Columbia theatre students will be performing two plays and two musicals this academic year.
The selections included “Hair” as the fall musical and “Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine” as the fall play. Then in the spring, students will perform the play, “You on the Moors Now,” and “Rent” for the musical. While “Hair” and “Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine” were announced last spring, Columbia theatre students have waited all summer to know the other two shows.
The fall musical, “Hair,” opens the mainstage season with performances beginning Nov. 7. David Fiorello, the show’s director and Columbia theatre part-time instructor, said he wasn’t always a fan of “Hair;” it took seeing the 2009 Broadway revival to relate to and understand the musical.
The story of “Hair” follows a tribe of anti-war young people during the draft of the Vietnam War, typically set in New York in the late 60s. Fiorello, however, is taking a different direction with his vision, setting the production in 1968 Grant Park during the DNC held in Chicago that summer.
“The city had protestors, students, hippies, activists all descend upon Grant Park,” he said, “The fact that I could walk out of the front door of Columbia College Chicago and throw a baseball and hit that famous horse statue from some of Chicago’s best photography of that weekend in history, helps keep in perspective how CCC is in a unique position to be the one to tell THIS story as a backdrop to HAIR.”
Hair is the only show that has already begun rehearsals for the mainstage season. After just a week of working with the actors of “Hair”, Fiorello said, “it’s all about finding the right cast, and I’m thrilled to say we’ve found them.”
Leroy Berts, a senior musical theatre student pursuing a Bachelor’s in Fine Arts, is part of that cast, bringing the lead role of Claude Hooper Bukowski to life. Throughout the show, Berts’ character wrestles with his identity. When drafted into the Vietnam War, he struggles with the dilemma of fulfilling his draft duties, or burning his draft card and staying with his tribe.
To Berts, however, the show has a whole new meaning with him in the role. “As a Black man, there’s a different story that can be portrayed,” he said, “him contemplating going to the war is like – he’s going to the war but now this time he isn’t a white man going to war, he’s a Black man going to war.”
Sophomore musical theatre major Vrisa Odedra was at the mainstage season unveiling and said the event gave the theatre program a sense of unity. “It was really cool – the number of people that turned up,” she said, “the vibes were just really positive, very exciting; It almost felt fresh, considering how last year was.”
The School of Theatre and Dance revealed the selection earlier this month with a group countdown and a neon green, tear-away poster reveal inspired by the Charli XCX album, “brat.” Under the first poster was another one, disclosing the full mainstage season to the attendees.
Odedra is also a member of the cast of “Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine,” the fall-semester play directed by Columbia alum Aaron Reese-Boseman. While the show’s rehearsals haven’t started yet, Odedra said she’s most excited to get to know the cast and get closer with Reese-Boseman, after working with him on the new student production of “New-Stu” last fall.
Reese-Boseman described “Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine” as a “really funny, rags-to-riches, riches-to-rags type of story.” He said the play “is about identity” and “brings up so many tropes and stereotypes but kind of debunks them at the same time.”
Reese-Boseman first read this play as a student at Columbia after former theatre faculty Kimberly Senior suggested it. “A lot of times, when you’re a Black director, people try to get you to do the classic ‘Black’ shows,” he said, “I shouldn’t have to just do the classic ‘Black’ shows and she [Senior] was like, ‘well, you should probably do shows that represent Black people.’”
The play struck a chord with Reese-Boseman for its satirical nature. “It’s a fun and exciting and silly way to look at ourselves, just as people,” he said, “sometimes we need levity and laughter to look at the pain, like a spoonful of sugar for medicine.”
Following “Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine,” “You on the Moors Now,” directed by Susan Padveen, associate chair and professor of theatre, opens on March 5 next year. The show mixes a collection of female-written literature of the 19th century, following four heroines from books by Louisa May Alcott, Jane Austen and the Brontë Sisters. The show, however, takes a different approach from the books, having all the female protagonists reject their male counterparts instead of accepting their marriage proposals.
With an entirely female-identifying design and dramaturgy team, Padveen said she’s most excited for the weeks leading up to rehearsals where she can creatively collaborate with them for the show.
While the show is centered around characters created two decades ago, Padveen said, “Some of the things that they’re dealing with are things that we still deal with.”
“All these women feel like the thing they have to do is get married,” she said, “is that still true now? Do people still feel like ‘oh, my life is not complete unless I’m in a partnership?”
Padveen said she hopes the audience will take away from the play a sense of validation when it comes to defining themselves, their career and their relationships.
After the spring semester play, the spring musical, “Rent,” will begin its shows May 1. The show, directed by Daryl Brooks, features a ragtag group of people during the AIDS crisis in the early 90s.
Chloe Venner, a sophomore musical theatre BFA, said she knows “that the directing team has visions and is going to put on a great show.” While she says she’s looking forward to auditioning for “Rent,” she currently is focused on playing the female lead of Sheila Franklin in “Hair.” She describes her character as “someone who has a lot of capacity for love in her heart” and a “powerful force to be reckoned with.”
Being just a sophomore, Venner said it’s been “nerve-wracking” to have the role that she does. As a self-proclaimed “hippie,” Venner said she’s been a long-term fan of “Hair” and was “over the moon” to hear it was part of the mainstage 2024-25 season.
Fiorello said that he hopes the audience will relate to the themes throughout the show.
“We hope this production speaks to the inner hippie that I think all of us have, even if only 1% of your body,” he said, “And that it thoroughly entertains you along the way, while potentially stirring up some good ol’ fashioned righteous anger to go along with a celebration of that part of you that’s ‘got life.’”
“Hair” runs Nov. 7-16, “Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine” runs Nov. 20-Dec. 7 (observing Thanksgiving break), “You on the Moors Now” runs March 5-15 and “Rent” runs May 1-10. “Hair” tickets are currently available at Eventbrite.
Copy edited by Manuel Nocera
