LaBute Article on Color-Blind Casting

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 9:37am

http://www.calendarlive.com/stage/cl-ca-labute6may06,0,3916973.story?coll=cl-stage-features"%20target="

[uncageg]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 9:41am

Was there supposed to be a link for the article in your post?

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 9:52am

Yes. I don't know why it isn't appearing.

[bwayboi4life42]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 10:51am

Was this it?

http://www.calendarlive.com/stage/la-ca-labute6may06,0,2278571.story

[uncageg]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 10:56am

thanks bwayboi. Reading it now.

[erikaamato]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 11:52am

I was just about to post this article. Very provocative read.

[BreakingTheCircle07]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 11:56am

Interesting, but not entirely well written.

[GYPSY1527]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 12:16pm

Very interesting article. As mentioned before, I would agree that its not well written. Just to put my two cents in, I believe that color-blind casting works and doesn't work depending on the material. If one's race is significant to the work, than I believe color-blind casting would not work well. A current example would be something like the Color Purple where its vital for Celie to be African American. On the other hand, a show like 110 In the Shade doesn't rise and fall based on Lizzy Curry's race. In the article, the author mentions Denzel Washington and Julius Ceaser. Although I didn't see the production, I can see how having an African American playing Brutus (sp?) can cloud the believablity of the show. One has to look at Color-Blind casting from a historical as well as situational point of view to trulley decide whether its appropriate or not.

[TheHumanTorch]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 12:17pm

very interesting read

[Chloe]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 12:43pm

One thing I disagree with is that because slavery is in the past, it can be dismissed. Racism, the legacy of slavery, is not yet in the past for more people than LaBute seems to allow for, and I believe color-blind casting has been somewhat of a one-way street simply in order to rectify that. There has also always been far more parts for whites than minorities, though that is starting to change.

[LostLeander]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 12:53pm

"Just think about it for a moment, though: Why do we barely bat an eye at an all-black version of "Long Day's Journey Into Night" or when Denzel Washington wants to play the title role in "Richard III" (did they really think this is what was meant by the "black prince"?) or Brutus in "Julius Caesar"? Mind you, I'm not complaining — great work has come from these brave and adventurous ideas — but why shouldn't it cut both ways? Isn't it simple prejudice to suggest that we should think otherwise?"

The argument for Long Day's Journey I can barely understand, but for Richard, and Brutus, these characters are in plays that have NOTHING to do with race. I was going along with his provocative argument until I got the above paragraph. Then he absolutely lost me, and I'm afraid to throw the word out there, but it sounds a bit racist to me.

I absolutely agree about the Othello thing. Othello does not have a to be black. He's a moor. The point is he's different.

His argument seems to rest on the notion that most of our nations plays were written ABOUT white people, as opposed to merely having white people in them because blacks were still so segregated.

Hansberry's and Wilson's plays are unmistakeably written about the black experience. Which is absolutely not say that no non-black person should ever touch them, but it'd be an extremely hard production to sell. It would be quite an interesting production, and I'd love to see it.

It was not at all well written, and I found it quite crass. Especially the section were he tried to effeectively shove slavery under the rug, and seemed to say, "just get over it already". It's not that I don't agree, it's just that there are others ways of phrasing.

Terribly interesting read though.

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 1:41pm

I apologize for being a broken record on this topic, but I couldn't help but love this one sentence:

"I'm sure when the musical gets a decent revival in New York or London — and this needs to happen, people, it's the one musical score of genius this country has produced"

Very interesitng that he said it's the one, not one of the few or something like that. And whether or not I agree with it, he is right that people will be up in arms if someone white plays Maria.

I agree it wasn't wonderfully written and I can see where some points would upset people, but I at least applaud his guts for writing something like that, which is bound to upset and offend people.

I still love the guy-who-played-John in Miss Saigon's Tony Speech in '91, applauding Cameron for color blind casting, when he was referring to the white Jonathan Pryce playing the Asian engineer. He really took a stance on both sides of color blind casting, which is a good thing to do.

[sidjones09]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 2:20pm

Wow!

I don't know where to begin on this article. When I started reading, I felt that Mr. Labute had a valid point he's trying to make. Too bad that by the time I finished he had torn that point to shreds with bad writing and horrible supporting information.

First off:

"I understand about slavery and all that, but that was a generally unpleasant time in our national history and it's firmly in the past. No one but a few folks who own "The Dukes of Hazzard: The Complete First Season" continue to think that slavery brought this country anything but shame and heartache. So we should all get over it, say we're sorry — I'm happy to do that to anybody who stops me at the Grove — and move on. Anyone whose ancestors were slaughtered by the U.S. Cavalry or spent time in a wartime internment camp may line up directly behind."

Belittling the experience of slavery as "generally an unpleasant time in our national history" is far from helping your point on Color-Blind casting, and unpleasant for Who might I add? I don't think the 150+ years of wage free labor that this country was basically built on was unpleasant for anyone but the slaves. But that's a different argument for a different time. Unfortunately, it is more than a "few folks" in this country who believe that slavery, as bad as it may have been, was worth it to this country. I'm not saying these people are racist, I'm just saying there are more than a few people who, if we could go back in time, wouldn't wipe slavery out. You make it sound like it was centuries ago, when my Great Grandfather, who I remember as a little boy, was a slave, and I am under 30 years old. So it wasn't THAT long ago. And NO ONE needs to "get over it." It is not something we need to DWELL on, but to tell a race of people to "get over" their history is DISRESPECTFUL. Should I assume from your statement that we should also be telling Jewish people to "get over" the Holocaust.

This was just a bad topic to bring up in this article. You insult people on issues that really don't have much connection to your argument.

Secondly:

Early in his article Labute talks about Olivier as Othello and I thought to myself, why wouldn't this kind of casting work anymore? I have no problem with a non-black Othello, as long as the director can distinguish him somehow without using black face. Blackface is a convention that should never be revived. If you're going to cast a non-black person in the role, figure out how to do it with costumes or other casting choices, but the days of making white actors look black with makeup is over. It's not that it wouldn't work, it's just that audiences for the most part are not willing to accept it anymore. Olivier was able to play that role as well as many other caucasian actors because minorities weren't able to perform in the theatre. That's what made it acceptable, the same reason audiences were willing to accept boys/men playing girls/women in the same time period. Because women were not allowed to perform in the theatre. Now that women and minorities are an accepted and valuable asset to the theatre, we are less willing to accept anyone other than them playing roles that were written with them in mind. (I didn't say written FOR them, because Shakespeare knew his female characters would be played by men, and all his minority characters would be played by caucasians when he wrote them)

Presently, Shakespeare is cast color-blindly a lot more frequently than contemporary works much for the same reason as opera is. It is the nature of the material that directs the casting.

In order to do Shakespeare you must understand and master the language just like an Opera singer must master the music. More important than what color Hamlet is, is can he deliver the 'To be, or not to be' soliloquy. More important than what color Aida is, is can she sing 'O Patria Mia'.

Contemporary works aren't given the same passes unfortunately, because there are many actors of all races and ages who can deliver the more contemporary text.

Which brings me to my final point:

This is a topic that comes up quite frequently on these boards, and I think after reading this article I have come to some better conclusions about the confusion a lot of people have on this issue, including myself.

I think a lot of us are confusing 'Black People' with the 'Black Experience'. They are two different things.

Plays like 'A Raisin in the Sun' and all of August Wilson's plays, for example, are about the 'Black Experience' meaning that being black is at the center of the main conflict in these plays. If you change the race of the characters you change the play. The problem with some other plays written for African-Americans or other minorities, is even though the central conflict or theme may not be about race, usually race is written so deeply in the text that anyone other than a minority will read false in the role. It's not just about the skin color, it's about the dialogue, the sound of the text. Black culture is woven into every aspect of the play.

I believe the theatre is a place for exploration and opening new doors, so there is almost nothing I would tell a writer, director, or actor is wrong, but my personal taste and judgement makes me shy away from a lot of things. But that doesn't mean it shouldn't be explored.

Although I think Mr. Labute brings up a new twist on a constantly debated topic in the theatre, I think his arguments are weak. But in someways he is right in that there is a double standard and I wish I could figure out why. But the only thing I can come up with is that we are a product of the times we live in, and these times dictate what we are willing to accept and not accept in all parts of our culture, not just the theatre. But that doesn't mean these can't be changed, and the theatre can be a part of that change. I'll admit, I don't want to see a white Walter Lee or a white Coalhouse Walker, Jr., but to the theatre that wants to try it, be my guest, and good luck. 20 years from now maybe it will be different, maybe 10 years from now, who knows?

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 2:25pm

Well, I admit it, Im too lazy to read such a big story. But I want to say that LaBute's "This is How it Goes" was the most racist thing ever seen on Broadway. It was viscious and disturbing.

[sidjones09]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 2:37pm

Referring to West Side Story:

"it's the one musical score of genius this country has produced"

I'll tell you what, this isn't the ONE stupid thing he said in this article.

Don't get me wrong, I love the score of West Side Story, but to say it is the ONE score of genius that this ENTIRE country has produced is ridiculous.

[jaesdare]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 2:37pm

very well written sidjones, and amen

[It's All Good]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 2:41pm

How can someone who writes for a living express themselves so inarticulately through text? Seriously, was he drunk when he wrote that?

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 2:48pm

Regarding the article, I think it's fairly interesting that LaBute actually wrote it - considering that in every one of his plays, save This Is How It Goes, there are no black characters, or characters that could even be played by black people.

Muscle - it was an off-Broadway show, playing the Public, I believe, though I'm sure you saw it, since you commented on it. It was certainly not the MOST racist thing - it was written to show how harsh racism still is, within Middle America. LaBute spectacularly succeeded, IMO.

And, about Long Day's Journey....one of the best productions I've seen (albeit on tape) was the Earle Hyman/Ruby Dee version.

[Jazzysuite82]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 9:35pm

I think his point is generally clouded and he doesn't have enough experience about being any race in show business to know that his point is true. First of all there aren't tons of black people playing traditionally white roles. There are a handful. Second of all, most ethnic shows are about being that ethnicity. I'd love to see white people say that August Wilson dialog without sounding completely disrespectful. I think the same would be true if Tonya Pinkins starred in the Rose Tattoo. Btw he forgot to mention the Once on this Islands, The Wizes, The Miss Saigons, The Pacific Overtures where white people have played minorities in Broadway, regional, community and high school theatre productions. I wonder how many people who are actually casting things think there's a double standard. There really isn't one. In regards to racism, yes but not color blind casting.
Updated On: 5/6/07 at 09:35 PM

[istillbelieve24601]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 9:54pm

Too lazy to finish reading the article... but...

Color blind casting doesn't always work. It's great there are shows like Les Mis where you can have a Hispanic Fantine give birth to a blond Little Cosette who grows up into an Asian adult Cosette but it reaches a point where it's just not convincing. I don't hate all color-blind casting (I loved the fact Norm Lewis was black) but when it comes to families and kids growing up, color blind casting leads to interesting situations.

One of the problems with color-blind casting on the community front is that in most communities, the majorities of auditioners are white. While this depends entirely on where you live, I live in an area with almost no minorities involved in theatre. This makes doing shows such as Ragtime slightly difficult. While, when our local company did Ragtime, they managed to find enough black people to fill all the roles, for Coalhouse's men it was kind of like, "OK, you're Asian, but you look black enough."

[BigFatBlonde]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 10:00pm

" I loved the fact Norm Lewis was black"

I'm sure he will be happy to hear that.


How condesending.

Updated On: 5/6/07 at 10:00 PM

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 5/8/07 at 1:51am

Yup, Off Broadway I meant.