THEY CHOSE US – Pictured is the cast of the Hoboken Children’s Theater Company’s production, “They Chose Me!”
The Hoboken Children’s Theater Company, headed by Chase Leyner and musical director Jeremy Beck, had announced its May production, “They Chose Me!” with music by Ned Paul Ginsburg, lyrics by Michael Colby, and book by Colby and Ginsburg.
HCTC has been performing for nine years, producing professional-level musicals with kids and teens from all around the state. Their trademark harmonies and honest acting are shown off perfectly in this sweet and topical musical.
“They Chose Me!” is a musical spotlighting the subject of adoption, as seen through the eyes of kids ages seven to 18. In the course of the show, a group of adopted youngsters assemble to tell their stories, funny and poignant as they are. The show encompasses a variety of issues typically experienced by adopted children, among them foster homes, parental loss, gay adoption, and multicultural families. The audience will experienced the funny, touching and complicated universe of adoption as related through the stories of kids and teens.
The Law Offices of Heidi B. Conlin is a proud sponsor of “They Chose Me!” Conlin is thrilled by the partnership between her Adoption Options (at www.adoptionoptionsnj.com) and HCTC. “This exemplifies our shared philosophy that the adoption journey is different for every family, with many options along the way,” said Conlin.
“They Chose Me!” is also sponsored by USAdopt, LLC, (at www.usadopt.com), a domestic adoption consultant and advisor that helps people navigate the process of domestic adoption. USAdopt accelerates the decision-making process, clarifies and simplifies the path to parenthood, and minimizes costs and risks.
Performances are on May 11 and 12 at 7 p.m., and on May 12 and 13 at 2 p.m., at Monroe Theatrespace, 720 Monroe Street, Hoboken. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased at www.hobokenchildrenstheater.com.
This is also the case for great American actors and singers such as Paul Robeson, who stood up for the oppressed and who was recognized for his amazing voice, but meanwhile had to act in the worst kind of racist films that showed him as the "noble savage" of Africa, or else found him on stage singing the white man's portrayal of black life, Showboat .
And so here we have a play that is asking us to believe that it is the "voice" of children and what they think about adoption. Unfortunately, it takes the entertainment exit from reality, and attempts to portray adoption as the bourgeois adoptive class sees this act of trafficking, not as children see it. More realistically, it would have been actually written by adoptees?who, it need be stated, would not parade something so personal, so private, and so unique to their identities on a stage in order to please those who are temporarily taking care of them.
So here we have a new kind of minstrelsy, where the pimps and traffickers of adoption sponsor their own advertisements that are then acted out by children who don't have the wherewithal to say, "no, this doesn't represent me"; just like Bert Williams; just like Paul Robeson.
Shame on all of you involved with this production. Paul Robeson famously said: "Through my singing and acting and speaking, I want to make freedom ring. Maybe I can touch people's hearts better than I can their minds, with the common struggle of the common man" Would that this production actually consider the struggle of adoptees, and not parade us around like geegaws for the amusement of those who removed us from our place, our families, our language, our culture, and our identities.