From: aberson@enh.nist.gov
Newsgroups: soc.motss
Subject: RE: discrimination at CMU
Date: 13 Nov 92 03:00:59 GMT
Organization: NIST

In a previous article, adolphso@mizar.usc.edu (adolphson) wrote:
>It is a student actor's job to look and effeminate when a 
>role calls for it, or to look and act butch when appropriate, 
>or to look and act insane, or to look and act old, or to look
>and act fat, or to look and act sick, or to look and act
>young, or to....  

Agreed.

>As for weight, you have to keep in mind that
>acting programs such as CMU's try to produce actors capable
>of tackling any role.  There's a push to get all actors to
>conform to a, well, neutral look.

Yeah.  Right.  Let's get rid of all the black students.  You know,
not neutral enough.  And everyone overweight and underweight.
Drop all the disabled. Hispanics.  Everyone with accents.  
Over 6 feet or under 5'6"?  Outa here!

This is the silliest thing I have ever heard.  So if suddenly
Rubenesque women were in vogue, it would be okay to get rid of
all the average-weight students?  They're not teaching models.
Not all acting occurs in front of an audience.  There are many
times where a nelly man or an overweight woman are clearly called
for.  I don't think that students were kicked out of the program 
because they acted too heterosexually.  Nor do I think any people 
were out because they were too thin.

>The assumption I'm making is based on what you've 
>posted -- that they read "gay" or act in an "effeminate" 
>manner on stage in parts where that's inappropriate.

This is what the people who removed them from the department
said.  Reading between the lines to find the real reason isn't
that difficult.  I find it hard to believe that all of a sudden
the CMU Theatre Department was overrun with close to a score
nelly gay men.  I frequently can't find that many Saturday night 
in a gay bar.

>Again, this is *school*.  If Jackson Pollack were to
>have handed in one of his action paintings in a life 
>drawing class, he would have failed.  Would that mean
>that Pollack was a bad artist?

But if he handed in one of his action paintings in the appropriate
class, he would not have failed.  Is there a point here?  You make
it seem as if a prerequisite for a degree is for male students to
be able to play butch men.  There are lots of other roles.

>Well, the evidence you've produced seems to support 
>the contention that the gay men who were cut did behave 
>like flaming queens.

The evidence to me suggests gay students were removed from a
drama department simply because they were gay, with the excuse
given that they were too nelly.

>What I am arguing is that CMU Drama wants students who
>are capable of playing the widest possible variety of
>roles.  

Then that's a problem with the CMU Drama Department.  A good
drama department wants students who are talented and whose 
talent can be cultivated so that they can be successful in
the field.

>> Let me tell you something else about Drama.  There is only one openly
>> gay faculty member, and several that are in the closet.  The open
>> faculty member was hired this year.  After this person was hired,
>> someone else on faculty questioned his/her capability to do the job
>> because "he is gay."
> 
>I find that *very* difficult to believe.

Yeah.  You have a hard time believing anti-gay discrimination exists,
even in theatre.


Sim Aberson   Ft. Lauderdale, FL   aberson%3328.span@sdsc.edu

Hate, bigotry, and discrimination are not family values, even in
Colorado and Tampa.
Newsgroups: soc.motss