4B —Thursday, December 7, 2017
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SMTD ‘Violet’ to explore
identity and race onstage
The Department of Musical
Theatre’s studio production of
“Violet” opens this Thursday at the
Arthur Miller Theater. Recently
nominated for four revival Tony
Awards in 2014, “Violet” follows
the story of a young girl, the
eponymous Violet, as she travels
by bus from Spruce Pine, North
Carolina to Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Along the way, Violet befriends the
other bus passengers and begins to
learn more about herself.
The musical is an adaptation
of Doris Betts’ short story “The
Ugliest Pilgrim.” It features many
different styles of music like gospel
and rock.
Violet suffers from a scar she
received in a childhood accident.
The scar is not depicted on stage,
however, and the audience is left to
imagine it based on the reactions
of other people. The play focuses
on Violet’s discomfort with her
physical appearance and struggle
to overcome her inner fears.
“Everyone has struggled with
self-doubt,” said SMTD senior
Natalie Duncan, who also plays
Violet, in an interview with The
Daily. In this instance, it is about
“America and the world’s pressure
on women. Your worth is not in
how men see you. I can say that
I struggle with that” — this is
“something that I want to fight for
everyday of my life.”
“We can all look at ourselves and
know that at some level we have a
scar,” said director Mark Madama,
Associate Professor of Musical
Theatre. “She considered herself
not to be pretty because she has a
scar ... we don’t ever know how big
that scar is.”
In addition to self-worth, the
play also explores race as Violet
begins to fall in love with Flick, a
Black soldier also riding the bus
played by SMTD junior Justin
Showell. Throughout the play,
Violet learns to move past Flick’s
race and understand him on a
personal level. Set in 1964, this
radical
change
belies
Violet’s
transition
to
understanding
herself.
“Racial issues have always been
a prominent part of our society for
as long as we’ve been America,”
Madama said.
“Me being Black is not an
affliction, it’s not a disfigurement,”
Showell said. “Flick sees Violet the
way that the audience does the
entire time ... by the end, Violet
learns to see Flick in the same way.”
The play ultimately revolves
around
becoming
comfortable
with oneself, transcending one’s
inner fears and reaching one’s full
potential.
“We often, in ourselves, cannot
see our full potential,” Showell said.
“We often put shades and layers
over ourselves and only do what we
are perceived to be capable of.”
“Even though the show is set in
1964, so much of the themes are
relevant today,” Duncan said. “It’s
timeless in a way.”
“It’s about being able to accept
yourself,” Madama said. “Being
able to know yourself, being able
to love yourself. It’s about finding
where you fit into this world and
not trying to be something you’re
not.”
After being premiered in 1997,
“Violet” recently underwent a
critically
acclaimed
Broadway
revival which featured big names
such as Sutton Foster and Joshua
Henry. With this popular run in
mind, the cast have been working
to find their own interpretation of
the work.
“There’s never going to be
another Violet that has these exact
components,” Duncan said. “I am
working on finding what about
Violet I have in myself.”
“There’s a lot of elements that
have to be told honestly,” Madama
said. “It becomes about you because
you try to figure out what’s going
on in the story. It’s coming out of
your way of looking at the world.”
There
are
a
“plethora
of
different styles that still manage
to be consistent,” Showell said. It
“gives each of the characters their
own voice.”
Though it takes place more than
50 years ago, “Violet” is a topical
exploration of the many things
that bring us together as humans,
and the means by which we can
transcend the few things that keep
us apart. It’s about checking your
preconceived notions and learning
to understand one another on an
emotional level.
“It
gives
everybody
an
opportunity to see themselves
differently,” Showell said. “If you
are able to take on some of the
encouragement that others see in
you, what aren’t you capable of?”
SAMMY SUSSMAN
Daily Arts Writer
B-SIDE SECONDARY
WIKIMEDIA
Revitalizing Motor City
through urban planning
Detroit — a city whose past
reminds us of the American
Dream.
Once
drenched
in
streamlined
chrome
and
automated wonder, Detroit was
the hottest city this side of the
Mississippi. Yet, in July 2013,
Detroit
became
the
largest
U.S. city to file for bankruptcy,
leaving the nation and world
wondering:
What
happened
to Motor City? What caused
this once-booming city center
of culture and life to drown
in over $18 billion of debt?
Many have neglected the glory
days of Detroit’s past, making
it difficult to see the beauty
that once was. Now, in the
eyes of the broader American
public, the city is decrepit,
abandoned
and
forgotten.
However, not everyone has
forgotten
about
Detroit.
Margaret
Dewar,
emeritus
professor of urban and regional
planning at the University of
Michigan’s Taubman College
of
Architecture
and
Urban
Planning, has devoted much of
her career to research centered
around
Detroit’s
decline.
Ellie Schneider, director of
advocacy at DC3 is working to
rebuild Detroit through design.
Dewar and Schneider have not
forgotten about Detroit, rather
they live for the Motor City and
want to restore it to its former
glory.
Let’s
start
from
the
beginning. Henry Ford test
drove his first car on the streets
of Detroit in 1896, spearheading
the industrial revolution of
the Motor City thanks to his
innovative building strategy,
the assembly line. By the early
20th century, industry was
blowing up in Detroit, and
during World War II, the same
efficient car-building methods
helped to quickly produce war-
winning weapons for the Allied
Powers.
“Its peak population was
recorded
in
1950,
about
1.85 million people,” Dewar
explains. About this time, Berry
Gordy was making waves in the
music industry with his record
company,
Motown
Records.
Gordy himself was inspired by
the Motor City for more than
just the name of his record
company. He used “quality
control” strategies similar
to those of auto industry fame
to ensure the creation of the
best products possible. Gordy’s
label gave birth to the gospel-
meets-blues-meets-good-time
sound of Diana Ross, Smokey
Robinson and the Jackson Five,
to name a few.
The 1950s were good years in
Detroit, when it was the fourth-
largest city in the United States.
The auto industry was thriving
and Motown tunes could be
heard from the Fox Theater to
the Detroit River. People wanted
to live in Detroit: It was fun, and
there were jobs.. However, the
city began to crowd, eventually
leading to, as Dewar puts it, “the
suburbanization of households.”
The city was getting too small
for the multitudes of people
who wanted to live there,
leading to a mass exodus to
the
surrounding
suburban
areas. Yet, not everyone could
leave the smog for the clean
air
and
spacious
yards
of
Farmington Hills or Bloomfield
Hills.
The
“suburbanization
of
households”
was
highly
selective in the sense that only
privileged, white families could
move to the suburbs, whereas
Black people were prevented
from living in such areas due to
racist policies.
“At the same time, industrial
processes
changed
so
that
single story plants were much
more efficient for access to
highways,
as
transportation
was changing from railways to
trucks,” Dewar said.
Therefore, many of the jobs
that once required city living
were
suburbanized
through
the
highways
and
change
in
transportation
methods.
Interestingly enough, Dewar
said
after
World
War
II,
Detroit had the same number
of
manufacturing
jobs
as
people living in the city. In
summary,
Detroit’s
decline,
according to Dewar, was caused
by “relocation of jobs and
relocation of people and that
meant loss of city revenues.”
The city began to have greater
and greater difficulty providing
the kinds of services people
would expect of their municipal
government, which, as Dewar
concludes, “drives more people
out.” Now, the city that once
boasted a population of 1.85
million in 1950 has lost over 60
percent of its population.
Seeing what happens after
abandonment is exactly what
Dewar’s research addresses. In
the book she edited alongside
June
Manning
Thomas,
centennial professor of urban
and
regional
planning
at
Taubman College, “The City
After
Abandonment,”
the
duo asks three big questions:
What does a city look like after
abandonment?
What
kinds
of policies and changes make
a difference in what the city
becomes? And what should such
cities become? Looking at other
cities that have experienced
population decline on a smaller
scale, like Cleveland, and what
kind of institutions they put
in place to improve quality of
life, influence what types of
programs can be put in place to
truly effect positive change in
Detroit.
For Detroit, it seems, the
original purpose of the urban
planner — to manage growth and
development — is unnecessary.
However,
Dewar’s
research
raises another question: What
is the job of the urban planner
when there is no growth,
when there is no development?
Therefore,
Dewar’s
work
is focused on adding to the
development of the city and
creating an environment in
which it is lucrative for people
to come back to Detroit. For
example, right now she is
working with a task force to try
to refinance affordable housing
in Detroit.
When asked where she hopes
Detroit will be in 10 years,
Dewar responds with a laundry
list of things that need to occur
to revitalize and renew the city.
“Improving quality of life
with better city services, more
reasonable property tax levels,
so it’s not so expensive to live
there,” are important to Dewar
in ensuring the rebuilding of
Detroit. She knows it is a lot
to ask for, but Dewar imagines
a Detroit where people of all
incomes, races and backgrounds
can live together in harmony.
She wants Detroit to be a place
where people want to live,
where there are jobs available
and reasonable living.
Dewar was drawn to the
University initially because of
its proximity to Detroit and the
opportunity to “engage with
the people and communities of
Detroit,” as well as because she
is “fascinated with the fortunes
of big cities.” Ellie Schneider,
on the other hand, came into
her role in rebuilding Detroit
as a lifelong Detroiter with a
background as a bankruptcy
attorney. Now Schneider is
Director of Advocacy at DC3,
Detroit
Creative
Corridor
Center, an organization working
to revitalize Detroit through
design. Schneider explains DC3
as an “economic development
organization
focused
on
strengthening Detroit’s creative
economy
and
connecting
people to it.” This manifests
itself
primarily
in
helping
small businesses and creative
practitioners to help build the
market for design in Detroit
making it a hub for creative
businesses and activities.
Schneider
highlights
DC3’s network of designers,
Creative
Co.
Through
this
network DC3 offers services
for small businesses, including
help securing contracts and
connecting
designers
with
potential
clients.
DC3
also
supports activities and events
to highlight the creative talent
in Detroit. Schneider points
out Drinks Design and the
Detroit Design Festival as a few
prime examples of emphasizing
the
creative
communities
emerging throughout the city.
One of the biggest efforts of
DC3 occurred in 2015, when
UNESCO
appointed
Detroit
as the only city in the United
States as a certified UNESCO
City of Design. DC3 played a
huge role in helping Detroit
obtain
this
designation
—
Schneider
reports
that
she
handled a lot of the application
process. Since that victory, DC3
has been focused on the ways
in which design, as Schneider
said,
“can
help
Detroit
to
become a more sustainable and
equitable city over the next
10 years.” Schneider and DC3
want to harness the creative
energy of Detroit and use it to
revitalize, renew and repower
the city, because according to
her, “creativity and design play
a role in building a stronger city
and community altogether.”
Detroit’s
new
title
as
a
UNESCO
City
of
Design
means that it is now a part of a
global network of cities from
Cape Town, South Africa, to
Shenzhen,
China,
focused
on creativity and using that
creativity
to
strengthen
the
economy
and
increase
opportunities for the city’s
residents. Schneider explains:
“This
network
puts
value
BECKY PORTMAN
Daily Arts Writer
on culture in the intangible
sense.” Everything in culture,
from furniture to film and
gastronomy to galleries helps
to create jobs and build a better,
more sustainable city.
Now the question is: What can
Detroit do with its designation
as a UNESCO City of Design?
What does this mean for the
future of the city? According to
Schneider, it means looking at
other cities and how they have
used this designation to their
advantage and then looking at
Detroit’s
unique
perspective
to improve the city. The plan
for DC3 and Detroit City of
Design, Schneider hopes, will be
“reflective of what our strengths
and challenges are as a city.”
One may see Detroit as a
sports city, a music city or even
a motor city, but Schneider sees
the future of Detroit as a city of
design, and the future is now.
Schneider
reports:
“Detroit
houses the highest concentration
of commercial and industrial
designers in the country.” The
hope is that through education,
programming and policy the
future designers of Detroit will
see the power in the creative.
Schneider explains there are a
lot of great things happening in
Detroit as far as design, “from
the super corporate to the
super grassroots,” but they are
disconnected. Therefore, in the
future DC3 hopes to cultivate a
better network and community
centered
around
a
mutual
respect and passion for design.
When asked where she sees
Detroit in 10 years, Schneider
said she wants design to play a
bigger, more visible role in the
city’s economy. This seems like
an attainable reality thanks
to the work at DC3. Yet, one
cannot speak of the future
without mentioning children;
as
the
immortal
Whitney
Houston declared in “Greatest
Love of All,” “I believe the
children are our future / Teach
them well and let them lead
the way.” Therefore, Schneider
emphasizes her hope that young
designers will pursue careers
in the field of design. But
first, there needs to be a shift
in mentalities to ensure that
today’s youth are encouraged to
pursue their creative passions
instead of being deterred by lack
of funds for the arts in public
schools or preconceived and
archaic notions that pursuing a
creative career is a life sentence
to starving artist status.
It is no shock that like many
creative fields, design is lacking
in terms of diversity. Schneider
hopes that she can change that
with education, workshops and
hands-on creative opportunities
for children. The future shakers
and makers of Detroit are the
children. Therefore, DC3 puts
a huge emphasis on supporting
programs and institutions that
help to enhance the creative,
young minds at work in Detroit.
This starts with cultivating
talent and letting kids know
creative jobs are possible. Grace
in Action and Living Arts are
two of countless programs put
in place to empower Detroit’s
youth through art and design,
from screen printing to graphic
design. In addition, institutions
of higher education are trying
to appeal to a high school
student audience as well in
order to promote talent and
curiosity.
The
University’s
own
Architecture
Prep
program
introduces
Detroit
high schoolers to the practice
of
architecture
through
a
semester-long
college
prep
course on the discipline. In
addition, Lawrence Technology
University
provides
summer
programs
for
high
school
students in order to cultivate
future students of technology
and design.
DC3 is not trying to create
new programs — Schneider said
that would be “impossible and
irresponsible.” There are great
programs
and
organizations
in Detroit doing amazing work
and DC3 wants to strengthen
and support what is already
out there instead of launching
something new. One thing DC3
will be launching in early 2018
is its full strategy for cultivating
Detroit’s creative economy over
the next 10 years. Schneider
guarantees “the education piece
is absolutely imperative in order
to think about any strategy that
will be effective in 10 years … I
mean we are talking about the
people who will be Detroit’s
designers 10 years from now.”
“At this time in the world right
now so many of us are closing in
and withdrawing,” Schneider
said. “I feel so fortunate that
Detroit has this connection
right now to these other cities
around the world, dealing with
a lot of the same challenges we
are.” This global network of
cities has been brought together,
despite geographical or cultural
barriers, for their passion for
design and change. “For us to
be able to not only see what
other cities are doing, but also
to promote the really innovative
ways
in
which
Detroit
is
navigating,”
Schneider
said.
Yet, Detroit has a different
perspective;
as
Schneider
explained, “we have basically
no government resources to
support our work.” Therefore,
now more than ever a platform
for the exchange of ideas and a
network built on innovations
is crucial for the change that
needs to occur.
Outsiders
see
Detroit
as
a city that is stuck in the
past. Yet, there are those few
revolutionaries that see beyond
the Detroit of yesterday and
look forward to the Detroit of
tomorrow. As cheesy as that
may sound, the people who are
changing the city for the better
are doing so from the ground up.
For
some,
like
Margaret
Dewar, this means literally
from the ground up. From a
glance, the green spaces in
Detroit are a lovely addition
to the surrounding grayness.
But did you know that urban
planners are using installations
of greenery to control water
and prevent an over-flooding of
sewage systems? That unseen
work of the unsung urban
planning heroes is what will
bring Detroit back to its former
glory days.
Yet,
Detroit’s
legacy
of
innovation
is
not
dead;
it
is
refashioning
itself
into
something
different.
Similar
to
Ford’s
industry-shaking
assembly line, Detroit is living
through
a
renaissance
of
innovation. Now, the Motor
City is officially City of Design,
at least according to UNESCO.
Henry Ford would be proud of
the innovators making waves
in Detroit and modernizing the
city for the future and beyond.
While Detroit is no longer the
industrial hub it once was, it
can be a center for design and
creativity, according to Ellie
Schneider and DC3. Detroit can
be restored to its status as the
capital of industry once again,
only instead of automotive it is
design-motive.
“Sometimes down, but never
out / Take strength in us, your
people / Stay up Detroit”
— Eminem, Letter to Detroit
SMTD’s
“Violet”
Arthur Miller
Theatre
December 7th @
7:30 p.m.
December 8th &
9th @ 8 p.m.
December 9th &
10th @ 2 p.m.