[Mb-hair] Re: !!!!!ARGH

[Leo]

Yeah my advice to Katie (off list) was not concerning the problem of getting 
black brothers & sisters involved but more of a "hang in there Katie and all 
will wotk out" in regards to the production as a whole.
I certainly will respond to the problem of finding/auditioning African 
Americans though.  In our 3 HAIR productions I never was able to cast an 
African American male! Two of the productions I had 1 black female and 
another production I actually was able to cast 2 sisters - what a bonus!! 
And this wasn't for a lack of trying. I sent audition notices out to all 
colleges and high schools within a 50 mile radius, to all 7 theatre lists of 
which I'm a member, to the NAACP, and to an organization in Portland (Me.) - 
the name escapes me now - whose whole bag was African American performers. I 
personally went up to Portland and talked to members of 2 different Lutheran 
churches whose base was predominately black and I hung audition posters all 
over both Portland and Portsmouth, NH. Of course I posted notices in all 
area newspapers & magazines. So I am sympathetic and empathetic to your 
dilemma Katie.
I may be wrong here, but I believe black face cannot be done these days, I 
had heard this awhile back and the explanation was that by doing black face 
you were "taking away" roles from African Americans. Maybe someone on this 
list has more knowledge about this issue than I do.
But I think Katie is on track by personally approaching African American 
leaders within the community.
A funny side bit for me was when I was in Portland I almost took to 
approaching any black brother or sister walking down the streets and asking 
them if they wanted to audition for HAIR. I figured they'd either think I 
was some bizzaro white guy or just plain nuts so I never implemented that 
idea!
Oh yeah I just remembered something else I tried. I contacted Stan Shaw who, 
to my knowledge, was the first African American Berger and asked his advice. 
He basically reiterated to me what I had already attempted. My wheels were 
cranking man; I was determined!!

PEACE,
Leo


> From: "Little Birdie" <lbirdie at hotmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Mb-hair] !!!!!!!ARGH

 Richard and Leo - if you sent advice to Katie privately off list I 
encourage  you to share it with us here, so that we can hear your thoughts 
on this, and
 work on putting all our thoughts on this into a document.