Sophomore year brings big experiences for the students in the Theatre Department at the Baltimore School for the Arts (BSA). It has the first major show that both Acting and Stage Design and Production (SDP) students put on together: Historical Scenes.
Both departments collaborate together to write scenes and then put them on a stage with costumes, lights, and acting in an outside-of-school venue.
Similar to all things in history, they consist of good and bad stories, especially within the Black community. These stories are told through slavery, segregation, and shaming, all because of the color of skin.
Yet, these stories are also those of perseverance, like Barack Obama, for being the first Black President of the United States, and Hattie McDaniel, for being the first Black person to win an Oscar for her role as Mammy in Gone With The Wind, as well as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for marching to fight for civil rights.
Just like these stories vary, so do the ones the Theatre Department produces each year. What is it like for an actor to play a historically accurate character as a person of color?
In 2024, senior actress Kaylin Ali did her Historical Scenes based on 1920s Vaudeville, a style of live entertainment with separate acts consisting of comedians, dancers, and more that dominated the show business in its time. All the scenes were about performers, those aspiring to get into show business, or those alienated for being a performer. Ali played a flapper girl.
Her scene followed three women of color who were trying to make it in show business. However, they each had their own restrictions as to why they couldn’t make it. In Ali’s case, her character was supposedly too old (she was 26) and her skin was too dark.
“Honestly preparing for the role personally wasn’t too bad,” said Ali. “I knew even though Black culture was highlighted and loved, society didn’t exactly love the people. Having that in my head made it easy for me to dislike other characters who had more privilege than me in the scene because of my skin color.”
Yet, even through the prior preparation wasn’t a hassle, Ali shared insight into being the character versus herself: “I usually method act [a technique sometimes used by actors to fully immerse themselves in a character] so I put myself mentally in the shoes of the character and feel the genuine emotions they would be feeling in the moment.”
Method acting is a very powerful technique. Many professional actors used method acting to prepare for the many roles viewers love, such as Heath Ledger’s role as the Joker in The Dark Knight or Meryl Streep’s role as Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada. Yet, it forces an actor to understand the character beyond the role, but as themselves.
“Connecting with my character used to scare me a bit,” said Ali. “It usually took me a bit to decompress after my scene to feel like Kaylin again, and not a Black flapper girl in the middle of 1920s Vaudeville.” Yet Ali was able to find the fine line between herself and her character.
Last year, junior actress Anande Richardson had her Historical Scenes based in the early 1900s, focusing on child labor. The scenes discussed her pay and working conditions, and the goals that both her and her castmates wanted to reach.
Richardson played a 15-year-old African American girl who is interested in journalism, and while delivering clothes to a garment factory she secretly interviews workers about their pay and conditions, documenting everything in her journal.
In contrast to Ali’s process, Richardson states, “We had to do a lot of research… To better understand our characters, we also wrote diary entries from our character’s perspective. I wrote about a child filling in for her sick dressmaker mother.”
Like many actors, the preparation for her was different. Ali found a way to immerse herself into the character, while Richardson required the creation of a background and research.
Since Richardson’s character was interested in journalism, Richardson offered insight to the power journalists have. “Journalism is a powerful way to use your voice to document what’s happening, even when it’s difficult. Learning about The Afro-American newspaper also helped me understand how important Black journalism was in giving people a voice and exposing injustice.”
The latest Historical Scenes, featuring the current sophomore actors, was set in the late 1700s and focused on being free from restrictions over one’s lifestyle, behaviors, and more.
Cassidy Miller, a sophomore actress, played a 15-year-old enslaved girl who secretly learned to read. “She uses her voice to fight for freedom, survive slavery, and express humanity,” said Miller.
Different from the Historical Scenes in the past, Miller’s scene was based two centuries further back in history, making her process a little more extreme because of the experiences and boundaries her character faced for being a woman of color.
“My process for preparing for this role was pretty difficult because I had to put myself into the shoes of an enslaved person who didn’t have nearly any freedom compared to the freedom I have today. In simple terms, I had to stop acting like a free person from the 21st century and try to feel what it’s like to be treated like an object,” said Miller.
Miller noted something important from that time period: how Black people weren’t considered to be people, but less than. They were either considered to be “objects” or “three-fifths of a person,” and their lives seen as less valuable than those not of color.
“Playing this character made me better understand what my ancestors had to go through and how hard they fought to get us where we are now,” said Miller.
Overall, based on the character, the process for the actor is different. Whether it’s research or fully immersing yourself within the role, playing a historical role requires much commitment and willingness to allow yourself to become someone from history. Yet, all these actresses played their part and represented Black history.
To contact this writer, email Muse Newspaper at musebsa@bsfa.org.
Featured graphic by Baltimore School for the Arts.
