IU Theatre’s production of ‘Intimate Apparel’ reflects increasing diversity in department
Mayme (senior Jasmine Desiree Traylor, at left) and Mr. Van Buren (second-year M.F.A acting student Andrea Mellos) have helped Esther (junior Jessica Turner) dress for a very special occasion in IU Theatre’s production of “Intimate Apparel.”
IU Theatre’s production of “Intimate Apparel,” which opens Friday, isn’t just the chance to showcase the work of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage on stage.
The play, which tells the story of a young black seamstress in early 20th-century New York working her way through the social confines of her time, also represents another step in the Department of Theatre and Drama’s plan to increase racial diversity in its programs and productions.
“We want our students and our productions to reflect the world in which we live, which means we need to find a more effective way to appeal to a racially diverse population,” said associate professor Fontaine Syer, who is heading up a departmental committee aimed at attracting a wider range of ethnic students to the department. “In doing so, we’ll be able to add the creative energies and vitality of these communities to the work we do in our classrooms and on our stages.”
Some of those changes are immediate, she said. For example, Nathan Davis, part of the department’s newly revitalized MFA playwriting program, recently reached out to students connected to one of the university’s predominately African American fraternities and to the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center when the department was casting for both “Intimate Apparel” and Davis’ upcoming play.
The department is also training its sights on its own ranks, she said. New faculty member Jennifer Goodlander specializes in Asian performance, and Syer said the department hopes to hire someone at some point whose primary focus is African American theater history, tradition and performance.
The department, part of the College of Arts and Sciences, is reaching outside the university’s walls as well. Ron Himes, founder and producing director of The Black Rep, is directing “Intimate Apparel.”
Himes said he’s enjoying working within the university setting.
“The Black Rep actually grew out of a student group we started while I was a student at Washington University, so to be able to come back to campus is another rotation in the cycle for me,” he said.
“It helps me connect with young aspiring actors. And for the university community and audiences, I hope we’re able to introduce them to a new African American voice and give them an opportunity to see African American students on stage by sharing this production. It’s a wonderful American story, but in many ways is an untold story. What plays like these allow us to do is fill in those blanks in history.”
Tags: Fontaine Syer, Intimate Apparel, Jennifer Goodlander, Lynn Nottage, Nathan Davis, Ron Homes, The Black Rep
