Swine Palace Productions will bring back the Age of Aquarius on Wednesday with its performance of “Hair” at the Reilly Theatre.
The “American Tribal Love-Rock Musical” opens Wednesday with a pay-what-you-can show at 7:30 p.m.
Vastine Stabler, director of marketing and public relations for Swine Palace, said “Hair” is unlike any play that has been produced at the University.
“It’s musical, but it’s not just a musical. It’s a rock musical,” Stabler said.
“Hair” first premiered in 1967, and Stabler said it is edgier than many of the theatre’s productions.
“We have a list of warnings that we always give in the lobby, and I could use every warning I have on this show,” Stabler said. “Everything from sex, nudity, drugs, loud music, loud bangs, violence, even cigarette smoking on stage … some people find it offensive or controversial.”
Scott Woltz, second-year master’s of fine arts student, plays Hubert and said the musical could not be done without including some of the more controversial elements like drugs and nudity.
“The nudity and the drugs were both part of the time era,” Woltz said. “The nudity is very quick … there will be drug use, because you can’t really represent this culture and this time period without that kind of stuff.”
The play calls for a large cast to make up “The Tribe,” the group of hippies in New York City around whom the play centers.
Stabler said Swine Palace chose “Hair” because it would allow them to use many undergraduate actors.
“Even though three of our cast members are professionals from New York and we also have our MFA actors in there too, this is a show that incorporates and uses a lot of actors in their early twenties,” Stabler said.
Stabler said although the play was written in response to the draft during the Vietnam War, many of the themes are still relevant to today’s audience.
“This piece was written in response to everything that was happening in the ’60s,” Stabler said. “The younger culture was trying to find a new voice that they felt had been stifled in the past. A lot of it was a response to war.” Woltz said every audience member will take away something different from the production.
“I think that for a lot of people who lived in that time era, it’s going to be a trip back down memory lane,” Woltz said. “It has a lot to do with our time now, with the war that we’re in right now … and how people will fight for what they believe in.”
Garrett Bruce, theatre senior, plays Claude, a character faced with a possible tour in Vietnam.
“[Claude] is … this really sweet hippie guy who’s torn between love for his country and the principles that he believes in with his tribe and as a hippie,” Bruce said. “That’s what the whole play is about – the sort of pull between the two.”
Bruce said the rehearsals have been rough, but the camaraderie of the cast makes it enjoyable.
“We started on spring break and did seven-hour rehearsals every day,” Bruce said. “Every weeknight and weekend we’re here for five-hour rehearsals … but it’s been fun. We all love to do this.”
Stabler said the camaraderie of the cast will show through in the acting, and the audience’s experience will be enhanced because of it.
“The actors doing the show are having the best times of their lives doing the show,” Stabler said. “The times that actors are having fun, they usually give it to the audience. I think the audience is going to feel that they’ve had just as good a time as the people on stage.”
Both Stabler and Bruce agreed that the music in “Hair” is a huge part of what makes the show so entertaining.
Stabler said the audience might have a hard time staying in their seats during the play.
“They’ll want to get up and dance and sing,” Stabler said.
Since the play is based around music, Bruce said the plot is unlike traditional plays in that it is composed of a “hodgepodge of different styles.”
“Hair” begins April 16 at 7:30 p.m. and runs through May 4. For more show times, check the Swine Palace Web site at www.swinepalace.org.
—-Contact Sarah Aycock at [email protected]