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re: Philly High School drops MILLIE after complaints of racism
Posted by: BruceinIthaca 12:12 am EST 12/28/15
In reply to: re: Philly High School drops MILLIE after complaints of racism - Chromolume 11:19 pm EST 12/27/15
Thank you so much for putting it in these terms. On this board (and elsewhere) people seem to get particularly tetchy or defensive about asking for either color-blind casting or consideration of how few roles written for non-white performers there exist in the canon of works done for shows done in educational settings. Some show just don't make sense for teens to do--we did a student-directed production of Uncle Vanya when I was a senior (I played the Professor) which I'm sure would have been risible to anyone not part of our peer group or relatives, but, you know what--we learned a lot about Chekov's play by doing it. We also did Never Too Late (I played the lead, Harry) and its menopausal smirky comedy (it was also student directed) taught us very little about what theatre can do. Still, I'm sure we got something out of learning comic timing and physical comedy. People who attend school, college, or even community theatre should acknowledge that they are part of a process whose aims are somewhat different from those of professional theatre. I'm not advocating for "Oh! Calcutta Junior" versions to be done in middle schools, but I think this thread points to the ongoing discomfort we as a nation have around race as a visible issue, which theatre inevitably does. I'd ask us to bring our better angels to the projects educators and their students are trying to do. I also think it is worth considering that non-white students are called on (expected to) "act" in white ways (verbally, culturally) in all kind of ways, visible and invisible and, hence, may not find the code-switching we all seem to worry about when a Native American teen plays Nellie Forbush so difficult as when a white student attempts to "switch codes" into the vernacular urban Black English of Leroy in "Fame" (I know a very Nordic young man cast as Leroy in a Nebraksa high school production of that show--I just can't imagine how cringe-inspiring that could have been and wonder what the young actor got out of the experience)
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