The one thing that has been on
my mind heavy is color blind casting. It’s a term that I have heard since
elementary school believe it or not, but since ive been at LSU ive had a new
outlook on the term. Its probably because I have found myself being color blindly
casted lately. While at LSU, I’ve been cast as Romeo, Phillinte, Henry Clerval,
and Alex. I am extremely grateful to have these opportunities, but apart of me
has wondered if me doing these roles affected what audience members experienced
watching the show. Lets be honest, we all have our ideas of what makes good
theatre and sometimes staying true to the script and what the casting entails
ties into that. I will never forget when I was cast as Romeo this summer! It
was such a huge thing in the African-American community, because they never saw
or heard of a “Black Romeo”. Although many friends and family were elated for
me, I think they were more concerned to see if I could actually do it
especially being cast beside Amanda Clark as my Juliet.
This brings me to my next
feeling on color-blind casting. What shows do audience members or even society
deem appropriate to be color-blindly cast? It has been argued that Classics are
the best and most appropriate. So if that is the case then Shakespeare, Moliere,
Rodger and Hammerstein, and maybe even Chekhov are fine. I found a unique quote
in Cantese’s Problem of the Color Blind in
which theatre critic John Simon said, “it
is not only aurally that Negro actors present a problem; they do not look right
in parts that historically demand white performers.” This quote was in response
to African-Americans being cast in Shakespeare roles. Simon said this in the
1960’s, but I still wonder if other theatre critics or audience members feel
the same way? Another thing that is unique to me is when shows are color-blind
cast to the point where family members are of different ethnicities such as the
film remake of Disney’s Cinderella starring Brandy Norwood, Whoopi Goldberg,
and Bernadette Peters.
The one thing that I have been thinking about lately is how the film
industry has recently cast actors/actresses in their movies. Zoe Saldana was
cast to portray Nina Simone, Angelina Jolie was cast to play Cleopatra, and
there are several A-list actors playing Egyptians in the film Exodus. Is this okay? When does casting
like this change the purpose and intention of the movie or play? If the story
or plot was directly influenced by the ethnicity, should the casting stay true
to the original race or does it not matter as long as the actor’s talents shine
through? August Wilson felt very passionate about making sure that certain
races only portray their race due to questions like this. He said, “Colorblind
casting is an aberrant idea that has never had any validity other than as a
tool of the Cultural Imperialist who view their American Culture, rooted in the
icons of European Culture, as beyond reproach in its perfection… it simply
gives a new face to someone else’s racial and cultural experience.” I’m still
struggling to answer all these questions myself. I am however still grateful
for the opportunities I have been granted thus far and look forward to those in
the future!
