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 :)
Original Message:
Sent: 09-15-2015 15:04
From: Phillip Goodchild
Subject: Color in Casting
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...
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Phillip Goodchild
Theatre Arts Instructor/Assistant Department Head of English
Hillsborough County Schools
Ruskin FL
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Original Message:
Sent: 09-12-2015 15:46
From: Arcadia Conrad
Subject: Color in Casting
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".
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Arcadia Conrad
Theatre Program Director
Sunnyvale CA
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Original Message:
Sent: 09-10-2015 01:04
From: Kandace Arens
Subject: Color in Casting
Hi folks --
For those of you who teach at mostly-white schools, how do you handle casting characters who are very obviously people of color?
For example, we are doing The Crucible as our fall play. Tituba, as you probably know, is a featured role who is a servant woman from Barbados. I was seriously hoping that my handful of women of color would bring it to auditions, but I was a bit disappointed. Seems like many aren't ready for a influential role with lines. Right now, it is between two actresses for the role: one is a white, very talented actress (alive on-stage, listens, has been in the ensemble and really ready to take on a "role"), the other is a Mexican WOC who is very passionate, but ...well, maybe not ready for a large role (stiff on-stage, not really connected with lines, etc., but still very committed to the program) If they were truly "equal" in how well they could play it, or even pretty close, I would cast the WOC as that is more "in-line" with the role. Both actresses will be cast; it just depends on where.
I even had thoughts about trying to reinterpret the role for the white actress. Of course, removing the race equation changes the story, but how else could we blame the "other"? ...Since, of course, no matter how much we suspend disbelief, this white actress will never be a woman from Barbados who uses the language that she does. (Right now, I have a Chinese WOC as our Abigail and a Pacific Islander Parris, if that somehow matters. As a Mexican WOC myself, I'm pretty color blind / aware of color issues usually. This one has me stumped.)
What do I do? I chose this show knowing that I had a handful of strong WOC, but some of them didn't come to auditions and the rest aren't "right", if you know what I mean. (Or maybe they are?) How would / have others handled this type of scenario? I feel vulnerable as I write this, because I am worried that I will say or do something "wrong" and offend, or worse, truly hurt or disrespect someone's story through this casting. I searched and couldn't really find a topic like this before.
Help, edTA!
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Kandace Arens
Drama Teacher
Bellingham WA
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