Word: pachter
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After Adam Pachter maintained in a Crimson On Arts review that he found the casting of two Black characters in the Leverett House production of Chicago offensive ("Chicago's Razzle-dazzle Fizzles," Nov. 9), the Crimson received several letters, all of which denounced the review. Some correspondents went so far as to denounce Pachter himself, claiming that his review betrays his own knee-jerk racism...
...couple of these letter express chagrin at Pachter's accusations of director Beth Heller's "racist casting." This kind of response to this kind of statement is understandable, even laudable. But Pachter never makes this accusation. He instead writes that the two Black, non-chorus players were given "degrading roles for Black actors to play." Actress Lenore Jones was given the role of Mama, whom Pachter calls "sick and lecherous," and actor Tym Tombar was given the role of Amos, whom Pachter calls "simple, subservient, and constantly humiliated by his white, adulterous wife...
...most extreme reading of the review, Pachter could be said to be calling Heller and the Chicago production staff of carelessness. In and of itself, that is a serious allegation, but to say Pachter lets fly charges of racism obfuscates a very real and pressing issue in the Harvard theater community and in the larger world of drama: the responsibilities of cross-casting...
...seemingly logical conclusion of this argument would be that Heller should be able to cast minority players in whatever roles she likes, and that Pachter should consider another medium, say sportswriting. Certainly Heller should be allowed to cast whomever she likes, and she deserves praise for embracing the ideal of cross-casting. But like any political figure, she has responsibilities. In cross-casting, she suggests that race is a superficial characteristic, and that anyone in the audience who disagrees, who thinks that a Black man embodies a stereotype, who thinks that an actor's black skin implies some awful caricature...
Naturally, an undergraduate reviewer cannot be expected to possess the depth of knowledge necessary to recognize departures from convention every week and then to analyze them. They must restrict themselves to the honorable trade of college reviewers: helping readers decide how to spend the weekend. Pachter spends virtually all of his review relating (1) what Beckett plays are like to watch (i.e. unconventional, disturbing), and (2) how the actors were to watch He gives two scant sentences to the director's choices. He never hints at issues of staging or interpretation, such as the show's conformity with or departures...