By Cleo House Jr., Assistant Professor and Program Coordinator of Theatre
Theatre artists who teach live in the worlds of both the theoretical and the practical. We are in many ways philosophers, theorists, and practitioners. It is our ability to function across these planes that sometimes proves confusing or difficult to grasp for those in fields outside of the arts. Arguably, in the theatre, we engage in such an organic process that one on the outside may assume that a lack of qualitative and quantitative research is present in the discipline. That could not be further from the truth.
In the past two decades, few other topics in theatre have been debated as consistently and intensely as issues concerning race and gender and how they effect and relate to casting. In a field where how one looks is as much an important function to the job as the ability to do the job, the discussion on race and gender, in the American theatre, has been ongoing–particularly among actors of color.
The areas under discussion when race and gender in the theatre are mentioned are oftentimes very specific in issue and very broad in scope. The issue is specific regarding the quest to find adequate representation in the American theatre for actors of color, but extremely broad in scope when it comes to dealing with ways in which we all seek to achieve this representation.
The following definitions may be useful for the reading of this article:
1.) Nontraditional casting–the process by which the director may cast actor(s) in a role(s) with little concern to the actor’s actual race or racial appearance.
2.) Cross-cultural casting–the process by which the director may cast actor(s) in a role(s) in which the actor would typically not be cast based on the actor’s race or racial appearance.
3.) Color-blind casting–refers to the process of selecting actors without any regard to their racial or ethnic appearance.
4.) Given circumstances–the tangible and specific directions given by a playwright when a play is written, i.e. location, time, weather, place, etc. The given circumstances are often the “off limits” portion of the script that is technically not open for interpretation.
In order to truly operate on the “platform” of cross-cultural casting, we must acknowledge what race does to the play in question. For example, The Amen Corner by James Baldwin traditionally has an African-American cast. To cast actors of races that are obviously not African-American requires that the director make conscious choices and consider the implications of such casting. While nontraditional casting may not require as much analysis as cross-cultural casting, when poised next to color-blind casting, it is significantly more complicated.
In a speech published by Theatre Communications Group 1996-2001, August Wilson asserts that colorblind casting is a form of assimilation that Blacks have fought against for centuries. (I personally think that color-blind casting is a misnomer and that the term itself implies the impossible.) According to Wilson, due to cultural values, the only things people of different cultures can share are the “common values of the American theatre” such as plot, character, dialogue, etc. (given circumstances). He also argues that values are different if your ancestors are European than if they are of non-European descent.
This leads to another question: Is it important to acknowledge the race of the characters when race has not been acknowledged specifically by the playwright? What if it has been specified? I would suggest that it is imperative that the actors and the director do not attempt to deny the race of the actors. How could they do so reasonably? When we attempt to ignore the race of the actors (as directors or casting agencies) we risk putting the audience on the defensive or worse–confusing them.
Although we may be left with more questions than answers, one cannot deny that it is a thoughtful and conscious exploration of any casting choice that makes it work. To deny the performers’ race or obvious ethnic background could be considered a subtle attempt to whitewash everyone on the stage.
Cleo House, Jr. is a scholar, actor, director, and playwright who has performed for August Wilson in the author’s play The Piano Lesson and in Death and the Kings Horseman, and also for the author Wole Soyinka at The Lantern Theatre in Philadelphia. Previous works include the Theatre Alliance of Washington D.C. House was nominated for Helen Hayes Awards for his work in Insurrection Holding History, directed by Timothy Douglas and Macbeth at the Folger Theatre of Washington, D.C., directed by Teller (of Penn and Teller) and Aaron Posner. He has been seen on television, industrials, and working as a director across the south and east coast. House was also a participant in the Lincoln Center’s Directors Lab in New York.