{"id":4164,"date":"2015-11-06T16:44:58","date_gmt":"2015-11-06T21:44:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/2015\/11\/06\/peace-love-and-rock-n-roll\/"},"modified":"2022-11-07T15:06:37","modified_gmt":"2022-11-07T20:06:37","slug":"peace-love-and-rock-n-roll","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/peace-love-and-rock-n-roll\/","title":{"rendered":"Peace, love, and rock-n-roll"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"21985172113_cd24bebd5f_z\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Rachel Gifford\u2019s love of the 1960s began in high school.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got really (I mean really, really) into the Beatles when I was a sophomore in high school and it just spiraled from there. The fashion, the music, the films, the socio-political issues\u2014I was obsessed with it all,\u201d said Gifford \u201918, a theatre arts major from Travelers Rest. \u201cIf only my 15-year-old self could see me now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gifford was one of about 40 Furman students and seven faculty members from Theatre Arts and Music who participated in the Theatre Arts Department\u2019s sold-out production of Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical<\/em> this month at the Theatre Playhouse. The show, directed by Theatre Arts Professor Maegan McNerney Azar, featured book and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni, and music by Galt MacDermot.<\/p>\n

A musical that tested theatre as a means for spurring social change, Hair<\/em> sent Broadway reeling in the late 1960s and influenced a generation of composers and lyricists that followed. Furman audiences enjoyed songs like \u201cLet the Sunshine In,\u201d \u201cAge of Aquarius,\u201d \u201cGood Morning Starshine\u201d and others that became anthems of the peace movement.<\/p>\n

The department\u2019s staging of the production reflected the play\u2019s energy down to the last detail, including a live, six-member band, flowery artwork by Lauren Girouard \u201917 and a real merry-go-round for hippies to enjoy on stage.<\/p>\n

Drake Shadwell \u201918, a Theatre Arts and Business Administration major from Dalzell, S.C., spent many hours working with Theatre Arts Professor Margaret Caterisano to create about 20 masks for the show, including one entirely beaded by hand.<\/p>\n

Daniel Hoilett \u201915 took a break from his day job as a second grade teacher at Brushy Creek Elementary School to return to Furman and play the role of Hud. He first appeared in The 25th<\/sup> Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee <\/em>as a freshman at Furman and jumped at the chance to work with Azar again.<\/p>\n

\u201cHud\u2019s approach to the whole movement is what I love the most about him because he lives his life through his heart first,\u201d Hoilett said of his character. \u201cI have always loved this show because no matter how many times you see it or who you watch it with, you come out of the production thinking something new.\u201d<\/p>\n

In directing the show, Azar drew correlations between events and circumstances of the 1960s with those of today.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was first drawn to this show because I remember what it was like to be in college, searching for my identity away from my parents, and that is exactly where these characters are in their lives,\u201d said Azar. \u201cBut around them is the Vietnam War, the draft, Black Panthers, the KKK, access to birth control, and a wider lens for world-wide religions, so I was struck by what it would be like to come into your own voice in an era when everything about society is being examined with new perspective.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then I began thinking about what our college students face today \u2013 terrorism, immigration, marriage equality, healthcare reform, Title IX, drone strikes, YikYak, bullying, and Ferguson \u2013 and I realized that this, too, could be a time of paralyzing consciousness,\u201d Azar said. \u201cBut at the end of the day, and at the heart of this show, no one is alone in the midst of all these decisions and choices. We are all in this together, and that can be a very comforting feeling if we all agree to civility as we navigate through the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sal Donzella \u201918 of Greenville took his dynamic role as Berger extremely seriously, doing major research on the 1960s long before the play\u2019s run began. \u201cI looked into everything about the time,\u201d he said. \u201cI reached the Vietnam War, the counter culture, the hippies, the music, the fashion, the drug culture, integration and Martin Luther King… I hope people could look past all of the hippie clothes and groovy music and realize the message that we conveyed in the musical is still applicable today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jocelyn Boulware \u201917, who opened the song \u201cThe Age of Aquarius\u201d as Ronny, described the show as a reminder to \u201cconverse better, live fully and walk together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Patrick Fretwell \u201919 of Columbia played the role of Claude and Courtney Dorn \u201918 of Lyman played Sheila. Other members of the tribe included Robert Fuson of Simpsonville \u201915, Erin Barnett \u201916 of Marietta, Ga., Lizzie Dockery \u201916 of Dallas, Texas, Dayanari Umana \u201918 of Spartanburg, Clark Spillane ;18 of Mount Pleasant, Clare Ruble \u201917 of Simpsonville, Ellie Caterisano \u201917 of Travelers Rest, Ashton Nicewonger \u201917 of Pelion, S.C., Kenzie Wynne \u201917 of Simpsonville, Dakota Adams \u201917 of Wellford, Derek Leonard \u201919 of Greer and Matt Reeve \u201917 of Martinez, Ga.<\/p>\n

Carolyn Carrier-McClimon directed music, Dr. Grant Knox served as vocal coach, Alan Bryson was technical director, Will Lowry was set and lighting designer and Margaret Caterisano designed costumes.<\/p>\n

Upcoming shows include God of Carnage<\/em> in November, Neil Simon\u2019s Rumors<\/em> in February and Arcadia<\/em> in April. All shows are part of Furman\u2019s Cultural Life Program. For ticket information and reservations, call the Theatre Box Office at (864) 294-2125.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rachel Gifford\u2019s love of the 1960s began in high school. \u201cI got really (I mean really, really) into the Beatles when I was a sophomore in high school and it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":265,"featured_media":15533,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-department-page","category-theatre-arts"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4164\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}