a humorous look at the cast of FIND AND SIGN by way of the very discouraged use of stereotyping.

by Lansia Wann

Friday the 13^th – It was opening night at Pioneer Theatre Company for the world premiere of Find and Sign, a play scripted by The House of Yes playwright, Wendy MacLeod, and I found myself enjoying a surprisingly lovely, laugh-out-loud play.

If I were to describe it simply, Find and Sign is like a pie in the face – a hysteric riot that’s comedic , unexpected, delightful, but sort of a slap in the face. Themes of love, loyalty, racism, friendship, life, music build layers upon layers and push out of the script in such a natural way… it’s almost as if it all snuck up on you.

Sticking with the themes of racism and music, I wanted to throw a pie, so-to-speak, in the faces of the Find and Sign cast. I stereotyped (*ahem* a form of racism) the music each cast member listens to… under the cover of a couple of drinks, should anything backfire, of course.

Should you care to guess with me, my friend Matt took a photo of each cast member (people always look different in real life, right?) so our PTC blog readers could also play along. I want to preface this by saying it’s very difficult to think of musicians on the spot and I’m really not the racist this blog seemingly reads out to be! Now that’s out of the way…  here goes!

Karl Miller (Iago)

Stereotyped guesses:
Jamiroquai; Beck; Green Day

Reasoning behind my guesses:
Karl looks a bit like Beck to me and he’s white. The younger generations of white people love Green Day, but I feel like he has a bit of diversity so, I threw in Jamiroquai.

What Karl really listens to:
Karl Miller’s Music Tastes
Zoe Keating; Sage Francis; Arcade Fire; Bright Eyes

Terrell Donnell Sledge (Mac)

Stereotyped guesses:
Jay-Z; Eminem; Mariah Carey

Reasoning behind my guesses:
So, Terrell is obviously… yes. I won’t say it aloud because it’s horribly racist to judge only by that factor. Mariah – because he’s dressed very nicely so it’s to appeal to his gentler, more sensitive side.

What Terrell really listens to:
Terrell Donnell Sledge’s Music Tastes
Torae; Michael Jackson; Prince; Sade; B.o.B

Daniel Morgan Shelley (Cal)

Stereotyped guesses:
LL Cool J; Michael Buble; Michael Bolton; Stevie Wonder

Reasoning behind my guesses:
Daniel flashes jazz to me – in the way he was dressed that night. I’ll admit, I could not think of hip jazz artists on the spot so I came up with Michael Buble and Michael Bolton (y’ know… cause he plays the sax). Then, there’s Stevie Wonder – a classic. At the same time, I think Daniel has some old school rap in him as well – LL Cool J.

What Daniel really listens to:
Daniel Morgan Shelley’s Music Tastes
Green Day; Adele; Amy Winehouse; Ani diFranco; Childish Gambino; Stevie Wonder; Kurt Elling; Joe Locke; John Coltrane; Miles Davis; Dizzy Gillespie

Molly Ward (Julia)

Stereotyped guesses:
She & Him; Adele; Ani diFranco; Tori Amos

Reasoning behind my guesses:
Before I saw the play, Heather, the Assistant Marketing Director, mentioned that Molly reminds her of Zooey Deschanel. Hence, Zooey’s band with M. Ward, She & Him. Adele, Ani and Tori – I feel like are typical emotional white girl artists – it’s always perfect for a good cry. Yep, this game is very racist. It’s atrocious, but I claim it all in the name of blogging. Don’t judge me!

What Molly really listens to:
Molly Ward’s Music Tastes
Adele; She & Him; K’Naan; Santigold; Ingrid Michaelson; Sufjan Stevens; Stevie Nicks; Indigo Girls

Gardner Reed (Mona)

Stereotyped guesses:
Eminem; Christina Aguilera; Miranda Lambert; Drake; Spice Girls; Beyonce; Lady Gaga

Reasoning behind my guesses:
Molly mentioned that Gardner jams to rap pre-show – Eminem and Drake. I feel like Gardner has some general diversity as the worldly actress type, but I still feel like she’s down with her roots. In complete stereotypical fashion, I pictured her growing up in the country (Miranda Lambert) then moving into the city (Beyonce, Christina Aguilera, Spice Girls) and discovering “cool” popular, musicians. My friend Matt stereotyped her character, Mona, as a Gaga fan and I agree.

What Gardner really listens to:
Gardner Reed’s Music Tastes
Simon and Garfunkel; Pink Floyd; The Who; Peter, Paul and Mary; Amy Winehouse; Ani diFranco

Keith Hamilton Cobb (Andre)

Stereotyped guesses:
John Coltrane; Stevie Wonder; Luther Vandross; Jamie Foxx; Village People

Reasoning behind my guesses:
Keith exudes cool, calm and hip to me. However, the hip (Jamie Foxx) is a mostly presented subtly so I compare it easily to jazz and classics – Coltrane, Stevie, and Luther. Despite my overall impression of Keith being super chill and collected, I think he gets jiggy with it in the privacy of his own home – Village People.

What Keith really listens to:
Keith Hamilton Cobb’s Music Tastes
Amos Lee; Edvard Grieg; The Almann Brothers; Elton John; Led Zeppelin; Van Morrison; The Band; Aretha Franklin; Sam Cooke

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As you can tell, I did horrendously in guessing everyone’s music tastes. No one was really the made-up character I concocted in my head by purely judging their looks. But hey, just one of the many reasons why racism is bad!

Although Kirsten primed everyone for what was to come, I want to give many thanks to Karl, Terrell, Daniel, Molly, Gardner and Keith for playing along. Yeah, I’ll say it, it was quite the racist, non-PC game. Check out Find and Sign at the Pioneer Theatre Company. I loved it and definitely recommend getting tickets before the end of their two week run.

Lansia is a semi-pro social media artist – having blogged professionally and casually. An art major herself, Lansia loves to support and participate in the creative community: theatre, film, music, photography, writing, performance and art just to name a few off the tip of the tongue. In addition to her writing, she loves to cook, eat, travel, play, adventure and rock the headphones. Find her personal blog at http://daphnelcc.wordpress.com.