CREATING COMMUNITY

The set is dark. Suddenly, the rosy butt of a cigarette gleams against the shadows. The spotlight rises and a man in a fedora and battered trench coat strolls through the haze of smoke. "It was a Monday," Sam says, in a voice reminiscent of Bogart. Sam is, predictably enough, a detective. Unpredictably, however, he is a Japanese-Canadian.

This surprising scene kicks off "Yellow Fever," a play sponsored by the Asian American Association Players. AAA Players is just one of the many ethnic performing groups in Harvard's artistic community that have recently begun to claim a spotlight of their own.

Participants in Harvard's vast array of ethnic performing groups, which range from the Kuumba Singers to the South Asian Dance Organization, say their groups serve to educate and awaken the campus community in non-traditional ways.

Representatives from three groups--Black CAST, AAA Players and the Ballet Folklorico de Aztlan--all conclude that ethnic performing groups raise social consciousness and increase opportunities for minority students to participate in the campus's often aloof artistic community.

Jennifer Tye '97, who has produced two plays with AAA Players, says the group is primarily a venue for Asian-Americans to experiment with theater.

"It's not just about getting people acting; there's also a responsibility of making the rest of the campus aware of what Asian-Americans have gone through in the past, as well as issues that they struggle with today," she says. "But more than anything, it is an opportunity for people who are interested in the dramatic arts and want to get involved...it's a way to encourage Asian Americans to try their hand at drama. You don't see very many Asians out there in the arts."

Tye says one of the primary functions of the group is providing a place for Asian-Americans in campus productions.

"I remember a couple of years ago, my mom was talking abut what a terrible movie 'Sixteen Candles' was, and she was right," Tye explains. "There was a horrible stereotype of Asians in that movie, and a lot of the roles you see today are like that. Most of the time, thought, there just aren't parts for Asians."

Rotonya L. McCants '96, the former president of Black CAST--a theater group which performs works concerning issues facing the Black community--also emphasizes the lack of roles for minority actors and the subsequent homogeneity of Harvard's dramatic community.

"The Harvard art community isn't that welcoming to Black performers, directors or tech people," she says. "There aren't that many roles for Black performers."

McCants says the problem of casting minorities is two-sided, however.

"It's kind of a vicious cycle," she explains. "I'm sure if you spoke to HRDC members that they would say that not that many Blacks come out for common casting so they don't offer a lot of roles, but because there arent' that many roles offered, people don't come out."

Aside from the dearth of roles available to students of color, students say many of the plays don't address specifically ethnic issues.

The general director of AAA Players, Merry Jean Chan '97, says she founded the group to fill this gap.

"When I came to campus, I saw that when people addressed issues like this, it was in panel discussions, in very formal environments with low turnout," Chan recalls. "I thought drama was an alternative way to explore really important issues."

Tye remembers the first production of AAA Players as a powerful forum for discussion.

"It really talks about the struggle of Asians coming into America, having to deal with stereotypes and the way people treat them," she says.

"Tea' [performed last fall] was about Japanese war brides. Now that's an area we don't learn about in history class," she says.

McCants remembers one occasion when the issues covered in Black CAST's production provoked not only comment, but a spontaneous and grateful lecture by an audience member.

"When we performed at Cabot, there was this elderly couple--I think they're affiliates of the Senior Common Room--well, Brother Blue and his wife Mary attended the play, and he got up and spoke afterwards," she says.

"He said the just wanted to comment on how good it was that Harvard had Black theater, and how the role of the mammy [one of the play's primary figures] was still relevant to life today, that we couldn't just get on our Harvard horses and forget that."

McCants says the audience member reminded her of the primary reason for CAST's existence.

"The plays we do are for entertainment, but everything has a message. We hope people don't just laugh and cry without understanding the deeper meaning," she says.

Even plays' titles help to provoke discussion--kiosk scanners must confront loaded and sometimes uncomfortable titles like "FOB" (Fresh Off the Boat). "Yellow Fever" and "The Trial of One Shortsighted Black Woman."

"I can't tell you how many people have asked me if 'Yellow Fever' is about 'jungle fever' or malaria," Tye chuckles.

Finding plays which deal with racial or ethnic issues can be almost as tough as producing them, however. Tye says one of AAA Players' main challenges is simply locating plays revolving around Asian issues and actors.

"Finding the plays is difficult," she says. "Merry looked around, and kept looking and looking...it's definitely hard to find things to perform, either at Harvard or in Boston. For instance, there is only one copy of the play we're doing now in any library system in Massachusetts."

Diversity of Backgrounds

Representatives from all three groups emphasize the diversity within the group, both in social and performing backgrounds.

"Most of our members are Afro-American or of African descent, but people in Black CAST come from diverse [performing] backgrounds: Some have competed nationally in speech or drama, some haven't ever acted before." McCants says.

"We do have a large group of members with less experience in the theatrical world," she adds. "I have produced three plays with Black CAST, and I hadn't ever produced anything before I came to Harvard."

Faustino G. Ramos '96 says he values the different ages, ethnicities and experiences of Ballet Folklorico de Aztlan's members.

"We've got a total of 15 members. Among them are a couple of grad students, two alums, one members of the community, but we're primarily undergraduates," he says. "What I think is neat is that not everyone in the group is of Mexican descent. We've got a girl from Utah whose parents are both English."

"We come from such different backgrounds, but we have a common bond in that we love the music and we love dancing," he says. "This is my first opportunity to do something like this. I had no previous experience in dance, and now [after dancing with the company for two years] I'm directing it."

Ramos said that the Ballet provides a haven and a comfortable environment for students who might otherwise feel uneasy in the College setting.

"There's one woman from Tijuana in the group; she's a grad student at the School of Public Health, and she says coming to practice is like her escape valve," he says. "She can't express herself as freely or as openly [elsewhere] as she does when she's with the group."

"It's a different setting, very unique. We speak Spanish with each other," he adds.

Team Spirit

As any team athlete or actor knows, working together towards a single goal creates a very peculiar kind of bond, one not easily broken. While Ramos says shared ethnicity certainly reinforces this connection, he says the time spent rehearsing for performances makes his group especially tight-knit.

"I remember last year in May we either had a performance or a rehearsal every day for nine days straight. You get very close in situations like that," he says.

Perhaps the most important aspect of these groups is their relationship to the community at large. While drama and dance often separate performer from spectator, ethnic performing groups seem to bridge that gap.

"Most plays on campus tend to be just plays. In last year's play, 'The Trial,' we incorporated singing groups--Imani, and all women's a capella group, performed at the beginning of the show--and various students from the Afro-American community read poetry, so it was a real community effort," McCants says.

"The Black community is supportive, both financially and emotionally," she says. "You look out on opening night and see half of Kuumba in the audience."

Ramos' troupe actively seeks audiences beyond the ivy. Almost always, he says, audience members are both entertained and educated.

"We went to an elementary school in Wellesley. The kids loved it, "he recalls." It was neat to share this kind of dancing with kindergarteners and second graders who had never seen anything like it before."

McCants has a similar perspective about the role ethnic performing groups in the greater community.

"Community service is another major focus of Black CAST--we try to get kids from the community involved," she says. "For instance, last year we had kids from North Cambridge Latin [an elementary school] come to Cabot House and perform their own works, whether it was dance or song or a poem they had written."

Identity Crisis?

On a campus skewered by identity politics, students say artistic performance can be used as a political weapon, a healing medium or an instrument of discussion and cultural exchange.

All of the students interviewed warn against talk of a single "Black voice" or "Asian experience."

"There's a danger when you talk about theater in terms of defining a group identity," Tye says. "There are so many points of view and a play only takes one perspective. You can't say there's a single Asian-American experience."

"More important than anything else is establishing a forum for discussion," she continues. "It's better to have a forum for discussion and maybe even argument than silence. Not everyone will understand or agree with the production, but at least it's happening."