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- Path: sparky!uunet!hela.iti.org!usc!usc!not-for-mail
- From: adolphso@mizar.usc.edu (adolphson)
- Newsgroups: soc.motss
- Subject: Re: discrimination at CMU
- Date: 18 Nov 1992 12:08:58 -0800
- Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
- Lines: 43
- Message-ID: <1ee7sqINN9i3@mizar.usc.edu>
- References: <Bxnrno.GBo@queernet.org> <1992Nov13.151255.17143@tc.cornell.edu> <CORWIN+.92Nov18132818@MORPHEUS.CIMDS.RI.CMU.EDU>
- NNTP-Posting-Host: mizar.usc.edu
-
- In article <CORWIN+.92Nov18132818@MORPHEUS.CIMDS.RI.CMU.EDU>
- corwin+@CMU.EDU (Scott Safier) writes:
- > In article <1992Nov13.151255.17143@tc.cornell.edu>
- > shore@dinah.tc.cornell.edu (Melinda Shore) writes:
- > >Actually, the primary role of the CMU drama school *is* to
- > >prepare professional actors. That's undoubtedly why they
- > >booted those students.
- >
- > But, I still can't help considering two CMU alumni -- Renee Auberjenoi
- > or Sada Thompson. Both would have been booted by the standards used
- > against the class of 1981 -- he is rather effeminate (subjective
- > opinion), and she is overweight.
-
- Heavens. When was it that Rene Auberjonois was there? Or Sada
- Thompson? The late 1950s? Besides, quite exceptionally talented
- students (one thinks of Meryl Streep at Yale), or students with
- odd, quirky, interesting presence but limited acting abilities
- (one thinks of Sigourney Weaver at Yale) are not cut. It is the
- moderately talented students with nothing else going for them and
- mannerisms/habits/appearance that distract who will be cut. You've
- already pointed out that of the 50 students who begin the program,
- only 15 to 20 graduate. That alone should tell you something.
-
- > >Really, the school's overall emphasis
- > >over the past decade-and-a-half or so has shifted towards
- > >professionalism. The music school, too.
- >
- > Should the school be prejudging which actors a casting director may
- > want in the future?
-
- Should the school train anyone who walks in the door? Really,
- this is just too preposterous. An incredibly queeny friend of
- mine was an exceptionally successful actor, with Oscar and Tony
- Award nominations to prove it. Did he study acting at college?
- No. He was realistic enough to understand that he would not have
- survived the cookie-cutter approach to stage-training. (An approach
- he himself later used when he taught acting at Yale.) Leonard
- studied painting at Cooper Union, dance with Martha Graham, and
- acting with Uta Hagen at HB. He saw as much theater as he could.
- He read. He studied people on the street. He lived a life.
-
- Arne
-
-