his junior college da m San Diego. And it wa the first game he'd \ r played a~ain ta te>am coached by Hank Egan "'ho had rPcruitecl him to h Air Force Academ; id 198:J and t rtecl him as a freshman. Then th re wa th mask - an irritating con- traption he has to we>ar untJI the doctor Is convinced th t h no e broken December 26. JS fully healed. t n Diego, the croY.d chanted "Jason! Jason• v.henever Tention was o the foul hne, noting his blzarr r semblanc-e to the rna~ked \ illain in th Friday the 13th ·horror mov1e.s. In all, it Y.as enough to make a Big Mac taste truly aY.ful. And as he was walking out of the r t.iurant, fl\ e little kids r ognized Tention, e\·en Y.Jthout the ma k. They re~ned the chant: "Jason! Ja n! fenllon ju t laughed at the absurdity of it all. 'I -.i:oulun't call rnyseJr injury-prone," said the USF Ju111or, v. ho team will try to avenge that Jass to lea ue lcadmg t.: O at M morlal Gym tonight 30 t1po((J. ''It's ju t that I don't get typical inju- ri " Tak th broken no c - it'· not uncommon as flying elbov. can be dangerou Y.eapon . But T~n- t1on ¼ .i n't clbo" ed m the race; he wa kicked as he "'ent after a loo e ball. "Wham!" he ·aJd. "I kn<'w it had to he> brokPn." The 1n1ury ha hamper d 1enllon - the mask "I drivmg me nuti,' he said - but it has kept him out of only one game La~t year' freak injury- he hatte>r d his elbov. "-hen he landed on it after going up tor a dunk kept him out for the season. The only thing ood out th acx1dent was that it occurr d In the Don I th ame, enabling Tention to ri taln th year of ehgib1hty a game later and h wouhl h a nl now.

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had hoped to be playing without the mask. · "I went to the doctor on Tues- day and the first thing I said was, 'We have to get rid of this. I can't stand it,' " Tention said. "I was real- ly down when he said I needed it one more weekend. He's being real cautious. On Monday, though, it's gone." The mask hinders Tention's peripheral vision, which hurts him on offense and defense The mask hmcers Tention's pe- ripheral vision, which hurts him on offense and defense. "It also makes me sweat more, and whenever there's a break I push it up to get a good shot of air," he said. Brovelli says all the Dons are "a little out of sync, out of rhythm right now," and he believes one rea- son might be that Tention, his un- disputed floor leader with 5.1 assists per game, is playing at less than his best.

Brovelli is sure the Dons aren't their field goal per- centage has dropped from .478 in the pre-eonference season to .396 in West Coast Athletic Conference play. The Dons are 12-5 overall and 2-2 in the WCAC; leading scorer Pat- rick Clardy, who has been sidelined by an ankle sprain, remains "ques- tionable" for tonight and will play briefly, if at all. Against the senior-dominated several of whom are the Dons will have to play relatively error-free ball, and certainly will have to shoot better. Tention said t:SF will have to force the tempo, because USD prefers to play at a slower pace. "I set some goals at the begin- ning of the season, and I haven't met many of them," Tention said. "Th~e last 10 (regular-season) games are most important. I want to create opportunities for the team. Tonight's other local game ls another WCAC clash, and another rematch from last weekend. On Sat- urday night, Santa Clara went into McKeon Pavilion in Moraga and beat St. Mary's, 55-43. Lynn Nance's Gaels (1~ overall, 1-3 in confer- ence) will try to return the favor tonight at Toso Pavilion 17:30 tipoff 1. Carroll Williams' Broncos are 11-7, 2-2. shooting well - Toreros - Brovelli recruits - That's what I do best." Gaels Vs. Broncos

very good," Egan recalls. ''That af- ternoon, I went to a high school game in (San Diego's) Balboa Park and the coach from Grossmont JC came up and introduced himself. J said, 'Boy, do I have a deal for you ' " . Egan and Tention said there was no arrangement for Tention to go from Grossmont to USO. "He knew that if he wanted to c:ome, we could talk about it," Egan ~aid. "But I think he wanted a fresh start. My last year at the Academy was a difficult one for me, and it was difficult for Rodney. Coming to play for me would be a rehash of the old stuff." Tention and Egan keep in touch, and Tention says the coach seems more easy-goin2 and patient than he was three years ago. "He doesn't have to coach everything. He has more talent, so the players have more initiative. "Last week, when I came out for warm-ups, we pointed at each other, and after the game, he told me, 'Don't worry about it (the loss). You played a good game. See you next week.' I'm looking forward to talking to him I tonight)." Tention hopes he'll play a little better than he did last week (he was Hor.a from the floor), but then, he

IY UNIT'ED PRESS INT'ERMWONAl USF's Rodney Tention has talcen a long route to the Dons campus

Tention's basketball career has taken him from the. outskirts of Columbus, Ohio, to Colorado Sprrngs, WhPre the Air Force Academy's education- al and career opportunities attracted him. "I enjoyed it," he said. "Coach Egan didn't have a lot of talPnt, and we had to work hard on the team-oriented game. We would work hard- just go until you had to ask for a re t." With a month to go in the 1983-84season, an8-19 dL~aster, Egan told his players he wouJdn 't be back but that he would try to help any of them. That summer, Tention decided the military life wasn't for him, and sought advice from Egan, who had h~cn hired to replace USF coach Jim BrovelJi at San Diego. "I told him the JC programs in California were See Page 89, Col. 4

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