Students from the school of Music Theatre at OU performed A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum for the last two weeks. The comedy, written in 1964, is based in ancient Rome and is jam-packed with the classic farces of comedies in that era. A guest director, James Brennan directed the show.

James Brennan is an acclaimed performer and integral member on Broadway. His presence on the musical was apparent. He led the talented cast to one of the more comedically challenging shows they have done. In a world where delivery is king, Brennan did just that.

Brennan directed a capable cast that not only were extremely talented, but also very flexible.

Robert Wood, playing the lead character Pseudolus in the "Forum" made his presence known from the beginning to the closing of the curtains as the leader of the outfit. A slave of Hero (Skyler Adams) Pseudolus wanted to be free. When he finds out that Hero is in love with the forbidden girl next door, a wacky plan hatches that ends in the faked death of that very same girl by a slave from within Hero's house.

The Wietzenhoffer Schools of Fine Arts have more events coming with this upcoming week's performances of Two Stravinsky Opera: Mavra and The Nightingale.

Daniel Pearl Project

This week, two graduates and two professors from Georgetown University visited Gaylord College faculty and students to present their three-year investigative report over the capture and death of Daniel Pearl.

The Daniel Pearl project, led by the Georgetown Journalism Director Barbara Feinman Todd and former Wall Street Journal reporter Asra Q. Nomani, consisted of a group of 32 students ranging from various undergraduate majors to graduate students of Georgetown's School of Foreign Service.

A student operated investigation of this magnitude and nature had never been fully carried out before the Georgetown students and faculty began their report.

Over the course of three years, information came to light about the capturers, holders, and killers of Pearl that any professional investigative reporter would struggle to uncover.

The Daniel Pearl Project began through a need to further answer questions about who was involved with Pearl's capturing. Nomani was a colleague of Pearl's on the Wall Street Journal and together they built a friendship in Pakistan.

"Danny was my passport into U.S. culture," Nomani, from India, recalled.

Pakistan is known for being a dangerous country for any foreigners that stand out, but journalists have been targeted in the Middle East for years.

Two Georgetown graduates, Jessica Rettig and Erin Delmore talked about the means it took to find out information dealing with, the time difference, but a language and cultural barrier.

The exchanges they had on the phone with the police and other officials in Pakistan were difficult to understand because of their poor technology and inability to speak any english at times.

With this also came the issue of false information.

"The false information is a really critical component because people might want to push the story one way or the other," Nomani said.

Barbara Feinman Todd added, "We had students sleeping literally on the floors of our offices so they could deal with the time difference so they could make the phone calls."

Trust was an issue in Pakistan because of the differences in cultural backgrounds.

"It's very hard to build repore with someone when you only have them on the phone," Delmore said. She added, "So all of a sudden you have about five minutes where you can explain to somebody who you are, what you're doing, what you need from them and why they can trust you. Ninety-nine percent of the time, you need more than five minutes."

The obstacles they encountered were difficult, but their ability to work around them and uncover the truth proved to be one of the more impressive studies done at any level of investigative reporting.

The faculty at Georgetown plans to create a permanent project to honor and carry on the work of other slain journalists. An excerpt from their website talks about the need to show that journalists will not be deterred in reporting volatile areas and that investigative journalism needs to continue and furthermore, to flourish.

For more information about the Daniel Pearl Project visit pearlproject.georgetown.edu.