Can I do Hairspray with only white kids?
Printed From: Community Theater Green Room
Category: Producing Theater
Forum Name: Play Suggestions
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URL: http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4219
Printed Date: 11/25/24 at 8:36am
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Topic: Can I do Hairspray with only white kids?
Posted By: Nyria
Subject: Can I do Hairspray with only white kids?
Date Posted: 8/31/09 at 9:24pm
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I haven't seen the play - only the movie.
Our area is not very diverse and we have mostly white kids and a few Natives.
Is there any way to do it without the black characters - or with only a few?
Thanks =) ------------- NYRIA |
Replies:
Posted By: Gaafa
Date Posted: 9/02/09 at 9:27pm
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Why not?
It has been performed here a few times, with all white performers. Like your situation Nyria, here there is a lack of black performers or those prepared to prance the boards.
Invariably it is easier to aviod doing shows that call for any colour, other than white, I know I have tried. The last one I did called for a West Indies lady of large proportions. Luckily we had an American male from New Mexico, who was prepared to don a fat suit & dress in drag. Which caught the punters by surprise each night, when he took the bows, as a male holding the fat suit.
A very old friend of mine, here in Perth, is just about to embark on a production of 'Second Samuel' by Pam Parker {American Playwright (ossie Parker)}, which requires an Afro american actor, as the lead. After my friend Suse contacted the author & said she would like to do the play, but there are no black American actors available localy. Pam contacted suse back with "would you like me to send you the actor [Nat Martin] who played it in the USA?"
And this is the result;-
http://www.theatre.asn.au/blog/nat_martin/my_journey_to_second_samuel - My Journey To Second Samuel | theatre australia
------------- Joe Western Gondawandaland turn right @ Perth. Hear the light & see the sound. Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"} May you always play to a full house} |
Posted By: KEB54
Date Posted: 9/03/09 at 3:52pm
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I don't see how. The play's about diversity and conformity. ------------- KEB |
Posted By: jonplaywright
Date Posted: 9/04/09 at 2:21pm
| It would seem difficult to do the play without actors of color, given that that's what it's about. |
Posted By: jaytee060
Date Posted: 9/10/09 at 11:11am
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NO ------------- "REMEMBER ME IN LIGHT" |
Posted By: Nyria
Date Posted: 9/11/09 at 3:48pm
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Thanks Gaafa - that is such a cool story! I guess I could always contact the publisher - nothing wrong with trying.
There's more themes than just the black/white issue... ------------- NYRIA |
Posted By: jaytee060
Date Posted: 9/11/09 at 4:42pm
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OK...Now i get it. This is a joke right ????????? ------------- "REMEMBER ME IN LIGHT" |
Posted By: tristanrobin
Date Posted: 9/19/09 at 8:30am
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I'm a big fan of color-blind and gender-blind casting. However, I don't see how a play, which is primarily plotted around the idea of racial acceptance, is going to work with only one race. There are so very very many musicals that do not depend on a racially diverse cast ... why choose one that does require such a cast? ------------- http://tristanrobin.blogspot.com |
Posted By: Gaafa
Date Posted: 9/19/09 at 11:27pm
A pet pig no less, If it so? I hope the cast & crew all have thier 'Swine Flu' jabs first or at least refrain from munching on pork products during the season.  ------------- Joe Western Gondawandaland turn right @ Perth. Hear the light & see the sound. Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"} May you always play to a full house} |
Posted By: Nyria
Date Posted: 11/18/09 at 7:58pm
Ya - it's a joke - I have nothing better to do with my time.
I have not seen the play but I have seen the movie -- and if all you got out of it was the race division then you missed a lot of it.
Maybe the play is only about that - I don't know.
But I was asking because as I said - I haven't seen it - but my students really wanted to do it. Sometimes plays have different versions so different people can perform it.
SKIN by Dennis Foon has 2 versions - one with black characters - the other with Native characters (the first written for an LA audeince the 2nd for a Vancouver audience). ------------- NYRIA |
Posted By: TonyDi
Date Posted: 11/19/09 at 6:36am
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http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4331 - http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4331
READ DAVID MC CALL's response about using "derivative" works or changing casting from what is indicated in the author's original script or need/intent for the play. It would be difficult to do without Black actors - but as someone pointed out contact the company that holds the rights to this play and see if they'd allow it or under what conditions a whites-only version could be done.
TonyDi ------------- "Almost famous" |
Posted By: jonplaywright
Date Posted: 11/19/09 at 12:39pm
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I'd be highly surprised if they'd allow it, unless the authors just want to take the money and run--but since they don't particularly need it, I'd be surprised if they'd abandon principle. Sure, there are other themes in the script--for example, the fact that Tracy, despite not looking like the other girls on the show, manages not only to get a part because of her talent but also to capture the heart of Link Larkin, speaks to not judging a book by its cover, looking on the inside, etc. But just because a play has more than one theme doesn't mean you can simply ignore the others, particularly when one of them is as central to the story and as important, pedagogically speaking, as race in America. It's akin to going to a restaurant, ordering the restaurant's signature dish, and then asking them to leave out a third of the ingredients. You're no longer eating their dish, just as here, without actors of color, you're no longer doing their play. Instead, why not use this as a teachable moment and have a discussion with the students about the importance of this particular theme and when and why certain elements of plays are too integral to be changed? Regards, Jon |