As the Drama department's fall production of "Parade" closes its curtains this weekend, its choice to cast a black actor unaffiliated with Tufts in a significant part raises questions at a school that regularly touts its diverse campus.
James Cepero III, a student at Bridgewater State College, was cast and paid an $800 stipend to play the black chain-gang felon Jim Conley because after the auditions, only one black Tufts actor had auditioned. He was also cast in another race specific role, that of night watchman Newt Lee.
This "documusical" is based on the true story of Jewish Yankee Leo Frank who was lynched by an angry mob for the 1913 murder of Mary Phagan in Atlanta. However, as the play progresses, the script strongly hints that it was Conley, not Frank, who was the true murderer of Phagan, though this implication has never been proved.
"I had to do something that resonated to me - that's why I was compelled to do Parade," said director, Barbara Grossman, Head of the Drama Department. "I see "Parade" not as a work about Leo Frank, but as the line between super patriotism and bigotry, intolerance and racism."
Despite her enthusiasm for the production, two issues bothered her greatly - the lack of female and African American parts.
"I'm a director who always believed in color blind casting. I almost didn't do "Parade" because it would violate my own policy. It's a show that has to be cast according to race because it really happened. But I can understand how black actors in 2004 might not want to play the part of janitor and maid."
Recognizing this to be a potential problem, Grossman put forth a significant effort to attract students to audition, ranging from contacting the Black Theater Company to sending e-mails to various culture houses on campus to appealing to the minority students in the Gospel Choir.
"Barbara Grossman came to us and explained the musical thing, that they needed actors and we told people about it, but I guess no one responded," said senior James Dormon, director of the Black Theater Company. "Generally we have a hard time getting white people to come out and audition for plays. I guess it goes both ways."
Dormon also suggested that it was the role itself that led to a lack of turnout. "I personally wouldn't want to play that as an actor. Barbara explained that she couldn't do color-blind casting, [because the show is historical]. But, the roles
didn't help."
There hasn't always been such a metaphorical blackout of assimilation on the Tufts stage.
Gerald Gill, a Tufts professor specializing in African American history, believes the most successful show ever to be produced at Tufts was the racially diverse production of "The Wiz" in the late '80s.
The simple math of the number of minority students at Tufts also plays a part in who auditions. According to Gill, there are only 120 black male students on campus.
"A lot of times, if you're a minority, there's a stigma [that] you have to go out for things," said senior Andrew Lannaman, a black actor. "But then, you might not want to go out and that's OK too.
Yet as recently as last December, a joint venture between the Bare Bodkin Theater Company and the Black Theater Company infused a new kind of diversity into the Tufts stage with its production of "In the Blood," directed by now-senior Marc Frost.
Lannaman, who acted in "In the Blood," also said that the lack of interested students in "Parade" related directly to the role being offered to them.
"The director came into Gospel Choir and said she needed a black actor and I was interested. But after hearing about the role, it turned me off. I wouldn't feel comfortable playing that part and the other people I talked to didn't either."
"If someone is going to be that ridiculous, at least have [the audience] associate it with someone who's not part of the student body," he said.
Cepero, on the other hand, saw the role in "Parade" as an opportunity. "I thought it was a really interesting and intense role. I don't think we're portraying the entire black community." It is a person, he said, "not just a black person."
The "Parade" casting problem is not an isolated incident. Last winter's show, "A Piece of My Heart" directed by drama professor Sheridan Thomas, encountered similar casting hurdles when the show called for a strong black actress to play a non-stereotypical Vietnam veteran. Extra efforts were needed then as well, to mobilize black students to audition.
Alum Jeffrey Brea (LA '04), a theater major of African and Latino descent, sees the lack of minorities in department shows as a self-perpetuating cycle.
"I know I was frustrated by the lack of black and Latino actors who auditioned for plays," said Brea.
He feels that the lack of diversity in Tufts shows could be a reflection of the shortage of diverse actors. "I wouldn't be surprised if the drama department didn't do a show that required a large black cast, because they currently struggle right now to find one black actor who can sing, one black actress."
One part of that cycle is that some minority students feel that there is only outreach from the department to them when there is a specific race-related role that needs to be filled.
"With "A Piece of my Heart" those e-mails went around too, but they don't come out when it's a just regular play," said Elaina Mends, treasurer of the Black Theater Company.
Grossman said that, generally, the Department doesn't send out e-mails to any groups, but that in the future it would.
Frost thinks a more active role on the part of the faculty could bring about greater dialogue and results in the future. "At the end of the day it is their responsibility to support [this]. It means being in conversation with the students. They're open to it if you go and ask them, but they don't necessarily reach out as a whole."
The pool of actors auditioning for Department shows is often interchangeable with those auditioning for the main non-specific student theater group on campus, Pen Paint and Pretzels (3P's). The fact that this group lacks any noticeable diversity plays an unavoidable role in the general absence of actors of color represented in the theater scene.
Frost believes that the Bare Bodkin Theatre Company overcame the stigma of clique-ness often associated with 3P's by breaking outside the mold. "We want to be a theater company that crosses borders.
For 'In the Blood' we wanted to open the door to other opportunities for people who wouldn't normally come to audition and be involved."
Frost feels that everyone in the theater community is aware of the lack or racial diversity. Campus theater groups working together more would do a lot to resolve the problem, he said. "Then people will start to feel comfortable auditioning for more shows."
3P's treasurer Andrew Beattie also says that group cooperation would promote a change in the current situation where groups self-separate. "It's a Tufts-wide problem. We have a lot of diversity at the school, but not a lot of crossover between groups. Working together, doing more joint productions between groups would yield more diversity. We're scraping the bottom of the barrel for what we can find with all the different groups.
