SOUTH OF THE NAVEL

by Simi Horwitz ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 5, 1973

Ms. Horwitz picked the wrong university in which to study drama and although she's since left the school and the profession, her bitterness remains. A graduate of a high school which used ""a genteel version of the Stanislavski method,"" she was a ""credulous, willing"" and ""ambitious"" freshman until the emphasis on passion, the pelvis (""the crotch was the crux""), non-verbal communication and leftist street politics got to be too much. ""We don't think, we feel,"" ""we don't ask questions, we respond,"" ""we're instinctual, not calculating"" were the slogans bandied: the students went to a lower-middle class neighborhood to accuse a straight of bigotry, groped around a church blindfolded to test their five senses, and performed Tennessee Williams while on stilts. But Simi stayed turned off -- the teachers were overbearing or pretentious, the encounter sessions tedious, a group grope ""boring,"" ""incompetence was policy at Leviathan U."" and the program was absurd. The Theater of Commitment was probably as unevenly presented in the classroom as on the stage, but there's madness in all methods and a tirade doesn't make a book.

Pub Date: Nov. 5, 1973

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: T.Y. Crowell

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1973

Categories: NONFICTION