If You Cut Me Will I Not Bleed or Paving the Way for Less Racism in Theatre

            Ok so this is not an easy week. I have found, when discussing race in theatre with my classmates, the conversation tends to have a circular feel to it. I would even venture to say that even the “tangential paths” Osi references in her prompts would end up leading to similar destinations. But enough philosophizing; time to get into the nitty gritty.

            In my perfect world, in my dream of a theatre company, my monetarily successful theatre would have a full season that included plays that would represent, depict, and speak to every color on the race color wheel. This is naïve, maybe foolish. The social obstacles of our current society make this dream seem silly and perhaps even offensive in its “rose-colored glasses” view of a hypothetical future theatre. But if we don’t dare to have that dream, how can we even begin to tackle each, individual barrier standing between us and that dream?

            So where do we start? How do we change the theatre world? Where does the onus lie? I believe this is an impossible question to answer- or rather that it is in-answerable. I don’t believe that any one facet of the theatre world can or should take on the duty of this task, in fact I think the sheer weight of taking on such a noble pursuit would severely cripple whatever actor, playwright, university, theatre company tried to do so.

            But, because I am in university, let’s start there. I believe the university must take on a good deal of responsibility for creating a more diverse world of theatre. But to me, the way is not through coalitional casting. I think, while noble in that it “encourages the production to consider gaps in cultural competence among the cast as inevitable, not as evidence of inadequacy” it does not prepare actors to enter a theatre world that is flawed and racist (which it is). By teaching young actors early in their careers, especially white young actors, that theirs are not the only stories to be told, we create a generation of actors who stand a chance of seeing theatre not as “asian” or “black” or “latinx” but seeing that stories are different because that persons’ experience is different (yes, sometimes due to the color of their skin) but also different in the way that a white kid from Montana would be unfamiliar with what it was like to grow up in the deep South.

            Lew furthers my hope for this idea when he writes, “Early in my career I kept encountering well-meaning mentors who encouraged me to ‘write about my family,’ which was really code for ‘write an 80s style Asian identity play.’ But I’m third generation Chinese-American. I couldn’t write a Chinese immigrant play if I tried.” I am encouraged by this, because while race would and does no doubt play a big role in Lew’s plays, he is also pushing towards seeking the universality of the human experience. And, yes, his Asian characters must be played by Asian actors. That’s just the way it works. And enforcing that ideology early is the way to do it.

            So it looks like I’ve changed my mind. I think universities can take a more active role in shaping the racial future of theatre. And if you don’t have the actors to do so? Find them. I believe they are out there.