Prompt from Kaitlin!

Here 'tis:

 

I want to dive in more depth in regards to cross-racial casting and white washing as was discussed in Herrera's piece, "But Do We Have Actors for That?" I want to dig into this issue without reservation because this is an incredibly sensitive topic that  we don't often get the space to process the myriad issues that come along with it. This conversation needs to continue, but is so frequently divisive that it gets shut down before understanding occurs, leaving frustration and anger within theatre communities nationwide.

My personal experience is that of someone who has benefited from looking just ethnically ambiguous enough to be able to play non-white characters, most frequently Latinx. I believe I've shared some of this last semester, but can't recall which was in class and which was at a bar, so forgive any repetition in the story. I've come back to this a lot over the last few years, wrestling about the best way forward. 

My involvement in white washing casting issues was a few years ago when I was cast and accepted a role as Conchita in Anna in the Tropics. For those unfamiliar, it follows a Cuban family in cigar factory in Tampa and how they are impacted when a new lector arrives and brings Tolstoy's Anna Karenina to read to the workers. It is a fantastic show and to this day it is one of my favorite roles that I'm so glad I played, but looking back would not accept again. The show sparked a lot of anger in the Pittsburgh theatre community. Please bear with me as I discuss this in a little more depth, I think there are several issues within this story that illustrate more discussion is needed. 

An actress from New York who was in town on a contract called out the theatre company that put up the show publicly on her facebook, which had a fairly large following. The show ended up with an entirely white cast, frustrating many in the community. The company responded poorly by then making guest comments unavailable on their page, and then the conversation became more about what was perceived as her being silenced than the casting issue alone.

It went downhill from there, rather quickly. By the time the AD of the company could be persuaded to defend their decisions publicly in depth, most people who had been upset already solidly viewed them as careless and harmful. It was too little, too late and was bad PR all around for the company.

Here's the part where I think the conversation needs more specificity to each market and company rather than across the board statements on what is allowable and respectful.

This happened at a long-running community theatre in Washington County, Pennsylvania. The newly appointed AD had pushed the board to include more diverse works in their season and Anna was a large part of that. In rural, red Pennsylvania an hour out of the city, where the Latinx population at the time of the last census was .6%, the theatre's patrons were, no surprise, almost exclusively elderly white people and/or supporters of the cast. All positions were volunteer. 

They did not have remotely high turnout with their season's open call in terms of Latinx actors. So, they held three separate call backs/open calls for Anna in an effort to find actors with ethnic identities close to those of the characters. The local paper, frustratingly, removed the phrase "Cuban descent" from the casting call they put in for the callbacks, fearing it was racist. Yeah. 

Their callbacks having not been much more diverse, they then personally reached out to, I believe, 35 Latinx actors in the Pittsburgh theatre community and offered them roles in the show. Two actors accepted. Both unfortunately dropped out by the time of the first read-through, having been offered paying gigs. So it goes in community theatre.

So, that's how they ended up with an all white cast portraying a family of Cuban immigrants. A lot of what I said paints them in a fairly positive light, and I do want to acknowledge the efforts they took to try to cast the show authentically. For the record, they also messed up a lot.Tthey were flippant about people asking if they "had the actors for that." Though clearly enough of a concern to those involved to hold multiple open calls for one show, someone within the theatre also joked that if they couldn't find the actors, they would "just cast Italians" [like them.] There was, more than once, jokes to the cast to tan before opening night. So they were also very, very dumb.

So. How DO we move forward? How do we get diverse works in front of audiences and respect authenticity in casting, particularly in markets that don't have the actors for that. Do we always have to pre-cast the show? What are the ethics of that? Do we cancel planned productions when royalties have already been paid? Herrera's piece focused on school settings, but does any allowance extend beyond that for rural settings? Remote? Unpaid roles and not-for profit theatres? Or if we do allow/excuse others, are we causing a larger problem? Will the AEA companies take that as allowance to do the same?

Please wrestle with this with me! I've been doing it for years. Like I mentioned on our last zoom, I think making choices that entirely remove an avenue to expose audiences to plays to audiences who would not otherwise see them is a mistake. Beyond that? Still wrestling.