Wiley and the Hairy Man

This past week, I attended a production of the play Wiley and the Hairy Man that was put on by Saginaw Valley State University’s theater department. This play definitely surprised me. I went to the show thinking that I needed to see the performance for class, but that I would not actually enjoy it since it was considered a “children’s” play. I was wrong. I loved every minute of it and found myself wishing that it would keep going even though it was apparent that it was going to end soon. 

The director, Ric Roberts, made some excellent choices while bringing this play to life. Wiley, his Mammy, and the Hairy Man are all conjure people. This means that they are supposed to perform “magic” on stage. Some of these effects were as simple as turning the lights on or off. But how would you make things such as snakes appear? Professor Roberts’ solution to that was to have most of the cast dress in skin-tight black suits with mesh masks over their faces so that they appeared only to be “shadows.” Then he had the suits painted with glow-in-the-dark designs. The result was that snakes “appeared” by turning on a black light and having actors move their arms like snakes. This effect was extremely cool if, like me, you spent a small portion of your time wondering what meaning the drawings had to the show.

The actors also did an excellent job in bringing this performance to life. They had a solid cast in spite of the fact that they used some actors new to the department. The role of Mammy as both a southern conjure woman and a mother was brought to light incredibly well. The Hairy Man was both scary (for children) and funny. Wiley himself was an incredible combination of a boy doing the funny things that children do as well as someone who is learning to face his fears. And, of course, the “magic effects” cast were extremely mysterious and played very well. Overall, this show was a great performance and the result was a production that I would definitely recommend that everyone should see, no matter what your age.