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| Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' | |
| Posted by: mattyp4 04:37 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
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| Anybody hear about this story? A high school in Ithaca, NY cast a white student as Esmerelda in Hunchback of Notre Dame. Some actors quit in protest and now the production is shut down. To be fair, they've replaced it with a new TBD "collaborative project." Not sure if that means another musical or some sort of installation or performance. Curious what others think. Part of me applauds the student protestors (apparently the faculty director refused to meet with the concerned students), the other part of me thinks it was perhaps taken a bit too far. But Fox News just picked up the story so now the MAGA crowd is attacking the high school. It's all Obama's fault, somehow. Anyway, not to stir things up but it's an interesting debate. And it's one that Broadway was having just last season with The Great Comet. |
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| Link | Ithaca High School pulls 'Hunchback of Notre Dame' over casting diversity outcry |
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| Question for Posters Who Work in High School Theatre | |
| Posted by: JereNYC (JereNYC@aol.com) 11:57 am EST 02/07/18 | |
| In reply to: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' - mattyp4 04:37 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
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| So, I know there are a few posters here who actually direct or otherwise work with students at the high school level, and I've always wondered how plays and musicals are chosen for production in the first place. I should say that I attended a very small (about 1000 students over 4 grades), mostly white, suburban public high school in the late '80's. In the theatre department (I say "department," but the reality is that we had one teacher, untrained in theatre, who taught a couple of acting classes, a couple of art classes, and a couple of English classes, who directed the plays and musicals), there were no minorities at all of any kind. When the school did FAME one year, they somehow recruited one black student to play Leroy, a guy who'd never performed before and likely never did again. Anyway, that's the sort of high school theatre environment that I came up in. The way that the school schedule was set up, a student could only participate in one after school activity because all of these things were happening at the same time, immediately after the end of the school day. So you could do the play in the fall or you could, for example, be on the football team. Doing both was not an option. So the population of "usual suspects" was not large. So, when you're a drama teacher at this level, how do you choose material for your students? Do you choose material that you know will be suited to the talents of the students you're sure to have on hand or do you choose more challenging material that won't be such a perfect fit, but that might attract students not otherwise interested in drama? At this level, I imagine few, if any, of the students have ambitions to go into performing arts as a career and are mostly doing the school play to have a good time and see what it's like. Does the idea of "let's all have a good time" factor into choices at all? |
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| re: Question for Posters Who Work in High School Theatre | |
| Posted by: IvyLeagueDropout 12:23 am EST 02/08/18 | |
| In reply to: Question for Posters Who Work in High School Theatre - JereNYC 11:57 am EST 02/07/18 | |
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| I think I have nowhere near MistressAndy's experience, but here a few of my thoughts. 1) Boys. There is usually a lack of boys. Generally, I have had ample numbers of girls try out for shows, sometimes just a few boys. Thus, nearly every boy gets cast, and I have to cut girls. I try to pick shows where small and ensemble parts can be played by girls. 1776 is a near impossibility. 2) I will generally have a few show "meetings" before auditions (or even announcing the show), to hear the group of kids sing & dance, so I get a gist of what I'm working with. Usually, I will have it narrowed down to 3 or 4 shows before the meeting, and then I will pick and announce the show when I see that, for example, we have a lot of kids who can dance. Then I conduct auditions. 3) I have worked with several schools that had very few minority students, which led me away from doing "South Pacific" on one occasion. 4) In terms of subject matter, I would never choose something like "Cabaret" for a school to do. Not that it is too mature for the high school kids, but that because a good chunk of the audience for school shows is even younger kids. For the record, I love "Cabaret" and have taken high school kids to see it. I just don't want to open any cans of worms when their 9 year old siblings are asking their parents about Nazis, drugs, bisexuality and abortion. 5) I try to pick shows that have an element in either history or literature that I can open kids up to. I recommend "further reading" to the kids, and will discuss books with them, both individually and as a group. I've discussed Grimm's Fairy Tales with kids while doing "Into the Woods" and Sholem Aleichem while doing "Fiddler." Mostly, I try to remember through the whole process what a high school show is to the kids: bonding time with other kids, learning about the show and theatre in general, and a time for them to come out of their shell and feel comfortable being creative and fun. I don't care if the show is great art (although I try to make it good), or if anyone pursues a career in show biz. I want them to look back, as I do, on their high school show as a time of opening their eyes and hearts. High school shows were hands down my favorite thing in school. |
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| re: Question for Posters Who Work in High School Theatre | |
| Posted by: MusicalsForever 01:55 pm EST 02/07/18 | |
| In reply to: Question for Posters Who Work in High School Theatre - JereNYC 11:57 am EST 02/07/18 | |
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| Several years ago a high school near where I live was denied doing GREASE because of the unmarried pregnancy thing. But yet, they were given approval to do ONCE UPON A MATTRES. | |
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| re: Question for Posters Who Work in High School Theatre | |
| Posted by: JereNYC (JereNYC@aol.com) 02:16 pm EST 02/07/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Question for Posters Who Work in High School Theatre - MusicalsForever 01:55 pm EST 02/07/18 | |
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| That is hilarious, especially considering that Rizzo isn't really pregnant, but Lady Larkin is. | |
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| re: Question for Posters Who Work in High School Theatre | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 02:57 pm EST 02/07/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Question for Posters Who Work in High School Theatre - JereNYC 02:16 pm EST 02/07/18 | |
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| True. Except that I tend to think that given the more comic angle in Mattress, vs. the edgier way the pregnancy issue is dealt with in Grease, it seemed less threatening, even though it truly is a plot point that drives the show. |
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| re: Question for Posters Who Work in High School Theatre | |
| Posted by: JereNYC (JereNYC@aol.com) 03:43 pm EST 02/07/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Question for Posters Who Work in High School Theatre - Chromolume 02:57 pm EST 02/07/18 | |
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| I wonder if including an unmarried pregnant character in MATTRESS in 1959 would have been considered shocking or edgy? As you say, this unplanned pregnancy really drives the plot, although I wonder if the fairy tale setting would have dulled the shock for the original audiences. Or maybe Lady Larkin's focus on rectifying her "mistake" by helping the other characters figure out a way to circumvent the law so she can land her man made up for it. |
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| re: Question for Posters Who Work in High School Theatre | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 11:34 pm EST 02/07/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Question for Posters Who Work in High School Theatre - JereNYC 03:43 pm EST 02/07/18 | |
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| Was "dulling the shock" really part of the original plan, though? I mean, the show is full of sex jokes right from the title itself, and the opening number ("no one is getting any...younger..."). Perhaps time has now made some of the lyrics and situations in the show seem less edgy, but in 1959 I think audiences were certainly used to bawdy musical comedies lol. And I'm sure that Mattress was far from the first show to deal with unplanned pregnancies on some level - maybe not always as a major plot point, but for instance, the punchline of "My Mother's Wedding Day" comes to mind, and that was 1947... (Or, West Side Story's "they didn't wanna have me, but somehow I was had...") | |
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| When I choose a production... | |
| Posted by: MistressAndy 12:18 pm EST 02/07/18 | |
| In reply to: Question for Posters Who Work in High School Theatre - JereNYC 11:57 am EST 02/07/18 | |
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| When I choose a production I factor in many things. I have a hierarchy, so I guess I'll list them in the order that I think about them. 1- WHAT HAS THE SCHOOL DONE PREVIOUSLY? Yes, I am a director. But I am first and foremost and educator. If I'm in a NEW situation or a situation where I've been directing in the school for a while, I look at the last three (minimum) shows the school has done. If they're all contemporary (after 1970-80 MOSTLY?) I'll look for something more "classic". If they've only been doing Rodgers and Hammerstein, I'll look for something newer. Kids will have fun WHATEVER you choose, and if they fall in love with a show they've never heard of, wonderful! 2- WHO IS LIKELY TO AUDITION FOR THIS SHOW? If I'm working in a school with a white population (with only one or two students of color if any), I'm not going to choose Ragtime. Similarly, if the school has a population that hasn't taken a dance class in their life, I'm not going to choose A Chorus Line. Most schools have a mix in terms of student skills, so I often favor shows that I can break up according to strength. For example, when I did "Curtains" I had students who could dance, but weren't very good tappers. Some students tapped very well. Some students could barely dance at all. So EVERYONE did "Show People", allowing students who didn't dance to get better. Students who could tap did "Tough Act to Follow". Less dancer women did "Kansasland" (except Bambi who was the best dancer I could find). The best singers I put into "In the Same Boat Complete", the better dancers did "Thataway". Each student was in a smaller group that allowed them to shine but still learn rather than putting every kid in every number. 3- IS THIS SHOW APPROPRIATE FOR THIS AUDIENCE? Some schools are just more conservative than others. You can push the boundaries a little. But why get yourself into trouble before you start? 4. DO I HAVE AT LEAST THREE PEOPLE THAT CAN PLAY ANY GIVEN ROLE? This I had to learn the hard way. If you've only got one kid and you're choosing a show for that kid, you're making a mistake. I can't tell you the number of times a kid ended up doing a sport instead, or started failing something and wasn't allowed to audition, or... name a thousand reasons kids decide not to do something. If you don't have at least three kids that can conceivably play the roles (even if it's a stretch), I don't pick it. There are hundreds of shows. I can usually find one. 5. SET AND PIT DEMANDS. Do I have no kids that want to be in a pit orchestra? How will that sound? Guess I better find a show that will sound ok with a small band. Is the stage MASSIVE? Do I have stuff that can fill it? Usually I can work with someone to design something clever no matter what, but it definitely factors in. 6. WILL I STILL WANT TO WORK ON THIS IN TWO MONTHS? This is at the bottom of my list but it's still there. If I don't want to work on it I won't pick it, BUT I have to say I've often picked shows I don't like because they're just RIGHT for the kids I have. Eh. You suck it up. I'm sure there's more but if there is I'll add it later! |
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| re: When I choose a production... | |
| Posted by: JereNYC (JereNYC@aol.com) 12:45 pm EST 02/07/18 | |
| In reply to: When I choose a production... - MistressAndy 12:18 pm EST 02/07/18 | |
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| This is really interesting, MistressAndy. Thank you very much! If you are new to a school, how do you find answers to some of these questions? I guess it's easy enough to find out what shows they've done in the past few years and get some guidelines about how conservative this particular school is, but how do you determine who's likely to audition or that you'll have enough choice for any given role? |
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| re: When I choose a production... | |
| Posted by: MistressAndy 01:08 pm EST 02/07/18 | |
| In reply to: re: When I choose a production... - JereNYC 12:45 pm EST 02/07/18 | |
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| I ask the people from the production team that have done the show previously. If it's an ENTIRELY NEW production team, I'll have "workshop days" where the choreographer will dance with them, the vocal director will sing with them, and I'll play drama games with them. You'd be amazed at how useful that sort of this is, especially since I can read right away who is REALLY dedicated, who is "up for anything", willing to be silly, who has great body control... etc. | |
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| re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' | |
| Posted by: Johno60 06:43 am EST 02/07/18 | |
| In reply to: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' - mattyp4 04:37 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
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| This infuriated me. I directed high school for years. You have a limited casting pool to choose from and some times you are forced to cast someone who would never play the role professionally. This isn’t professional theatre. This is high school. It’s about learning and working together to create. A costumer may discover their innate gift for design. A stage manager. A props person. It’s not always about the performers. I cast an actress of Indian descent as MAME, that quintessential American flapper. I did WORKING and cast women in ‘male roles’ and we figured it out together. I cast an African-American actress as ALICE (in Wonderland), a Filipino DUCHESS, a Vietnamese WHITE RABBIT. I did it—not to be politically correct or inclusive—but because they were the best choices available. When a bitter girl who was not cast as MAME confronted me about ‘casting the colored girl’, I threw her out of my office. Perhaps the actress chosen had the notes to play ESMERELDA—perhaps she ‘paid her dues’ in the school past productions—perhaps her parents are great to work with...Who knows? I would have resented being judged on my casting as well. |
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| re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' | |
| Posted by: MTPROF77 10:43 am EST 02/07/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' - Johno60 06:43 am EST 02/07/18 | |
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| Amen! Thank you! | |
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| STUDENT ENGAGEMENT is a GOOD THING. | |
| Posted by: GrumpyMorningBoy 12:40 am EST 02/07/18 | |
| In reply to: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' - mattyp4 04:37 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
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| Sorry, wasn't trying to yell up there. But it's the kind of thing that deserves boldface. Student engagement is a good thing. It seems to me that the administrators and teachers realized they had a golden opportunity on their hands, to develop a collaborative theater project that tackled some of these issues head on, and are taking their proper role: to educate. The concerns of a high school are quite different than mere Broadway. I applaud these kids for raising the questions, and applaud the faculty for taking them seriously. No matter how you spin it, Esmerelda really shouldn't read as just another classic white chick. - GMB |
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| So Many Thoughts! Re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' | |
| Posted by: broadwayjoey 06:17 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
| In reply to: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' - mattyp4 04:37 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
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| So many thoughts on this... • If the students are advocating for 'color-conscious casting' as mentioned in the linked article, then do they realize that this would require casting an actress of Romani descent? I don't believe that any of those students protesting were Romani. • So then why should any them be any more 'fit' for the part in a 'color-conscious casting' world than a Caucasian actress? Unless they're saying that race/ethnicity boils down to just the shade of a person's skin. Which (besides not being remotely true) I believe is a viewpoint that many activists representing various people of color have specifically spoken out against. • Furthermore, is the 'enlightened' (I use that word in place of the original poster's "woke") position to be pro 'color-blind casting' or pro 'color-conscious casting'? In "Great Comet" among other productions, we've seen countless 'enlightened' protests saying that casting should be 'color-blind' and that a black actor should absolutely be able to play a Caucasian Russian character. Now we have 'enlightened' protesters saying that a white actress should absolutely not be able to play a Romani French character. So which is it? • Or is it just that actors of color should just be given preference for all roles until they are represented in the theater in proportion to their percentage of the greater American populace? (An Affirmative Action type position.) All in all, this student protest comes across to me as trying way too hard to be "woke" and progressive, without much thought being put into their position. Furthermore, with it being led by an actress who wanted to play the lead and wound up in the ensemble, one has to wonder how much of this is motivated by a sense of social justice rather than a sense of sour grapes. |
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| re: So Many Thoughts! Re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' | |
| Posted by: Singapore/Fling 01:01 am EST 02/07/18 | |
| In reply to: So Many Thoughts! Re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' - broadwayjoey 06:17 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
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| "If the students are advocating for 'color-conscious casting' as mentioned in the linked article, then do they realize that this would require casting an actress of Romani descent?" Arguably, that would be ethnic-conscious (or words to that effect). In this context, color-conscious just means that Esmerelda is brown, and she should be played by a brown actress. You raise many good points, but ultimately, the issue can be just as simple as they should probably cast a brown actress or pick another show. |
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| re: So Many Thoughts! Re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' | |
| Posted by: joegugs 07:15 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
| In reply to: So Many Thoughts! Re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' - broadwayjoey 06:17 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
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| I agree with all of the above. If they were doing say Dreamgirls with a Caucasian Effie they may have a point. There seems to have been a misconception in the article that the role is a person of color which I do not believe is the case with this character. | |
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| re: So Many Thoughts! Re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' | |
| Posted by: broadwayjoey 07:43 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
| In reply to: re: So Many Thoughts! Re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' - joegugs 07:15 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
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| If a black actor can play Pierre, why can't a white actress play Effie? Why should 'color-blind casting' only work in one direction? | |
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| re: So Many Thoughts! Re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' | |
| Posted by: Michael_212 09:34 am EST 02/08/18 | |
| In reply to: re: So Many Thoughts! Re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' - broadwayjoey 07:43 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
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| If a black actor can play Pierre, why can't a white actress play Effie? The Great Comet was written to be a show with a diverse cast. Though not plainly stated, the feel of the show is that we're watching a group of contemporary performers playing these characters in Russia. |
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| re: So Many Thoughts! Re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' | |
| Posted by: BruceinIthaca 08:07 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
| In reply to: re: So Many Thoughts! Re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' - broadwayjoey 07:43 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
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| Because of history. Tolstoy's novel is now far enough in the past and so enshrined in the "eternity" of the canon that there is room for casting beyond the realistic. We aren't there yet with "Dreamgirls" and with race in the United States. We can't have a mixed race or white "Raisin in the Sun" yet (except, perhaps, in acting or other performance classes) because we are still too close to the segregation of the late 50s in Chicago (which still lingers in that city, alas) and to ask us to imagine the white actors in those roles, particularly with speech patterns of black vernacular English that Hansberry used, would feel like a minstrel show. I suppose if one wanted to do an avant-garde deconstruction of Hansberry's play, such casting could have a kind of Brechtian effect, but I need to be persuaded what would be gained from that. That's where I think Bruce Norris'"Clybourne Park" was such a useful play (whatever some think of him as a playwright--I happen to admire his work)--it engaged the play from a white person's perspective and made that conscious and apparent, without coopting the reality of Hansberry's own drama. So, in fifty years, maybe a white Effie would work. Not yet. |
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| re: So Many Thoughts! Re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' | |
| Posted by: WWriter 08:06 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
| In reply to: re: So Many Thoughts! Re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' - broadwayjoey 07:43 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
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| For me, it's a two-part answer. 1. In our world, being black affects one's life ENORMOUSLY, so in pretty much any show about African-Americans, the characters' being black is an important part of the show. In contrast, Pierre's race is not an issue, so any race will do. (I'm hearing Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in my head now.) 2. People of color have way fewer roles to play, so giving one to a white person is just kinda mean. IMHO |
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| re: So Many Thoughts! Re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' | |
| Posted by: BruceinIthaca 07:18 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
| In reply to: re: So Many Thoughts! Re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' - joegugs 07:15 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
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| Not to swerve away from the thoughtful and serious discussion, but have you ever seen the movie "Camp"? There's a performance of it that makes your point in hilarious, if nonetheless endearing ways. The "color" issue with Romani/Romany people is complicated, as my tediously long post below suggests. |
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| re: So Many Thoughts! Re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' | |
| Posted by: Zelgo 12:28 pm EST 02/07/18 | |
| In reply to: re: So Many Thoughts! Re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' - BruceinIthaca 07:18 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
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| Apparently the person who instigated the shutting down of the production was an African American girl who was passed over for the role of Esmeralda. Of course, she has about the same ethnic claim on the role as a white actress--which is actually none. I see no evidence that she was more talented than the white actress chosen. In this case, having a white actress is actually colorblind casting. If the director chose an all white cast or just kept blacks to minor roles (none of which I can tell from the article) I understand the point of the protester. Otherwise, I'm not seeing much of a point here. |
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| re: So Many Thoughts! Re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' | |
| Posted by: BruceinIthaca 10:34 am EST 02/11/18 | |
| In reply to: re: So Many Thoughts! Re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' - Zelgo 12:28 pm EST 02/07/18 | |
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| No, you have it wrong. The student passed over is of Indian descent. The African American student quoted was cast in the ensemble and not up for Esmeralda--she simply believes an injustice tied to race, representation, and opportunities has occurred. Whether you agree with her or not (and I have complicated feelings), don't turn this into a "black and white" issue. | |
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| re: So Many Thoughts! Re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' | |
| Posted by: joegugs 07:20 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
| In reply to: re: So Many Thoughts! Re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' - BruceinIthaca 07:18 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
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| Bruce I agree with your well written post below and yes that is exactly what I was thinking of when I chose Effie and Dreamgirls! | |
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| re: So Many Thoughts! Re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' | |
| Posted by: summertheater 08:33 am EST 02/07/18 | |
| In reply to: re: So Many Thoughts! Re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' - joegugs 07:20 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
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| It's really a shame there are people out there who think that only a certain race is allowed to play a part in a theater role. That's the true definition of racism. Looks like the white student who was discriminated against has a very good case for a federal civil rights lawsuit. |
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| MAJOR SPOILER: Woke Students censor H.S. 'Hunchback' | |
| Posted by: lordofspeech 05:49 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
| In reply to: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' - mattyp4 04:37 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
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| Wait. So many things. 1) if “woke” is bad-grammar-speak for “awakened,” which I think it is, it seems un-woke to be part of a politically correct regimen which censors productions. 2) HERE’S THE SPOILER: Need Esmeralda be dark? Isn’t that dependent on how much she stays out in the sun? A major tragic moment in the novel is when Sister Gudule, the rabidly anti-gypsy nun who captures Esmeralda and insures her execution, discovers, all too late, that Esmeralda is not at all a gypsy, but her own child, who was stolen by the gypsies as an infant. Did the Disney version leave that out? If so, it loses a major point about the blindness of prejudice and how it destroys the happiness of the prejudiced themselves. Even so, must a gypsy be brown-skinned? 3) I shake my head in dismay, keeping it down, though, fearing that, if identified, I may be called out by these self-righteous young throngs of the politically correct. Oi. |
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| re: MAJOR SPOILER: Woke Students censor H.S. 'Hunchback' | |
| Posted by: MTPROF77 10:49 am EST 02/07/18 | |
| In reply to: MAJOR SPOILER: Woke Students censor H.S. 'Hunchback' - lordofspeech 05:49 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
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| Yes! Thank you! | |
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| re: MAJOR SPOILER: Woke Students censor H.S. 'Hunchback' | |
| Posted by: BruceinIthaca 07:22 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
| In reply to: MAJOR SPOILER: Woke Students censor H.S. 'Hunchback' - lordofspeech 05:49 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
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| I think the Disney version leaves the revelation out--I read the novel at least ten (maybe more) years ago and had forgotten it until someone on another site pointed it out. Try LIVING in Ithaca! (Wonderful in many ways, but I am viewed by many as always on the "wrong" side, because I actually can entertain multiple perspectives--that's the danger of studying performance and rhetoric--you actually can see things in more than one way!). Dr. Bacon would purse his lips, Dr. Breen would scowl, Dr. Heston would blow smoke in their faces, Dr. Roloff would shake his sadly but microscopically, and Carol Simpson Stern would laugh and then demolish their argument inside of two minutes. Those were the days! |
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| re: MAJOR SPOILER: Woke Students censor H.S. 'Hunchback' | |
| Posted by: BruceinIthaca 07:31 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
| In reply to: re: MAJOR SPOILER: Woke Students censor H.S. 'Hunchback' - BruceinIthaca 07:22 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
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| I seem to have beheaded one of my dear mentors--Dr. Roloff would have shaken his head sadly but microscopically! Sorry, Lee, wherever you are in the universe! |
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| re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' | |
| Posted by: singleticket 05:37 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
| In reply to: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' - mattyp4 04:37 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
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| One part of me thinks that many of these battles are all about Blue State progressives attacking each other because we've lost the cultural megaphone of government power. But I was recently discussing the gentrification of Ithaca's historic African-American Southside with a friend. Apparently Ithaca is experiencing something like a tech bubble and rents have been skyrocketing and that has pushed its long time African-American community either out of the city or to its limits. The debate that is using the show as a focal point might be coming from someplace real. | |
| Link | Ithaca gentrification displaces people of color |
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| re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' | |
| Posted by: BruceinIthaca 07:29 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' - singleticket 05:37 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
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| I've lived in Ithaca now for over thirty years and I had not heard about this situation on Southside, but I do not doubt it. The tech bubble (I haven't been paying attention from South Hill" may be combining with the always challenging problem that downtown landlords can charge exorbitant rents, because Cornell (and some IC) students split the costs--so a 1-bedroom downtown may go for 1500, and a 2-bedroom for 2000 or more (I've owned my townhouse for twenty years, so I don't know what actual rents really are, except for what colleagues tell me). I do know that when I was a younger and untenured faculty member, I ended up living in an apartment complex near the airport (15-20 minute drive from my campus) because I couldn't afford anything downtown. Sadly, the same situation happened, in a much larger way, in my hometown of Chicago (actually, its suburbs): gentrification of the near South Side (which, during my childhood in the 60s and 70s was affordable housing for African American and Latinx people in that segregated city) has led to working-class minority populations having to move to down-at-their-heels suburbs (many southwest of the city), sometimes a two-hour commute each way on public transportation for those who work in the city and who may not own a car, or be able to pay for parking in the Loop all day. |
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| re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' | |
| Last Edit: Chazwaza 05:52 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 05:48 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' - singleticket 05:37 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
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| It's ironic too that a show with a very valuable message for the "woke" times won't be seen because of "unwoke" casting... though the casting issue is a gray and complicated one, since the "reality" of what Esmeralda's skin color would be isn't so easy to determine, and interestingly enough wouldn't have been black even though the student in question, who quit the show after she was cast in the ensemble while a white girl got the role written for a "person of color", was black... except in reality Esmeralda wouldn't have been black either, right? | |
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| re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 05:26 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
| In reply to: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' - mattyp4 04:37 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
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| Funny, when I read the title of your post, I thought the story was going to be that the show was shut down because some people objected to the some aspect of the depiction of the hunchback or the way most of the other characters in the show react to him :-) | |
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| re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' | |
| Posted by: BruceinIthaca 07:34 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' - Michael_Portantiere 05:26 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
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| The Disney depiction of the hunchback IS offensive in so many ways. Giving him the nickname "Quasi" is one of the least of the ways, but it does reduce him to a cutesy nonentity by name (would YOU want to be called a "quasi" anything?) Also, turning him into an otherwise very "handicappable" (ugh) guy, who just has a few little "differences" so robs the character of his dignity, depth, and passion. But made for great action figures! I want Disney to try its version of "Ulysses" next--with a Molly Bloom lunchbox! |
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| re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 07:44 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' - BruceinIthaca 07:34 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
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| Giving him the nickname "Quasi" is one of the least of the ways, but it does reduce him to a cutesy nonentity by name (would YOU want to be called a "quasi" anything?) True. But the natural alternative "Modo" doesn't sound very good either. |
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| re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' | |
| Posted by: BruceinIthaca 08:09 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' - Chromolume 07:44 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
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| In reality, it's unlikely anyone around him would give him a nickname that wasn't an epithet of some kind. I agree, "Modo" doesn't work either. How about "Q to the M"? :) |
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| re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 08:45 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' - BruceinIthaca 08:09 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
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| In reality, it's unlikely anyone around him would give him a nickname that wasn't an epithet of some kind. Or perhaps "Tom" (for St. Thomas) - but then one would have to explain the actual etymology of "Quasimodo" which might be a bit much for a Disney story lol. |
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| re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' | |
| Last Edit: Chazwaza 04:59 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 04:50 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
| In reply to: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' - mattyp4 04:37 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
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| I think it's only appropriate if talented people of color auditioned. But also, Esmeralda wasn't black or Asian or South East Asian or Arab... wouldn't she have been from Spain? Or Romania (except she's named Esmerelda)? But I'm not actually sure... however I do know that the origin of "Gypsy" people (if that's even that it's referring to in this context) is complicated. And so wasn't it possible she'd have looked white? Gypsy isn't necessary a specific racial identifier. So even if non-white female students auditioned, who's to say they're any more appropriate for the role, other than being visually "other"? I assume they were expecting a Latina to be cast (even though that may not have been appropriate casting)? Let's say there were talented girls of color who auditioned, then I theoretically support the move. But if not, which is also likely, then I absolutely do not. This is a high school not a professional theater or movie. |
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| re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback': WARNING--VERY LONG | |
| Posted by: BruceinIthaca 06:03 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' - Chazwaza 04:50 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
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| As BruceinIthaca, I suppose it makes sense for me to chime in! Let me start by saying that I have no connection with the high school nor any real knowledge (except second or third hand) of any of the players. My sense, based on what I have heard from the interstices of colleagues who have or have had children in the public schools, is that there was a particular student actress who a number of people (students and parents) thought was a natural fit for Esmeralda, if what is meant by "natural fit" is an alignment of the ethnicity of the character and of the performer (an issue much under dispute far beyond Cayuga's waters, to say the least). The student, I have been told, is of Indian descent and, as it turns out (this I did not know before the issue came up), the Romany people (or Gypsies, as we no longer call them and was always a false etymology, based on the assumption that these people originally came from Egypt) also originated in India and migrated elsewhere. I can't say 100% that I have characterized the student's ethnicity correctly, but I do think that it was not simply a case of saying any "non-white" actress should be cast in the role. Some of the confusion comes from a quote from an African American (or she may have more complicated ethnic heritage than that) who quit the show (before it was canceled) saying something like she saw that this heater was not for people like her. My guess is that she meant that in a broader sense--that she felt the casting decision--a European-heritaged, blonde student in a role of someone of a very different heritage--communicated a sense of exclusion for her. Ironically, the first time I saw an IHS production was 25 years ago, when the school did "Into the Woods," and an African American student played the Witch (quite memorably)--my now-husband's daughter, of Jewish-American (Ashkenazi branch) heritage was Little Red. That there was a black actress playing the Witch was unremarkable, as everyone agreed she was had extraordinary talent and, well, it was Ithaca (and Phylicia Rashad had played the role on Broadway by then--it was before the revival with Vanessa Williams as the Witch). So, we seem to be in a historical moment that feels both "woke" and "regressive" in some ways simultaneously. As posters on another site have pointed out, in Hugo's novel (though not in the Disney film or play, IIRC), it turns out that Esmeralda was a foundling, and there is reason to think that she was born to a French mother (and, yes, I know there can be French women of color, but I don't think that was the case in the novel--it's been a decade or two since i read it). And there is a suggestion, some have said, that Quasimodo was "not-white," in the terms of the time and culture in which Hugo's novel is set. So, it may be that, if we go back to the novel (and I realize we aren't, as the Disney version is itself, in my opinion, such a bastardization of Hugo's dense, complex, sweeping novel), we might worry more about a white Quasimodo! Of course, no one has focused on another issue, which seems to me as deserving of discussion as this piece of casting (assuming people think this one rises to controversy): was any effort made to cast or at least attract to audition disabled actors to play the role of Quasimodo. No, I'm not saying they should have scoured the hallways for a "hunchback" (a term that I am sure is now rightly considered offensive in its own way), but disability art activists could reasonably argue that there are very few roles for disabled performers and that, even if there wasn't an actor with the exact same impairment, living and identifying and being treated as a person with a disability may cross specific disabilities (what, in disability studies, is sometimes called "cross-disability identification"). There doesn't seem to have been a hue and cry over that. I myself, as someone who works in both performance studies and disability studies, feel so torn on such issues. I do understand that performers who do not inhabit normative identities (whether based on race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, or disability) have less access to both actor training (I've heard horror stories like wheelchair-using students being told to do a handstand as part of an audition for an MFA program that wanted to exclude even considering them, and that seems despicable to me) and employment (or amateur participation). Ironically (sorry, I know I am overusing the word), the director castigated for this casting directed a middle school production of "Babes in Arms" about ten years or so ago, which I saw because one of my colleagues' daughter had the lead. It was one of those productions where an effort was made to include everyone who wanted to be onstage, and this included a Deaf girl, who actually was given a line or two (the equivalent of a chorus role) and signed the line in ASL (I think a hearing actor spoke the line for her). So, I feel for the director, though I know nothing about him other than these two instances. I can't believe he set out to create a crisis, and the call for him to be removed as director of all plays at the high school seems hasty to me. Of course, there's always other narratives at play. The individual the students are demanding be hired as play director is a local, a graduate of IC, who stayed in town (he may have left for awhile), and now runs a youth theatre group called Running to Places, that typically stages musicals, using students from many of the local communities, including ones with smaller or nonexistent theatre programs. I would assume that some of those calling for the firing of the current director and for the hiring of Joey Steinhaugen (the head of Running to Places) have participated in RTP productions. I'm not suggesting that they have made this issue as big as it has become in order to get the RTP director hired (I'm not THAT cynical), but, rather, they have had positive experiences with RTP and genuinely believe its director would serve the high school better. And the mother of one of the leaders of the protest runs an acting studio in Ithaca (yes, even Tiny Town has an acting studio) based on Meisner Principles. I attended a workshop of scenes from the studio years ago, as one of my students (I don't teach in the Theatre Department) was performing and she invited me to see her work. My former student was very enthusiastic about the studio and she has gone on to do network series work (including Robin Williams' last sitcom). But combining helicopter parents, students sincerely wanting to see social justice (on their terms) in the arts, an the usual mishegas that all artists tend to bring (myself included, in my own very minor way) created a perfect storm. That's the saga, as best as I know it. If I have gotten any parts of it wrong, it's not out of malice. And I'm still trying to figure out how to balance competing beliefs: social justice and opportunity for historically underused artists whose voices and experiences bring much to the table (and who, as students, deserve opportunities they may have been denied in the past and may feel they are being denied now) and my belief that one of the great value and powers of performance is the opportunity to place yourself empathically and experientially into the lives and feelings of people you are not like. It may be that the politics currently win out over what I might call the psychological/developmental--and I'd like to think there is a way to serve both. I recall, when I was a high school student in a Chicago suburb (and was in shows with such folk as Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Dan Castellaneta, Kathy Griffin, the ballerina Helene Alexopoulos, the novelist Jane Hamilton, the sculptor Peter Lane, and others--this was a heterogenous public school), there was a very talented African American actress, who auditioned for our production of "You Can't Take It With You." In 1972, the director felt he couldn't cast her as Rheba, especially without another black actor to play Donald--so she wasn't cat at all. The following year, another director (we had four drama teachers! imagine that today in a public high school) directed the non-musical version of "Meet Me in St. Louis." He case the black actress as the maid Katie (Irish in the original). The student gathered her courage and told the director she just couldn't play the role--that her people had played enough maids. To his credit, he asked the student playing the nosy next-doer-neighbor (not a character in the film) if she would switch roles, and she did. This led to a situation where the black actress' character had a visiting cousin, played by a white male student. I recall a couple of students making snide comments about that--even as "unawake" as I was then, I felt shame for those students. The black actress, after this experience, formed her own mime troupe, which did wonderful work, in the small studio theatre. But the fact that her takeaway was that she had to make her own theatrical space (and a silent one at that, though I suspect that was as much a function of her interest in movement and perhaps the sense in mime that realism was not required) was one I regret, though I admired her for it. Forty years later, I returned to the high school, to see their current production of "You Can't Take It With You" (I had played Mr. Kirby in 1972) with the actress who had played Penny and the white actress who had played Rheba. This was before the most recent Broadway revival. Grandpa was played by a wonderful African American actor, Rheba by a young woman of Latina heritage, and Olga Katrina by an actress who had actually grown up in one of the former Soviet countries! Things had changed, to say the least (and their production was better than ours, I have to admit). Sorry for the length. But this whole incident has made me feel my age and the sense of history not necessarily always moving in clearly progressive ways--rather a set of waves and returns. Will we ever get it "right"--whatever "right" means--that's the rub. |
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| re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback': WARNING--VERY LONG | |
| Posted by: BruceinIthaca 07:16 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback': WARNING--VERY LONG - BruceinIthaca 06:03 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
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| Apologies for numerous typos. I meant "African American student," not just "African American": I am aware of the dangers and offenses of turning adjectives into nouns (I hate the term "the gay," for example, even though my fellow alumna Kathy Griffin uses it with genuine endearment--I knew her prom date, who was one of "the gays"). And it's "Steinhagen," not "Steinhaugen." |
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| re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback': WARNING--VERY LONG | |
| Posted by: bmc 06:12 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback': WARNING--VERY LONG - BruceinIthaca 06:03 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
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| Very long post, yes, but very informative. Thanks very much. | |
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| re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' | |
| Posted by: bmc 05:47 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' - Chazwaza 04:50 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
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| Gypsy now preferred name Romany...often persecuted ...aka Travellers...I remember when JP II hosted a special mass for Romany at St Peter's in Rome....But Romany are Caucasian., more or less..Since it's high school you could go with Non-traditional casting. but the NON trad would be, Asian, black etc...........Also(forgive for being too lazy to look it up)What does WOKE mean, It's obviously using a grammatically incorrect tense for a particular New meaning. In the Chas Laughton film, Esmeralda was the beautiful and very Caucasian and Very Irish actress Maureen O'Hara. | |
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| re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' | |
| Posted by: WWriter 07:37 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' - bmc 05:47 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
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| My understanding of woke is that a person who is woke is aware of the existence of racism, sexism, etc, and how the isms affect people's lives; understands that white men don't run things because they're better or smarter but because they've set up the world that way; and gets it that people who have suffered from bigotry are tired of it! I've linked to a list of definitions that are so wonderfully subjective that they are perfect reminders how much we see the world from different sets of eyes. My own 2 cents, for what it's worth (probably not even 2 cents): it's great that people are fighting for what they want and what they believe in, but it's a very short slippery slope to censorship. It's like when the Whitney hung a painting of Emmet Till painted by a white woman; the people who protested had every right to do so. But when they tried to get the Whitney to take the painting down and even destroy it, they went waaaaaay too far. The Whitney did neither. |
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| Link | Different Opinions on What Woke Means |
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| re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' | |
| Posted by: BruceinIthaca 08:10 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' - WWriter 07:37 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
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| I agree--protests are as American as cherry pie and, when done without shutting down the other side, can produce important dialogue and the possibility of a better future. But the step into censorship can happen too easily. | |
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| re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' | |
| Posted by: fidelio1010 06:46 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Woke Students Shut Down A High School Production Of 'Hunchback' - bmc 05:47 pm EST 02/06/18 | |
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| Thats why they call it ACTING. | |
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