‘HAIR’ revives spirit of ‘60s

‘HAIR’ revives spirit of ‘60s

usavanguard.com | Apr 26th 2011 7:04 PM

As the curtain rises April 29 at the premiere for “HAIR: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical,” jaws will drop, and so will some of the actors’ clothes. The Drama department’s production of the controversial play “HAIR”, a rock musical with a book and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni and music by Galt Dermot, has everyone asking, “What about the nude scene?”



“HAIR” tells the story of the “tribe,” a group of politically active, long-haired hippies of the “Age of Aquarius” living a bohemian life in New York City and fighting against conscription into the Vietnam War. Claude, his good friend Berger, their roommate Sheila and their friends struggle to balance their young lives, loves and the sexual revolution with their rebellion against the war and their conservative parents and society.



The controversial play premiered in 1967, and over 40 years later it still has the power to shock audiences.



“We’re cautioning everybody that the show contains explicit language and shocking stuff,” Dr. Leon Van Dyke, producer and chair of dramatic arts, said.



“HAIR” is the first rock musical that the dramatic arts department has produced during Van Dyke’s time at the University. While the dramatic arts department has done other shows that are equally shocking, they cannot compete with the popularity of “HAIR,” Van Dyke said.



“A lot of people haven’t seen it, but a lot more people have heard of it,” Van Dyke said.



For Director T. Fulton Burns, “HAIR” is the most controversial play he has directed in his three seasons at the department.



“Is it controversial? Yes. We’ve had the most colorful language this stage has ever seen. The issues of sexual identity are addressed; drugs, going after political figures and taking political stands are taking place. Even religious ideas happening within the text are so powerful,” said the Drama assistant professor.



The biggest challenge for Burns was getting into the mind set of what it was like in the 1960s.



“The people, who are in this day and time, cannot relate to the 1960s like we’d want to be able to relate,” Burns said.



Burns prepared the tribe for the show by bringing in Dr. John Coker, chair of philosophy, to speak to the students about all of the issues addressed in the script to bring understanding of what ideas were happening at that time.



“There were all these strong ideas and people trying to come together to stand against these ideas,” Burns said.



“HAIR” will challenge the beliefs of the audience, bringing up questions about feelings toward military conflicts, the environment and other current issues. Constance R. Smith, scenic and poster designer, said the issues in the play foreshadow the issues we are dealing with today.



“It’s an absolutely pertinent piece. Here is a generation rebelling, fighting, paying attention to what’s going on. Here’s this play primarily about protesting this horrific war and their friends being shipped off randomly seemingly. So, they protest this, and they were very vocal about and they fought back. But today, we’re in two or three depending on the day, and nobody is saying much about it, nobody is paying attention,” Smith said.



Smith carefully constructed the set with authentic 1960s memorabilia to give an understanding of how “far out” the tribe was from the societal norm at the time.



“I wanted to stay very true to representing the ‘60s, the whole ‘60s. When most people think of the ‘60s they think of this little hippie group and they sort of color the entire decade that way, which is not the case at all. … I wanted to juxtapose what they were fighting against to remind everyone what the rest of the ‘60s looked like. The main idea was inspired by looking at ads from the ‘60s from a magazine from 1968,” Smith said.



The infamous “nude scene” was the biggest concern for the faculty. There was no nudity in the first two productions of the play; the inspiration to include nudity in the Broadway version came when the authors saw an anti-war demonstration in Central Park where two men stripped naked as an expression of defiance and freedom.



“We have to be respectful of Mobile, Ala. There are people in Mobile who absolutely, positively do not want that to take place… but then there are other individuals who are purist and know the piece and their thought is you have to do it, otherwise you’re not staying true to the play either,” Burns said.



“Anytime you get up and do anything in front of people, some people like it, some people don’t,” Van Dyke said.



Members of the tribe have confirmed there is a nude scene, but they refused to go into detail about just how much nudity the audience can expect.



“Clothes will be coming off. Could be a shoe, could be pants, people will have to come see and figure out themselves,” Ellen Johnson, a tribe member, said.



“I think when the audience comes and sees it they’ll find that in many ways we’ve addressed both issues respectfully and artistically, the way that it should take place,” Burns said.



The lobby of Laidlaw Performing Arts Center will be turned into an art gallery displaying student art installations. Rachel Wright’s class and two of Rick Schneider’s classes used “HAIR” as a project, making interpretations in their art pieces based on issues brought up in the play.



“With all of those issues I’m bringing up, I certainly hope that a production like ‘HAIR’ brings those things to light, that we still do need to consider those things,” Burns said.



Editor’s note: For specific time and date information about “HAIR” showings, turn to Happenings on p. 2 of this issue.



Original Page: http://www.usavanguard.com/arts-entertainment/hair-revives-spirit-of-60s-1.2198144

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