Open Forum

It sounds like you're already doing the cast as color blind. I wouldn't worry about it. I've actually always cast my shows this way. In Diary of Anne Frank my Mr. Van Daan was Hispanic and in Aida my slaves were from every ethnicity. I even had a red head in the group. 

I think that as long as you're being color blind you'll be okay. It might even be really interesting to look at the production where the named parts are all non-Caucasian. Then your Tituba is still "other". I don't know if that's an option, but it is a thought. I'm trying something like that right now actually. I have 2 kids working a scene from Fiddler on the Roof and both are African-American. It's created a really interesting dynamic to the story and the characters.  Good luck! :)

------------------------------
Shira Schwartz
Chandler Unified School District
Chandler AZ
------------------------------

Working in a school where 90% of my students are African-American, 8% are White, 1% are Hispanic, and 1% are Asian, I have seen this often.  We just do color-blind casting and I teach the students how to relate to being someone of a different race or culture.  When we did The Jungle Book, one of students whose family is from India educated our actors on how to wear a sari and about the culture.  When we did Aladdin, we watched videos of Arabic folk dances and discussed differences in the culture from our individual cultures.  Our Aladdin was white, while his mother and sister were black.  Our two villains (who were siblings) were different races as well.  We plan on doing Aida in the spring and we know that we will probably have a majority African-American cast.  I have already begun educating my students on how the play was originally cast, why it was cast that way, and how that relates to the history of Egypt and Nubia.  Acting is having the chance to be someone else.  Educational theatre, especially, should give students a chance to play characters that they would never be cast for in other venues.  It's a good opportunity.

------------------------------
Chelsea Petty
Columbus MS
------------------------------

May I inject another issue into the Crucible discussion?  Does anyone have a community that would object to the word "whore" being in the script?  I would love to produce this classic, but our community does not see high school students using that word even under classic circumstances which is why I have not yet done so. I even wrote asking for it to be changed; French says No way.

Thanks,

------------------------------
Dorothea Hackett
DuBois PA
------------------------------

I am a firm believer that there is no such thing as color-bind casting. I person's race never goes away in the eyes of the audience and must be addressed in some way when casting and performing.

I also believe in non-traditional casting and always strive to include a diverse cast as long as it does not negatively effect the story-telling.

THE CRUCIBLE is a wonderful play and for the most part is available to non-traditional casting. Your use of WOC in the other roles you mention is a good example.

However, the casting Tituba is problematic. She is more than a little bit stereotypical. It takes an actress of nuance to bring her to three-dimensional life. Clearly a WOC is required to to adequately tell the story. If you do not have a WOC to play this role THE CRUCIBLE may be a poor selection for your school. 

I believe in casting black actors in roles written especially as black characters -- in addition to non-traditional casting for other roles. There are so few roles in the typical HS theatre canon that are specifically written for black performers that it is inappropriate to deny your black students the opportunity to play them. Tituba is one of these. It would be wrong to cast a non-black actress in this role, in my opinion.

I bet your passionate WOC will rise to the occasion and do a terrific job as Tituba under your careful direction. She will learn and be even more prepared for her next role. Your other black students will see that there is a place for them on your stage and will work even harder to also earn a role in your next production.

These are my thoughts. Good luck with your show.

------------------------------
Mark A Zimmerman
Theatre Director
Akron School for the Arts
Akron Public Schools
------------------------------

Hi there.

I directed The Crucible about 5 years ago. My John Proctor was of East Indian descent,  Elizabeth was Korean, both Tituba and Mary Warren were women of color one from East Africa and one African American, which was unusual for my department. The rest of the cast was all over the map. I also in the past have gender bended the role of Hathorne the judge, and in this particular production the role of Ezekiel Cheever was played by a female to male trans gender boy. Choose your strongest actors for these roles. While it is important that the role of Tituba feel like a person who is " other" in the play, it is more important to teach your actors to play status. If you teach your actors who has the power in the show and teach them to play quote unquote their place, the audience buys the show. In my experience it's way more dangerous for you and your actors to cast explicitly along color lines. That's not the future, and it doesn't stretch actors. There are many shows that I would be hesitant to do because of the color issues, but I have done The Wiz, Aida, and Once on this island, as well as West Side Story at my school with a population that is extremely diverse, with many young performers of color but has very few African Americans. In my opinion when done with sensitivity, the value of producing these shows outweighs or should out weigh concerns about quote  "look".

------------------------------
Arcadia Conrad
Theatre Program Director
Sunnyvale CA
------------------------------

I have the opposite problem of having a mostly white program, since my white folks are in the minority and I have more Hispanic and African American students. So color blind all the way! In our upcoming production of Evita, one Eva is African American and the other is white. Eva's family (mother, brother) will be a Pacific Islander and African American. 

Yay! Diversity!

We're also doing The Crucible this year. Should be fun...

------------------------------
Phillip Goodchild
Theatre Arts Instructor/Assistant Department Head of English
Hillsborough County Schools
Ruskin FL
------------------------------

Hello,

We did Othello last year and had to cast a white Othello due to some African-American students who I anticipated auditioning either didn't or did really poorly.  This young man--blonde, blue-eyed, just won the role!  I teach at a minority majority school where there are kids from all over the world.  I think that at the high school level, you cast to challenge and educate the student.  We can't change their skin color, but we can get creative with costumes, dialects, physical characterization, etc.  to give the feeling of "other".  We put our Othello in sleeve and face tattoos so he looked very different from the rest of the straight-laced cast.  ---many of the other roles were played by African-American, Asian, and Middle Eastern students, so even casting a "traditional" Othello would not have given the aura of "other" we needed to get the point across.  

In the end, give the role to the student who can do it the most justice.  We are hear to teach and learn and grow together.  Don't let convention shut you down.  Go with your instincts :)

------------------------------
Lisa Dyer
Henrico VA
------------------------------