So, I'm not sure if there's already another topic on this or whether this should even be at this board, considering it's off-broadway, but I wanted to share this blog post on the casting of Duncan Sheik's "The Nightingale":
and its casting of Asian American actors/actresses, or rather the lack of it. Personally, I'm disappointed and angered by this, and I'd love to know how I can let the creative team know this.
^Why not? I actually don't frequent this board - I only recently discovered it, actually. Is it some kind of faux pas? xD or does it just result in a lot of flaming?
I read this the other day and meant to post it here! Thank you for having more initiative than me, because I do think it's a really legitimate grievance, against this production in particular and against a lot of American theatre.
But in this instance, it really is absurd. The idea of the cast being a "rainbow" is laughable- considering it's a very selective rainbow. If a theatre company isn't doing Flower Drum Song, Miss Saigon, or Pacific Overtures, Asian performers are very often out of luck.
Not a faux pas at all, masterwolfie. It's just a topic that a lot of people feel very strongly about.
I think it's ridiculous, too. Asian actors have a hard enough time getting seen for ANY roles. To not have a single Asian actor in a show set in China is . . . Well, words fail me.
Yes, this is, strictly speaking, color-blind casting. But should that really mean casting white actors as often as possible?
Pretty much, masterwolfie. My own experience has taught me that trying to have a an actual discussion about race and theatre (or even race in general) on this board is usually pretty futile.
I would understand the conceit for a play by Brecht,say, where the settings are pretty much arbitrary and it's arguably better to go with casting that doesn't reflect the setting since the point is to make the theatricality obvious to enhance the moral and sociopolitical point.
Perhaps that's what they're going for here, since lord knows Duncan Sheik loves the whole music-as-commentary and bastardized Brechtian thing. It's hard to say, as no one has seen this thing yet. It sounds, however, like a straightforward adaptation of the Anderson story.
But really, would it have been so hard to make it an unspecified land that just happens to have an emperor? Why keep the incredibly specific time and place, then disregard it in terms of casting? The only color that they seem blind to is yellow.
Schenectady is almost as close to China as a region on the Pacific coast with a rich history of immigration from Asian countries that features a theatre doing a show set in China yet casts only one Asian actor in an ensemble role.
AAPAC (Asian American Performers Action Coalition) Responds to "The Nightingale":
Though AAPAC is primarily concerned with Asian American representation on New York City stages, we felt the current Page to Stage production of "The Nightingale" at La Jolla Playhouse is relevant to our mission and warrants our attention.
The story of "The Nightingale" is set in China. Of 11 cast members, however, only 2 are Asian American; the rest of the cast is made up of other races. We are deeply disappointed that in the rare instance of a new musical set in an Asian country, the creative team (Moises Kaufman, director; Duncan Sheik, composer; Steven Sater, lyrics) did not decide to cast all or mostly Asian actors. We do not in any way blame or begrudge the actors currently cast for their involvement - this is not about them. We simply find it baffling and frustrating that unlike "The Lion King" or "Bombay Dreams", musicals where the majorities of their multicultural casts have been comprised primarily of African- and Indian-American actors respectively, the creative team would not consider it an artistic or social priority to find and cast Asian Americans in the majority of roles for a story set in Asia. That Moises Kaufman was a part of this decision - an artist who has long been concerned with giving voice to an oppressed minority and speaking their truth - is even more disappointing.
We want to know: Why was this decision made? Was there a perception on the part of the creative team that the Asian American talent pool was inadequate? Was it based on fear that there wasn't enough of a box office draw with an all Asian cast? Was there not even that much thought given to telling the story with an Asian American cast in the first place?
We simply find it baffling and frustrating that unlike "The Lion King" or "Bombay Dreams", musicals where the majorities of their multicultural casts have been comprised primarily of African- and Indian-American actors respectively, the creative team would not consider it an artistic or social priority to find and cast Asian Americans in the majority of roles for a story set in Asia
(Just so everyone knows, Jordan stooped to the level of yellow peril cartoons, dozens of racist movies throughout the years, including "16 Candles," and made some asinine Asian r/l mixup jokes, then PMed me an apology. I am still pondering its honesty, but since he deleted his posts I wanted to fill in the gaps.)
Part of me was hoping -- as much as I loved Erin Quill's scathing post -- that this topic would never make it to the board and part of me was hoping it would evolve into a really good discussion of race and casting.
Most of the reason for the former was because I was afraid there would just be a litany of Asian jokes. I was really not expecting them to happen within an hour of the thread being created.
Yeah, part of me would rather have had no discussion than any because I had such low expectations.
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joined:1/4/12
Posted: 7/10/12 at 04:01pm