Broadway actors who disdain their alma maters
Broadway actors who disdain their alma maters
#0Broadway actors who disdain their alma maters
Posted: 7/8/04 at 12:13am
Not long ago, Playbill.com featured an interview with Viola Davis (Intimate Apparel) in which she denounced her alma mater -- Julliard. According to the interview, the school tried to make her apologize for being black and otherwise failed to cultivate her talents.
Have any other actors publicly denounced their alma maters? I know that quite a few have NYU, Northwestern University, etc. listed in their Playbill biographies... but that doesn't necessarily mean that they enjoyed their experiences at those schools. I have been particularly interested in how Denis O'Hare felt about Northwestern, especially since he's queer and the school doesn't have a clear leftist bent yet...
BwayTheatre11
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/25/03
#1re: Broadway actors who disdain their alma maters
Posted: 7/8/04 at 12:20am
"queer"
Am I the only one who thinks that word is offending?
BroadwayGirl107
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/26/03
#2re: Broadway actors who disdain their alma maters
Posted: 7/8/04 at 12:24am
I have heard a few people talk about the hell that was Carnegie Mellon.
Supposedly at some point, they decided that there weren't enough roles in the "real world" for "effeminate males" and "overweight women" so they removed all who fit those categories from their program, regardless of their talent.
Fortunately those who ran the program since then have left.
#3re: Broadway actors who disdain their alma maters
Posted: 7/8/04 at 12:29amNo, you're not the only one... but I don't find it offensive. I'm queer. And I remember sounding like a fool when I screamed at someone for calling me "queer" back in my "don't want to come all the way out of the closet" days. Moreover, because I'm in the Film and Theater departments at Northwestern, I always find it curious when an actor identifies this university as his/her alma mater but doesn't say anything else about it. Updated On: 7/8/04 at 12:29 AM
#4re: Broadway actors who disdain their alma maters
Posted: 7/8/04 at 12:30am
"queer"
Am I the only one who thinks that word is offending?
Us gay people are supposed to have appropriated the word a long time ago, but I've still never grown comfortable with it. Unless it's Queer Duck - he rocks!
BwayTheatre11
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/25/03
#5re: Broadway actors who disdain their alma maters
Posted: 7/8/04 at 12:31amFag, Faggot, Queer, etc...they all make me feel like a piece of ****.
shesings
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/14/04
#6re: Broadway actors who disdain their alma maters
Posted: 7/8/04 at 12:31amis queer becomming like the "hip" thing for gay people to call one another? how like black people can call each other the n-word but if anyone else does its offensive (though i agree its offensive)?
shesings
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/14/04
#7re: Broadway actors who disdain their alma maters
Posted: 7/8/04 at 12:33amps ... sorry so off topic
#8re: Broadway actors who disdain their alma maters
Posted: 7/8/04 at 12:49amNot exactly. "n*" is a term that some African-Americans (not me) generally use to refer to one another with contempt. "Queer" is an umbrella term for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered persons just as "Latino" is an umbrella term for people of Latin American descent. In the last few years, the term "gay" has been used with much more hostility (i.e. "that is SO gay") than queer. No word works for everyone.
#9re: Broadway actors who disdain their alma maters
Posted: 7/8/04 at 12:56amI always liked "fabulous." Like, "He's so fabulous!"
BWayBoy88
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/23/04
#10re: Broadway actors who disdain their alma maters
Posted: 7/8/04 at 12:59amI believe queer is like the N word. I think its ok for gay people to use queer just like black people can use the N word. Both words are still offensive though. I dont think queer is as bad as fag though. That truely hurts
#11re: Broadway actors who disdain their alma maters
Posted: 7/8/04 at 1:02amFat is a bad word too.
#12re: Broadway actors who disdain their alma maters
Posted: 7/8/04 at 1:02amI have no problem with anyone who isn't straight calling me queer. It's the tone with which the word is used that matters. Non-blacks calling me n*... hmmm it's acceptable as long as it's some sort of inside joke.
J.
Broadway Star Joined: 7/1/04
#13re: Broadway actors who disdain their alma maters
Posted: 7/8/04 at 1:04amThere's an organization at Tisch called QueerArtists which assume was founded by a gay person so I think mayby it IS become hip and cool though I do not use the word because it does still seem derogatory.
#14re: Broadway actors who disdain their alma maters
Posted: 7/8/04 at 1:05am
But what if I use the phrase "impressively fat"? As in... George Clooney is going to be an IMPRESSIVELY FAT man once he gains forty pounds to play Robert Baer in "Syriana." There's seriously no chance that Clooney isn't going to make one sexy fat man.
Maybe the regard for "queer" as a derogatory term is somewhat of a regional thing. I was born and raised in Chicago.
Updated On: 7/8/04 at 01:05 AM
#15re: Broadway actors who disdain their alma maters
Posted: 7/8/04 at 1:07amI was joking. Speaking of one very sexy plesently plunp man, this one guy named spiderdj82 is HOT, let me tell ya.
#16re: Broadway actors who disdain their alma maters
Posted: 7/8/04 at 1:09amHey, plump is almost always sexy. I, for one, have not quite moved away from turn of the century ideals of sex appeal.
#17re: Broadway actors who disdain their alma maters
Posted: 7/8/04 at 1:09amhehehehe. Go turn of the century. Woo Woo
#18re: Broadway actors who disdain their alma maters
Posted: 7/8/04 at 1:10amsutton has spoken about her hate for carnegie mellon. her teachers told her she would never be anything more then a chorus girl.
SammyGal
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/10/04
#19re: Broadway actors who disdain their alma maters
Posted: 7/8/04 at 2:27am
I know in the younger generation, being involved with Long Island GSA's etc., queer has come to be the umbrella of everyone like someone said earlier. Although some ppl are weary, for the most part its taken in a positive context and describes everyone in the GLBT community :)
#20re: Broadway actors who disdain their alma maters
Posted: 7/8/04 at 10:34amI've been an out-of-the-closet homosexual for almost 28 years now and I will never get used to being called "queer" (by gays OR straights) and the words fag and faggot are also very offensive to me. I'm a gay man. Period. These "umbrella" terms are useless to me and I won't allow that terminology to be applied to me. It makes No sense at all.
robbiej
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#21re: Broadway actors who disdain their alma maters
Posted: 7/8/04 at 10:41am
When I was in college, I took a class on Queer Theory. That's the accepted name of that discipline. Never been a huge fan of the word (just cause it sounds weird...kinda like 'panties'...it just sounds odd), but I do not think you can equate it with 'n*'. The historical equivalent would probably be 'faggot'.
And when I found out the leading author in queer theory was a straight woman...I was VERY confused.
#22re: Broadway actors who disdain their alma maters
Posted: 7/8/04 at 10:45amewwww - panties...that IS a strange word. I have a friend who is a musical theatre performer, and she hates certain words (enough to almost get sick if you mention them) she hates "moist", "Squat", "damp" and "soup" (for whatever reasons) I believe that, once, a director was trying to get to her (teasingly) and told her to "go into a damp corner and eat some soup while taking a moist squat!" She nearly threw up.
#23re: Broadway actors who disdain their alma maters
Posted: 7/8/04 at 10:50amEWWW! Anyhoo... I have a friend who calls all of her 'little boys' (including me) "Fancy." She'll see some guy walking around town and she'll whisper to me, "Is he fancy?" I get a kick out of it every time.
#24re: Broadway actors who disdain their alma maters
Posted: 7/8/04 at 12:10pm
I had a problem with one of the teachers at my Alma Mater (Arizona State). I was a Vocal Performance major having changed my major from a Trumpet major and after my first jury she said to my voice teacher, "I wonder if her thinks he is going to get through on his looks." My entire school career she always graded me one grade lower than the rest of the panel. (I always got straight A's from everyone else). I was told later that no one really took her opinion to heart anyhow. It still bothered me though.
Oh yeah, I HAAAATEEEE the word queer.
Other wierd words that gives me shivers when I hear them are moist, pus, pubes, pubic. Its like eating a lemon!
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