Views on colorblind casting in community theater?

[ErinDillyFan]

Posted: 4/21/14 at 3:45pm

Specifically with "In The Heights"?

[winston89]

Posted: 4/21/14 at 3:47pm

The only lead role in that show that I can see being done via colorblind casting is Benny. This is because during the course of the show he is given flack for not being Hispanic by Nina's father.

[haterobics]

Posted: 4/21/14 at 3:49pm

It would be strange for Nina's Asian father to be concerned that he's not Hispanic, though, no?

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 4/21/14 at 3:59pm

Before a community theatre chooses what shows they're doing that season, they should probably consider the diversity of their talent pool.

[ErinDillyFan]

Posted: 4/21/14 at 4:01pm

Yes. I have seen a high school production of it where Nina's father was played by an indian (from India), and they didn't change the line.

Have seen a production of "The Drowsy Chaperone" where the best man was black. They removed the line "This a song an old negro taught me"

I know it is different in that the story is based on race, but everyone has been doing "The King & I" for years.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 4/21/14 at 4:47pm

Yes, but now that we are an ultra PC world, we're seeing it less and less. No one thought twice about doing WSS or South Pacific or gads of other race specific shows. I was just talking to someone about what musical we might choose for next year. The other person suggested "Hairspray". We have only about 12 African Americans in our school and only one that participates in drama. How's that going to work?

I do think there's a difference between roles that ARE ethnic vs roles that are just traditionally any specific race (usually white).

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 4/21/14 at 4:48pm

It's not about being "PC," which implies walking on eggshells to not cause an uproar despite what you might believe -- it's about doing the right thing.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 4/21/14 at 4:55pm

I totally AGREE that is shouldn't be done, but, sadly, I don't think that's why fewer communities/schools veer away from it. Most just worry about the way it appears.

[ErinDillyFan]

Posted: 4/21/14 at 4:59pm

Trying to find out if Lin-Manuel Miranda has spoken on the issue:
http://callmepatricia.com/2013/08/20/race-broadway-and-lin-manuel-miranda/

And it doesn't answer the question directly.

[Phillytheatreguy10]

Posted: 4/21/14 at 5:02pm

It may not be community theatre, but take a peek at the Leslie Uggams board if you'd like other insight.

[ErinDillyFan]

Posted: 4/21/14 at 5:18pm

That is pretty hostile (mostly about Uggams' age) and that is one part in a show that doesn't concern the ethnicity of the characters. I didn't see the same threads with Audra in "110 in the Shade", I assume there were.

Just trying to find the line. WSS which is also about puerto ricans has been done at every level with every race to this day.

[GilmoreGirlO2]

Posted: 4/21/14 at 5:18pm

Lin has tweeted before that he supports colorblind casting of “In the Heights” in educational theatre. Not sure if that would also extend to community theatre.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 4/21/14 at 5:23pm

I don't know how responsive he is, but maybe ask him via Twitter. It could start an interesting conversation.

[ErinDillyFan]

Posted: 4/21/14 at 6:18pm

GilmoreGirlO2: In the clip/article I linked, he specifically says that high schools should have no fear colorblind casting. He doesn't go any further and gives the rational that he had the opportunity to play against type and every high school student should. He seems to imply that in part, because you are stuck with the talent pool you have you can have more room for creative casting. I am not sure that if he thinks that is the way it should be in the profession ranks too, but isn't or is saying because professionals have the entire world of possible actors to choose from they should fill the character as specifically as possible. And if I follow his high school limited talent pool does that apply to community theaters with limited racial diversity to fill a cast specifically to type?

[Fan123]

Posted: 4/21/14 at 7:50pm

Lin makes a similar point in this old BWW article: https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/LinManuel-Miranda-Rhymes-His-Corbin-Bleu-Endorsement-on-BWWs-Message-Boards

Personally I'd be okay with colourblind casting in community theatre. There's the limited talent pool thing. And controversial as colourblind casts might be for some shows, I'd probably rather that controversy existed than having largely white communities just doing shows about white people, for white people, (probably) by white people. (Or replace 'white' with the majority local race.) Community theatre has the potential to be educational too; it could provide opportunities for cast and audience to think more about issues of race, empathise with characters of another race, etc etc. And anyway, embracing this type of colourblind casting might make it more likely for people of minority races to be colourblind cast in 'white' roles as well (personally I believe colourblind casting should 'go both ways' if it exists). Plus in pure entertainment/literary terms, some of the best musicals deal with race in some way.
(Full disclosure - I'm white myself as you may have guessed.)