Ham 4 Ham: Student productions take the bacon

Whispering students crowd Conference rooms A and B at De Anza College on Nov. 22, awaiting their “familia,” group of about six students, to be called up to perform.
With the current controversy between Broadway’s “Hamilton” cast and Vice President-elect Mike Pence, De Anza English and writing teachers Brian Malone and Karen Chow, both part of Latino Empowerment at De Anza, and the Community Coordinators of LEAD, Marc Coronado, saw an opportunity for an inclusive civic engagement and student project.
“We asked students to fill in voices that we didn’t hear or didn’t hear in depth in ‘Hamilton’ … or to take a person from that period who isn’t represented in the musical and tell their story,” Malone said.
The students were given two to three weeks to prepare what Malone called a “fun and funky tribute to ‘Hamilton’” and used video, poetry, spoken word and other creative forms of multimedia to enhance their performances.
Audience members laughed along with pop-culture references and mic-dropping raps where students dressed up and showcased both major and underrepresented persons of the American Revolution.
One familia presented a video where two students dressed up as Founding Fathers Alexander Hamilton and President Thomas Jefferson and sang music by Drake in car karaoke.
Another group performed a live puppet show featuring a nobleman and his clingy, overly-dramatic wife who sent him masses of letters while he was away. a statement by a Wicomesse Indian written for the governor of Maryland to give perspective from the side of Native Americans during the American Revolution.
“Since that you are here strangers and come into our country, you should rather confine yourselves to the customs of our country, than impose yours upon us,” said Chow in her recital.
Two English-writing students concluded the night and sang an original piece called “Don’t Go Shooting Hamilton.”