What to do about ITH professional production with non POC in lead roles?- Page 2
What to do about ITH professional production with non POC in lead roles?
#25What to do about ITH professional production with non POC in lead roles?
Posted: 1/8/19 at 11:43am
MR11 said: "A cast list/announcement still hasn't been given to press because they are trying to avoid the backlash as long as possible I suppose?"
Or because people are just going to buy a ticket to see In The Heights, without regard for who is in the cast.
"Think about how awful Kevin's storyline will play with a WHITE actor in the role......"
It's been a while, but I'm drawing a blank. He runs a taxi stand, and his daughter was the first to go off to college... and, what am I forgetting?!
SomethingPeculiar
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/15/14
#26What to do about ITH professional production with non POC in lead roles?
Posted: 1/8/19 at 11:50am
MR11, your concerns are 100% valid. This should be as much about educating the community as it should be about educating/reprimanding the theatre company.
Write an open letter to the theatre company? Contact Actors' Equity to let them know? Get your local newspaper involved? Perhaps a group/service organization that supports latinx artists could help you? Last-ditch effort, tweet at the authors?
I wish you the very best!
#27What to do about ITH professional production with non POC in lead roles?
Posted: 1/8/19 at 11:52am
@haterobics, Kevin’s main song is called “Inutil” and deals specifically with his relationship with his father and their circumstances as immigrants.
"...and in a bed."
Updated On: 1/8/19 at 11:52 AM
singer234
Leading Actor Joined: 8/31/08
#28What to do about ITH professional production with non POC in lead roles?
Posted: 1/8/19 at 11:53amWho is white in this production? /Many of those actors are New Yorkers. Whether they found their own housing or not, that is not entirely local Pittsburgh talent.
#29What to do about ITH professional production with non POC in lead roles?
Posted: 1/8/19 at 12:03pm
sing_dance_love said: "@haterobics, Kevin’s main song is called “Inutil” and deals specifically with his relationship with his father and their circumstances as immigrants."
Oh, OK... Even so, the lyrics don't mention a specific place they came from, and Inutili is also Italian for useless, so... it's pretty universal stuff. Usnavi is way more location-specific.
#30What to do about ITH professional production with non POC in lead roles?
Posted: 1/8/19 at 12:09pm
I'm still confused by the marketing images... makes it looks like audiences will see LMM in the lead role. 
MR11
Swing Joined: 1/8/19
#31What to do about ITH professional production with non POC in lead roles?
Posted: 1/8/19 at 12:11pm
jpbran said: "I'm still confused by the marketing images... makes it looks like audiences will see LMM in the lead role."
Hamilton is playing in Pittsburgh at the moment so I think its safe to assume they are riding on the coattails of that with the show and marketing?
wicked4l
Broadway Star Joined: 5/19/06
#32What to do about ITH professional production with non POC in lead roles?
Posted: 1/8/19 at 12:40pm
MR11 said: "jpbran said: "I'm still confused by the marketing images... makes it looks like audiences will see LMM in the lead role."
Hamilton is playing in Pittsburgh at the moment so I think its safe to assume they are riding on the coattails of that with the show and marketing?"
When you purchase the rights to In The Heights, you also gain the rights to the official logo which includes Lin. Just as Legally Blonde has Laura Bell Bundy and Hairspray has Marissa Jaret.
MR11
Swing Joined: 1/8/19
#33What to do about ITH professional production with non POC in lead roles?
Posted: 1/8/19 at 12:43pm
fashionguru_23 said: "Is it bad that I looked at the Twitter photo earlier up in the thread, and saw no one who I had an issue with. Its not like Andrew Keenan Bolger is playing Benny"
This mindset is dangerous and part of the problem. Just because someone "looks" a certain way doesn't hold up anymore in the arts and in shows that are specifically about a culture of people. In addition, the authors expressed that they want the roles cast appropriately.
American Theatre Magazine called it a “whitewashing” and included an email interview with the show’s book writer, Hudes, who stated that “I’m happy for schools and communities who do not have [Latino] actors on hand to use In the Heights as an educational experience for participants of all stripes.” For professional productions, she added, “Casting the roles appropriately is of fundamental importance… You cannot just put out a casting call and hope people come and then shrug if they don’t show up. You may need to add extra casting calls (I do this all the time), go do outreach in communities you haven’t worked with before. You may need to reach out to the Latino theatres and artists and build partnerships to share resources and information. You may need to fly in actors from out of town if you’ve exhausted local avenues, and house them during the run…. When faced with these expensive obstacles, an organization’s status quo sometimes wins because it’s cheaper and less trouble. The Latino community has the right to be disappointed and depressed that an opportunity like this was lost.”
http://www.playbill.com/article/porchlist-artistic-director-responds-to-in-the-heights-casting
#34What to do about ITH professional production with non POC in lead roles?
Posted: 1/8/19 at 12:51pm
I think you just need to calm down. Its a super short run and it will be over before you know it.
It sounds like you didnt get the part.
JSquared2
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/23/17
#35What to do about ITH professional production with non POC in lead roles?
Posted: 1/8/19 at 12:52pm
I can't wait to see MR11 on the streets of Pittsburgh on opening night!
#36What to do about ITH professional production with non POC in lead roles?
Posted: 1/8/19 at 12:56pm
You should also be VERY careful, some of us latinos pass as white.
Calm down, take a breather, and find a new audition. Youre acting like its the end of the world. Its not.
Dont support it, why are you going to ruin a fun time for actors, dressers, stage managers, musicians, lights, props, ushers, box office staff all because two actors are white.
Grow up.
MR11
Swing Joined: 1/8/19
#37What to do about ITH professional production with non POC in lead roles?
Posted: 1/8/19 at 1:00pm
_(•_&bull
_/ said: "You should also be VERY careful, some of us latinos pass as white.
Calm down, take a breather, and find a new audition. Youre acting like its the end of the world. Its not.
Dont support it, why are you going to ruin a fun time for actors, dressers, stage managers, musicians, lights, props, ushers, box office staff all because two actors are white.
Grow up."
I didn't audition because I'm WHITE, and it wouldn't be appropriate for me to tell this story.
I'm sad to see that you don't care about representation in the arts. Why does the length of the run matter? It could be a one night only concert reading and it would still be wrong.
I guess you also don't care about the authors and how they want their work to be done?
Remind me to never work with you.
#38What to do about ITH professional production with non POC in lead roles?
Posted: 1/8/19 at 1:01pm
If youre white this shouldnt affect you.
Go get your woke points somewhere else.
MR11
Swing Joined: 1/8/19
#39What to do about ITH professional production with non POC in lead roles?
Posted: 1/8/19 at 1:05pm
_(•_&bull_/ said: "If youre white this shouldnt affect you.
Go get your woke points somewhere else."
I'm just confused as to why you are so triggered by people caring about representation? That makes no sense to me.....
dramamama611
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
#40What to do about ITH professional production with non POC in lead roles?
Posted: 1/8/19 at 1:07pm
If only POC cared about representation, little would likely change. Nothing wrong with just doing the right thing.
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
#41What to do about ITH professional production with non POC in lead roles?
Posted: 1/8/19 at 1:08pm
Why is it that white people are always telling us minorities what is and what isn't racist. If it was SUCH a problem with that theatre group, all the other latinos in the cast would have made it an issue.
You are white. You dont get to say what is againt cultural representation and what isnt.
Jordan sparks, corbin blu were both African americans and joined the broadway cast.
Guess what, white people were in the broadway cast.
Guess what, WHITE PEOPLE CAN BE MEXICAN!!!
This isnt your issue. Dont support it then.
MR11
Swing Joined: 1/8/19
#42What to do about ITH professional production with non POC in lead roles?
Posted: 1/8/19 at 1:12pm
_(•_&bull_/ said: "Why is it that white people are always telling us minorities what is and what isn't racist. If it was SUCH a problem with that theatre group, all the other latinos in the cast would have made it an issue.
You are white. You dont get to say what is againt cultural representation and what isnt.
Jordan sparks, corbin blu were both African americans and joined the broadway cast.
Guess what, white people were in the broadway cast.
Guess what, WHITE PEOPLE CAN BE MEXICAN!!!
This isnt your issue. Dont support it then."
So am I not allowed to show support for issues that aren't specifically white? Am I not allowed to March for Gay rights if I'm not gay? Am I not allowed to March for Women's rights if I'm not a woman? It's called SUPPORT and ADVOCACY.
It is MY issue as an artist in the theatre community to challenge and want our theatres to grow and understand.... At the very least they are going against what the authors have intended so that should be reason enough.......
What about what the author said? Do you know agree with this?
American Theatre Magazine called it a “whitewashing” and included an email interview with the show’s book writer, Hudes, who stated that “I’m happy for schools and communities who do not have [Latino] actors on hand to use In the Heights as an educational experience for participants of all stripes.” For professional productions, she added, “Casting the roles appropriately is of fundamental importance… You cannot just put out a casting call and hope people come and then shrug if they don’t show up. You may need to add extra casting calls (I do this all the time), go do outreach in communities you haven’t worked with before. You may need to reach out to the Latino theatres and artists and build partnerships to share resources and information. You may need to fly in actors from out of town if you’ve exhausted local avenues, and house them during the run…. When faced with these expensive obstacles, an organization’s status quo sometimes wins because it’s cheaper and less trouble. The Latino community has the right to be disappointed and depressed that an opportunity like this was lost.”
https://www.playbill.com/article/porchlist-artistic-director-responds-to-in-the-heights-casting
#43What to do about ITH professional production with non POC in lead roles?
Posted: 1/8/19 at 1:13pm
Pittsburgh Hispanic weighing in- as someone who looks way more Charlie Sheen than George Lopez, I must second the response above that lots of Hispanic people look "white." And this isn't an all-Equity cast by far: PMT hands out a small parcel of three or four Equity contracts per production, and uses local non-union pro and semi-pro talent for everything else. But doing ITH in Pittsburgh always seemed like a more odd than offensive choice: the professional theatre scene out here has exactly one (very talented) actor who plays ever Hispanic, Spaniard, Mexican, Puerto Rican and "ambiguously brown" role in town. And looking at that Twitter photo, that looks like the Hispanic community I know. Black, white, brown, Asian and mixed people united by language and location.
Latinx issues are not the same as Asian issues, because even the US government doesn't know if being Spanish counts as a race or not (hence why it's the only legally accepted "ethnicity" rather than race). From the hubbub, I expected to see a bunch of Nordic white blondes and extras from Fiddler on the Roof, not what I saw. If the Pittsburgh area had a bigger Hispanic community of note, it would look more like that photo.
GeorgeandDot
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/13/16
#44What to do about ITH professional production with non POC in lead roles?
Posted: 1/8/19 at 1:14pmIf you don't have the demographic to do a certain show, don't do it.
#45What to do about ITH professional production with non POC in lead roles?
Posted: 1/8/19 at 1:15pm
_(•_&bull_/ said: "If youre white this shouldnt affect you.
Go get your woke points somewhere else."
But I was so close to getting a Bingo!
"Ok ok ok ok ok ok ok. Have you guys heard about fidget spinners!?" ~Patti LuPone
robskynyc
Broadway Star Joined: 4/17/18
#46What to do about ITH professional production with non POC in lead roles?
Posted: 1/8/19 at 1:20pm
MR11 said: "I'm guessing it's not "very serious" to you because you aren't a POC fighting for representation and roles and instead they are being given to white actors?
Very sad."
lmao. im puerto rican. and I couldn't care less about this. theres bigger fish to try in the world than this. but thanks for assuming my ethnicity
robskynyc
Broadway Star Joined: 4/17/18
#47What to do about ITH professional production with non POC in lead roles?
Posted: 1/8/19 at 1:26pm
_(•_&bull_/ said: "You should also be VERY careful, some of us latinos pass as white."
AMEN.
MR11
Swing Joined: 1/8/19
#48What to do about ITH professional production with non POC in lead roles?
Posted: 1/8/19 at 1:32pm
darquegk said: "Pittsburgh Hispanic weighing in- as someone who looks way more Charlie Sheen than George Lopez, I must second the response above that lots of Hispanic people look "white." And this isn't an all-Equity cast by far: PMT hands out a small parcel of three or four Equity contracts per production, and uses local non-union pro and semi-pro talent for everything else. But doing ITH in Pittsburgh always seemed like a more odd than offensive choice: the professional theatre scene out here has exactly one (very talented) actor who plays ever Hispanic, Spaniard, Mexican, Puerto Rican and "ambiguously brown" role in town. And looking at that Twitter photo, that looks like the Hispanic community I know. Black, white, brown, Asian and mixed people united by language and location.
Latinx issues are not the same as Asian issues, because even the US government doesn't know if being Spanish counts as a race or not (hence why it's the only legally accepted "ethnicity" rather than race). From the hubbub, I expected to see a bunch of Nordic white blondes and extras from Fiddler on the Roof, not what I saw. If the Pittsburgh area had a bigger Hispanic community of note, it would look more like that photo."
Thanks for your take. So are you cool with white actors playing Kevin and Camila as they currently are in this production? Also I never specifically stated that the cast wasn't all Latinx, I was commenting that there were white people in it....
#49What to do about ITH professional production with non POC in lead roles?
Posted: 1/8/19 at 1:36pm
Again, white people can be latino. Just because they have softer skin doesnt make them any less of a latino then someone with darker skin.
