News & Reviews

Actors should fit parts As I’m sure many people are aware, the play “Fences” by August Wilson was recently canceled at Auburn High School. The reason given? It violated the 14th Amendment by requiring an all-black cast. This is unacceptable. Would it really be logical to cast white students in a play in which all the characters are black? The story would lose much of its meaning. You would not cast a man to play a woman, would you? They simply wouldn’t fit the part; they wouldn’t be believable. Besides, this play had been planned for a year. Why did the district wait until halfway through auditions to decide that it was against the law? I don’t see the desire to have an all-black cast as being racist. I see it as wanting to have actors who fit the parts. When did that become unconstitutional? — Danielle Long, Auburn High School student, Rockford

Corporate Actors As its name might not suggest, The Actors Institute, founded in 1977, has shifted its focus to business clients, aiming to use the principles of theater to unleash creativity in the workplace rather than the stage. "We don't do play acting, we don't play clowns and we don't dress up as Richard III," said Graeme Thomson, head of European operations for the school known as TAI. "It's much deeper than that," he said. "It's about who and what you are, what are your core values and how does that influence your creative impulse."

Cancelled due to lack of actors SELMA, Ala. -- Organizers say the annual Battle of Selma Civil War reenactment will NOT be held this year because there are not enough reenactors. The event had been scheduled for April 27th through the 30th by the Battle of Selma Authority, which has been hosting Civil War reenactments since 1987. Chairman Mike Reynolds said the primary reason for the cancellation is the decline in the number of reenactors due, in part, to the increasing cost of fuel and the great distances that many of them have to travel. He also said there has been a general decline in the number of active reenactors on a national and regional level. Reynolds said organizers are optimistic they can host the Battle of Selma in 2007.

TV actors fail to connect in thin bar mitzvah comedy Bill Muller The Arizona Republic May. 26, 2006 12:00 AM If you want to make a movie, you need a good script. But Keeping Up With the Steins proves it's better to have a famous dad. This tissue-thin comedy about a Jewish family staging an extravagant bar mitzvah is directed by Scott Marshall. Not coincidentally, Scott is the son of Garry Marshall, who wrote and produced '70s TV shows and directed Pretty Woman and The Princess Diaries. Daddy's presence could explain how Scott was able to sign actors who are fairly well-known (at least to cable subscribers) for this little movie with an obvious story. Keeping Up With the Steins probably paints an accurate picture of growing up rich and Jewish in Brentwood, but is that experience really worth a movie? Didn't any of these guys see Goodbye, Columbus?