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Look, I am all for legit revivals that acknowledge POC and Diverse Bodies for all- but don’t step up and pick a show that LEGIT has historic issues w/ Asians AND that was just done two min ago on the Great White Way. And by Great WHITE Way that is what I mean...
The truth is that most of America operates through a white gaze, and MT shows - most of them- are written through that gaze. Even very talented people can choose to ignore very real issues about writing for a minority without minority input. Casting is but ONE issue.
And the concern is, even when you have a minority member on the team- are you really listening to them? Or are you bowling over them in order to get YOUR agenda accomplished? The people that have successfully Intergrated both their teams and casts are all female.
As a Caucasian heritaged person- I have seen privilege while also not being able to access it- AWkward- there are legit concerns with the mindset ‘Let’s Do Revivals’ when the MAGA, sorry, MUSIC MAN lurks as the big ticket item selling a time in America where minorities r missing
I LOVE Musicals- but without a mindset change- I cannot do them. So while it is in some respects, a selfish issue to bring up- I see so much gaslighting of AAPI performers it would not be right not to say anything.
Just an example yesterday- 4 AAPI Performers on that Sondheim Birthday Concert- any of them listed on the ‘main list’ or alphabetically? No. They are in the Pacific Overtures clump- & the montage of the faces- they are not shown. NOT RIGHT.
Worth noting that EVEN AS the Drama Desks and so on roll in- and AAPI Writers and Performers r being acknowledged- Broadway still is not open to ‘us’ unless we are in period costumes with concubines, Bowing & beatings. Accents a MUST for MANY productions - that is not ALL we are.
Now with the COVID 19 lurking, my concern- which was underlying w the Sondheim Bday Concert- is- are people going to truly not cast us because of underlying xenophobia they do not want to acknowledge? Yeah yeah to wholeness- but as we have seen- AAPIS are being attacked daily
So will the underlying fear- which btw COMES FROM UNDERREPRESENTATION in the Arts, TV, Film- (oh, I don’t KNOW one)- going to double slap us back to Number One Son as a companion to a Yellowfaced Actor looking to show ‘range’?
We cannot just point to ‘Beacon’ performers and see ‘hope’- because they are THOSE performers because someone CAUCASIAN took a chance and cast them. That is legit. White people cast them. & all of it is ‘conditional’ till you win an award.
So when is @fjue a Series Regular, LA?
So when is @fjue a Series Regular, LA?
It bothers me when people who have been the benefit of privilege get nostalgic for the ‘old days’- in the ‘old days’ I would have been someone’s dresser. Their chauffeur. Their maid. I would have been invisible and the ‘longing for’ means that they would like to go back to that.
I have had Casting try and guess ‘what kind of nese’ I am. I have had them say they ‘had’ to know what I was because of the client. I have had so much coding’ & not quite right’ feedback- I know which offices now are in my corner- & they LEGIT are- but the industry needs a shift
The only way to fight xenophobia is to be more represented. To let people see our faces and read our work and enjoy our plays and acknowledge that there are tough conversations even within POC relationships- allies of all kinds are super great and welcome.
If your heart IS in the work- you keep going.
That is all you can do.
So I salute ALL the writers, performers, visual artists, musicians of AAPI heritage who get up and whistle against the wind on the daily.
The skirmishes are draining, but the battle is not yet won.
That is all you can do.
So I salute ALL the writers, performers, visual artists, musicians of AAPI heritage who get up and whistle against the wind on the daily.
The skirmishes are draining, but the battle is not yet won.
