Monday, October 11, 2021
“Kalopsia The Musical” at the New Hazlett Theater
The Pittsburgh Tatler: Dear Reader, for this post I’m doing something a little different. Instead of offering my own reflections on the new musical Kalopsia, which opened last week, I’m going to offer you the thoughts of one of the artists who helped bring it to life. My CMU colleague Tomé Cousin, who directed the show, generously carved time out of his busy schedule to reflect on the work. What follows is an edited excerpt of our conversation.
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2 comments:
I can’t wait to go see this musical, it seems super interesting and I’ve been wanting to see more of the professors at this school’s work in the Pittsburgh theater community. This seems like the perfect example of Carnegie Mellon excellence in the industry at large. As a Freshman taking Anti-Racist Theater, I’ve been thinking a lot about the importance of BIPOC artists filling the creative backside of productions as well as gracing the stage, as all too often in our industry the creative team for a show like Kalopsia would be heavily white despite the inherent blackness of the story. In the article, Tomé mentioned how fulfilling having an all-black team was for him and how it created an incredible product. Something Carnegie Mellon is still struggling with is diversity in the Design and Production track, and seeing our professors doing work that heralds a more diverse future for our track is very exciting and hopeful.
This article has definitely made me interested in seeing this production. Even the synopsis and just commentary on it has me thinking in a different perspective. Which is something I am always looking forward to. I often overlook how much of a privilege it is to be able to express my emotion through the arts, and to have institutions, programs and to have people who fully support me in doing that. It is also really interesting to see a costume designer’s perspective on a work, because typically you would see that from a director or playwright, who has a different perspective. They would tend to talk about the intention rather than the application of concepts, which is what technicians and designers can elaborate on in a less biased way. On a separate note, I think it is really great to hear about the communities and dynamics behind the creative and production teams on shows, this interconnectedness is what spurs drama on to be as wonderful as it is.
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