Word: caste
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...plays offered last year. After one audition, she reached a point all too familiar to minority drama hopefuls. That point is the nauseous realization that because of that hair and those eyes, there is no place for you in Harvard theater. "I felt alienated not because of not being cast but because of who I saw [involved]," recalls Saffold, an African-American...
...What barriers do minority performers face inside the audition? Some directors note that they let their vision of a particular character be shaped by the actors who come to audition. "I actually had a slight bias toward a diverse cast," says director Dan Berwick '01. "The main character in Jesus Christ Superstar is a mob of people, and I wanted people who looked different from each other." Fortenberry notes her own decision to cast an African-American woman in a part written for a Jewish woman. "She was the best person," she says. "I decided to be race-blind...
...Other Harvard actors confirm that appearances have a great deal to do with casting decisions. Susan Long '02 attended a performing arts high school where color-blind casting was the norm. "There's a lot more physicality in casting here." Ashley McCants '02, an African-American actress, agrees. "People will potentially not cast you because of how you look. Sometimes at an audition I've had the feeling of polite attention...
...Groups like the Asian American Players (AAA) and Black Community Action Student Theater (CAST) also figure into the process of increasing minority representation in Harvard theater. Both troupes seek to give performance opportunities to minority actors and playwrights and to treat theatrically the concerns of their respective ethnic groups. "It frustrates me that a place as diverse as Harvard doesn't seem to see the opportunity presented to it by its diversity," says Vanessa Carr '02, who is currently revitalizing CAST with Saffold...
...Cast a wide net, scrabble up and down from period to period, a scale intimate like Proust's madeleine and yet grand and popular. How did people do this before? Should I Mach Three today, or go for a barbershop shave with strop and blade? Send someone a letter, or an e-mail? Do I touch-type it up, or take out the typewriter, and probably wrangle with the ribbon far less than I'd sweat blood over a smug squat printer? But, no, it isn't just efficiency, isn't it the pre-modern satisfaction of unfamiliar physical immediacy...