Color Blind casting

[Unknown User]

Posted: 7/14/12 at 3:55pm

LaJolla is doing a new show based on the Hans Christian Anderson "Nightingale" which takes place in China. They cast it blind.

"Honestly, my own knee-jerk reaction is anger. We live in 2012 and there are so many talented Asian American actors in every market. Did they even bother to look or did they default to casting whomever they chose because (cue chip on the shoulder) Asians are typically submissive people and won’t make a stink?"

Yep. Pretty sure that was the idea. Only Asians can be in this show? Then only White People can be in Oklahoma. Sorry.
Color Blind Casting- Catch 22

[Kad]

Posted: 7/14/12 at 4:01pm

I take it you missed the spirited debate that already occurred on this topic, Joe.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 7/14/12 at 4:03pm

I think there were two actually. One quite intense.


I can see the point: when you color blind cast to INCLUDE minorities its good. When you color blind cast to EXCLUDE minorites it's a totally different feeling.

It's getting a lot of backlash out there at LaJolla.

[Taryn]

Posted: 7/14/12 at 4:15pm

There is always going to be a difference between this and something like Oklahoma. Caucasians are not a marginalized group in America. No, color blind casting is not a concept that is evenly applied across the board, but complaining about white actors not getting roles is missing the point.

[jamiekennywicked]

Posted: 7/14/12 at 4:21pm

While not this show, Ragtime in Regents Park cast a black woman in the role of Booker T. Washington (which I know is gender blind casting but.. ) and a black man in the role of Grandfather.

[Jon]

Posted: 7/14/12 at 4:55pm

H.C Andersen's NIGHTINGALE story, while set in China, is not ABOUT what it's like being Chinese.

RAGTIME is another story. The colorblind and'or gender blind casting of historical figures is a terrible idea.

I once saw a college production of ASSASSINS, where Squeaky Fromme and DEmma Goldman were black. WTF! To make matters weirder, the Balladeer role was devided between two white girls. Why not use the two black girls for the Balladeer stuff, and use the white girls as Squeaky and Emma?

[blaxx]

Posted: 7/14/12 at 5:06pm

I saw a production of A Chorus Line where Sheila was black.

[Wynbish]

Posted: 7/14/12 at 5:19pm

^Deidre Goodwin was Sheila in the revival.

[blaxx]

Posted: 7/14/12 at 5:23pm

No way! If that would have happened, there would be a LONG thread of posters bitchin' about it!

[Bobby Maler]

Posted: 7/14/12 at 6:04pm

If all your press materials say it takes place in ancient China, if your sets, costumes and puppets reflect China, if your characters have Chinese names, then you can't say that it's not about being Chinese. It is a direct cooptation of another culture.

It is a representation of China through a Western (read: White) lens and is tantamount to exotification.

What we need to know is if they even went out of their way to audition Asian actors. Only then is it true colorblind casting. . I have friends who are talented Asian actors, many of them with Broadway credits, who say they didn't even audition for this.

You can't look at the Nightingale as a one off instance. There is a history of exclusion and misrepresentation of Asians which has denied Asian actors the equal opportunity they deserve.

Colorblind and multi-racial casting would be fine if it happened on a more regular basis, if we saw Asians as Hedda and Hamlet and Jesus etc, but we never see that.

You would never "re-interpret" Porgy and Bess so that only two African Americans were left in the cast. There would be a riot.

[tazber]

Posted: 7/14/12 at 9:10pm

LaJolla is doing a new show based on the Hans Christian Anderson "Nightingale" which takes place in China. They cast it blind.

Oh come on Joe, that doesn't even make sense. How can the cast preform if they can't see the stage?

[Idiot]

Posted: 7/14/12 at 9:42pm

This topic soooo makes me want to 'go there'. But I've been there, and hated it.

[Jon]

Posted: 7/14/12 at 10:12pm

Go up to Randall Duk Kim's theatre in Wisconsin and you'll see an Asian Hamlet, King Lear, Uncle Vanya, etc. etc.

The original production of Man of LaMancha had a Japanese actor as a replacement Don Quixote back in the 1960's!

[defygravity24]

Posted: 7/14/12 at 11:19pm

I think color blind casting can only be used in shows where race is not a major part of the show. Clearly in something like ragtime, the grandfather should be white because a main element of the musical is racism and race relations.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 7/14/12 at 11:27pm

I didn't know this was already a hot topic on the board- glad there is plenty of outrage to go around.

And Tazber. You. You.....You!

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 7/15/12 at 12:54am

I'm all out of outrage.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 7/15/12 at 12:54am

Updated On: 7/15/12 at 12:54 AM

[JohnyBroadway]

Posted: 7/15/12 at 1:04am

I think Colorblind casting is a beautiful concept, as long as the plot and it's characters have no historical value to our world's history where race is a given subject or fact.

[Jon]

Posted: 7/15/12 at 1:42am

NIGHTINGALE is as much about China culture as THE MIKADO is about Japan. The European writers used the Asian settings as a gimmick.

[DEClarke]

Posted: 7/15/12 at 1:44am

I for one am pissed, sincerely pissed, that no green perosn has had the chance to play Elphaba or puppet Timon. Instead, we have to paint people green every night! Shame on all of you for allowing this to happen!

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 7/15/12 at 1:46am

Updated On: 7/15/12 at 01:46 AM

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 7/15/12 at 1:49am

Also, there are no real green people. You what kind of people are real? Asian ones.

[3bluenight]

Posted: 7/15/12 at 4:01am

affirmative action exists in reaction to white entitlement. hence color blind casting seeks to achieve the same ends. american stories tend to be white stories unless otherwise specified. color blind casting exists in reaction to this. it's a little insulting to argue that minority actors take jobs from white actors.

[3bluenight]

Posted: 7/15/12 at 4:01am

affirmative action exists in reaction to white entitlement. hence color blind casting seeks to achieve the same ends. american stories tend to be white stories unless otherwise specified. color blind casting exists in reaction to this. it's a little insulting to argue that minority actors take jobs from white actors.

[Bobby Maler]

Posted: 7/15/12 at 8:10am

"NIGHTINGALE is as much about China culture as THE MIKADO is about Japan. The European writers used the Asian settings as a gimmick."

Opera has been able to get away with more because of the lack of (western-trained) Asian Opera singers at the time... the racism baked into some classical pieces has been preserved...but I would be equally outraged if a production of the Mikado today were performed in Yellow Face.

We are talking about a production in 2012, not the 1880s! It is not acceptable today and you need to rethink why you think it is.