Color Blind Kowalski?

As a writer, I usually dislike color blind casting. A character's race, gender and age have everything to do with who the character is in the time and place of the play.

A black Stanley Kowalski seems utterly ridiculous to me unless you're going to shift the time period of Streetcar. If the story were to take place today it would work, but the play itself probably wouldn't - it depends too much on the mystique of the old South.

To the calls of racism that may follow, I'll simply say in advance, "Nah, not so much."

Curtain --

They 'can' be performed by anyone of any race or gender. But should they? Or is it disrespectful to the intent of the author? There are characters out there who don't need to be a specific race, of course.

Where Kowalski is concerned, it would distract the hell out of me.

I think it was Boyle's recent FRANKENSTEIN where Frankenstein's father was a black actor and Dr. Frankenstein was white. Pulled me out of the piece.

Updated On: 6/20/11 at 02:15 AM

I disagree that so-called "color-blind casting" is simply disrespectful to the playwright. That idea takes as a given that the playwright is supreme. I know some Meisner adherents would would laugh out loud at that thought.

It IS, however, an unnecessary distraction for the audience. Anything that takes the audience out of the show is a bad idea. When George Wolfe cast interracial couples on "On the Town", I kept saying to myself DURING the scenes, "That simply wouldn't have happened". One could argue that I was distracted because it was such a painfully bad production, but I felt the same way about watching bizarre casting in shows I loved, liked or tolerated: Les Miserables (Melba Moore as a character nicknamed The Blonde?? Lea Salonga the daughter of 2 white people? etc.), Miss Saigon (an Asian wife COMPLETELY changed the subtext of the relationship), Billy Elliott & many other shows.

Updated On: 6/20/11 at 10:18 AM

This arguement came up during the all black production of CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF that played Broadway a few years back and what I think a lot of people ultimately felt (including the Tennessee Williams estate which has to authorize these non traditional castings) is that these works, (STREETCAR now almost 70 years old) are enduring and seminal pieces of American literature that are, like Shakespeare, at this point above and beyond the scruitny of productions necessitating historical accuracy.

Like CAT, STREETCAR is not a story in which race is a major theme. Actors of color deserve a chance to play these roles.

There was actually a very interesting forum conducted during Williams' lifetime (in which he participated in)that explored scenes from his plays as performed with casts of integrated ethnicities. So he clearly didn't have a strong aversion to the idea (and was known to be incredibly intolerant of racism).

But all that said --It's been indicated that this is going to be a *multi-cultural casting.* That is not the same as color blind casting... For all we know, Emily Mann intends to cast the roles in a way in which ethnicity is used to highlight the themes of superiority/class that ARE major themes of STREETCAR.

Updated On: 6/20/11 at 11:18 AM

To that end, newintown, I would argue that any audience that is going to be so limited as to scrutinize those kinds of historical details would be missing the point of the exercise at hand. Wouldn't that kind of literal mindedness essentially deflate any type of existential or experimental theatre at all?

Some of the most thrilling revivals I've seen of the last ten years have been surrealist or non traditional stagings. These may not be productions for every audience, but for my tastes, these productions have been more illuminating to the text in their choices than detrimental.

I didn't hear anyone at, say, for example the recent (brilliant) avante garde staging of THE LITTLE FOXES at NYTW complain that they were completely taken out out of the play because they couldn't figure out why this family didn't have furniture, and a house only containing floor-to celiling purple velvet interiors.

As that revival also proved, in my opinion, you don't need to stay true to the time period a play was originally set in for the power of the piece to still be relevant (or perhaps even more relevant).

Updated On: 6/20/11 at 11:33 AM

Oh, Phyyyyyyyyyyllis........

Idiot, as I've mentioned already, Williams was supportive of actors of color playing the roles in his plays. So that arguement if that is where you continue to want to take this thread is moot. If you want the answer to *who* decides people deserve to play roles - in this case it is the playwright.


Postscript: A link to a fascinating article about multi-cultural casting of Williams works including details of a 1958 Off Broadway production that was to have starred black actress Hilda Simms as Blanche. The production didn't happen, but the idea of a multi ethnic cast apparently met with Williams approval - going so far as that he apparently even authorized some textual changes to fit the roles being played by black artists. Now what would REALLY be interesting is if the new revival dug up THAT script...

WILLIAMS IN EBONY

Updated On: 6/20/11 at 11:41 AM

Im ok with a black Stanley as long as he's not TOO black. Like Obama black is ok but definitely not Chris Rock black.

I would love to see Tracy Morgan in that role.

Back that that article I posted - I was actually surprised to learn how many multi-ethnic/all black productions of STREETCAR have actually been staged - the first professional production featuring black leads back in 1965.

So as it turns out, what this production isn't charting unknown territory, merely being the first of its kind on Broadway.

Supposedly the producers were approaching Angela Bassett - that was the word a year or so ago when this story broke. My only issue with Underwood isn't that he's black but he's a little old for the role - he's almost 50. Bassett is also too old, but they would work well together.

Updated On: 6/20/11 at 12:35 PM

Michael Bennett, by your own link:

"But a week after the projected September 17th premiere of the “desegregated” Streetcar, Louis Calta announced that, at Williams’s request, this Streetcar was to be “shelved” until the following fall because he was concerned about its “proximity in time to a new play,” Sweet Bird of Youth, which opened on March 10, 1959. We may never unearth all the reasons why this multi-racial off-Broadway Streetcar never opened–financial technical, Williams’s possible apprehension sign."

So, Williams' stance on this is not as black and white (so to speak) as you're presenting it to be. Turns out, speaking for dead people is a bit problematic.

I do agree with the poster who says, essentially, 'just stay home'. Sure. But that doesn't address the issue.

Some roles are race specific. I consider Stanley KOWALSKI to be one of them.

Idiot, you clearly didn't read the entire article I posted, which among other things states (from the same article you quote): Speaking again for her client, Wood explained that Williams still considered Streetcar with black cast members in the central roles “an advance in relations and I look forward eagerly to it” (Calta).

The rest of article, which lists exhaustively black productions of STREETCAR that occurred during Williams' lifetime (at least half a dozen) - coordinated through his agent, seem to leave absolutely no doubt he approved non traditional casting of the roles in the play, and did NOT consider the role of Stanley to be race specific.

I'm not speaking for any dead man - the evidence speaks for itself.

Updated On: 6/20/11 at 01:56 PM