Separate But Equal on the Harvard Stage

Last year, a student production of Lillian Hellman's Toys in the Attic featured a white student in the role of Henry, a white woman's Black lover. "I couldn't find a Black actor," the play's director explained at the time.

Blacks tend to be underrepresented in some areas of the Harvard performing arts community, especially in the realms of acting and instrumental music.

Is there a dearth of Black actors and musicians on campus? Or are there plenty of would-be Black performers who are languishing for lack of opportunities?

The answers are contradictory.

Typically, one or two plays--out of the 40 produced at Harvard each semester--are written by Black playwrights and feature Black directors and all-Black or predominantly Black casts. And Black singers and musicians like Fiona V. Anderson '88 are mainstays of many Harvard rock and jazz groups.

But there is only one Black student in the Harvard Radcliffe Orchestra (HRO), and few Harvard directors cast Black students in roles that do not specifically call for Black actors.

Thespians

Some Black student actors and directors complain about a lack of roles and opportunities for Blacks. "There are fewer [opportunities] than I would like to see," says director Brenda Walker '88, who is Black.

Student directors are reluctant to experiment with what Walker calls "blind" or "nontraditional" casting. Few Harvard plays feature interracial couples as romantic leads.

Many directors agree that they cast roles with particular physical types in mind. While an actor's physical type is only one of the factors that directors say they consider, some directors concede that it could be a reason why more Black actors are not cast.

"It could be interpreted that way," says director Erik Salovaara '88, who is white.

But some directors, including Salovaara, have deliberately cast against expected physical types. When he directed Arthur Miller's After the Fall three years ago, Salovaara cast a Black woman in a role he says is traditionally associated with "Marilyn Monroe types."

And Walker, who in last December's Sweeney Todd cast several Blacks in traditionally white roles, including one of the romantic leads, says, "There are times when you can definitely cast without concern for race."

Some directors say that the reason more Blacks aren't cast is that there simply aren't very many Black actors to begin with, because the undergraduate student body is only about 8 percent Black.

Salovaara, who last year supervised the Harvard Radcliffe Dramatic Club (HRDC) Common Casting week--the process through which directors cast simultaneously all the plays on the HRDC semester production schedule--estimates that fewer than 10 percent of the actors who audition through Common Casting are Black.

Brian Williams '88, a Black actor who appeared in a Kirkland House production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, says that none of the Black actors he knows feels "frustrated" by a lack of opportunities. But Walker says, "There is a large number of Black women who would love to act" but have not been able to land roles.

There are only a handful of active Black student directors on campus. Walker says Blacks have fewer chances to gain directing experience, and thus rarely qualify for slots on the HRDC production schedule. Despite the professional American Repertory Theatre's affiliation with Harvard, Walker says Harvard lacks a support system for inexperienced directors. "It's hard to get an HRDC slot if you haven't had experience," she says. "Few Black directors are brave enough to take the challenge."

Black actors and directors have created their own support network by forming Black CAST, a student umbrella organization and resource group for Black student actors and directors. But Black CAST has been mostly dormant for the past two years, producing only one show in that time. Walker, who served as treasurer last year, says the group suffered from "administrative problems."

Walker says she expects Black CAST to revive itself next fall. Though she is a graduating senior, Walker says she plans to spend the summer helping Black CAST President Aratha Johnson '90 revitalize the theater group. "Black CAST will become more of a repertory group, producing workshops and projects every couple of weeks," Walker says.

Even without much support from Black CAST, some Black directors and actors held their own this year. Tim Benston '89 directed a high-profile production of Charles Fuller's Pulitzer Prizewinning A Soldier's Play on the coveted stage of the Agassiz Theatre. And Walker directed On Being Young, a Woman, and Black: The Works of Marita Bonner Occomy ['22], also at the Agassiz.

Musicians

Most of the officially recognized student bands and orchestras on campus have few or no Black members. Violist Alec Garraway '90 is the only Black musician in HRO, and the Marching Band has only two Black musicians.

Few Blacks audition for instrumental groups such as HRO, says Senior Lecturer on Music and HRO Director James Yannatos, adding, "We have a color-blind policy."

Yannatos suggests that Blacks may be under-represented in Harvard instrumental groups because the national pool of Black classical musicians is small, but he is reluctant to speculate on why that is so. "It would be very easy to say that [classical instrumental music] is not part of their tradition, but that's not right; they live in America."

However, Garraway says, "Classical music isn't as pronounced in Black culture [as some genres]. Blacks are really a very musical people, but in their own unique way."

Musicians cite the prohibitive cost of instruments and musical training--costs that necessarily extend over a period of several years. "If instruments and lessons are something that only middle-class Blacks can afford, then money might very possibly be a factor," Yannatos says.

Those Blacks who do play classical music are likely discouraged from doing so at Harvard by the absence of other Blacks doing the same, Garraway says. "The few Blacks who do play classical music decide not to pursue that when they get to college and look to activities with higher Black involvement," he says.

Garraway, who will be president of the orchestra next year, says he hopes to encourage more Blacks to join HRO. "It's important to have a Black presence," he says.

He adds that Blacks should not feel intimidated by the prospect of playing in an orchestra because "race is not relevant at all. It's just a great musical experience."

Blacks are better represented in unofficial student rock and jazz groups. And most campus a cappella singing groups are also integrated. For example, one of the 13 Din and Tonics is Black, and the Opportunes have two Black members.

Fiona Anderson, a Black singer who has performed in musicals and sung with many students groups, is generally acknowledged as the best known campus performer in any field.

In addition to the integrated groups, Black students also participate in the all-Black Kuumba Singers, and that a cappella group recently spawned an offshoot, the Impromptus.

Role Models

Ultimately, the solution to the problem of Black underrepresentation in other campus performing arts may lie in Byerly Hall. Black performers say the admissions office could be more aggressive in identifying and pursuing artistically talented Black high school seniors. They say the University could also draw more Black talent by hiring more Black faculty and administrators.

"The Black presence is hardly there at all, in so many aspects of the University," Garraway says. "It's really good for Blacks to see an example."