Now THAT is some GOOOOD SH*T! (Finally)

June 16, 2013 //

Sometimes when blogging, the world seems to be a negative place, filled with Monsters from your closet who would like nothing better than to ruin your day, consistently with some nasty stuff.

Whether you are trying to sell a cereal,

or sing the National Anthem,

or star in a tv show in a role traditionally given to a man – haters gonna hate.

Lucy Liu as Dr. Watson in Elementary

Sometimes it seems, that no matter HOW you are trying to spin it, it’s gonna be a bad day….wait a minute, WAIT A MINUTE!

To Quote James Thunder Early from DREAMGIRLS “THERE HAVE GOT TO BE SOME GOOD TIMES!!!!”

Let’s shake it off -

(Who DOESN’T love to tell people what they really, REALLY want?)

READY – DANCE BREAK!!!!!!!!!!!!

I feel better. How do you feel? Some things lately have been awesome…and I’m going to tell you some of them RIGHT NOW!!!!!

(I KNOW, THIS IS TOTALLY DIFFERENT, RIGHT?) (Don’t be scared)

It was TOTALLY AWESOME that several days ago THIS happened:

2013 TONY Winners – BEST PERFORMANCE IN A MUSICAL – PATINA MILLER (Pippin) and BILLY PORTER (Kinky Boots)

How was it awesome? Let me count the ways….ok, I hate math, nevermind counting – and don’t judge my math. Several weeks ago, I gave a speech at LA Stage Day.

They had a Graphic Artist do a rendering of my speech as it was occurring, isn’t it fabulous?

In it, I stated that Diversity means Awards and Dollars that make you holler! So let us just take a gander at what kind of musical KINKY BOOTS is – It is a musical written by a Heterosexual woman and a Gay Man, where the story involves a friendship and a mutual respect between a Straight man and a Gay man, who also happens to be a Drag Queen.

(In a nutshell….. In a nutshell enclosed in six inch stiletto thigh high boots)

Diversity, Diversity, Diversity.

This show makes me cheer – it did in the audience and it still does now – because it is the personification of what I was talking about. You can say similar things about PIPPIN – it’s a diverse cast, it has a female Director who took the role of “Lead Player” and changed the space time compendium and made the part that had traditionally gone to a man, go to a woman. BAM – TONY AWARDS!

Diversity, Diversity, Diversity!

Congrats to the three Carnegie Mellon grads who garnered TONY Awards – (in the order in which they were received) Judith Light, Billy Porter, and Patina Miller. Bravo!

Now you MAY ask yourself…HOW did the Fairy Princess get here – and you may ask yourself….nevermind, this is getting long and I have some things to say….

When watching the TONY Awards, I was asked a question by my Mother “Do you think there will ever be an Asian American winners for Best Lead Performance in a Musical, both a man and a woman in the same year?”

Proving indeed that she is MY Mother…and my answer was….drumroll please….

“I don’t know.“

Seriously, I have no idea.

Because there are a LOT of things that go into winning an award like that as a performer and the first rule is – YOU NEED A PART. Yes, you need a role that you can play to the best of your ability that helps people see past the color of your skin. So that answer begins with the writers out there – the composers, the lyricists – but who knows? Maybe it will happen. It has happened…once before in a musical..

But let’s see what OTHER good things happened this week:

Joel Grey selected Raymond J. Lee for the 2013 Theater Hall of Fame Fellowship for Emerging Artists! That is VERY cool! Ray has been on Broadway in Mamma Mia and Anything Goes, he just finished ACT’s production of Stuck Elevator in San Francisco and he is heading off to do a show that will be at The Papermill Playhouse – Honeymoon in Vegas, by composer Jason Robert Brown, but anyway THAT is TOTALLY AWESOME THING NUMBER 2

Back to Mom’s question and my answer – it begins with the writers – so I was very ‘chuffed’ to hear that Chicago Actor/Writer, Danny Bernardo, has written a new play that is being mounted at The Baliwick Theater, MAHAL – a story about a Filipino family trying to come to grips with the loss of it’s Matriarch. It deals with cultural identity, assimilation, homophobia, inter-racial relationships, and inter-generational relationships which leads to realizing what it means to be an American Family.

TOTALLY AWESOME THING 3!!!!!!!! (Look, my math is holding up!) And there is my pal from Flower Drum Song, Joseph Anthony Foronda playing the Patriarch! That is pretty awesome too! Congratulations to Danny, who wrote this play, in part, to come to terms with the loss of his own Father – having dealt with that the last year, and tomorrow being Father’s Day, I think it is a wonderful tribute and one his Dad would be very proud of, on so many levels.

AND….in terms of Diversity, Diversity, Diversity – it’s a WIN!

Speaking of plays…and I do, often – I wanted to share a HUGE Diversity Win with everyone – the FIRST PLAY ON THE INTERNET – specifically, YouTube and it is David Henry Hwang’s play Yellowface. Many congratulations to the YOMYOMF on this huge accomplishment!!!! Particular ‘shout out’ to Philip Chung, Jeff Liu, Justin Lin and my fellow cast member from The Mikado Project, Ryun Yu who stars at DHH

AWESOME THING NUMBER 4!!!!!!

Finally – again in Chicago – there was a kerfuffle this last week, in regards to The Jungle Book – which is being adapted by the Goodman Theater – here is a piece of what they are going for:

In a nutshell, Mary Zimmerman gave an interview in which her answers seem…well, they don’t seem cool. Here is the Chicago Tribune article about the situation, HERE. And here is the interview with Chicago Magazine that started this situation -HERE.

Which prompted THIS response from Silk Road Rising Theatre Company‘s AD, Jamil Khoury to take to his blog about the situation. (Read his first post HERE)

This was exciting to The Fairy Princess, because Mr. Khoury’s blog post began with “For years I have bit my tongue…” and that, to The Fairy Princess meant “Some SHIZ is going down…and you are gonna be sari…” because nothing says ‘prepare for total domination…’ like starting with how long you have held it in!

How long? YEARS! Grab an umbrella, ella, ella! There’s a fight coming and for ONCE…I didn’t have to start it. The Fairy Princess’s tiara was starting to get dented from all the knocks she had taken in this whole thing, and thank heavens Mr. Khoury was going to go fight the windmill.

Right, Mapa?

“GURL….and THEN what?”

Anyway, Mr. Khoury – who no, I do not know – spoke up! He said what he had to say, and YEAH, he said it like THAT and you know what it led to?

A conversation. A conversation with Mary Zimmerman. (Read about it HERE) and there came a meeting of the minds, and there came…peace. And just like that, an understanding bloomed in Chicago – and things are going to change.

Things are going to change because Silk Road Rising had had enough, and they demanded clarity and they demanded response - AND THEY GOT IT.

So the next time someone tells you to just suck it up and go about your business, when you know you should say something, when you KNOW in your GUT that something is not kosher – I want you to think about the tremendous risk that Mr. Khoury took, and that it led to resolution.

And THAT is AWESOME THING NUMBER 5 ABOUT THE PAST TWO WEEKS….

Which means that my answer to my Mother will perhaps change to “Absolutely’

Drop the Mic, Ms. Audra McDonald – and take us home…..

Tags Alec Mapa, Billy Porter, Cheerios, Cyndi Lauper, Danny Bernardo, David Henry Hwang, Diversity, Josephn Anthony Foronda, Kinky Boots, National Anthem, Patina Miller, Pippin, Ryun Yu, Silk Road Rising Theatre Company, Spice Girls, Tony Awards, YOMYOMF

Categories Tony Awards

“Yeah, I said it like that” When the Fairy Princess went to #LAStageDay

May 28, 2013 //

The Fairy Princess is delighted to note that her speech for LA Stage Day is up and avail on the world wide Interweb, and she thanks Terence McFarland and his crew for having her. Because they were so focused on getting a clear image of The Fairy Princess, the power point photos did not make it to the video – so sometimes there are laughs or sighs or whatnot that did not make it there…

Therefore The Fairy Princess is now going to post the text of her speech WITH inserted photos and you can choose to either watch the speech first HERE, and then re-read it with photos, or you can just read it, and choose for yourself if you think it’s funny.

“I told Alec Mapa…(Oh, he’s on SHOWVILLE on AMC – Thursdays at 10pm – watch!)

that I was asked to speak today on Diversity, and he said to me,

“What are you going to say after you yell “Kill Whitey”?

My name is Erin Quill

I am a graduate of Carnegie Mellon, an Original Broadway Cast Member of a show that won a Tony with dirty puppets, and I also told famed Director, Moises Kaufman that he could kiss my ass almost a year ago today .

Over 25,000 people read that post within a few weeks, and the resulting uproar caused La Jolla Playhouse to have a ‘talkback’ on the subject,

which prompted East West Players to have a conference on the subject,

which lead to Chicago’s Silk Road Theater Company also having a conference on the subject. After which, I wrote about what was happening in London at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Orphan of Zhao helping out the East Asians in England – which led to a conference, and then I wrote about the Brownface makeup

in the Broadway Revival of The Mystery of Edwin Drood, which lead to a closed door meeting. Oh I wasn’t invited to any of them, so I am very grateful to be here at LA Stage Day.

Some might say I am blogging my way to unemployment, I say…..

Call me Tiger Blogger.

I wanted to talk a bit about theatrical ethnic cleansing, because it has been a shocking year for Asians in theater and everyone seems to be tip toeing around it. Well, I don’t got time for that, so call me Hurricane Erin, and buckle up – cuz I have got a Little List.

Let’s start at the very beginning because Julie Andrews said to, and I always do what she says….this is where you acknowledge that there are no Asians in the production, but it doesn’t really matter that there are Caucasians in heavy makeup portraying them

…I call this ‘neglectful’ racism, or, in the words of a country singer, “accidental racism’….because you are going to now tell us, you didn’t KNOW you were being offensive, because everyone has done The Mikado THAT WAY forever, and thus…it’s just tradition.

Ummm, excuse me, are you trying to convince me that Tevye is going to come out and do the bottle dance now? I was born and raised in New York? Fugeddaboutdit!

I know that YELLOWFACE is fun – I totally get it. Asian people have great hair, we have gorgeous eyes, kimonos are comfortable and who doesn’t love their way around some noodles – I get it – we are blessed. Our women are gorgeous and our men can kill you wearing a cloth belt and their bare hands.

We’re a sexy bunch – but that is no excuse to culturally skin us and wear us like a coat.

Or let me put it another way – eyeliner is not supposed to extend all the way to your ear!

No matter how much makeup you put on, no matter what kind of cheong sam you choose to wear….it’s not going to work, you are still not going to wake up and be Tamlyn Tomita….

– I get that you are frustrated by this. I mean everyone wants to change something about themselves – I mean, I would like to be 5 foot ten and have Scarlett O’Hara’s pre-partum waist line, but that is not going to happen either. We all have to be ok with that.

There I go being too polite, damn those genes – OK– White People – and let me say now, I am White myself – just like serial killers, most movie stars, and Sarah Palin – you are now officially on notice that YELLOWFACE or BROWNFACE is not sexy, smart OR fun – it’s wrong.

It’s offensive

It’s culturally irresponsible…

and you look like idiots.

ROWR….TIGER BLOGGER!

So now that I have taken YELLOWFACE off the table, permanently, how can we change? Well where does most theater begin?

Casting…this is where the excuses start – this is where you tell us that you would love to cast us, but there are just none of us available, which is why The Emperor of China was played by a blue eyed blonde

According to Equity, there are 763 members identifying themselves as Asian American as of 2012. There are only 3% of the Broadway roles available going to Asian Americans, according to a study by AAPAC, so someone was available.

Unless every regional theater in the country simultaneously decided to do Miss Saigon, King and I, South Pacific, Bombay Dreams and Flower Drum Song all at once in a mass extravaganza titled The “Praise to Buddha Oscar Hammerstein had the Yellow Fever” Cherry Blossom Festival.

You can’t find us? You’re not looking. 763 Equity Members identifying as Asian American – that’s right, I brought in math, booyah!

Oh, that 3% of Broadway drops to 2% when it goes to Non Profit world – but you know, that is NY and this is LA, however we don’t even have a study like that for LA because….no one cares about Asian presence on the Los Angeles stages…and that is a blot on the great Theater City that Los Angeles is. Why are you not utilizing us? You can’t say training – we have grads here from Julliard, Yale, Carnegie Mellon, Northwestern, NYU, etc, etc, etc…so no, you can’t say training.

You COULD say it’s because you do not even think about it. It’s neglect. It’s choosing to not see us. We live in LOS ANGELES! One of the most diverse cities in the United States – don’t be lazy.

What if your play or musical is set somewhere in America, but you do not choose to have Asian people in it – you don’t call for them in the breakdowns, even if you see them, you don’t cast them simply because….“if I have Asians in it, people won’t understand because they were not in the country at that time”

Just because there is not a TONG or a TRIAD or a BROTHEL in Chinatown reference in your play does not mean we do not fit in America.

Folks – You do not have to keep trying to ‘explain’ our presence in this country – we have been here since the 1800’s. No, we didn’t land on Plymouth Rock, but Gold Mountain has surely landed on us. Oooh, You know what happens when a Chinese person throws dynamite? A transcontinental railroad, that’s what.

Ok, so here I am yelling about Diversity and you are all ‘blah, blah, blah what can it matter anyway?”

After the big blowup on The Nightingale, La Jolla Playhouse cast it’s next big show, Glengarry Glenn Ross with a multi-ethnic, multi-aged cast – that dirty talking real estate office looked like any and every real estate office in this country today.

The Old Globe chose to do the new Asian American musical, Allegiance. It broke box office records.

Both shows were nominated in several categories for San Diego Critic Circle Awards – and the individuals nominated for their performances included the names Manu Narayan, Lea Salonga, Michael K. Lee, Stafford Arima … Currently the disco musical about Imelda Marcos HERE LIES LOVE is selling out at NY Public Theater

and has been extended and also picked up several Drama Desk nominations – .I think you get my point, Diversity is Awards and Dollars that make you holler, Honey Boo Boo child…..

The one, the only Honey Boo Boo

Here is a thought – Put in the breakdowns that you are looking for Asian Americans in your cast, see what happens. You don’t have to hire us, but invite us to the party. Do the outreach because we have so long been pushed aside, we don’t believe you when you use the word ‘multi-cultural’ casting.

Let’s talk about the Art for just a second…why do people go to the theater? Yes, beyond being entertained? They go to see themselves. Well, they go to see themselves suffer, choose foolish love, and sing ballads, but what they are connecting to is reflections of themselves. That is the power of theater. Theater is affirmation.

Why would Asian American audiences, which have the highest disposable income of any group in America – why would they go to theater If they cannot even go to a play set in China or Japan and see Asian America performers? As theater artists, we need them IN the building. We need butts in seats. If people see themselves, they will buy a ticket – and if Asian people see their relatives in shows – they will buy all the damn tickets! And probably cater opening! Trust!

Finally, let’s address our biggest issue in the last year – exclusion from plays and musicals where the shows were set in China –- I am speaking about La Jolla Playhouse, to the Royal Shakespeare Company, The Roundabout, and anyone who has ever staged The Mikado

- except Eric Idle, his was great.

Here is the thing about CHINA –– there are Chinese people in it. Oh and Japan has people – people who need people…people who are in fact, Japanese people. Same goes for Thailand and Korea and India and Sri Lanka.

If you can go to a map – and PLEASE, please go TO a map

– if you can go to a map and see where your show is set, you should know enough to not erase our faces from our history! We can help!

You cannot erase us because you didn’t like that in your last workshop, your Asian American cast told you that a song about a Geisha in a play set in China was inaccurate.

You cannot grab all the beautiful costumes and colors and fabrics of India, and leave out South Asians who can tell you that the colors you picked for the saris are those of mourning.

And you definitely cannot go TO China, grab their oldest play, their best loved work, their “Hamlet’, keep the Chinese names, costumes and then cast everyone except British East Asians, because you say in a repertory season of ‘classic’ plays, no one would ‘buy into’ their faces in a Brecht piece.

When you do that not only do you lose all artistic integrity, but everyone who leaves your show has turned into FogHorn LegHorn….

“What, I say What, What, What was that?”

Diversity, the rallying cry of Diversity is supposed to make us all smarter. It is supposed to make us look at our world and see each other. it is not a stick to beat us with when you would rather Caucasian faces in an Asian story.

And to have it done out of neglect, out of indifference, by several members of a community who we have stood alongside in their fight for recognition, for marriage equality, for health care?

That was not just a slap in the face, that was a Joan Collins/Linda Evans tumble into the fish pond bitch slap! Grab me some shoulder pads, because I was PISSED OFF!

This is the theater! We don’t do that to each other.

There are positive things happening for Asian Americans in theater – ACT in San Francisco is staging The Orphan of Zhao

ACT just finished another original production with an Asian American creative team and cast- Stuck Elevator.

New workshops are going forward for Allegiance

and Heading East, but you don’t want other folks to get all the awards, do you? What are you going to do?

I asked my API pals who are Actors what were their best and worse moments – best was hands down, being on stage, doing the thing they do best and love – their worst moments were always, always when people had an idea of ‘what’ they were, but no idea ‘who’ they were. We had all been told at certain points to ‘act more Asian’ , “be more submissive’ , ‘be less bold’, ‘change their base to gray so they would look less yellow, less Asian’ and it was never, ever from another Asian American.

Because you never tell people how to act more like people, do you? We’re just people.

My dear friend who is long gone now, Anderson Jones,

used to say to me, when we would have these conversations – conversations about invisibility, about non –representation, he would say, “IF THEY KNEW BETTER, THEY WOULD DO BETTER”

My wish for Los Angeles theater is simple – now that you KNOW, I challenge you to be more inclusive. It will make us all better.”

NOTE: The Fairy Princess did not stick to her text – she did ‘improv’ in certain moments, and therefore did not want to ‘let it stand’ in regards to The Nightingale, that the Actress pictured, was the only Asian American in the production – there were 2 out of 12 in that production. One played a Spoiled Princess and the other was a bird.

Erin Quill – The Fairy Princess

Tags Diversity, Manu Naryan, Tamlyn Tomita, Telly Leung

Categories Diversity

When the Fairy Princess took a coach and horses to LA Stage Day

May 22, 2013 //

Last Saturday, The Fairy Princess took a coach and four horses (of the theatrical Apocalypse) to LA Stage Day, which was hosted by LA Stage Alliance, and she just wanted to reflect on a few thoughts from the day.

The Fairy Princess was extraordinarily touched to have been asked to be a Keynote Speaker – particularly because no one has ever asked her to comment on what she, in fact, wrote about…nor has she been asked to be on Panel Discussions or anything of that nature in regards to her thoughts on Diversity in theater.

She needs to thank the CEO of the LA Stage Alliance, Mr. Terence McFarland, someone that she has known for a long time, and admired, for inviting her to attend and be provocative.

The Fairy Princess knew exactly what she was going to say, and how she was going to say it, which was why she had hoped that there would be more Asian American faces in the audience…to say that my blood pressure was under control as I watched the audience file in, would be a lie. When she did not see that many API faces attending, it just resonated how far removed most API Actors and Actresses feel from the mainstream Los Angeles theater crowd, I hope most of them missed it because they had a matinee to attend.

However, I was grateful to see Michael Seel, Exec. Dir of The Boston Court Theater,

Drama Desk Winner (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee) Deborah S. Craig,

Andy Lowe, Production Manager at East West Players,

and of course, Chil Kong of The Ovation Awards Nominating Committee,

out in the audience, looking at their faces calmed me down.

There was a comment made in a review of the day by Don Shirley, that I was ‘visibly choked by her fervor’, and The Fairy Princess just wanted to comment on that – it was not the ‘fervor’, it was looking out at the crowd and seeing Deborah S. Craig tearing up and Andy Lowe nodding yes, yes, yes at what I was saying, that had her a bit shaken.

Because she knew that they were representative of the friends who had gone through similar experiences that were named towards the end of the talk – being asked to be ‘more submissive’, told that they were ‘too bold’, told to “act more Asian”, and finally, one friend was told to change her makeup’s base color to gray, so that she would appear less ‘yellow’, and seeing them nod and agree, made her very emotional.

The Fairy Princess has been told all those things – well, not the makeup thing, but the other stuff for sure – and when you are repeatedly told those kind of negative things, it takes a toll on you. So as she looked at Deborah and Andy, and by their reactions ‘knew’ that they too, had had those experiences, the emotional response was overwhelming. Through her mind ran all the messages from friends who, throughout their careers, had had some really amazingly awful things said and done to them, in an attempt to ‘make them more Asian’ for theatrical purposes…and a moment had to be taken.

So…’fervor’…I don’t know…maybe?

The Fairy Princess could take a huge professional ‘hit’ for her comments, but if this was the one and only time she was to speak – she wanted it to count. Many people, after reading the blog, will tell her that “you are just saying what everyone else is thinking’, but it is one thing to blog, and it is quite another to stand in front of a few hundred people who may or may not choose to hear what you are saying with an open mind.

The Fairy Princess came to LA Stage Day a bundle of nerves, a bit nauseated, and she was truly humbled by the reception that she received. So many hugs, so many well wishes, so much was overwhelming…who would have thought?

The other Keynote Speakers were engaging and all spoke in their own way, about changing the way theater and the practitioners of theater, think. On inclusion, on fundraising, on innovation, on staying true to their own mission – it was a great group of speakers and I congratulate them all.

The text of the speech has not yet been posted – yes, it was recorded, perhaps it will be released in parts, at this point, The Fairy Princess is waiting to hear about it.

Thank you to all who contacted The Fairy Princess via Twitter and otherwise to let me know you were still thinking about what was said the next day – hope it will keep us all thinking the day after that. And the day after the day after that….

Thank you for listening. The most overwhelming part of the day was being able to say what I have thought in the past – and have it seemed to have been heard, it is an extraordinary feeling.

Tags Chil Kong, Deborah S. Craig, East West Players, LA Stage Alliance, LA Stage Day, Michael Seel, Terence McFarland, Thank You, Theater

Categories Diversity

Get this crap off my Desk….Awards! Oh, the Drama!

May 1, 2013 //

The Fairy Princess is pleased to announce that she will be a Keynote Speaker at the LA Stage Alliance’s Stage Day Conference on May 18, 2013!

Wait, I have to do a speech? Awww nuts….

This is SO exciting! I mean, we will get to shoot the breeze and talk about all those silly kerfuffles that happened with Asian American representation in Theater over the last year, and oh MY will we laugh because it was all so….

Sorry, wait a minute – what’s that you have there?

Ah yes, Drama Desk nominations – so exciting, The Fairy Princess knows so many on this list, let’s take a look:

Billy Porter for KINKY BOOTS – well, naturally – he is amazing in that show. Christiane Noll for CHAPLIN – she’s so talented, remember her turn in RAGTIME as Mother? Oh, I loved it so much…

The Cast of WORKING is getting recognized! Nice!

Oh look, HERE LIES LOVE which is now at The Public is getting quite a few nods – Outstanding Musical, Outstanding Director of a Musical, Outstanding Lighting Design, Outstanding Lyrics and Outstanding Music – oh they must be so pleased!

Yeah, they look pretty happy

Ok, going down the list and going down the list and….ummmm – hold please….let me look at this list for Best Featured Actor and Actress in a Musical….oh dear.

NO!

THIS CANNOT HAPPEN AGAIN!!!!!!!

I thought we agreed!

I mean AAPAC made a statement!

The Roundabout Theater agreed to a close door meeting to discuss this…this…the…’Brownface’ and the faux Bollywood accents and the…I feel like I am Foghorn Leghorn and all the Award Committees are trying to prove they are chicken hawks!

Lemme get this straight Drama Desk Awards – in a musical about Asians, played by Asian Americans, there are no Individual Nominations (And btw, that is totally fine and happens a lot and it is not the reason for the following outburst).

But the people wearing heavy makeup and using crazy Bollywood gestures have Nominations for Best Featured Actor and Actress in A Musical!

For being directed to inhabit their roles with what the The New York Times said was “…silly imitation exoticism …in absurd burnt-umber makeup”

(The Fairy Princess wants to be quite clear, that no Actor or Actress takes the stage and gives any sort of performance in a Broadway revival without direction, so she is fairly certain that the choices made to portray Neville and Helena Landless were not from the Actors. This is not about the talent or a personal attack on these particular actors)

(Obviously the Actors do not go around their daily lives striking these kinds of poses – that would be RIDICULOUS)

Those two have the nominations, not these two…

Mr & Mrs. Ferdinand Marcos as played by Jose Llana & Ruthie Ann Miles

Again, so we are clear…these two

Hmm, -Rather unfortunate photo

And NOT any of the people pictured here

HERE LIES LOVE…and Asian Americans…er…Asian American Love

The Fairy Princess has a question for the Drama Desk Nominating Committee – If you nominate Caucasians made up to resemble what is a stereotype of an Asian person, isn’t that, well…endorsing the use of stuff like….oh, I don’t know….

THIS?

Or, well….

THIS?

Oh Drama Desk Committee, you have many, many things to worry about, so I will give you the answer…it’s not B.

THE ANSWER IS YES!

Because you see, the makeup is only a few kick ball changes away from..(.and I so hesitate to use this photo because, well, it’s AWFUL), but you see, by endorsing those kinds of performances with such a distinguished award, oh Drama Desk Nominating Committee, you are only a few shades away from endorsing…uh…THIS

Yeah, remember when people thought THIS was ok? (TOTALLY NOT OK!)

Aha! THIS is the part where everyone is going to get mad, and argue that using Brownface or Yellowface is fairly standard in our industry – alive and well since the 1800′s, and that Caucasians wearing exaggerated makeup to resemble Asians is, in no way, comparable to Minstrel performances that characterized and dehumanized African Americans shamefully in this country.

Because… let’s face it – everyone did The Mikado in High School, and they LOVED wearing the Yellowface, they thought it was fun! They did not, and do not think absurd shuffling, and forgetting consonants and wearing eyeliner from the corner of their eye till it nearly touches their ear was bad! They had a good time!…. And then they went and lost their virginity at the Cast Party afterwards – and yeah, they were probably still wearing the makeup because…’that’s hot’.

Cuz to us….

Cindy Cheung & Christine Toy Johnson at La Jolla's talkback...they look so pissed off I feel like I need to go practice piano and bring home an A plus. TIGER ACTRESSES! RRROOOOWWRRR

Cindy Cheung & Christine Toy Johnson
at La Jolla’s talkback…they look pissed, huh?

Yellowface or Brownface is the SAME as Blackface.

It really, really is.

Because what it says is – and think about this just a bit before everyone flies off the handle and starts bashing me on Broadwayworld.com – (and yes, I have seen the posts - nice grammar, Crackpots) – when you erase Asian faces from roles where they are possible, have them played in heavy makeup by Caucasians whose very portrayals mock their heritage, and then endorse those portrayals with an AWARD, it tells us one thing – loud and clear.

It tells us we don’t count.

And here’s the thing…if there is one thing we are known for, it’s being able to count.

It says “We are so used to not seeing you, that when we do see you, well…you are not as we had imagined, so we’d rather just forget the you that is you, and you know…make it up.”

Etcetera, Etcetera, Etectera….

I mean, if you can see this from space….

FROM SPACE

But when you go to the theater where there is a South Asian character and you don’t see this…

You see this…

Something is rotten, and we are nowhere near Denmark.

What are ‘we’ supposed to think? What would YOU think?

The Fairy Princess is NOT calling The Drama Desk Awards racist, because that would be absurd!

There have been many past winners of the Drama Desk Awards who are, in fact, Asian American – Francis Jue for David Henry Hwang’s YELLOWFACE

(In context, a title disturbingly appropriate.)

Deborah S. Craig won for The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee for her breakthrough performance as Marcy Park.

So it is NOT that The Drama Desk Awards are racist – and let’s stop throwing that word around like a frisbee – it is that…it is that they are so used to seeing Caucasians play Asian, that it didn’t mean a damn thing to them. And that is the saddest part of all.

Theater is supposed to break the stereotypes, not endorse them.

It’s supposed to lift you up, and by ‘you’, I mean everyone.

The Drama Desk Awards DO have 3 Nominations this year for Asian Americans -

Joel de la Fuente: OUTSTANDING SOLO PERFORMANCE – Hold These Truths

Jane Wang – OUTSTANDING MUSIC IN A PLAY – Strange Tales of Liaozhai

Eugene Ma – OUTSTANDING MUSIC IN A PLAY – The Man who Laughs

The Fairy Princess wishes them well. She actually wishes everyone well – but truthfully what would be great is if the cast of HERE LIES LOVE sits right in front, so no matter WHO wins, they are seen.

We. Are. Seen.

And, scene.

Finally, for all the people who comment, who are sooooo threatened by the ability to see something a different way, I just ask you – why do you like theater? Do you like it because you learn something when you go? Do you like it because it can make the world brighter? Or, do you just like calling me a bitch?

Because the reason I write this is not because I ‘like’ theater, it is because I love theater. I have devoted my life to it. I just want it to be better, for everyone. I want people of all races to be able to GO to the theater and see themselves.

Seeing yourself is powerful. Seeing yourself is empowering. Seeing yourself is halfway to becoming the person you want to be.

I had a friend who is unfortunately gone now, and what he always used to say is “If they knew better, they would do better” – and this blog is to point out that sometimes people do not know, and I just try to explain to them that they need to do better. So simple. I just say it…well….

In a really snarky way.

Because…that’s me.

Anyway, this is a thrilling awards season, and I wish all the Nominees of everything well, besides….

Werd!

Tags Billy Porter, Broadway, Chaplin, Christiane Noll, David Byrne, David Henry Hwang, Deborah S. Craig, Donna Lynne Champlin, Drama Desk Awards, Francis Jue, Here lies Love, Kinky Boots, Manu Narayan, Ragtime, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, The Public Theater, Theater, Tony Awards, Working, Yellowface

Categories Diversity

It’s time to throw down a Straight…Alliance that is

March 29, 2013 //

A lot has been said this last week about a certain subject….

TEAM KHALEESI!!!!!!! (We Mother of Dragons have to stick together)

TEAM KHALEESI!!!!!!! (We Mothers of Dragons have to stick together)

No, no, no, no, no, no…..must not be distracted (But OMG, is not EVERYONE on pins and needles for Season 3? COME ON!)

What we, in the States have been watching closely this past week is not some sport that takes way too much attention and air time, or some Scandalous television show that has fairly graphic sex scenes for a show on ‘regular’ television (Ok, Ok, I just am OBSESSED with Kerry Washington’s mouth when she pulls a Chandra Wilson (but in an Olivia Pope way) monologue on people)

No, we’ve been watching these folks:

The Supremes...I mean, the Supreme Court Justices of the United States of America

Not quite as attractive as these folks:

I seriously have a problem

But those Justices have the ability to change the lives of some people I know and love, people like, well….these folks -

Or these two, who had to fly to New York City to put a ring on it….

Or you know…any of the people I know, who I have trusted to hold my child….

Relax, it was Halloween!

Here’s the thing – this:

Equality – UNDER THE LAW

is not going to hurt you!

It’s not going to change how you talk to your kids, it’s not going to change that you need to walk your dog before you leave the house for work, it’s not going to change the fact that Mayor Bloomberg is right and you shouldn’t buy that sugary beverage with the 12 tablespoons of sugar in it to go with your fast food….

But it could enhance the lives of people like…well, like….some of these people…

Photo by Brian Putnam

Or this guy….

Or them….

The point is, it’s about the LAW. It is not about a book that has a dozen different authors, half of whom were cut out by King James because he was the King and he didn’t like what he was reading…or that he couldn’t read the Latin, so he had it translated, and then other people didn’t like some of the things, so they edited down, and now all sorts of ‘lost Bible texts’ have been showing up in the middle of the desert saved by some Ancient Egyptian Hoarder. It is a book where the contributing authors had the ‘intent’ of teaching and relating moral questions that can be useful…it’s not, it was never intended to be clinical or accurate.

Because miracles and such are not clinically quantifiable, and we do not need them to be. We just have to believe….

Otherwise I would be stoned for wearing white – and not just after Labor Day in the Hamptons!

Or my Father could have offered my sexual services to a teeming mob, so that they did not kill someone visiting the house.

Or..how about this- if you had to, in this modern age, find your way to a place you had never been before- would you use a compass or would you use Mapquest? Cuz the compass did not even work that well in Christopher Columbus’s time…I shudder to think of what kind of mess you would get into in Lower Manhattan!

The point is – this is the United States of America – not the “United as long as we all think and act exactly the same” America – and we get to be different. We get to celebrate our Diversity every day, and we are lucky to be able to do so. So if you know an LGBT person, if there is one in your Family, or someone you work with – it’s not your ‘job’ to judge them, it’s your duty to fight for their equality, the same way equality was fought for YOU by people that came before.

That is my relative, Mike Quill, Union Leader of the TWU – they fought, among other things, for equal pay regardless of race. When he passed, Martin Luther King Jr wrote his obituary

People you never met – you ride on their backs…we all do.

And speaking OF Martin Luther King, Jr.

So that, truly, is the point.

It’s going to happen – either now or later, and we are all only as good as our actions.

What he said…

I will tell you a story about the first Gay Wedding I went to. It was in Australia. My Cousin, Ralph was marrying his longtime Partner. Now Ralph had 3 siblings, none of whom attended the wedding – in fact, his Sister told me she thought it was ‘disgusting’. His Mother and Father were there, because as his Father said to me, “He’s my Boy”. I was in Cairns visiting my Grandmother who was then 90 years old…or maybe the 90th was coming up, anyway it was the same year – I went four times that year, so the timeline is off in my head. (Oh – and he had tons of friends there, so we did not miss his siblings at all, it was a lovely party, but I am jumping ahead)

There was a ton of debate – not to me, I was singing, I was GOING to be there – amongst those of the Family who were going to be invited, as to whether or not they would attend. As my Grandmother was in her 90th year, I waited a bit before I brought it up, because I was not, honestly, sure of what she was going to say. The world was a different place from when she had grown up. She was born in 1910. She had seen telephones come into homes, she had seen cars become an everyday item. She had seen the television go from black and white to color, and she had even managed to email. You might think, at that point, that she would have said ‘that’s enough, I’ve seen enough change in my life’.

I said, “Grandma, you know I am singing at Ralphie’s wedding“. She said she knew. I asked her “Are you going to go?” And she said, “Well of course I’m going to go – I’m invited, aren’t I? We’re family aren’t we? I go to ALL the Family weddings.”

And that was that.

As Family, we were equal in my Grandmother’s eyes.

As Citizens of the United States, we deserve that as well.

And if you do not like what I’m saying….Kiss my Fan Tan Fannie!

I usually do not post photos of my son on this blog, because he is so cute I think someone will steal him. After all, he was born in the Year of the Dragon and we all know what happened to Khaleesi in Season 2! (Damn Magicians). But I wanted you to see part of his Family…and this is only PART (and most of y’all I didn’t put in because I thought you’d yell at me or cuz u r on a big, fat TV show).

And even if you WERE to attempt to try and steal him, all of these were months ago and he doesn’t look like this anymore…

He’s cuter.

Tags Avenue Q, Book of Mormon, fag hags, GLBT, Marriage Equality, Straight Allies

Categories Bears, Celebrate Your Gay Friends, Diversity, gay pride, Gay Republicans, Giving, GLBT

An #Acorn Grows Off Broadway

March 28, 2013 //

Many moons ago – how long has it been since The Fairy Princess blogged…a while, apologies, my kid is almost 10 months as of this writing and he is pulling himself up on everything in an attempt to give me heart failure and himself a concussion every ten minutes.

Anyway, way back those many moons ago, I was sent a Casting breakdown for a new musical called BUNTY BERMAN PRESENTS, which was supposed to take place in Bollywood – which, if you have never heard of it, is India’s Hollywood only with more musical numbers and no full frontal nudity. (Just kidding Bollywood, I know who you are)

Bollywood is a wonderful place full of talented people. People who sing, and dance, and act – often at the same time. They are a People who Perform for People, and they make way more films than the United States Film Industry.

“Nothing’s better than more, more, more” – Graphic stolen from Businessweek article

So I was thrilled to hear that The Acorn Theater was going to do a new musical based on this concept until I read the Casting Breakdown which stated “NOTE: We are open to seeing actors who are non Indian but who can believably play Indian characters.“

This was super not cool. This was like saying, “We thought that hideous Bollywood-esque production of PIPPIN in Chicago was a GREAT idea!

Boy, this looks kinda sari, doesn’t it
(Jen Bludgen & Co in Circle Theatre’s PIPPIN)

This was like saying Moises Kaufman is going to have me over for Passover Seder!

This was like saying the RSC was right! (Which is LUDICROUS because everyone knows that ACT is actually right!)

This was like saying everyone was ok with no South Asians in South Asia….actually, it wasn’t ‘like‘, was it? That was what it was ACTUALLY saying.

It was looking to be a very “Drood” Bunty….with everyone in Brownface and accenting up a storm…and The Fairy Princess did use it as an example of what the trickle down effect can be when we “Whitewash’ Asian Americans out of Asia.

However, Director Scott Elliott very sneakily grabbed a page from the ACT Playbook and yep, he gone and dun it!

In a musical set in India, he cast South Asians!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not only that – he cast Erik Avari…who I j’adore as Bunty!

Erick Avari aka Bunty Berman

WHY do I j’adore?

BECAUSE HE IS IN THE MUMMY!!!!!!!!

The Fairy Princess has an unusual love for that film…and all it’s many spinoffs…she has even, dare I confess, watched that one about The Scorpion King when he was a young man…anyway, as Whitney used to sing, “it’s not right, but it’s ok”…but I mean COME ON a Mummy that comes back to life and is HOT? What’s not to love?

Seriously, WHO does not love THE MUMMY?

Anyway, not ONLY are there people who were born in India playing the role of someone who was born in India….wait a minute…I can’t…I have to….can we stop for a moment and just yell SHUT THE FRONT DOOR!!!!!!!!! This is AWESOME!

Right, George?

It was the LAST thing I ever expected, given the Casting Breakdown that went out. I thought it was going to be a hot mess that would make everyone’s third eye get a twitch. Honestly, I did. I was wrong.

So here’s the deal, The Fairy Princess wrote about the “Broadway Brown” of Edwin Drood and mentioned that Bunty was coming up and possibly not having South Asians in the production. People got very mad, and tweeted mean and nasty things to The Fairy Princess, things that were ignorant and based in racism and all sorts of stuff. Things got a little threatening, and things got quite heated. Why everyone was so ‘het up’ over a show that had already announced it’s closing was the real mystery.

All that kerfuffle made The Fairy Princess kinda….not mad, not sad, certainly not glad, (I’m not effin’ Anne of Green Gables) but just a little tiny bit exasperated at how many Caucasians tried to ‘school’ me on what a ‘show within a show’ means and how many were convinced it was their ‘right’ to use exaggerated face paint and use exaggerated gestures to typify a culture because when they did that role in college, they had a great time.

The Fairy Princess was feeling a bit…well, annoyed that every time she wrote a blog post it had to include a map to show where in Asia they were white washing the culture from. The Fairy Princess was starting to think that the umbrella was not adequate for the sh*tstorm that seemed to rain down on her each and every time she pointed out things every Director should be on board with – things like context and authenticity and yes, creativity.

The Fairy Princess’s wings had drooped and her tiara needed a polish. But her crystal ball told her to not lose faith, to check back in and see what the situation was with Bunty Berman Presents, after all….anything can happen in the wood….

The Fairy Princess put on her Mary Poppins “Spoonful of Sugar” recording, and went internet searching, and low and behold…. it seems…it seems…it seems…the point has been made.

Which makes TWICE! (San Fran’s ACT was 1st)

The Fairy Princess does not take credit – maybe this was their plan ALL ALONG?!?!?! Who knows? But perhaps, perhaps she helped a little bit. Perhaps being a mouthy Asian American with an Internet connection has hit a chord? A Dominant Seventh? Who knows what would have been the result if there had been blogging back when Miss Saigon was opening on Broadway with a Caucasian playing a Eurasian Pimp?

It seems that people are listening. Or reading, rather.

(I mean, no one would actually be LISTENING to me unless I was speaking at a conference…I’m available for weddings and bar mitzvahs too, btw…) Anyway…

Let’s DO this thing:

The Fairy Princess would like to congratulate the Cast of BUNTY BERMAN PRESENTS: Erick Avari, Raja Burrows, Nick Choksi, Katie Chung, Sevan Greene, Andrew Guilarte, Shoba Narayanan, Lyn Philistine, Debargo Sanyal, Pallavi Sastry, Gayton Scott, Lipica Shah, Alok Tewari and Sorab Wadia

She would also like to give five tips of the tiara to Director of The New Group, Scott Elliot, who is helming this production – written by Olivier Award nominee Ayub Khan Din and Grammy and Emmy Award winner Paul Bogaev.

Careful the things you write, people will listen….

Categories Diversity

Wait…there are Asian people in China? Well done #ACT

February 27, 2013 //

As you know…The Fairy Princess has had some things to say about casting, particularly theatrical casting – both in the USA and abroad.

I’m thinking…I’m thinking

Ahem.

Just a few things (thing 1, thing 2, thing 3). We’ve gone from Chinese people being eliminated in Mythical China, to Chinese people being eliminated from a Chinese play that is set in real, actual China but shown onstage in the UK, to South Asian people being mocked on Broadway…it’s been a busy year for neglect racism.

Or as I call it in terms that render it more a medical condition, and therefore treatable – Lazydirectitum aka Castingidiotum aka Artisticdirectorless

There have been several theater conferences on the issue – a forum hosted by the venerable East West Players in Los Angeles, “Open Door” in the UK hosted by British Equity, and most recently one held in Chicago hosted by Silk Road Rising Theater Company.

There was also a ‘talk back‘ at La Jolla Playhouse, and an upcoming March ‘closed door’ meeting at The Roundabout theater company, and now, FINALLY there has been some real, definitive action – a Master stroke has been dealt and it is a doozy.

A.C.T. – the American Conservatory Theater has taken aim at that pesky windmill of neglectful racism and in two, bold and daring moves, they have put the theater community on notice.

What is this you say? Wait, could it BE? Could there be a light at the end of the railroad tunnel? Is it possible?

The light shines brighter in San Francisco

YES, my Children, they have done it.

ACT is doing 2 shows with…wait for it….Asian people.

SHUT THE FRONT DOOR!

President George W. Bush can’t believe it EITHER

Boldly going where few have gone before in recent memory, ACT is doing Stuck Elevator in April 2013 – a new work based on a real undocumented Chinese Delivery Man in New York, who was stuck in an elevator for 81 hours. Poor guy.

(The Fairy Princess was stuck in an elevator once, in New York City, but it was only for forty five minutes and no one wrote a musical about it because all it would have entailed was The Fairy Princess sitting her butt on the elevator floor waiting for someone to realize she was missing, so it is good that no one ever optioned that particular story from her life.)

The Fairy Princess is gobsmacked! She even knows two of the folks in the cast – Raymond J. Lee (He’s in The Mikado Project trailer, rapping A Wandering Minstrel )

and Joseph Anthony Foronda.

Joseph Anthony Foronda & Erin Quill in 50th Anniversary Production of Flower Drum Song at AMTSJ

Both of whom are exceptionally talented, and with whom The Fairy Princess is very honored to have shared the stage and screen with.

BUT WAIT THERE IS MORE!

ACT is not done!

What? What you say? I KNOW, I know…you are very excited.

DANCE BREAK!

Ok that’s enough. Stop now. Because you will never, ever, never ever EVAH guess what ACT has planned!

They are going to take that same translation of The Orphan of Zha0, yes, the VERY one that The Royal Shakespeare Company had commissioned from James Fenton -

RSC’s Poster

and….AND.…They are going to put a Chinese American Actor in the lead role!

DROP MIC! Grab a towel and let a peon wipe your brow, ACT, THIS is Victoria Beckham ‘MAH-JOR’!

Gregory Doran must be so pissed! (And not in the British ‘pissed’ = ‘drunk’ way, but pissed off)

He’s saying “What, what? The Colonies? They’ve done what? And who is in the Cast? Who? Shown me up, have they? Made legitimate casting decisions based on text, have they? Upstarts! Well I NEVER!”

Yes. We know that, Mr. Doran.

You never. Because you did not feel that British East Asians should be in a repertory season, so you just thought it was better to not bother with them at all in a show set in China, that you went over to China to do research on. Because even though there are conservatory trained Actors in the UK, no one would ‘buy’ them in a Brecht play, in your opinion, so you just felt…eh, why bother?

Oh, you are back Mr. Doran, sorry I was doing a gig of happiness – well, I’m Irish, sometimes you have to…

Do you want to know who they cast Mr. Doran?

Those pesky people at ACT?

THIS GUY:

BD Wong, Actor

You know what? When The Fairy Princess puts them one under the other, the photos, doesn’t that little boy seem like he could possibly grow up and be TONY Winner BD Wong?

OH.

OH.

You see, Mr. Doran, That’s the point. The point is – is that there is going to be an Asian American Actor portraying an Asian person!

He’s not going to be a dog puppet….

Joan Iyolia & Chris Lew Kum Hoi in rehearsal
Playing the dog, sorry, dog puppet at The RSC’s Production of The Orphan of Zhao

He is not going to have to ‘learn’ how to tape his eyes…..

Or use a terrible accent…..

He is just going to get to be the Lead, in a production that is set in a country, where, historically, his Family may have been from.

It is mind-bogglingly simple. It is the Casting that need not speak it’s name. It’s a home run.

So what, Dear Reader can we do to support this bold and brave casting choices?

We can all buy tickets and go. That’s how you vote in theater, with your dollars and common sense.

Look, you may be reading this as an Asian American Actor, or you may be reading this as a theater fan, or you may be reading this because you are going to post on the comments how awful I am and how I know nothing (opinions are indeed like a**holes, everyone has one) but for whatever reason, you are here. Don’t waste this beautiful opportunity to be part of the change of American theater. Buy at ticket to these productions – and you know what?

KEEP BUYING TICKETS - go to the theater, go to film festivals – GO, GO, GO! Even if you don’t like the first thing you see, or the second – when you see that the theater community is reaching out, reach back.

One of the biggest obstacles in including Asian American performers more into our Theater culture is that ‘no one‘ will buy tickets to see an Asian American as a lead. Prove them wrong. You’re someone, aren’t you?

I don’t have a crystal ball

Ok I lied, I have a crystal ball (Photo by Dr. Michelle Ko)

I borrowed it.
(Photo by Dr. Michelle Ko)

But if I did, I would tell you to keep your eyes open because this is a very encouraging and exciting thing.

Which is great, because recent reports have been upsetting.

Although, I must admit, if American Theater is going to keep this up – The Fairy Princess may never ‘have‘ to blog again – and wouldn’t it be loverly?

Clang, Clang, Clang San Francisco – well done!

TEN Waves of the Wand to ACT – and the Artistic Director, Carey Perloff.

Tags ACT, American Conservatory Theater, BD Wong, Carey Perloff, Casting, Chinese Hamlet, Chinese History, Diversity, East West Players, Gregory Doran, Joseph Anthony Foronda, La Jolla Playhouse, Nightingale, Orphan of Zhao, Raymond J. Lee, RSC, San Francisco, Silk Road Rising, Stuck In an Elevator

Categories Uncategorized

Hope, Sadness & Thank You Kevin Gray

February 13, 2013 //

The Fairy Princess wanted to take a brief moment and congratulate the British East Artists on their award of Nee Hao Magazine’s Man and Woman of the Year Award.

The fight for recognition in theater or for those in the UK, theatre, is so very complicated and exhausting, that it is truly, truly a wonderful thing to see their work recognized in a way that the US Asian Americans have yet to be, though AAPAC is doing great work under the leadership of Pun Bandhu.

Here is the article from Nee Hao and as part of the “international support’ team, I am absolutely thrilled.

NEE HAO’S MAN AND WOMAN OF 2012: BRITISH EAST ASIAN ARTISTS

February 5, 2013 8:03 pm

After much deliberation from the judges in reviewing a pool of impressive candidates, a decision was made. On February 9, the winner of the first-ever Nee Hao’s Man and Woman of the Year Award is to be received by the British East Asian Artists (BEAA), a collation of amazing men and women from diverse professions involved in directing, acting, writing, broadcasting and filmmaking. Normally the award should go to an individual man and woman, but this year an exception is to be made because of the special achievement of this group. A full list of the other finalists will be in articles to follow.

The Judges’ Decision

BEAA was selected by a stellar line of judges comprising of:

Dr. Catherine Xiang In charge of Mandarin section at LSE; responsible for Asian Languages, liaison for Confucius Institute Business, London
Raymond Wong MBE, the Honorary Chairman of the Bristol Chinese Association
Dee Lo, presenter and co-producer of BBC Radio Chinatown in Manchester
GK Tang, the founder and entrepreneur behind OrientalUK.com based in the North East
Ben Donn, Entrepreneur and founder of V Town Events based in Manchester.

Editor of Nee Hao Magazine Steven Ip, who was not part of the judging panel, had this to say: “Their courage in breaking barriers to incorporate more East Asians into the arts and cultural sectors is truly inspirational. Fighting racism, prejudice and underrepresentation, the BEAA truly deserves universal recognition; I am proud that Nee Hao has played a small part in recognising their contributions”.

Gathering together in 2012, the BEAA campaigned against the Royal Shakespeare Company’s (RSC) adaptation of the Chinese play “Orphan of Zhao”. The RSC only cast three British East Asian actors in the play, reflecting a lack of the organisation’s dedication to equal opportunities-casting. The pressure exerted on the RSC through BEAA’s efforts in rallying up online support resulted in a written statement by the RSC to review their policies. Although it is impossible to recount all the individuals involved in the initiative, notable mentions have been made regarding Daniel York, Anna Chen, Dr. Broderick D.V. Chow, Kathryn Golding, Paul Hyu, Michelle Lee, Chowee Leow, Hi Ching, Jennifer Lim, Lucy Sheen, and Amanda Rogers.

man-of-the-year

Victor Wong, Executive Director of the Chinese Canadian National Council, who co-nominated the group stated:

“Through their efforts, the BEAA successfully challenged the racist assumptions and stereotyping of the theatre industry. Their efforts to break the glass ceiling of “invisibility” in the UK also benefits the British Chinese and East Asian communities in general, and especially for young people at the beginning of their careers. The BEAA were able to attract international support and also engaged with important allies including Equity representatives, media, funders and political representatives”.

Yinsey Wang, contributing editor of Nee Hao, who also supported the nomination of BEAA, stated of the Nee Hao’s Man and Woman of the Year project:

“We wanted this award to support what we feel is lacking in the British East Asian community: unity. The BEAA has shown dedication to a truly unified cause and enchanted the imagination of the British East Asian. As a British East Asian, I feel empowered to know that together we can make substantial differences in Britain, and can even engage the serious problems that affect the heart of the international community, such as racism, underrepresentation and misunderstanding”.

BEAA continues to create extensive ripples in the arts and culture of Britain, providing a forum for creatives to share and develop their work. Nee Hao is proud to celebrate this year’s men and women from the BEAA that have outlined 2012 as an important step forward for all British East Asians.

For more information about BEAA, visit britisheastaa.wix.com. To read their 30 October 2012 statement, click here.

A statement by BEAA is to be made at the awards ceremony and shall be reported on after the festivities of Nee Hao Magazine’s Chinese New Year Show in London, which includes a fashion show, performances, a charity raffle in support of Chinese orphaned and abandoned children, and delightful culinary creations.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The Fairy Princess also wanted to take a moment, and recognize the passing of a true Artist and Pioneer for API performers, particularly those of us who fall into the even smaller category of “Eurasian’ aka “Hapa” aka “Mixed Race” performers – Kevin Gray, known for his work in Miss Saigon, The King and I, Phantom of the Opera, The Lion King, and many more – died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 55.

(If you click on the names of the shows, you will find articles from Playbill.com on his many successes)

Here is an interview of Kevin when he was doing The King and I at The MUNY

When I looked at my Facebook and Twitter feeds, I was staggered by how many of my friends had worked with him – friends of all different backgrounds and so many different kinds of shows – he touched them all through his work and his friendship. He was a pioneer simply because he was a wonderful performer and his talent was second to none.

This is not an obituary of Kevin, it is simply a thank you – I am not qualified to write one for him, but Theatermania and Playbill have done so, and if you click the words there, you will see them.

The Fairy Princess wanted to acknowledge that though we are all still fighting for recognition on our world stages, there was a brilliant warrior fighting that same fight, simply by being a standout in all he did.

Rest in Peace Kevin Gray – many thoughts and prayers to your Wife and Family.

And, Thank you.

Tags British East Asians, Diversity, Eurasian, Hapa, Kevin Gray, Miss Saigon, Nee How Magazine, Royal Shakespeare Company, The King and I, The Lion King, The Phantom of the Opera

Categories Diversity, Uncategorized

Casting Breakdown for BUNTY BERMAN PRESENTS

January 30, 2013 //

Monday, Jan. 7, 2013, 8:09 AM PacificBUNTY BERMAN PRESENTS Theatre V/T: THE NEW GROUP – Acorn Theatre AEA – ANTC CONTRACT NEW YORK, NY		Artistic Director/Director: Scott Elliott Book and Lyrics: Ayub Khan Din Music: Ayub Khan Din andPaul Bogaev Choreographer: Josh Prince Casting Director: Judy Henderson Casting Assoc: Kimberly Graham Rehearsal: February 24, 2013 Preview: April 10, 2013 Open: TBD Close: June 1, 2013

SUBMIT ELECTRONICALLY		JUDY HENDERSON & ASSOCIATES

NOTE: We are open to seeing actors who are non Indian but who can believably play Indian characters.

[BUNTY BERMAN] Male. 50. Needs to be able to play South Asian but open to all ethnicities. Mr. Show Business! A Bollywood producer/director who’s charming, resilient, resourceful, and going broke after a series of flops for his studios. He’s loyal to the point it ensures his dream’s survival. A self-made man who came from the humblest beginnings, and built this studio with his best friend and the leading man of his greatest films, Raj Dahwan. Boss to Nizwar and Dolly. Must sing.
[RAJ DAHWAN] Male. 49. Needs to be able to play South Asian but open to all ethnicities. Made his way to Bombay to be part of a new business set to boom: cinema! He was convinced by Bunty Berman he had what it took to be a star and went on to be the greatest Hero in Indian film. However, fat, over the hill and over the top, Raj is now a laughing stock facing forced exile but this Hero doesn’t want to go quietly into the night…even if he should. Must sing. ROLE CAST

[NIZWAR] Male. 38. Needs to be able to play South Asian but open to all ethnicities. Bunty’s right hand man and frequent collaborator, a screen writer with a Communist streak in him a mile long. He’s generally a voice of reason for Bunty but an admitted coward with big ideal but questions whether he has the guts to realize them. A loyal and devoted employee. Must sing.

[SALEEM] Male. 21. Needs to be able to play South Asian but open to all ethnicities. A spot boy, a general dogsbody/servant, usually attached to the stars of the movies. An orphan from the streets who believes he can one day become a star. Earnest, a romantic, and filled with integrity, but empty of the belief in himself to reach for his dreams. Until he comes under the mentorship of Raj and gets to show Shambervi there’s more to him than just tea. Must sing ROLE CAST

[SHAMBERVI] Female. 20. Needs to be able to play South Asian but open to all ethnicities. Smart, ambitious, and knows how the system works: a Heroine only has a small window of opportunity to make her mark and ensure a career for herself. She’s got all the talent in the world but is being dragged down by Raj’s decay. She’s not looking for love but is thunderstruck by the handsome Saleem when he consoles her over the studio’s woes. Her own woman in a time when it wasn’t so popular or accepted to be one. Must sing. ROLE CAST

[DOLLY] Female. 38. Needs to be able to play South Asian but open to all ethnicities. Bunty’s long suffering secretary who has a deep affection for her boss. Dolly handles the day to day operations of the studio and puts more sweat into making it run smoothly than anybody. She’s level-headed, strong willed, the voice of reason with more of a spine than Nizwar but is no less loyal to Bunty. Must sing.

[SHANKAR DASS] Male. 55. Needs to be able to play South Asian but open to all ethnicities. One of Bombay’s most successful gangsters. He came up the hard way, crawling and murdering his way to the top. A hard man who has recently become obsessed with a torch song singer, the enigmatic Sandra de Souza, who he hired to be his own night club’s headliner in hopes of winning her but finds his attempts always spurned. The rebuffs to a man who is used to getting everything his own way is driving madder by the day. Fueling his rage is the suspicion his son, Chandra, is having an affair with her. ROLE CAST

[CHANDRA DASS/SANDRA DE SOUZA] Male. 29. Needs to be able to play South Asian but open to all ethnicities. Grew up hating his father because of the way Shankar treated Chandra’s mother. And Chandra’s got the cunning and the drive to take his dad’s top spot. But more than just that, he has plans to become the biggest star in India under his persona, the stage siren Sandra de Souza! He intends to make his father’s lust for Sandra a weapon and the platform of Bunty Berman’s studio as the perfect launching pad to achieve his dreams as Sandra. Must sing.

[MOHAN BATT] Male. 30s-40s. Needs to be able to play South Asian but open to all ethnicities. One of Shankar’s henchmen. Loyal to his boss as long as he doesn’t have a better offer on the table. Brother of Mitlal.

[MOTILAL BATT] Male. 30s-40s. Needs to be able to play South Asian but open to all ethnicities. One of Shankar’s henchmen. Loyal to his boss as long as he doesn’t have a better offer on the table. Brother of Mohan.

SYNOPSIS: Set in a failing 1950s Bollywood studio, with songs in the style of Hollywood’s Golden Age, this sparkling and hilarious new musical from the author of New Group hits East is East and Rafta, Rafta…. Movie producer Bunty Berman has long been the toast of Bombay, but now Raj, his biggest star and best friend, is losing his lustre. When their new movie bombs, Bunty must navigate through divas, mobsters and ambitious tea-boys to keep his studio alive. A world premiere from the company that created Avenue Q and The Kid.
NOTE: The New Group is an important Off Broadway Theatre in New York City Our web site is:http://www.thenewgroup.org

Categories Uncategorized

Doing it a bit too Brown, Old Chap….No Roundaboudit

January 30, 2013 //

The Fairy Princess has been lax – and I admit it. I have not been blogging because there has been a new addition to the family. My Niece arrived on December 28, adding to the fun of my having a now, 8 month old, and my first niece who is nearing her second annum. So…blogging came a very distant second, third, fifth to the holidays and the naming days and actually all other days that could possibly have a name. I apologize, my wings were trying to beat quickly, but there was just SO MUCH happening I could not get a clear thought in my head.

Until I saw this.

What is that? Ceylonese Arm Wrestling?

Was ist das?

You may ask – and you may ask it in German, as I have just done. German would be the way to address this issue because, this issue cannot be addressed properly in English. It should have been able to be addressed in Sinhala or Tamil, but that would assume one has familiarity with the languages of Sri Lanka, formerly Ceylon, and one cannot assume, as Felix Unger warned us so many years ago.

If you have not been flap ball changing around The Broadway, you may not know that there is currently a revival of The Mystery of Edwin Drood playing at The Roundabout Theater. The premise of Drood, which was a novel that was never finished by Charles Dickens, is that we are watching a ‘show within a show’. Meaning we have been transported back in time to Victorian England to watch a show done by a Thespian troupe, who are giving us a show about a book that was never finished.

The musical has no ‘definitive’ ending. All we really have is the setup, and then after poor old Edwin has been ‘whacked’ every which way but Sunday, the audience gets to vote on who ‘did it’. Much merriment ensues. Technically you have to see the show several times to see all the different ways in which Old Edwin bites the dust. Therefore not only is it a show within in a show, it’s a moneymaker within a moneymaker. If you love it, you will go back to see it over and over until you are satisfied that you have exhausted every possible motive everyone could have possibly have had, and you will bask in the knowledge that you, good Sir, are a bona fide fan.

It is all very good to want to place things in Victorian England, I wouldn’t mind a place there myself – next to the Dowager Countess of Grantham if possible – but this is impossible because we live in 2013.

Yes, hard as it is to believe it, The Fairy Princess is beating her wings after the Mayan Calendar told us that life as we knew would end. (They did not predict the end of the world, the History Channel has been very clear on that matter, don’t get it twisted). And the Fairy Princess knew that two of the characters in the musical, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, are supposed to be from Ceylon. Which is now the country of Sri Lanka. But in 1870- something was Ceylon.

So when there was an announcement that Drood was coming back to Broadway, I was eager to see who would be cast as Helena and Neville Landless. All I knew was that they were both to have been from Ceylon. I have never been to Ceylon now Sri Lanka, guess where it is?

Oh. Sri Lanka borders Asia, The Middle East, and the Indian Ocean. If one were to own property in Sri Lanka, one could probably even see parts of Africa from their backyard. (Which would make Sarah Palin happy – she likes land masses viewable from backyards). The Fairy Princess loves research though, so she thought since she now knows WHERE Sri Lanka is, she would take a look at the people of Sri Lanka.

What do people of Sri Lanka look like? I thought I would take a look – Sri Lankan people in 1870…go!

Ceylonese Man Circa 1870

If I were casting the character of Neville Landless in Drood, I imagine that I would look to people who have appeared in musicals, on Broadway or National Tour, who may have South Asian heritage. (Actually you could go a lot of different ways with this, given where Sri Lanka is, but let’s go with the supremely easy choice of South Asian).

It would be refreshing to have that Diversity in the Cast of a Broadway show. It would also fit with the storyline – in fact, it is WRITTEN IN the storyline, and…there are lots of people to bring in and sing for it. After all, since the Original Drood hit Broadway, we have had a whole crop of South Asian Broadway performers setting new standards. It is awesome! So…who would I call?

I might go with Aasif Mandvi, who played Ali Hakim in the last Broadway Revival of OKLAHOMA! (And yes, I had to sing it to spell it)

Or…I mean, you could go with Dev Janki,

Dev Janki – Recipient of the Lucille Lortel Award for Best Choreography

Or certainly, without a doubt I would call the star of the only South Asian Broadway show, BOMBAY DREAMS, the one and only Manu Narayan Here’s a clip of him (pay no attention to Mike Meyers or Jessica Alba, you can DO it!)

Yep, any of the aforementioned Dudes would have done a great job of representing a Native of Ceylon, and they have the chops to sing it, dance it, and have been on Broadway stages previously. Easy peasy. I was able to cast that part in two minutes.

But let’s see who Director, Scott Ellis went with:

Andy Karl, Native of Ceylon (Now Sri Lanka)

Now, Wikipedia tells us that it is not actually clear to what extent Helena and Neville Landless are Ceylonese, or Sri Lankan. Perhaps the choice was that Neville Landless is NOT a Native of Ceylon, perhaps he is a British Ex-Pat, who just lived there and got some sun….

I could have gone with that, till the NY Times pointed out, “silly imitation exoticism‘ and “...absurd burnt umber makeup‘. Which seems to imply that the Director, Scott Ellis, is actually meaning to have a Caucasian Man put on “Brownface’ and dance around in an imitation of what is South Asian traditional dance.

No!

Who would DO that?

THE MYSTERY! OF! BROADWAY BROWN!

Ok, perhaps the part of Neville has been cast with what the NY Times calls ‘absurd burnt umber’ leanings, but let’s turn to the part of Helena. After all, brothers and sisters don’t always look alike.

I mean, in my Family, which is Eurasian, we all look completely different. I decided I would try again – given that Neville has been painted in shades of Umber, I guess that the Director was going for a “Native” look – so I took a Google walk, and here is what a Native Girl from Ceylon (Now Sri Lanka) looked like in the 1870′s.

A Native Girl of Ceylon circa 1870

And here is how Director, Scott Ellis saw the role:

Jessie Mueller, Native of Ceylon circa 1870

Well.

How awkward.

This is as bad as a white guy playing the King of Siam…oh wait…yeah, see – that rarely happens anymore. This is as bad as the Engineer being played by Jonathan Pryce!

Yeah, ummm, Broadway doesn’t DO this anymore, right?

The issue is not whether or not Helena and Neville are technically Ex-Pats of England brought up in Ceylon, or that this is a show within a show and they are portraying actors from Victorian England who would have portrayed natives of Ceylon in burnt umber makeup – the issue is – why?

Why would you, in the year 2013, find it a strong directorial choice to have two Caucasian actors put on makeup and ‘exoticism’?

If they are English ex-Pats, wouldn’t they be as Caucasian as they both are, but just wear the Native dress and perhaps have an accent? OR…here is a thought – if you are to make the determination that the characters are Native Ceylonese, maybe cast some Actors who look like they could be from that area?

I mean, why Cast this way in the year 2013?

This just does not make any sense!

This is like telling me that Julie Taymor and Bono hang out and go for long walks together! This is like saying that Porgy & Bess should have had an All Asian American Cast! This is like saying that The M*therf*cker with the Hat should be cast with all White Peo…oh wait, didn’t they do that in Connecticut? Nevermind. It’s Connecticut. The point is – all those thing are ridiculous!

I mean, if Neville and Helena were from Africa – which, as you can tell on the map, is just right across the sea from Sri Lanka, and NOT implausible, would you allow Caucasian actors to put on Blackface? They damn well wouldn’t. And THAT is actually Equality – if you would not do it to one Minority, you do not to it to the Others. Even Steven in this case, works just fine.

But wait, they will probably say that they looked, but could not find any South Asian Actors. Yes, yes, we hear this all the time – no Asian actors to be found, thus we were FORCED to use Caucasians in the role.

Really? Couldn’t find any South Asian Actors and Actresses….I see….what? They were all off working for the Wachowskis on their next Sci Fi movie because Tom Hanks is now going to do Broadway and there was an Opening? Right. Nice try.

I mean, is the whole cast of the Bombay Dreams busy?

The Fairy Princess is astounded. Here is a show which is written to include South Asian characters, and they were erased in favor of a what? In favor of a Mikado-esque depiction of the Natives of Ceylon now Sri Lanka!

(Before we get too crazy, please note: Actors are hired, directed, and give the performances that the Creative Team wishes them to give. So no hating on Andy Karl and Jessie Mueller - they are both very talented Broadway performers. All my Caucasian friends who have seen the show have raved about it. As for the rest, the Fairy Princess is reasonably assured you would understand their feelings.)

Most would ask why, Fairy Princess? Why does this tilt your tiara? It is a limited run, and who is this really going to hurt? I mean really?

What effect can one show have on an under represented group?

Well, l received a Casting Breakdown from a new show that the Acorn Theater is presenting, it’s called BUNTY BERMAN PRESENTS -It is a show about Bollywood. It is written for an entire Indian Cast by a writer from England named Ayub Khan Din.

Here is the first line of the Breakdown:

NOTE: We are open to seeing Actors who are Non Indian, but who can believably play Indian Characters.

I mean, if South Asian people don’t get to play South Asian on Broadway – why should they get to play themselves Regionally? Why, when it is so FUN for Caucasians to put on thick makeup and accents and have a rip roaring, R and L dropping, Sari wearing heck of a time?

The Fairy Princess has no answer for this. The Fairy Princess finds this very sad.

So five smacks of the wand to The Roundabout Theater and Director Scott Ellis – you had a chance to be a leader, and embrace Diversity in a show where it is part of the plot, and you chose not to. And if you still do not see what effect the casting of a Broadway show can have, what the trickle down is, then please go and re-read that line from the Bunty Berman Presents Breakdown.

And you know what?

KISS MY FAN TAN FANNIE!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A Statement just released by AAPAC:

Visit our website: http://www.AAPACnyc.org

AAPAC Opposes Brownface in Roundabout Broadway Production

After seeing The Roundabout Theatre Company’s Broadway production of “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” and receiving numerous complaints about the use of brownface in the production, AAPAC feels it is necessary to release the following public statement:

We were deeply disappointed to see white actors impersonating characters of South Asian descent complete with brown grease paint, appropriation of costumes and dance movements and relying on stereotypes in place of characterization. The obvious talents of the actors notwithstanding, the use of brownface had the effect of being extremely surreal and alienating, as if a joke was being told that was not intended for the Asian American community to hear.

We understand that the racism inherent in this musical is a reflection of the social mores within 19th century British panto and Music Hall traditions. Director Scott Ellis was being true to tradition, historical precedent, and to the story itself.

However, we would assert that if these characters came from the British colonies of Jamaica or Cameroon, and not the British colony of Ceylon (now present day Sri Lanka), blackface would never have been utilized in the same casual way. Today, you would never see a white actor in blackface playing the title role in “Othello” with the excuse of, “oh, well, that’s what was done in Shakespeare’s day.” We wonder why minstrelsy is acceptable when it comes to Asians?

The Roundabout production seems to show little awareness of the long history of Asian impersonation we are trying to put behind us or how racial politics and demographics have changed even in the 28 years since this show first premiered. There were a myriad of ways Mr. Ellis could have handled this issue with more sensitivity. For one, he could have hired actors of actual South Asian descent. Or, if he wanted to preserve white actors in these roles, the use of brownface would have been more ironic or satirical had the entire ensemble been cast multi-culturally. This would have been particularly effective since Hispanic-American star Chita Rivera was already in the cast. However, we have heard from quite a few members of the Asian acting community, including those with major Broadway credits, that requests from their representatives to secure an audition were denied.

The Roundabout Theatre Company does not have a good record when it comes to inclusive casting. Last year, we released a report looking at the percentages of actors of color hired at 16 of the top not-for-profit theatre companies in New York City over a five year span. The Roundabout made our list of the five theatre companies least likely to hire actors of color. In fact, they ranked second to lowest.

We are reaching out to the Roundabout to engage in closed-door discussions about these issues and are hopeful that they will accept our invitation. We are certain that their record does not reflect a conscious policy of exclusion and we hope that by bringing these issues to a more conscious level, the Roundabout can become an ally in an industry-wide commitment to more inclusive casting.

In the meantime, if you feel as strongly as we do, it would be very helpful if you take two minutes to send Artistic Director Todd Haimes a short missive via their FB page:

https://www.facebook.com/RoundaboutTheatreCompany.

Until there is conscious attention given to these issues throughout the industry, opportunities for American actors of Asian descent–and all actors of color– will never be truly equal.

Yours in Solidarity,

The AAPAC Steering Committee

Pun Bandhu, Cindy Cheung, Kimiye Corwin, Angel Desai, Siho Ellsmore, Christine Toy Johnson, Peter Kim, Julienne Hanzelka Kim, Nancy Kim Parsons, Kenneth Lee, Allan Mangaser, Eileen Rivera

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

UPDATE FROM THE ROUNDABOUT THEATER COMPANY PAGE:

Thank you for your post. Listening to our audiences is at the core of Roundabout’s values, so we appreciate all feedback and take it very seriously.

Roundabout’s leadership team is planning to meet with Asian American Performers Action Coalition to discuss their concerns. In the meantime, we will refrain from further comment here on Facebook, and look forward to a constructive meeting.

Tags Assif Mandvi, Broadway, Brownface, Chita Rivera, Dev Janki, Diversity, Manu Narayan, musicals, Roundabout Theater, Scott Ellis, The Mystery of Edwin Drood

Categories Diversity, Show Tunes

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