[Mb-hair] A Few Questions

[richard haase]

joe with most colleges though
if the vast majority of the production is student body
they will let you bring in people a few etc
its par for the course
and there arent many opportunities
you will even get people to come in for a student production
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <joseph.simon at fandm.edu>
To: <mb-hair at islandlists.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 13, 2005 12:11 PM
Subject: Re: [Mb-hair] A Few Questions


> There are plenty of black people in PA, yes.  But, I'm doing a
> student run production.  So, I'm talking specifically about the
> student body on my campus.  Sorry I didn't make that clear earlier,
> so that's where the casting gets tricky.
>
>
> >joe there are plenty of black people in PA
> >also you can have ny or philly auditions for a day etc
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: "Little Birdie" <lbirdie at hotmail.com>
> >To: <mb-hair at islandlists.com>
> >Sent: Wednesday, April 13, 2005 11:36 AM
> >Subject: RE: [Mb-hair] A Few Questions
> >
> >
> >>  Hi Joe, and welcome to the Hair list.
> >>
> >>  It would be hard to do a production of Hair without at least a small
> >amount
> >>  of racial diversity in the cast. I have seen many productions that had
> >only
> >>  a few people of color in the Tribe, and seen that work, although the
> >>  strongest productions are often those with a larger mix. There are
songs
> >and
> >>  lines in Hair that reference racial equality, and this is one of
Hair's
> >>  messages. Even such simple lines as in Claude's hallucination when a
black
> >>  man and a white man take each others arms and say "Black and white go
nice
> >>  together, don't they?" would have to be cut or changed. Not to mention
the
> >>  song Colored Spade.
> >>
> >>  Certain roles, and the songs those characters sing, are written
> >specifically
> >>  to be played by African American actors and actresses, while others
are
> >not
> >>  specified. I have seen success with gender switching in the role of
Hud.
> >>  Delores Hall understudied that role on Broadway, and was good when she
> >>  played it. Hud isn't necessarily a man, but he is most definitely
black.
> >>  Your problem is not an uncommon one, sadly, and I believe some
companies
> >>  have tried casting this role with a caucasian actor. I would have a
hard
> >>  time thinking that could work, but perhaps others here who have
struggled
> >>  with this situation can tell you more about it than I can, never
having
> >seen
> >>  it done.
> >>
> >>  There are other ways to fill in your company - perhaps you could open
> >>  auditions to faculty and staff? To people outside the school community
> >>  because of these special circumstances? I would strongly encourage you
to
> >>  try and find some ethnic diversity if you are mounting a production of
> >Hair.
> >>
> >>  I am not sure what you are asking in your last paragraph, when you
speak
> >of
> >>  vocal or gender switching. Do you mean to solve this problem, or in
the
> >show
> >>  in general?
> >>
> >>  Nina
> >>  The Hair Archives
> >>  http://www.michaelbutler.com/hair/holding/Hair.html
> >>
> >>
> >>  _______________________________________________
> >>  Mb-hair mailing list
> >>  Mb-hair at islandlists.com
> >>  http://www.islandlists.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mb-hair
> >
> >_______________________________________________
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> >Mb-hair at islandlists.com
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>
>
> -- 
> Joseph Simon
>
> "It is not in the stars to hold our destiny, but in ourselves."
> -Shakespeare
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