‘Hair’ cast plans groovy production

By Bill Greenwood

Senior Arnaldo Ortiz’s summer was a very uncomfortable one. Having never grown his hair any longer than an eighth of an inch, he was in agony from the constant scratching and intense heat, which was localized entirely on his cranium, that resulted from his decision to become a living, breathing part of Rider’s mainstage production of Hair.

“[Having long hair] was awful,” Ortiz, a member of the show’s “tribe,” said. “I hated it all the way up until I came and auditioned, and then I started really getting into it. It made more of a statement than anything else.”

Ortiz was not alone in his discomfort. Several of his fellow students also decided to let their inner flower child shine through in order to show both their dedication to and love for Hair. The musical, set in the 1960s, focuses on the dilemma of the character Claude, played by senior Danny Lane, who must decide whether to burn his draft card or fight in Vietnam, according to senior Kim Hausler, who plays Sheila Franklin.

“The essential conflict really comes with the character Claude,” she said. “His decision whether or not to go to war really hits home with [Sheila] because she’s so involved in the antiwar movement.”

While Hair does focus on the actions of a tribe of hippies, the play does not necessarily glamorize their lifestyle, according to Hausler.

“They make their mistakes just like everybody else,” she said. “It’s not this perfect, peaceful, all-loving community all the time, but they had that goal. They had that dream that we could all actually love each other and that, literally, love could be the solution to all the world’s problems.”

Keeping in tune with current events, such as the Iraq war, the play will have a much darker feel than its previous incarnation at Rider, performed in 1991. According to Dr. Patrick Chmel, who directed Hair in 1991 and will also helm the 2005 version, this darkness is communicated mostly through the set design.

“In 1991, [the set] was all painted with really colorful, psychedelic-like tones to it,” Chmel said. “This time, it’s more imprisonment-like. Now it carries on the tone of a Guantánamo Bay. The people who live in here — it’s like they’re confined.”

Despite this newfound darkness, Chmel added that “90 percent of the play is tomfoolery. You know, kids having a blast and making people laugh.”

The lavish costumes used in Hair help to get the fun, yet dark, feeling across to the audience, according to Chmel.

“[The costumes have] a lot of color, a lot of grit, a lot of shine, a lot of glow, and some of it was just pulled from moms’ and dads’ trunks in the attic,” he said. “It should be great to look at.”

According to Chmel, the various actors and actresses in Hair often interact with the audience, which helps to make the play a memorable experience. On several occasions, the cast addresses the audience directly, and, at the beginning of the production, one actor makes his way through the middle of the crowd from the back of the theater to the stage.

“The intent of Hair is to break down all of the artifice, to be unconventional, to get rid of what we call the fourth wall,” Chmel said. “[It seeks] to get rid of that separation from actors to audience and just pull the audience on stage.”

Now, as the cast of Hair prepares for its first preview performance on Thursday, Nov. 10, at 7 p.m., many of Ortiz’s brothers-in-long-hair are preparing to trim their locks and return to their normal looks. Not Ortiz though. For him, the slight discomfort and extra heat will serve as a reminder of the experiences and lessons he learned during his days with the production.

“I think [the long hair] is here to stay, at least for a year,” Ortiz said. “[The play] has had a big impact on my fashion sense.”