And hearts can change minds. Be proactive and participate in outreach to groups that represent actors of color, like Asian-American Performers Action Coalition or the African-American Artists Alliance, to bring them into the casting process. Do your research on racism and internal bias before beginning the creative process.
Understanding the history of these issues within the business will help create an inclusive and positive environment. Be careful of engaging in tokenism or promoting harmful or damaging caricatures. Truly color conscious casting gives members of marginalized groups opportunities to play real, developed characters, not one-dimensional stereotypes.
Recommended Reading:. The King and I , Rodgers and Hammerstein's classic musical currently receiving a revival production by Lincoln Center, has been subject to several casting controversies over the years that ultimately led to an evolution in the way the piece is produced.
Diverse casting can challenge some audiences — I heard recently of a regional theatre whose casting of a black Cinderella one year led to emails and letters of protest. In that instance, it made the artistic director even more aware of the need to cast diversely. The arts are waking up to the need for greater diversity in terms of race, disability , gender and socio-economic background. But as long as the top-down structures at management and board level continue to favour those who are white, male and from social elites, these organisations will find themselves ill-equipped to bring about radical change.
This article is more than 4 years old. The challenges facing theatres and theatre organisations in the coming months are very daunting. Arts Council England funding is tight, and may get tighter after the election. And mounting cuts to local authority budgets will reduce arts funding, with potentially disastrous consequences — particularly in regions where withdrawal of council support for some venues may threaten their existence.
It would be easy to feel depressed. However, with adversity has increasingly come a long-overdue acknowledgement that theatre must change how it operates and shares resources, redefine who it works with and where and how, and rethink what it can do with space and place. The most sought-after collaborators should be anyone who an arts organisation is not yet serving.
0コメント