The Michigan Daily - Orientation Edition 2006 - 3
'Monologues' looks for
an all-minority cast
Producers hope new
method will remedy play's
inherent tbiases
Nov. 14, 2005
By Carissa Miller
Daily Staff Reporter
have probably re
or participating l
This lack of di
lack of distributio
tional e-mails tar
But many othe
vious shows said
from the play beca
minorities negativ
Calling all women of color. A major prob
"The Vagina Monologues" wants you. that many of th
That's the message students have heard in the withsexual viole
past weeks, as the annual show has opted to bring And because
women of color center stage, while planning to for the show,
leave many white women behind the curtains. these more trau
Late last month, producers and directors of the dealing with m
show announced their intention to push for an all- liberation and
minority cast. Some students have deemed the new members. Wom
casting policy reverse discrimi-
nation, but supporters of the
show say they view the change wh
as a way to rectify biases of the I often wonder y
show and reignite interest among an vaginas can't
the student hody. anr4 aia a'
"The Vagina Monologues" is be white and happy
a play written by playwright Eve
Ensler that attempts to address vaginas can't be
topics relating to violence
against women. The play is part Asian."
of the V-Day College Campaign - Co-director
- a political movement to stop Lauren Whitehead
violence against women.
University alum Carol Gray,
who directed the famous play
last year, said that the majority of women who show this schoo
audition for past monologues have been white. its attempt to gi'
"By seeing white people in the show, (women seems to give c
of color) come to think they're not welcome or often wonder wh
not part of the community," Gray said. "People and happy vagin
efrained from purchasing tickets
because of this feeling."
iversity, she said, is the result of a
n of audition notices and informa-
geting minorities.
r students who participated in pre-
women of color have stayed away
ause they believe the script portrays
'ely.
lem with the script for some is
e roles for women of color deal
ence.
few women of color audition
minorities generally assume
matic roles, while monologues
nore positive subjects such as
beauty are filled by white cast
en of color are thus portrayed
as only constant victims of
sexual violence and never in
a positive light, the produc-
ers and directors said.
Because the national V-Day
organization prohihits groups
from modifying the script, pro-
ducers of this year's show said
the only way to remedy the bias
of the show was to push for an
all-minority cast.
"We can't change the
words of the script, hut we
can change the way the words
are presented," said Lauren
Whitehead, director of the
1 year. "The script is flawed in
ve all women a voice because it
ertain women certain voices. I
ty angry vaginas can't be white
as can't be Asian," she said.
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MSA loses on rap show
Student government loses more
than $20,000 due to poor ticket
sales, unexpectedly high cost
Nov. 17, 2005
By Ashlea Surles
Daily Staff Reporter
There were about 400 vacant seats at this month's
Ludacris concert, hosted by the Michigan Student
Assembly, University Activities Center and Hillel
earlier this month.
While Hillel was spared by an agreement that
it had made with MSA guaranteeing the full reim-
bursement of the $15,000 it had fronted for the
event, UAC and MSA felt the financial hit of unsold
tickets and an unexpectedly high event cost.
In July, Andrew Bilinsky, vice president of UAC
subsidiary Big Ticket Productions said that the esti-
mated cost of the concert was somewhere between
$85,000 and $90,000, but at $115,000, the actual
cost of the event was significantly more than Bilin-
sky's midsummer projections.
Bilinsky also said in July that he believed the
concert would generate a profit for all the spon-
sors involved. But in reality, the event grossed
a disappointing total of $70,074, resulting in a
major deficit that was hence shouldered by the
two main sponsors of the concert.
UAC, the primary sponsor of the concert, con-
tributed $60,000 and ended up losing $24,556
in total. MSA invested $40,000 dollars in the
event, losing a total of $20,370.
MSA President Jesse Levine said that MSA
"is not a business but a programming board"
and therefore never planned to make money.
Levine said the goal of the concert was to bring
together as many students as possible from a
variety of different backgrounds.
Prior to the concert, organizers had said the reason
they had chosen to bring acclaimed rap star Ludacris
to campus instead of the alternative rock musicians
that the groups have brought in past years was chiefly
because of his "massive crossover appeal."
Another main justification for choosing Ludac-
ris was his recent activism concerning social-jus-
tice issues, including his role in 2004's critically
acclaimed film "Crash."
In addition to performing, MSA officials had
voiced hopes that Ludacris would participate in addi-
tional events concerning diversity and other social
issues when he visited the campus. After this failed
to happen, Levine explained that MSA "didn't really
expect him to (stay), but had hoped that he would do
some sort of dialogue during the concert"
Although the rapper did not seem to participate
in any particularly valuable dialogue - "U of M
girls give me U of M head," was his most notable
quote of the night - Levine said he is satisfied with
the outcome of the concert. "Never before has an
event brought so many people with so many differ-
ent backgrounds together," he said.
LSA senior Alana Frankfort, who attended the
concert, confirmed the diversity of the crowd. "It
was worth the money to see the social dynamics of
the audience," she said.
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