Broadway and Minorities

[Nina23]

Posted: 7/25/15 at 2:34am

I was kind of suprised to hear that many people found the cast of Noises Off to be not diverse. Is this a common issue with non for profits. But I would think that its people making hooplar over nothing. But I do wonder if the Rounderbout is not inclusive ?

https://www.facebook.com/RoundaboutTheatreCompany/photos/a.381352369982.158954.86403189982/10153159480074983/?type=1&theater

Not the Roundabout thetare  but I have seen a lot of productions with diverse and inclusive casting and have always found broadway and west end to be inclusive and non discrimimintary. From a story of the blind dancer in chicago, to people with disabilities like Katie Finneran. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/21/theater/katie-finneran-takes-on-annie.html?_r=0. 

 

I have also found that many productions deal with race in a positive way and accepting people for who they are like the last revival of You Can't Take It with You and Hairspray , to fighting adversity like Billy Elliot and Courious .

 

I do think however good writers and directors do need to go beyond skin colour and race and find ways to protray the wide spectrium of issues and people that is found in United States and a roudn the world. 

 

Updated On: 7/25/15 at 02:34 AM

[HogansHero]

Posted: 7/25/15 at 12:44pm

"I do think however good writers and directors do need to go beyond skin colour and race and find ways to protray the wide spectrium of issues and people that is found in United States and a roudn the world."

I don't think we should be in the business of asking writers to write about anything other than what they know and feel disposed to write. The obligation to "portray the wide spectrum" starts with the theatres, because it is the theatres that are the filter for what makes it from the page to the stage. And in many cases, regional theatres largely control the diversity in casting, because the casting is done internally and the director may not even be heavily involved in selecting what is going in the funnel that he or she is gets.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 7/25/15 at 12:48pm

People telling writers to write what they know are giving the worst advice. 

I do get what all the hooplar is about.

[HogansHero]

Posted: 7/25/15 at 1:16pm

"People telling writers to write what they know are giving the worst advice"

Seriously? So you think the best advice is to write what you don't know? Really? Maybe you wrote that before you'd had awakened fully today. And by the way I said "know and feel disposed to write." 

One of the very special characteristics of the theatre is that it is largely author driven. (And when it is not, it is usually second rate.)

[broadwayboy972]

Posted: 7/25/15 at 1:34pm

Going back to what the OP said, I do think that the theatre industry, much like the other entertainment industries (TV, film, music, etc.) has a racial imbalance. Speaking as an Asian American myself, I do find that Broadway lacks racial diversity. I was reading a Playbill article this morning and Lea Salonga talked about the diversity in the theatre now, with Hamilton, Allegiance, Amazing Grace, and On Your Feet, and she brought up some good points about how the landscape of the theatre is changing but ever so gradually. She pointed out that only 3 Asian actors have ever won a Tony award, which surprised me. I do think that, while the theatre landscape is changing, there needs to be more representation for minorities. 

[broadwaysfguy]

Posted: 7/25/15 at 1:48pm

I have loved the color purple, the wiz, purlie, king & I, porgy & bess and other shows that featured a cast of all or mostly a single group of color, and were relevant to the story and script....

I dont know how you can "force" diversity onto an art form,

or the financiers that back them....

the market will determine what people will buy and go see....

Im suer there are a bunch of hip hop shows being greenlighted given the popularity of Hamilton, but dont know if most of those will be successful or not

the broadway musical theatre buying audience does come even close to representing the US population demographics by a looong ways.....

nor does the symphony, the opera, the ballet, or many other art forms that are not quite the mainsteam itunes/billboard 100

im grateful to see what this season brings in additional diversity, and curious about which of these (other than HAmilton) will be commercially successful

 

[ChildofEarth]

Posted: 7/25/15 at 1:50pm

I think part of the problem is that a lot of the shows that do have diversity are often overshadowed by someone or something else - we aren't really talking about how great the diversity in Hamilton is because there's so much else to talk about - and many people look over it because it was discussed with In the Heights. 

The diversity in If/Then was overshadowed by the Idina-ness of it all. Amazing Grace is beautifully diverse but it is overshadowed by the fact that it might not be so good.

As for Asian Americans, I was shocked and somewhat saddened by all of the press surround Taye Diggs being "the first non-white Hedwig" or "the first Hedwig of color" when Darren Criss was literally performing the role night after night, and he isn't white. Of course we should talk about Taye, but lea Salonga herself made sure to tweet about Darren's heritage so people knew. If he was white washed, how many more are there that we see in ensembles, dance troupes, and even behind the scenes that we just assume are white?

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 7/25/15 at 2:04pm

I always found it interesting that Debbie Allen's production of CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF was one of the most lucrative revivals of the last decade and we haven't heard from her on Broadway or anywhere else since.

[Kad]

Posted: 7/25/15 at 2:05pm

You can write what you know without going, "I am white, upper middle-class person, so I am going to write about white, upper middle-class people," which is awfully literal but awfully common.

[Ranger Tom]

Posted: 7/25/15 at 2:19pm

Providing writers advice on what they should/shouldn't write is ridiculous.  True writers write because they have to write.  It's up to them what that will be.  What did Sondheim "know" when he wrote Pacific Overtures? The notion of forcing writers to be diverse is PC idiocy to the max.  

[HogansHero]

Posted: 7/25/15 at 2:40pm

Kad, I fully agree (which is partly why I added "and feel disposed to write.")

I think one can become a trenchant observer of culture beyond one's genetics, and one can be interested in other cultures. My issue is in dictating appropriate content to any writer, because what we end up with is work that is cardboard-y and I think we all can cite examples of that. (And that's why I think contract writing produces less satisfying work.)

Childofearth, I think we are combining two quite separate issues in this thread: subject matter and casting. And regarding the latter, the reason Darren Criss is not notable as casting of a person of color is that he reads as white and is cast as such. Part of the picture of "America now" is that it is a mosaic, not just between individuals but within individuals. We have a growing percentage of people who are mixed, and the dominant genes do not consistently flow to the minority. And sometimes we have a mix that has no white component and still results in an identification in one direction only. So we have Salonga, Criss and Pharrell all of whom have Filipino blood. I don't think anyone is seriously advocating casting based on genetic testing.

[Taryn]

Posted: 7/25/15 at 2:52pm

There are ways to have conversations with the writer community about the diversity of the world and how we can explore all those possibilities in a diversity of writing without "telling writers what to write about."

Like, why does everyone jump from A all the way to Z when this comes up like we're going to put writers into a room and take away all their white characters and force them to write.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 7/25/15 at 2:53pm

I'd rather not get into a large argument or anything here, but I would like to add my 2 cents:

I don't think this is necessarily an issue of writing, but rather an issue of casting and the culture around it. The OP's post is very problematic to me in the way that it dismisses the deficit of racial diversity on Broadway. Pardon me if I misunderstood, but it seems to me that the OP's point is that we shouldn't seek more racially diverse casting just because there are other ways to be diverse?

I think the OP is correct about the last part of that. Plenty of communities are underrepresented on Broadway, and we should indeed seek to break down the barriers preventing us from casting more disabled actors (like in Spring Awakening!), actors in the transgender community, or other underrepresented groups.

But that's no reason to dismiss people who criticize the lack of racial diversity in many Broadway casts. It's a different issue. The fact is that there white actors are predominately cast in lead roles, which makes it harder for actors of color to break into the business or to get leading roles. Of course there are exceptions, but we're talking about a larger-scale issue that we need to work on.

[HogansHero]

Posted: 7/25/15 at 3:37pm

"There are ways to have conversations with the writer community about the diversity of the world and how we can explore all those possibilities in a diversity of writing without "telling writers what to write about."
Like, why does everyone jump from A all the way to Z when this comes up like we're going to put writers into a room and take away all their white characters and force them to write."

 I don't know anyone who took such a jump. I think there is a naivete in 2 respects in what you say. The first is that you assume most writers have conversations with (who?) about this, and the second is that you seem oblivious to the fact that writers (at least those who want to be produced) receive communication by example from what theatres produce. Which gets us back to my point as to the source of the problem. If theatres produced more works "explor[ing] all those possibilities" those writers would pay more attention to those subjects. But if theatres are content to produce plays about white upper middle class people, writers will not explore beyond their comfort zone. 

And not all writers should. We don't want to foreclose This is Our Youth or American Idiot, and we don't really want Kenny Lonergan or Billie Joe Armstrong writing about the minority experience. Rather what we want are theatres that produce more work by people like Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (to pick a current example) who can write about such subjects. Speaking of whom, read this: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/23/magazine/branden-jacobs-jenkins-isnt-writing-about-race.html

[macnyc]

Posted: 7/25/15 at 3:52pm

By the way, I'm not a big fan of Michael Riedel, especially when he's bashing Hamilton. But the just-aired Theater Talk used a recent book called Black Broadway by Stewart Lane as a springboard to intelligently discuss race in the theater in two separate segments. I'm not seeing the show online yet, but I'm sure it will be soon. (I'm thinking the episode was Susan Haskins' idea, but that's just a guess.) 

The first half of the show features Taye Diggs and Rebecca Naomi Jones discussing their roles in Hedwig (the show was taped in early June, so in Diggs' case it was early days). The best part was watching Riedel using the wrong pronouns for Hedwig and Yitzhak and getting all flustered, until Haskins put him out of his misery. The second segment had author Lane, director Kenny Leon and singer-actress Melba Moore talking about attracting black audiences and black theater throughout history. 

Theater Talk episode about Black Broadway

Updated On: 7/25/15 at 03:52 PM

[hork]

Posted: 7/25/15 at 5:56pm

"As for Asian Americans, I was shocked and somewhat saddened by all of the press surround Taye Diggs being "the first non-white Hedwig" or "the first Hedwig of color" when Darren Criss was literally performing the role night after night, and he isn't white. "

Of course he's white. He's half white and looks full white. Throwing in his Filipino heritage doesn't negate his Caucasian side.

[Nina23]

Posted: 7/25/15 at 8:34pm

https://www.facebook.com/RoundaboutTheatreCompany/photos/a.381352369982.158954.86403189982/10153159480074983/?type=1&theater

 

 

I just found comments on the facebook page to be quite strange.  One of the comments is "its a very white cast"

[HorseTears]

Posted: 7/25/15 at 9:43pm

Oh GOD.  This discussion again.  Actually, I take it back.  I'm pleasantly surprised at how relatively civil the discussion has been thus far.  It's a big, messy, complicated topic.  I won't even attempt to make some grand sweeping statement about it, but I will make a couple of small points:

 

On representation, it does appear that African Americans are much better represented in the American theatre than other minorities.  That is, of course, at least partly because of how central the black experience has been to the American story from the very beginning.  

 

It does appear that musicals, classic and verse plays and non-naturalistic plays have an easier time with "color blind" casting - perhaps because of how heightened those experiences are.  

 

With casting, there often seems to be an assumption of whiteness, if you will.  That is, even if there is nothing in the script, nor no historical context for the character to be white the default will be to assume the character must be white.  Minority actors are often relegated to being cast in roles that specifically call for an actor of their racial background.  They are cast in the context of a white-centric narrative in which they are the "other".  It's this suggestion that "white" is the norm that I find especially off putting - and, increasingly, an unrealistic representation of what this country looks like. If the breakdown doesn't list a race, the default is often white.  So, an Asian actor can't play a character, he must play an ASIAN character.  

 

I guess, beyond empowering and supporting and developing more minority writers and directors, we probably need more minority producers and literary agents and casting agents, too.   

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 7/25/15 at 9:53pm

"https://www.facebook.com/RoundaboutTheatreCompany/photos/a.381352369982.158954.86403189982/10153159480074983/?type=1&theater
 
I just found comments on the facebook page to be quite strange.  One of the comments is "its a very white cast""

They're not strange. They're right. Seeing a sea of white faces is very glaring and very much same-old, same-old. Even if it's something like you like and/or has a writer you like or a cast member you like. Which was one of my impressions of Dear Evan Hansen, which I rather enjoyed. The only non-white people you saw on stage were part of the (necessary) crowd noise shown on projections.

[Nina23]

Posted: 7/25/15 at 10:01pm

""https://www.facebook.com/RoundaboutTheatreCompany/photos/a.381352369982.158954.86403189982/10153159480074983/?type=1&theater
 
I just found comments on the facebook page to be quite strange.  One of the comments is "its a very white cast""
They're not strange. They're right. Seeing a sea of white faces is very glaring and very much same-old, same-old. Even if it's something like you like and/or has a writer you like or a cast member you like. Which was one of my impressions of Dear Evan Hansen, which I rather enjoyed. The only non-white people you saw on stage were part of the (necessary) crowd noise shown on projections."

 I just wonder  if the Roundabout does not have the foresight  that  Nicholas Hytner had when he put Audra in her TONY award winning  role.  I am not saying that having great actors on  stage is not good. But when there are so many diverse actors on stage I wonder about the casting. It just reminds me why the Public wins so many awards because it has foresight and new ideas. Which is further enhanced by diversity. 

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 7/25/15 at 10:04pm

"Seriously? So you think the best advice is to write what you don't know?"

Really, Hogan? That's only possible thing I could have meant? I guess you're writing what you know and not using your imagination, powers of empathy and deduction, or research skills to create something out of your limited realm of personal experience.

[HogansHero]

Posted: 7/25/15 at 10:16pm

@Namo-it's what you wrote: "People telling writers to write what they know are giving the worst advice." If you want to retract what you said and say something else that you meant, be my guest. I will be the first to thank you for doing so. 

 

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 7/25/15 at 10:45pm

Diverse casting is an issue that I'm passionate about but I don't think solution is going to any extreme, nor do I think that's what anyone is suggesting. I think a lot of great shows and opportunities for non white actors have come from writers specifically writing parts for non white actors. For example, two of those Asian American Tony winners were Lea Salonga and Ruthie Ann Miles in roles specifically written for Asian women. However, it's also important to move in the direction of colorblind casting, not forcing anything, but because the talent is there. I'm not saying you need to cast an African American actress as Fanny Brice. (Though personally, if they cast the right person, I'd probably go see it.) But for example, the Wicked casting calls do not specify ethnicity. Many different actresses have been able to portray Roxie and Velma. Lea Salonga was fantastic as Cinderella. If/Then is a good example of a new work. I don't recall an instance where a character made a big deal about being in an interracial relationship.

[JBradshaw]

Posted: 7/25/15 at 11:07pm

I don't remember much press back when Robin Givens was the first black Roxie Hart on Broadway, there was some but not in the way of press Keke got for "Cinderella" or Taye is getting for "Hedwig". 

[Elfuhbuh]

Posted: 7/26/15 at 2:05am

"I don't remember much press back when Robin Givens was the first black Roxie Hart on Broadway, there was some but not in the way of press Keke got for "Cinderella" or Taye is getting for "Hedwig". "

 
Or Norm Lewis for "Phantom."