There Are No Asian Men In China?- The Nightingale Panel Discussion

A few days ago, several creatives from the La Jolla Playhouse had a panel discussion about the recent casting debacle surrounding their new production of The Nightingale. You can see the whole thing here.

My notes annotating the discussion are below, but before those, I'd like to thank the La Jolla Playhouse for seeking accountability on this issue. There are so many responsible for whitewashed movies and theatre productions alike who think that they are totally justified in what they do, and hardly bother with open discussion regarding the choices that they make. This is a rare thing.

Colourblind Casting Two: You're Doing It Wrong

So lately it has come to my attention that Duncan Sheik, who wrote the angsty coming-of-age rock musical Spring Awakening, has premiered a new show at the La Jolla Playhouse. The Nightingale is based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale of the same name, and has also kept the story's original setting of Ancient China.

Well great!

Defaults Are Boring By Default

I guess I've been working myself up to this for a pretty long time.

Obligatory Disclaimer: I have nothing against straight white dudes. Some of my best friends are straight white dudes.

However, I'm honestly sick of seeing straight white dudes in the movies.

I think it's an established fact that main characters in movies aren't white, straight, and male out of any obligation to the plot in films that are not about race, sexuality, or gender.

Colourblind Casting One: The Streetcar and I

As someone who is not a part of a visible minority, I'm pretty sure I'm not qualified to talk about this, but lately this has been bothering me a lot, because there have been a lot of cases where colourblind casting (or hell, even colour-conscious casting) has been received with a mindset that is less than modern and far less than enlightened. Though the US and Canada that generally pride themselves on being open on issues of diversity, there are still embarrassing and primitive fails.

(I'm not talking about the Hunger Games issues. I am so late to the party on that one it isn't funny. The twitter shitstorm that followed the release of that movie was a problem that stems from idiots reading a book but blocking out what they don't want to here. Rue is clearly black in the books, and while it isn't a huge part of her character, it was definitely the right choice to cast a black actress in the movie, especially if that actress was someone of such screen presence as Amandla Stenberg. Case closed. Idiots are idiots, and should have their rights to the Internet restricted if not outright revoked.)

What I'm talking about is the treatment of actors and actresses of colour in theatre, not film and television. Tentatively this subject will be covered in more than one post.