Catalyst for Common Ground

BU Orientation shares the stage with Theatre to tackle tough topics.

Spark Volume 3, Issue 1 | by Laurel Homer

Terrier I.D. cards, student advising, and registration are hallmarks of student orientation. But, for the last two years, University Orientation at BU has included an unexpected component: a theatre performance.

“Art crosses boundaries,” says Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore, a key producer of Boston University summer orientations. “Everyone can connect with art and find a way to engage with moral issues around race and other subjects. It gives us a chance to be on the same page.”

The partnership was forged a few years ago when Dean Elmore approached Jim Petosa, Director of CFA’s School of Theatre, about performing excerpts of Baltimore. Written by Theatre faculty member Kirsten Greenidge, the play examines the limits of racial language and conflict among a group of college students.

“Dean Elmore is a visionary,” says Petosa. “The inclusion of performance in orientations for the entire incoming population of students is recognition that theatre is an excellent platform to explore human conflict and to respond to that tension as a community in dialogue.”

For Elmore, the use of human expression and art to dig into difficult subject matter seemed natural. “There was some pushback initially, not from me but from others, that maybe it was too much,” explains Elmore. “But I said, ‘Yes, we can do this, they’ve seen and felt art before, this is exactly what we need.’ And I knew we needed to capture the moment right at the start of their BU experience, when the students are not inhibited.”

The response to Baltimore and the subsequent talk-back was beyond expectation for both student and parent alike. “The conversation was really rich, much richer than had we just had a lecture or panel,” says Elmore. He considered bringing the play back for summer 2017’s sessions until he attended the New Repertory Theatre/BCAP production of Good last fall. The 1981 drama by C.P. Taylor is a study of a sufficiently respectable man in 1930s Germany and the compromises and allowances he is willing to make in the name of Nazi allegiance.

“The play opens the door to a whole new avenue of conversation,” explains Petosa, who serves as Artistic Director for New Rep and directed the fall production. “It’s the story of how a society is willing to change its moral stripes even when it means becoming morally bankrupt.” Mounted in advance of the November presidential election, the New Rep/BCAP production was a direct response to the political landscape in the United States, a cautionary tale of where concessions can ultimately lead, and a chilling inquiry of the capacity and culpability within every individual.

The subject matter is heavy, but contemporary, and sets the stage for conversation around issues that are top of mind, but perhaps hard to articulate and address. “After Charlottesville the relevance of this play really came into focus,” says Elmore.

“It’s jarring and scary, but I want students and parents to know that it’s okay to be jarred, it’s okay to be scared. We can’t ignore this. We have to engage with it. It’s a starting point because there will be more moments when we’re jarred or scared and we can go back to this common experience, this dialogue, and take something from it.”

Tim Spears (CFA’06,’11,’16) appeared in the New Rep production and serves as director of the summer orientation performances featuring Connor Paradis (CFA’19), Leo Blais (CFA’17), Stephanie Castillo (CFA’19), and Devon Stokes (CFA’19). Spears opted for simplicity in the staging to bring greater focus to the dialogue of the play. “The questions that these plays ask of their characters are complex and do not really contain binary answers,” says Spears. “By watching stories, not necessarily our own, we are given insight into who we might be as individuals and as a community and to answer questions of our own selves in ways that we may not have realized before.”

For Elmore, art is the perfect conduit to examine these struggles, to reflect as individuals, and to come together in conversation as a community. “This is what society needs: to be able to go into a room, share a performance, and then have the permission to critique the subject,” he says.

Elmore is already looking forward to taking in School of Theatre’s upcoming season of performances in consideration of next summer’s orientation program. He is also eager to expand inspiration to include a piece of music or visual art, and hopes this model encourages other academic institutions to tackle tough subjects and foster conversation through the arts.

“This partnership has been a really wonderful way of bringing academics and student services together in a big collaboration,” says Elmore. “To spark conversation about the human condition, to provide a construct for social incubation and innovation, and to do this all through art is just amazing.”

A full-scale production of Good returns to Boston University in the fall with three performances planned on campus so all students have the opportunity to explore the themes and “get on the common page.” Petosa looks forward to providing a fertile ground for activating more conversation around tense topics through performances on the Charles River Campus including the new Studio ONE space in 855 Commonwealth as well as the Booth Theatre set to open in early 2018.

“Theatre creates an opening for complicated conversations,” explains Petosa. “The Joan and Edgar Booth and other venues on campus provide immediate access to these explorations and we are poised to push the conversation in our neighborhood and in our community.”

For Elmore, it is more than simply exposing students to art; it is about allowing art to create a common experience, activate thought, and fuel discussion. “There’s no doubt that art is a gift,” says Elmore. “But, art is also a catalyst. It has a real relevance in our times to push us back to history to see how we have progressed and to see how we haven’t.”