"In a realistic, period-appropriate production of the show, perhaps colorblind casting might be seen as out of place.
But I highly doubt Van Hove will be doing a realistic, period-appropriate production. And if that's the case, then, frankly, as long as the actor is fantastic, who cares? Aside from morons, of course."
I just wrote this message in another post because I didn't see this but
I would love to comment on this. Black people did exist in the 17th century. There is even a character in this play named Tituba who is black. The idea of Elizabeth proctor being a black woman married to John Proctor and ostracized by the community and an angry young woman is rather brilliant. Throughout the history of the United States there have been countless stories of interracial relationships and interracial sexual assaults on black women. So the idea of a woman that looks as if she could be the product of one of these relationships or assaults in this community is not as shocking to me as it seems to be to others. Do the research and it is there even if your history books want to ignore it.
Also this play is actually about Mccarthyism, the red scare, and the black list. So once again race was huge element during that time. It caused a lot of pain and ruined live of poor black people in America.
