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. 

