Parade Dance Critique

The years that followed the end of the Civil War in the United States were anything but civil when it came to the remaining divisions between the northern and southern states. Even though slavery had been abolished, the South remained plagued with a racist and discriminative ideology. Fifty years after the Civil War in Atlanta, Georgia, an innocent Jewish man named Leo Frank was wrongfully convicted for the murder of a young girl. His race and religious differences were the sole reasons the corrupt judicial system of Atlanta was able to turn an innocent man into a monster. Jason Robert Brown and Alfred Uhry used Leo Frank’s story to create their heartbreaking musical adaptation, Parade. Ball State University’s production of this musical was able to reveal how one’s differences can be so easily demonized through the costuming of characters, unique lighting design, and specific mannerisms presented by the actors.

The costuming design for a show is the most basic way the audience can physically visualize a character’s personality. At the end

We cannot criminalize those who do not fit our preconceived notions of what an ideal individual looks, sounds, or acts like. In Ball State’s production of Parade, a devastating and shameful aspect of American history is bluntly revealed to us through heart-stopping musical numbers and sobering dialogue. The show communicates to the audience that we live in a world that pleads for our individuality, but will demonize that individualism once it is revealed. In Ball State’s rendition, this demonization is presented through contrasts in costuming that speculate isolation, lighting design that elevates physical stereotypes, and an actor’s mannerisms that suggest vulnerability. In the end it was clear that no one really knew this man for who he truly was, but for who they forced him to be seen