The Fairy Princess would like to talk a moment about Diversity in Casting.
Yes, it seems odd, given that this blog tends to be about Women who love Gay Men who love them back just as much, but one must have outside interests, and I did state at the beginning, that I would perhaps sound off on this issue.
To give a brief background on my particular tiara and wings, my heritage is Chinese, Irish, and Welsh and I am a dual citizen of the United States and Australia. I am married to a (straight) man who was born in Korea and came to the USA when he was 8 years old. I have traveled to countries that include Turkey, Greece, Australia, Ireland, Canada, China, Japan and I plan to add Europe in general when my son is a bit older.
My point is, I’m well aware of what the world looks like – would that Musical Theater looked the same. Broadway is not where one goes to find much diversity in casting. For example, I, (see me, I’m posting a photo of me as well as a little performance done for the 50th Anniversary of Flower Drum Song )
This is TFP, Erin Quill
am not going to be called in for a lead in some of these shows currently on Broadway, shows like Once, Memphis, War Horse, Book of Mormon, Clybourne Park, End of the Rainbow, Evita, Fela, Porgy & Bess, Ghost the Musical, Harvey, Jersey Boys, Mary Poppins, Nice Work If You Can Get It, One Man Two Guvnors, Streetcar Named Desire, Peter & the Starcatcher…I would make a fierce Elphaba, and who would know what I look like, but to my knowledge there has never been an Asian American Elphaba, and it was only recently they had the first African American Elphaba, Saycon Sengbloh, so…I’m not holding my breath. I could go into Sister Act as a Nun, but it is closing, and I have not been asked…I could go into Mamma Mia as Rosie, but that part is currently being played by Lauren Cohn.
So with all the opportunities currently available to Asian Americans on Broadway, ahem, imagine how excited TFP was when she learned that La Jolla Playhouse is going to produce a new musical by Duncan Sheik & Steven Sater, creators of the hit show, Spring Awakening!
What? It is going to be directed by acclaimed New York director, Moises Kaufman, who helped create The Laramie Project. Awesome! It is called The Nightingale, and it is based on a Hans Christian Anderson fable about AN EMPEROR IN CHINA WHO IS CONFINED WITHIN THE WALLS OF THE FORBIDDEN CITY AND THE BIRD THAT CHANGES HIS LIFE.
CHINA!!!!
Well, TFP happens to be CHINESE! Which would mean, in a perfect world, that she should get a call…or other Asian American Musical Theater friends should get a call – because it’s set in China.
Please read that last sentence again – China. In Feudal China. The play is set in Feudal China. Guess who is playing The Emperor? Not living legend Chinese American Actor Extraordinaire, Alvin Ing, the man who holds the record for the MOST Flower Drum Song appearances, EVER. Nope.
They went with This guy:
Meet Jonathan Hammond, the Emperor of China.
Now, this story has a Young Emperor, he’s the one who falls in thrall with the Nightingale, and let’s face it, I’m Eurasian, my Daddy is white, so let’s give them a second shot at correctly representing those who might actually rule Feudal China….it is…Bobby Steggart…sorry, what?
Oh…my…ok, WELL…let’s take a look at the casting notice from Tara Rubin’s office. Aha! There is an EMPRESS DOWAGER! Which means that is the ruling Emperor of China’s Mom. What do they look like? Let’s find one – oh HERE’s one…Imperial Empress Dowager, aka Dowager Empress Cixi…
If I were to think of who might be fabulous as the Empress Dowager, TFP might call in Jodi Long who was on Broadway as Madame Liang in Flower Drum Song
OR perhaps Amy Hill
OR Christine Toy Johnson, who is not LA Based, but who did the National Tour of Flower Drum Song and is a longtime NYC Stage Actress
…….but here’s who they went with for the Empress Dowager of China:
Charlayne Woodard, Dowager Empress of China.
You are probably sensing my frustration…and if you are not, your name is probably Moises Kaufman. Now, I have read that La Jolla Playhouse is calling the casting of this show “A Rainbow”. Here’s the funny thing about rainbows – the color yellow is rarely in that rainbow when it falls on other shows. Also, diversity has a time and a place – it’s usually an unnamed place in the future, in a multi-racial world, or set in modern times – it’s not in Feudal China. Let’s get one thing straight about Feudal China – diversity was never an issue.
But here – take a look at the article from Broadwayworld. It’s a little perturbing to see that only Kimiko Glenn has been cast in a show set in China, Feudal China – and for those who may not have picked up on it, Kimiko is a Japanese name – don’t care, happy she is working, I’m just using it to point out – there are NO CHINESE PEOPLE IN A SHOW SET IN CHINA.
This is not, Folks, like the time a Texas Children’s theater did an All Caucasian Production of HAIRSPRAY and you can claim, as they did, that they had no African Americans around to cast – this is a professional theater with a budget and access to any and every Asian American Actor in the country. It also boasts a Director of International Fame (a New York City based Director) and a Writing Team that have won TONY Awards – all they had to do was say, “Hey, this show is set in China, let’s cast some Asians up in here .”
OR, if you are simply going to use the concept of the fairy tale, just do not set it in China, Feudal China!
Let me be clear – TFP does not have any thoughts on the talents of the Actors hired, she has worked with some of them and they are ALL great – ALL! Actors have no power in terms of Casting, they are brought in, they sing, and they wait. This Diversity Debacle I lay directly at the door of the Creative Team – at ANY point, someone in the process could have stated the obvious, that if no Asian Americans were to be Cast, perhaps the setting should change from China, Feudal China!
So five spanks with the wand to Moises Kaufman, he is the Director, the buck stops with him and…looking at his past castings, doesn’t look like he would ever hire me anyway, as I AM MY OWN ASIAN AMERICAN!
And Moises can Kiss my Fan Tan Fannie!
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
UPDATE: I posted this in comments, but there are a lot of comments, and so I will post it here as well, as not everyone wants to scroll all the way through:
Hi All,
As you know, the initial objection that I had and wrote about on this blog – this post – stirred a lot of people and as the objections grew and were written about, La Jolla Playhouse decided to have a talk back to discuss the casting. Over 19,000 people have read this post, for which I thank them.
There were many articles written on what started as my own annoyance, and I am going to post the links here, in case you want to read them.
I would hope that the people who wrote anonymously and bitterly of the notion that Asian Americans would and should speak up, would pay particular attention to the fact that both the Artistic Director of La Jolla Playhouse and the Director of the play itself, Moises Kaufman, apologized. Also in the audience but not on the panel was the writer, Steven Sater, and the Composer, Duncan Sheik.
I also ask you to consider this – just because you may be a member of your own minority group, it does not give you a co-op experience and permission to use your own minority status to devalue or denigrate this issue. Your experiences are yours, and mine are mine. It does no good and a great deal of harm to decide that because you are a particular ‘kind’ of man/woman that you have the right to decide when and where Asian Americans belong. I take issue with that. Many of the more objectionable comments were prefaced with “Well, as a ____ man, I think…”
It is not cool to use your status to keep ours where it is now, which is barely visible. We are only doing what scores of people have done before us. When my Grandparents, my IRISH Grandparents came here, they were faced with signs that said “Irish Need Not Apply” – this is much the same thing. And Bravo to Moises Kaufman for his comments in Part 2.
Here are 2 small videos from You Tube – it is supposed to be 1-7, but I have only found 1 and 2. In 2, we have ‘our’ apologies:
Part 1: http://youtu.be/NN3ilkvnZ7I
Part 2: http://youtu.be/uz6-uODcSKU
And here is a video I was sent by Pun Bandhu which is the whole talk: http://vimeo.com/46243248
Article from Playbill.com
http://www.playbill.com/news/article/168285-Facing-Criticism-for-Lack-of-Asian-Artists-in-Musical-La-Jolla-Playhouse-Hosts-Panel-Discussion
Article from Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/19/nightingale-asian-american-actors_n_1686270.html
Article from International Business Times, I am quoted twice, not by name, and called a ranting blogger (which struck me as odd, but…the writer apologized for that when I called him on it)
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/363035/20120714/la-jolla-playhouse-asian-actors-sterotypes-colorblind.htm
Article on Talkback from U-T San Diego:
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/jul/22/forum-on-plays-cast-evokes-harsh-criticism
Article from LA Times on the Talk Back at La Jolla:
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-heated-exchanges-at-la-jolla-playhouse-over-nightingale-casting-20120722,0,6438118.story
Article from LA Times hearing from Prominent APIs in Theater:
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-asian-american-nightingale-la-jolla-playhouse-20120718,0,7027101.story
Article from LA Times on Controversy
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-la-jolla-playhouse-asian-casting-nightingale-20120717,0,2686930.story
Article from LA Times’ Critic’s Notebook, which I emailed a response to, and I will post the response I sent: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-critics-notebook-la-jolla-playhouse-nightingale-20120723,0,4429707.story
It struck enough of a nerve that as of this writing, my blog has has over 19,000 views and it is only 2.5 weeks old.My name is Erin Quill, I was an Original Bway Cast Member of Avenue Q and I have been reviewed in the LA Times for my work in the play, The Mikado Project
http://articles.latimes.com/2007/apr/27/entertainment/et-stage27
I only mention this because I am trying to show that I am a legitimate stage Actress whose work has been covered BY the Times and yet, when it was time to cast a show that could have API performers, my phone did not ring.
And, should you watch the video of the talk back, you will see that the CD will say that this show did not have a proper audition process, they made calls and offers. My friends who are API performers did not have their phones ring either.
While I would never deign to tell a Director or Creative Team who to hire, I will (and did) point out the ridiculousness of their casting choices. Not because the Actors were not fabulous – I fully believe in the talent of the Cast, but because they set the show in China.
China is not a mythical place. China is a real place with a real people. Our history looks a specific way. The titles Emperor and Dowager Empress mean something when said in China.
It is not for other minority groups (I only say that because you brought up your own status) to decide for other groups what is their ‘place’, what they are allowed to comment on. Moises Kaufman himself pointed out that usually in debates of this kind dealing with underrepresentation, that he is the one clamoring, and during the controversy he realized that he was doing the same thing that had been done to the GLBT community to Asian American Performers. He said we were right to protest, and he apologized.
The debate for us was not multi-racial casting. It was not to infringe on a Creative Team’s right to choose the cast they want, but the costumes, the sets, and the names of the characters were all Chinese. That we were asked, that all the audience was asked to please accept 2 Caucasian Emperors of China. Not a ‘mythic land’, it was CHINA.
If this was Porgy and Bess, and the leads were Caucasian, you would not think to write
“underserved communities need to recognize the right of artists to establish their own conventions of representation”
You would know that using your own status and including the above quoted sentence to African American Artists would be looked upon with dismay, distrust, and anger.Yet you have used them to the Asian American Acting Community.I ask you why. It is met with just as much dismay, distrust and anger as if you said it to someone African American or Latino.
In that audience, there was Drama Desk Winner, Deborah S. Craig, there was API Theater Luminary and the man who holds the record for most Flower Drum Songs ever, Alvin Ing. There was Tim Dang, Artistic Director of East West Players – a theater that always ‘somehow’ manages to cast with Asian Americans. Cindy Cheung who was on the panel has been in several Feature Films and Christine Toy Johnson is a staple NY Theater Actress.
There were many more with just as nice a resume and yet a Caucasian lady stood and asked if there was an Asian American Acting Talent Pool. There are API Drama Grads from Yale, CMU, Julliard, NYU, Northwestern – some of the top programs in the country, and yet here is this Caucasian Lady telling us that she ‘doesn’t see color’ and asking why we are complaining that the Emperor of China is Caucasian.
It is because when there IS debate, there is always someone, such as yourself – held in high regard, that expresses the opinion that we should ‘listen‘ or ‘stop making hubbub’. And by doing that, you are ensuring that people who are uncomfortable with APIs protesting have an excuse to dismiss WHAT we are saying – that we want to look onstage, at a production where the setting IS CHINA, and see Asian American faces.
I am a long time supporter of the GLBT Community, with fundraising efforts for The Matthew Shepard Foundation, BC/EFA, Desert AIDS Project, the LA Gay and Lesbian Center, The Trevor Project, I sing regularly at Musical Mondays in WeHo…I live and work in the GLBT Community, and yet I would never say “well, I know what it’s like to be a Gay Man”. Because I cannot. Do I know TONS of Gay men? Yes. They are my closest and dearest friends. And Always Will Be– but I cannot know what it IS to be a Gay Man. Just as you cannotknow what it is to be an Asian American Performer.I thank you for your coverage of this issue, but I was dismayed by the end of your article. Truly. And, do I think that there will be more API’s when this show continues? No, I do not. I think they will just move the setting from China and then still cast exactly the way they want.Which is totally fine. Because in a mythic land of Far, Far Away, it can be as multi- cultural as they want it to be – but they cannot have China without Chinese people. They cannot portray China without Asian Americans.
Thank you for your time,
Erin Quill
fairyprincessdiaries 
You’re amazing!! And absolutely right…..I could actually hear you yelling it’s set in CHINA! Feudal CHINA!! 😉 While it’s not the same as race, I struggle with the “weight” question. Apparently you can have only ONE large woman on TV at a time. So until they fire Melissa McCarthy there are NO other openings for Fat, Funny & Fabulous! A pox on all their houses!
There’s another asian in the show, Filipino-American Nikki Castillo as the Nightingale, but she’s local SD.
Nikki is 12, so I have left her out of the discussion, only because I believe that she is a child and has little to no opinion on Diversity yet, although I am sure she is very talented- she is still a kid
“By including actors of other races it made the show not only pertinent to Asian-Americans but every American.”
So, uh… Is A RAISIN IN THE SUN not “pertinent” to all Americans, because the story focuses on a family of color ? What about RUINED, YELLOWFACE, BENGAL TIGER AT THE BAGDAD ZOO?
The story is set in China. China! How about a production of RUINED with a predominantly white cast? You know, so “Every American” can be affected by it.
I’m Caucasian American, and am wholly offended by the notion that I can’t emotionally connect to an actor who doesn’t look like me.
I may be going out on a limb here, but I would assume that the decision to go with “rainbow casting” was based on the notion that an all Asian cast would not draw a white audience, and therefore would be a harder sell to investors. It’s another version of the, “White people won’t vote for a black president,” argument. Racism, pure and simple.
Moises Kaufman is a genius director, but you know what? People screw up throughout the course of their artistic lives. It comes with the territory. Let’s judge a person based on how they react to their mistakes, and what steps they take to move forward. After all, this is a workshop. Perhaps we can hope for an enlightened change, as the show moves forward. Fingers crossed!
“I’m Caucasian American, and am wholly offended by the notion that I can’t emotionally connect to an actor who doesn’t look like me.”
This is the most privileged statement I’ve ever heard in my life.
RC, what? How so? Baffled.
More like “I’m white and can’t understand why this post is not about me but the effect of institutional racism on POC.”
Erin,
As a Eurasian (mom is Chinese, dad is Long Island Jew) actor, I found your blog extremely refreshing. It is good to know that I am not alone in my frustrations. All the more frustrating is that people are trying to be as politically correct as possible in this debate, and in doing so, we are doing ourselves a disservice. We have every cause to be as frustrated as the Asian community was when Jonathan Pryce played the Engineer in MISS SAIGON. So, thank you for your candor (and humor).
Reblogged this on Florence Ringo and commented:
In the past I’ve ranted about Whitewashing of Asian (and other) characters and stories in Hollywood, but here is a very good post about how things are playing out in the world of theatre. La Jolla Playhouse intends to produce a new musical called The Nightingale, based on a Hans Christian Anderson fable about an Emperor of China. Somehow, none of the cast is Chinese…
love this. glad you’re writing about it.
http://scissorandthread.wordpress.com
I am feeling everyone’s frustration at this CULTURAL INSENSITIVITY. I don’t use the “R” word anymore because nobody acknowledges their/our own racism. I was singing this song about regional theatres producing Latina/o plays in the 1980s and ’90s with “multicultural casts.” How easy for them! Having been a professor at UCSD (home of the La Jolla Playhouse) from 1975 to 2009 I can assure the reader that the company has seldom, if ever, been culturally sensitive. It’s all about the bottom line, as one post puts it and it’s up to us to “take over the means of production,” as we have been and will continue to do for OUR audiences and supporters.
Sinceramente,
Jorge A. Huerta, Ph.D.
Chancellor’s Associates Professor of Theatre, Emeritus
University of California, San Diego
Thanks Professor!
Reblogged this on Cheryl Murphy Writes and commented:
So very true.
So, what I’m getting from this is that you’re upset that there are very few leads (have to make that distinction since you go to such great pains to do so) in theatre for you but you enjoy being typecast. So I suppose if The Color Purple came to you and offered you a lead you would turn it down because it’s not meant to be an asian production? Or would that be OK because you were actually offered it?
And why do you also go to such great lengths to leave out Nikki from the discussion? Are you not of a particular race until you’re age 18 or something? And contrary to what someone previously said, her character is one of the most important in the story and is actually quite sweet to see her in. She may not have many lines but good god, THE WHOLE STORY IS ABOUT HER CHARACTER!
Have you even seen the production yet? I have. Nothing in it comes across as being racist or purposefully exclusive of asians or Chinese (which seems to be your main problem.) I’m sorry that the Japanese woman isn’t good enough for you.
Quite frankly, I see your career on stage as being very short lived since you seem to think the only character that you should play would be a Chinese/Irish/Welsh woman given your narrow views on who should play what. That’s going to be awfully hard to find.
PREACH. YES.
Dude,
I realize you are responding, yet AGAIN, under another fake email, which is flattering because you are clearly OBSESSED with me.
A few things, I’ve said them before, but I will say them…again, because we are both pretending you have not written before with ludicrous and hostile statements, so I will humor you, but this is the last time. I don’t play with Crazy.
1. I know Nikki is in the show. I know Nikki is Filipina American. I also know that Nikki is 12 years old, and at 12 years old, I am unlikely to drag her into a discussion about Diversity, because I have standards. They may be low, but they are mine and I’m keeping them. I’m sure she is very talented, even though, as you state, she doesn’t have many lines. As OSCARS have been won on less than 8 minutes of screen time, I’m not tied to the amount of time anyone appears being proportional to their impact on the piece.
2. Kimiko Glenn is actually Eurasian, JUST LIKE ME. I never said she was not good enough – obviously she is quite good, as she is working. I said that in a show set in China, there are no Chinese people. I have worked on a bunch of shows with All Asian American casts and we NEVER have all one of one particular race, it’s always a mix. However, in general, should a show be set in a particular Country, there are usually one or two cast members whose heritage hails from that Country, and that helps us ALL with authenticity and some cultural things that may be specific to that heritage.
Don’t try and incite Asian on Asian crime – I’m not that stupid.
3. The show is still SET IN CHINA. Yes, Steven Sater has released a statement saying the show is in MYTHICAL CHINA, however CHINA is still part of the place where the show is set. FEUDAL MYTHICAL CHINA – in which, Mr. Sater has stated, an All Asian Cast did not work. Asians, in China – albeit FEUDAL MYTHICAL CHINA ‘do not work’ for him.
Listen, I appreciate all the time you have taken to set up your fake emails and reign in the hostility that is thinly disguised racism, and that it takes a lot of work to make your umbrage vaguely grammatically correct, but you need to cut down on the caffeine and go back to work.
I said what I said, and I meant it because I said it. Out of the 12,000 plus people who have read it, you are the ONE person who is sweating my right to my own opinion. It’s my opinion. Because it’s my blog and I am a B.I.T.C.H
Babe. In. Total. Control. (of) Herself.
Letting you read what the Creators have said – in their own words, the show is set in MYTHIC China…aka, a China without Chinese People – because they tried an All Asian Cast and it did not work. An All Asian Cast did not work, in a show set in China, about Chinese people – http://bit.ly/MjfqFE
We know fairyprincessdiaries’ real name and you know mine. Shouldn’t we all be using our real names, Everyone’s a Critic? Or is transparency something we should not be striving for? Maybe I’ll change my name to habeascorpus.
It is my understanding, that Part of the reason they claim the “all asian cast didn’t work” is because the all asian cast from previous workshops had opinions on the show and how it was offensively and inaccurately written (one of the lyrics even referenced Geishas..Who are not chinese, but rather japanese) which they voiced..which was Not received well by the All non Asian creative team. This Mythic China BS is just ridiculous. Why not set it in a Mythical Land called..Mythical Land? or Rainbow land? Then i dont have an argument. Mythical China without Chinese people? Geez. Over it. Thanks fairyprincess.
rest of my comment was.. Thanks fairyprincess for giving us a voice. and for doing it with humor and intelligence. and yes, we’ve got your back.
Well sure, if it’s a Mythical China, you can reference Inuits, Cherokees, how about Slovaks (that’s me, thanks, Mom).
Is it really true that there were references to Geishas??? That’s like referring to a West Indian as African because they may have the same skin color.
Yes, I had heard that too.
I read the article here:
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/jul/11/behind-a-playhouse-casting-controversy/
Umm, did you miss the part of the article that also points out that the author Hans Christian Andersen is DANISH and the story is a FAIRY TALE??? It is not meant to be realistic.
And no, Lonnie Carter, until you post a scan of your driver’s license, I won’t believe that is your real name. I don’t see you calling out scissorandthread, E.D.S. and Dio. Oh right, they agree with you, so they get a pass.
And Fairy, you still haven’t answered my original questions posed to you.
Actually, you know what, don’t bother responding because I’m not going to waste any time on this because you clearly will not listen to reason or be open to a dissenting viewpoint. You’re just going to keep finding more things that only support your opinion, even when what you find doesn’t accomplish this at all. You’ve got a strong following of supporters here so you all enjoy your one sided debate. I’m going to go have a real, two-sided (or more!) debate somewhere else.
P.S. – the fact that you call yourself a “fag hag” offends me as a gay male.
Wait, you are Gay? And you hate me? Hmmm, that’s new…
Dude,
So it took me a few minutes to answer….so what? You are very demanding, your potty training must have been harsh.
However, in the spirit of clarification and because your statements were SOOOOO far off what was actually said, I did answer your “questions’ that were not actually questions.
And don’t talk to Lonnie Carter that way, he has an OBIE award!
He is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama and Marquette University, a Guggenheim Fellow and twice a Fellow of both the National Endowment of the Arts and the Connecticut Commission on the Arts. He teaches in the Goldberg Dramatic Writing Program in the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.
He doesn’t need to show you his driver’s license.
Thank you so much for endeavoring to school us, I have a degree from Carnegie Mellon University, so…I’m good, you can stop now.
Best Wishes,
Erin Quill
My goodness, how sensitive. (Not talking about the ‘fag hag’ remark, I don’t particularly dig that either.) I was in fact suggesting, or calling out, if you insist, ANYONE who doesn’t use her/his real name. In the meantime, I have before me my longform birth certificate which says I was born in, oops, this says Indonesia. I thought I had the Kenyan one right here.
The “Fag Hag” label I discuss on my first posting – I personally, don’t like it that much, but it does have it’s place in American Gay Culture, and I can’t shake it.
However, these are called the Fairy Princess Diaries for that reason – I do use the Fag Hag term in the explanation, only because otherwise I would have a lot of Anglophile 9 year olds who want to throw tea parties reading this, and it will not be appropriate to share with them what I have learned about tucking from Drag Queens.
I have been called a Fag Hag as a badge of honor, I have been called it as an insult – I have a sense of humor that helps me try and find the positive in all of it – so it’s ok to not like the word – I get it.
I get it as well and thanks for the explanation which I accept. I so like that you’re putting it out there, even though I may not agree totally, but rather almost. But that’s how we refine each other’s thoughts and I’ve learned immeasurably, especially from Africans and African-Americans for several decades and from Filipinos/as for the last decade and now from you. My daughter, 18 and non-Asian, is close to fluent in Mandarin and thanks you in her properly-accented, or is it toned, way. My play CHINA CALLS is about my commuting between Chicago, where I was having a play done, and Beijing where my family was. It’s terribly autobiographical and no one will touch it, but at least, like you, I’ve put it out there.
I read the link with the interview with Slater, et al., who says, “We had a workshop that was fully Asian, and it’s not appropriate to the piece (we’ve written). It’s not about Asia.” He asserts that the play is about “Chinoiserie.” So in what way does 18th-19th century “Chinoiserie” preclude the visual presence of Asians? I’m sorry, I’m not getting it.
In fact, Mr. Slater asserts he’s done lots of research. OK, so let’s hear about the research. Frankly, I’m sincerely interested. My understanding of “Chinoiserie” is that it is Orientalist in the extreme. Is that how the production is intended to be? A reinscription of those stereotypes? Didn’t Edward Said deconstruct all that a long time ago?
Many years ago, about twenty actually, a company called RABBIT EARS productions put out a set of children’s VHS tapes with fairy and folk tales narrated by various “stars.” I distinctly remember that the tapes of African and African American stories were narrated by actors like Danny Glover. I also remember waiting anxiously for the story of the nightingale, hoping for the best for one of my Asian American actor colleagues. Turned out Glenn Close narrated The Nightingale. Why?
I wrote to the company — never received an answer.
Then there was the infamous Shelly Duvall Nightingale, part of the Faerie Tale Theatre series, starring Mick Jagger in yellowface as The Emperor with all the supporting and miniscule roles played by … yes, Mako and others. The second lead was played by …. (drum roll) … Edward James Olmos in yellowface. Now, I like Edward James Olmos just fine as an actor, but what the hell was he doing in yellowface to Mako’s face? Why? Because the company thought they’d sell more copies of THE NIGHTINGALE to little kids if Edward James Olmos was cast over Mako? I’m finding that hard to believe.
I understand that Asian American actors feel like there is one huge eraser out there making them invisible. When it comes to excluding Asian American actors, there does seem to be always some “reason,” as in, “It’s in China, but it’s not about Asia.” Said enough times, that starts to sound like a very poor excuse.
I wish we had journalists who demanded more of their subjects, as in, “OK, Mr. Slater, WHAT EXACTLY IS NOT APPROPRIATE ABOUT ASIAN AMERICANS PLAYING ROLES IN A FAIRY TALE ABOUT CHINA? Can you be specific about that?” I think if these guys at LaJolla are as much worth their salt as some think they are, they ought to have a clear explanation for that. In fact, any junior in my Directing I class, should they try a stunt like this (which they are not permitted to do, anyway), would be expected to have a clear explanation for it. “It’s not about Asia,” when the action takes place in Asia just does not hold water. What is it about then? Did they change the location of the action? No one has said so yet that I have read.
And another thing: I think this is a great conversation that Erin has got going, and she clearly used sarcasm as a technique to make her point in her original post and used it well. I don’t think I can top FAN TAN FANNIE. But to those who have posted mean-spirited responses to Erin, sorry, she doesn’t deserve it, and it’s just not necessary.
By all means, let’s have this conversation. Why? Because it’s important. But can we all agree not to stoop to the hyperbole of right-wing radio hosts? We can disagree and disagree vociferously without going there. Just sayin’.
Thank you, Randy. Embrace more light; eschew more heat. As the sign over James Carville’s desk says, It’s the weather, stupid.
Strange that Olmos would do that. He has been in the forefront on Latino issues, both in the arts and “real life” and has showed sensitivity concerning the portrayal of other races/ethnicities.
I know, it utterly confused me, too. But there is the videotape and the proof. I am forever puzzled.
You know…there have been weird decisions all through history – and this will be one that lives with Amelia Earhart final resting place – Thank you Randy for the support, I do appreciate it. 🙂
I have a friend who is a dresser at that theatre and says the main guy was supposed to be B.D Wong.
BD is working on a musical called HERRINGBONE – they filmed it via a Kickstarter campaign http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/484701422/bd-wong-live-concert-recording-of-the-musical-herr
We have just heard from The La Jolla Playhouse via FACEBOOK –
It is very important to me and the Playhouse to address the many valid casting conversations that are taking place around our production of THE NIGHTINGALE. I think the best way to do this is to have frank discussion in a forum open to all in the community who wish to participate.
To that end, we will host a panel discussion in the Potiker Theatre on Sunday, July 22 following the 2:00pm matinee (approx. 3:45pm; a ticket purchase is not required to participate).
Details on who will be joining me on the panel will be forthcoming. We welcome you to attend and share your thoughts with us.
Sincerely,
Christopher Ashley
Artistic Director
I hope that everyone on the West Coast who feels strongly about this issue, attends this talk back. Even if you do not have a specific question, I do encourage you to attend. I am not on the West Coast or I would be there. I thank you all for your anticipated attendance, and I hope that a honest and frank discussion leads to…. something.
Let me know how it goes.
I also want to thank the 15,000 people who have read this post, I am very new to this, I just woke up on Saturday morning and wrote what I felt, and it is very flattering to know how many people have forwarded links and reposted in various places – I appreciate the support.
We are working on something fun now to continue this conversation, so please stay tuned.
http://www.dieptran.com/2012/07/more-yellow-birds-please.html
Great article from the Editorial Asst at American Theater Magazine
I feel you girl. Don’t let these comment bullies sway your conviction about this one bit. This is an important conversation for actors of Asian descent, and for all actors of color!
You are completely right. People who are not aware, never see the problem because it doesn’t impact them in their little world. It is still a problem when you can have a show on TV or Broadway, that doesn’t have a well mixed cast. I hope that people start to think about others at some point…
Jodi Long, among others, is one of my oldest and dearest friends. She doesn’t know I’m writing this, so don’t blame her. Not only did we go to high school AND college together, but I also had the pleasure once of directing her in a production of “The Way of the World” many years ago. We have acted together, played together, laughed, cried, argued, auditioned, mourned, shared meals, sung, and even slept in the same room as teenagers together (not in the way you might think), and we continue to have all the facets of relationship that it is possible to have when you are two friends. I know her mother and I loved her father. I love her and I know that she loves me.
It has pained my heart over the years whenever I have thought about how degrading this business has been to her. She didn’t deserve that. No one loves or knows show business more than Jodi Long. But she doesn’t need me to sing her praises here and I apologize to her for referring to her without her knowledge or approbation. Yet I have to say this—I HATE how Asian actors are treated in this country’s occasionally pathetic display of cultural and social values, even those who DO manage to get work outside of productions of “The King and I”—every now and then. (I’m sure Jodi would not express her frustration the way I am right now. She’s much too highly evolved and elegant for that.)
Like Margaret Cho says, Asian actors are always called upon to put aside their humanness to become the emotionally detached, sexless, cool voice of reason—whether on Star Trek, or Law and Order, or anything else. Or they are relegated to playing the long suffering “Butterfly” type, who stands at the shore tearfully waving farewell to the big American white man who said he loved her, but leaves her anyway—all too often, as the story goes, with a baby and no father, to return to his “real” life.
Thank God my wonderful friends and colleagues no longer have to be degraded by playing that lotus blossom “Mr. Eddie’s father” crap! I am furious about what you wrote concerning Moises Kaufman. It only shows the ugly unwillingness of his vision as a director. Every ethnic group brings their own particular vitality to the theater. It’s about time our shows look like America once and for all, instead of piteously striving to attain some phony version of a “European” aesthetic.
It’s criminal enough to be excluded from roles that can be cast as any ethnicity, but it is certainly an affront to the humanity of Asian performers to see someone white or black play roles that should be meant for them. It is tantamount to white actors wearing blackface to play black people. How Amos ‘n Andy! How totally Miss-Saigon-last-century. Disgusting. What kind of hateful mentality is THAT?? It shows a deep insecurity that embarrasses humanity itself. I HATE it and am in total solidarity with the many beautiful and talented Asian performers whose livelihoods and careers continue to suffer at the hands of chauvinistic, asinine, belittling, uncreative creative people in both Hollywood and New York. Mr. Kaufman should be ashamed of himself. But then, that would indicate a humanity that he apparently seeks to deny in himself and in others.
I’m not sure what you mean in the context of Star Trek. None of the Asian actors on Star Trek played the “emotionally detached, cool voice of reason” characters; George Takei (Sulu) got to have as much emotional range as James Doohan (Scotty), Garret Wong (Harry Kim) played a character who was a naive, somewhat insecure genius, and Linda Park (Hoshi Sato) played the inventor of the Universal Translator, probably one of the greatest geniuses ever to appear as a member of a crew, who was also kind of phobic and had never really wanted to go into space in the first place.
In all three shows, there actually *is* a character who represents “emotionally detached, sexless, cool voice of reason.” In the first Star Trek, that character was played by a white man. In Voyager, there were two such characters, one played by a black man and one played by a white woman; in Enterprise, there was one such, played by another white woman. No Asian ever got cast as a Vulcan, an android, a Borg, or even a somewhat cantankerous but emotionally detached detective/security chief obsessed with order and control.
The stereotype of Asian geniuses might be alive and well in Star Trek (although, to be fair, Voyager also features a Latina playing a half-Klingon genius, and the aforementioned white woman playing the cold voice of reason is a genius as well; meanwhile, Hoshi Sato’s field is linguistics, not math or physics), but the stereotype of “sexless, cool voice of reason”… not so much. Kim and Sato are both portrayed as insecure, naive (Sato about space, Kim about life in general), and fairly easy to rattle, at least at first. And both of them get laid, so they’re not sexless either. Sulu is never shown with a girlfriend, but then, neither is Chekov, and Sulu is a smart and skilled man but not a scientific genius and not emotionless by any stretch.
For other TV shows, you may well be right; I haven’t watched the others you speak of. But Star Trek is notable in that it specifically and deliberately *has* characters who are “the sexless, cool voice of reason”, and none of them are played by Asians; the Asians play characters who are maybe not violent hotheads, but who are far from emotionless.
AND, let’s face it…when you have an all-white creative team, very often they are fearful of REALLY going into your “neighborhood,” so to speak, know what I mean? Imagine doing a production of “Fiddler on the Roof” without any Jewish people. Not unless it’s Norway, it would be a crazy thing to do. I once performed in “Five Guys Named Moe” in Sweden. The cast was Black, but the creative team of course, was white. They didn’t have a clue until those of us who were American put our foot down and said, “Oh no. THIS is how our music goes.” Can you believe they actually tried to translate the song “Saturday Night Fish Fry” into Swedish? DOESN’T WORK. Sounds like this creative team, among other things, are afraid to get over themselves for a moment and sincerely, respectfully honor the people and culture they seek to make money off of.
I actually DID a production of FIDDLER without any Jewish students in it — and not because that was my first choice (it happens I’m a Jewish director). Honestly? I don’t think it’s the same as doing THE NIGHTINGALE without any Asian American actors. There is the aspect of History which must be acknowledged. Jews have been targets of plenty of discrimination, but not in the theatre where we have been much included. I would have loved to have had some Jews in the show, but none auditioned. Then again, I’m in educational, not professional, theatre, so this became a learning experience for the cast (and me!)! But yes, there are all those horrible productions of FIDDLER where there isn’t a Jew in sight to guide the show. I love the part of your writing where you tell about, “Oh, no, THIS is how our music goes.” THAT’s the point of entry where it is INCUMBENT upon producers/directors to LISTEN and CHANGE. And it also becomes the point at which theatre becomes even more collaborative and liberating. I will forever respect all my Asian and Asian American students who felt empowered to say to me, “Oh, no. THIS is how our culture goes” I am a better director because of them. Slater and Kaufman, for all their titles and applause, should take a lesson. I hope the meeting they have scheduled doesn’t become, “Yes-thank-you-for-sharing-and-now-where-did-all-those-white-actors-go-we-were-just-talking-to-in-rehearsal?” If it’s really sincere and they are open to change, there may be some hope.
Thank you, Fairy Princess. You are even fiercer than YOU know!
Thank YOU Mr. James, that is beautifully written, and it speaks as highly of you, as it does of Jodi Long, who I really love to work with, and I was lucky enough to meet her Dad in New York, and guess what? He did Vaudeville in Australia just like my Great Aunties, who were Eurasian! So we had a lot to talk about. 🙂
I appreciate your passion and your comments, and I hope that all of this discussion makes a difference.
We can only continue to do our work to the best of our ability, would that everyone else did the same.
Sending you Love,
Erin Quill, The Fairy Princess
Wonderful job of articulating these issues!
xoxo
Ladies and Gents, the fabulous Lynn Chen….
Erin, you touch me deeply by what you express. Let’s work together!
thanks for being so articulately and intelligently honest.
sucks that many artists fear retribution for expressing their true feelings about the state of the creative nation.
I hope the production hires you on as a consultant to balance this whole china/diversity debacle.
thanks for the great read.
[…] the past week, a dust storm blew up on social media sparked by a brave post Moises Kaufman can kiss my ass & here’s why written by Broadway veteran Erin Quill. The controversy was over La Jolla Playhouse’s […]
I can really sympathize with your frustration generally, and in this particular case especially. As someone with years of audience experience, Broadway seems to be all about symmetry – height wise, weight wise, color wise. It’s a latent prejudice that has made some progress in the past few decades, but has a really long way to go.
After ALL these years, Asian Americans still don’t ‘get it’.
You’re barking up the wrong tree.
I find it laughable that most of you are college/university educated. Liberal brainwashing and ‘kumbaya’ has been a great benefit! *facepalm*
Hasn’t the greatest, most inspiring, most empowering phrase of history been ingrained into your lives- disappointment after disappointment? Here’s a reminder:
“If you want something something done right, do it yourself.” In this case of theatre, and all those whom bellyache- ‘yourselves’.
I’ll simplify for those who still don’t understand.
These employment opportunities are ONLY substantially available when YOU OWN the VENUE. A playhouse, movie studio, publisher, distributor, media conglomerates are venues you don’t CONTROL. If you control the venue, you make the final decisions. Simple.
Here’s something else to take into consideration:
Asian Americans are perfectly comfortable with funding those that consistently marginalize them. Want proof?
AA’s will gleefully throw their time and money at media that includes all non-Asian casts/faces.
Does the opposite happen for Asian media/roles in the same proportions?
Asian America’s last BIGGEST star was Bruce Lee. There hasn’t been another since 73′.
The overseas Asian markets markets don’t have any problem keeping Hollywood stars/studios lucrative. Has ANY Asian/Western Asian media/stars been made equally lucrative by non-Asian audiences on a consistent measure? Sadly, no. ONLY limited niche audiences.
Here’s a simple one: How many older western tv shows are shown worldwide compared to Asian ones? Get the hint people, you’re not wanted. Move on to places where you’re appreciated.
Steven Sater, is that YOU? (Just kidding)
Listen, I appreciate you taking a moment out of your xenophobic paranoia to try
and ‘school me’ on the Old West, Studio ownership, and so on….
I’m not sure where you ‘read for the Bar’, but as the daughter of an Attorney and a Broker, I can assure you that while there are MANY rights that go with Property ownership, the right to discriminate is not one of them.(there are actually quite a few against that, to be perfectly honest)
Also, I am pretty sure that John Cho, Kal Penn, Daniel Dae Kim, Grace Park, Masi Oka, James Kyson Lee are at least SOME
of the Asian American (Ok, Grace is from Canada) actors who are beloved on television and in film,
and that is universal – I’ve yet to run into someone who doesn’t like Grace Park – who, it must be said, is
one of the loveliest people in this business. Actually, all of them are pretty great, I can say from personal experience. While it is unfortunate that you do not appreciate their talents, I’m sure they will sleep through the night…on rows and rows of hundred dollar bills.
Thanks for reminding everyone exactly what APIs are up against, and for those that checked out during the crazy rant, the end paragraph is what it’s all about “GET THE HINT PEOPLE, YOU’RE NOT WANTED”
So much for my call for civility. I’m really sorry the person you are responding to here felt entitled to address you in the tone he did. Just sayin’.
Wow. Simply astounding.
My observations of how Asian Americans are treated in popular culture (based on emperical evidence, mind you) and the call for self-reliance and emancipation from a malevolent system is considered a “crazy rant”?
Wow.
Well, I’m certainly glad I’ve ‘stirred the pot’. Oh wait, I get it….
Asian Americans have come to be dependent on non-Asian audiences/employers for their upward mobility and success. AA’s certainly would never dare part ways with their crumb givers and create independent power bases of their own…Yes, the thought must be terrifying and daunting. Slavery is good, yes?
Oh well. I hope those pesky and insensitive Moises of the world will redeem themselves in the future. Don’t count on it.
Here’s an honest question that will test the level of one’s political correctness and intellectual honesty:
Would the formerly popular sitcom “Friends” be as successful as it was if everything was the same (plots, characters, acting, voices, sets, clothing, etc) with the only exception that the actors were all Asian?
A brutally honest answer leads to some uncomfortable truths.
Once again to all those who sign, well, fanciful or assumed names, your real name? We can’t take you seriously, especially AL. AL Gore, you invented the Internet?
Lonnie Carter
Wow. AL, you’re really fired up, and it sounds like you feel threatened by the thought of more AA faces on stage and screen. How would that affect you negatively?
You’re right – life is not fair.
…the fault is not in our stars but in our selves…that we are non-white believing that change has happened cause everyone on tv has smiley faces and gay people can walk the streets a bit more freely. Like size, race seems to matter a lot.
People are programmed via our pop culture to not see us beyond expendable stereotypes. We have a responsibility to ourselves to write our own stories. Expecting to be valued by genteel bigots doing racist theatre is like waiting for the Earth to cool down. We want it to cool down but its not going to happen without action.
There are many captivating and provocative stories from nonwhite communities that are not being told. Maybe too many of us believe those stories are not worth telling…or we would be doing something practical to see more of them. Committees, blogs, articles and other forms of civil complaint have little effect in the face of power and money.
To believe white theatres doing theatre for white communities should cast non white actors seems like wishful thinking. I know that I haven’t been alone in that regard. Why should they care about casting actors from a community without power? Equity won’t happen without creating opposing points of view (plays) or some kind of direct political action. Maybe calling a thing what it is through theatre can be a new American genre? Certainly, expecting a weasel not to act like a weasel refutes the daily reality in which we live, unless of course we mistake fiction for reality. Maybe we are living in a fiction that cultural change now includes revaluing humans by something other than race and skin color?
And you, my dear, can kiss MY ass. oh, the indignity of diversity! You’re the type of person who complained that Jonathan Pryce played The Engineer in the original cast of Miss Saigon. So damned entitled. Typical.
Before you call me out as a racist who doesn’t understand how offensive this “outrage” is to minorities, I am a gay Native American. Don’t you dare tell me I don’t know how it feels to be marginalized. YOU are marginalizing those in the cast who don’t fit your idea of who can play what part. You point to the crap musical Flower Drum Song repeatedly as though it were some sort of bellwether of good Asian taste. It’s not. It’s shit on a stick. Just like every other O and H musical. Screw you for your entitled sensibility.
I’m not pointing to Flower Drum Song as anything other than a show that was on Broadway, that has employed people.
Welcome to the world of Whitewashed America… sorry, I mean post-racial, colorblind America, where people “don’t see race”–cuz everybody is White!
Any word on whether Moises Kaufman is set to direct the sequel to the movie 21?
LOL.
Thank you so much for this, Erin.
(you may not remember me, but we met in LA back during Lodestone’s The Mikado Project and we sang some karaoke during the AA theater fest in NY, and also, shout out to Lonnie Carter– Hey Lonnie! It’s Pogi from Magno in Mpls and the PWC! Whuut up!)
Obviously, this current controversy has it’s own manifest destiny, mostly because it involves a major playhouse and a big name creative team, but I was involved with a similar controversy at The Children’s Theater Co. in Minneapolis during a production of Disney’s Mulan, Jr., where very few Asian American actors were cast. Mulan and the actors playing her immediate family were (eventually) played by Asian American actors, but all of the Chinese soldiers and other cast including Captain Shang, Mulan’s eventual love interest, were played by white people. I auditioned, was given the ol’ “thanks, but no thanks,” so I just went on living my life, knowing that since Mu Performing Arts is here in Mpls, there are good handful of talented APIA male actors that often compete with one another for few roles. The day before the article exposing the yellowface casting choices came out in the Minneapolis paper, I got a call from CTC asking if I was still available. Not knowing what had gone down, I said yes, they offered me a role in the show, but not a specific character (citing that they still needed to figure some stuff out). Imagine what it feels like to first be told that I wasn’t right to be cast in a show set in Mythical Ancient China, then to find out that this was pure PR-damage-control-tokenism. I should also add that the CTC producer that called me is a woman of Asian descent. That’s right. A producer… that’s ASIAN… working for a theater that just whitewashed a show about MYTHICAL CHINA. So maybe that’s not so much an easy answer either.
Ok, truth be told, I’m Filipino American, with some distant Chinese ancestry, so distant that I would never claim to be Chinese. BUT, I graduated with a degree in East Asian Studies, did my study abroad in China, and have studied martial arts all my life, including Shaolin Kung Fu. So I thought I may have some skills that would be of use in the rehearsal room. I ended up accepting the role of Ling, one of the Chinese Soldiers, and Shang’s understudy. Why? you may ask… well, because I did Yankee Dawg You Die years ago and there’s a monologue near the end of the play that goes, “I’m gonna sit down with the writers and the producers and I’m gonna convince them to change it… and even if it doesn’t change… maybe next time.”
You may be able to glean the kinds of things that were said by the all-white creative team in the rehearsal room. “We don’t have to worry about that,” “The audience won’t know the difference,” “This isn’t Ancient China, it’s, like, fairy tale China” “This is DISNEY!” The fight choreographer himself said that he didn’t know anything about martial arts, so we were just going to do regular “western” fight choreography.
There’s a lot more to the story (we had our own forum where none of the creative team showed up, too: http://www.tctheaterconnection.com/?p=710) but I’m saying all this to say that this is a question of the creative team’s integrity, not actors simply being entitled, as the haters keep trying to bring up. This is a missed opportunity for Asian Americans to see themselves represented on stage, and for the community at large to relate to Asian Americans as three dimensional characters, as EDS pointed out above. And it’s different with our (APIA) community than some others. You can do Fiddler with no Jewish actors, but with actors who have believably Russian/Jewish features. Lonnie Carter, a non-Filipino, wrote a beautiful play about Filipino American migrant workers, and to my knowledge, there’s never been a production of it that cast non-Asians (and I might add that …Magno Rubio is considered the seminal Filipino American play by more than just a few guys). And sure, Friends wouldn’t have been successful if any of the 6 main characters weren’t exactly those people bringing their energy to the table and having chemistry with the other five. It has less to do with their race than it has to do with who they are as individuals, but I will say this: as long as communities of color remain invisible on stage or on screen, we won’t be able to build careers where there’s a seat available to us at the table, where we’ll be seen as a viable asset to be cast in a lead on a sitcom, rather than a liability.
So yes, there is an aspect to it that is visual, about representation. But there is also an aspect to it that is about heart, energy, chemistry, intelligence… I’d be more willing to endure some of the haters’ blatherings on about this issue if they were prefaced with “all things being equal…” because all things are not equal. Even between communities of color, each community has its own challenges, its own history of being marginalized and/or oppressed. So each must be looked at individually. As a Filipino American, I would never presume to be able to speak to issues impacting the Black, Jewish, or Native communities. And being a straight man, I don’t think speaking on behalf of women or the LGBT community would get me very far either. To do so, in my opinion would be irresponsible.
Apologies: This went on a lot longer than I wanted it to. But it’s something that keeps happening and I keep hearing the same ill-conceived counter arguments, and it’s much more complicated than most people realize. But thank you, Erin, for having the ovs to speak up. Clearly, our “post-race” society needs to keep having this conversation.
Reppin’ the Flyover States,
Eric “Pogi” Sumangil
I hope someone will tell us who weren’t there what happened at La Jolla. People apologized and then eveyone went off to sing Kumbaya? Was anything changed? Please enlighten.
A shoutout to Wile E. Filipino, aka Eric “Pogi” Sumangil, who was splendid in Theater Mu’s production of The Romance of Magno Rubio, as was everybody else in that flyover state. I note that Rodney To, who has written here as well, was Magno at Victory Gardens in Chicago, Illinois, another flyover state, or the Mddle Coast as we say.
OK, I’ve seen some of the video.
1. Kaufman, I thought was condescending in his “apology”, Ashley disingenuous.
2. Mythical, Schmythical – then don’t call it China. Again, disingenuous.
Pogi, not only has Magno Rubio never used a non-Asian actor, but only in two instances has the show used an Asian who wasn’t Pinoy. In the orig workshop there was an excellent Hawai’in, Kaipo Schwab, and in the MPLS there was the splendid Kurt Kwan, a Korean-American. The title role has been all-Pinoy all the time – Orlando Pabotoy, JoJo Gonzalez, Rodney To, Byron Abalos, Troy Apostol, Randy Reyes, Jon Jon Briones and soon Gelo Francisco, all wonderful actors. I think we’d all agree that JoJo is the First Among Equals by virtue of how many times he’s done the role. What a group of kaibigans/manongs!
[…] American Actor in the country. There are no Chinese people in a show set in China.” (This is from blogger Erin Quill, who expressed her outrage IN MANY CAPS.) Erin, go see The Mikado. In […]
Seriously, you think I haven’t seen The Mikado?
I wrote a movie called THE MIKADO PROJECT: http://youtu.be/qZKOATj1KmQ
Avail on DVD on Amazon.com
This is not my first time at the white rodeo
Thanks for trying to ‘school’ me.
Try harder.
Hi All,
As you know, the initial objection that I had and wrote about on this blog – this post – stirred a lot of people and as the objections grew and were written about, La Jolla Playhouse decided to have a talk back to discuss the casting.
There were many articles written on what started as my own annoyance, and I am going to post the links here, in case you want to read them.
I would hope that the people who wrote anonymously and bitterly of the notion that Asian Americans would and should speak up, would pay particular attention to the fact that both the Artistic Director of La Jolla Playhouse and the Director of the play itself, Moises Kaufman, apologized. Also in the audience but not on the panel was the writer, Steven Sater, and the Composer, Duncan Sheik.
I also ask you to consider this – just because you may be a member of your own minority group, it does not give you a co-op experience and permission to use your own minority status to devalue or denigrate this issue. Your experiences are yours, and mine are mine. It does no good and a great deal of harm to decide that because you are a particular ‘kind’ of man/woman that you have the right to decide when and where Asian Americans belong. I take issue with that. Many of the more objectionable comments were prefaced with “Well, as a ____ man, I think…”
It is not cool to use your status to keep ours where it is now, which is barely visible. We are only doing what scores of people have done before us. When my Grandparents, my IRISH Grandparents came here, they were faced with signs that said “Irish Need Not Apply” – this is much the same thing. And Bravo to Moises Kaufman for his comments in Part 2.
Here are 2 small videos from You Tube – it is supposed to be 1-7, but I have only found 1 and 2, I assume that the person needs a bit of time to upload everything. In 2, we have ‘our’ apologies:
Part 1: http://youtu.be/NN3ilkvnZ7I
Part 2: http://youtu.be/uz6-uODcSKU
Article from Playbill.com
http://www.playbill.com/news/article/168285-Facing-Criticism-for-Lack-of-Asian-Artists-in-Musical-La-Jolla-Playhouse-Hosts-Panel-Discussion
Article from Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/19/nightingale-asian-american-actors_n_1686270.html
Article from International Business Times, I am quoted twice, not by name, and called a ranting blogger (which struck me as odd, but…the writer apologized for that when I called him on it)
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/363035/20120714/la-jolla-playhouse-asian-actors-sterotypes-colorblind.htm
Article from LA Times on the Talk Back at La Jolla:
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-heated-exchanges-at-la-jolla-playhouse-over-nightingale-casting-20120722,0,6438118.story
Article from LA Times hearing from Prominent APIs in Theater:
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-asian-american-nightingale-la-jolla-playhouse-20120718,0,7027101.story
Article from LA Times on Controversy
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-la-jolla-playhouse-asian-casting-nightingale-20120717,0,2686930.story
Yo, well done. Tell it like it is. Love this post.
Erin:
Kudos to you for your posts, and getting this conversation rolling.
I would however like to suggest that even erasing all references to China and Asia from the script and the design elements of the show and setting the story instead in some mythical rainbow land, should NOT give them a free pass to cast the show however they like.
Please think about it everybody. They could do this to ANY Asian story. It is just a way to erase not just Asian actors/characters/faces off the American stage, but Asia herself!
What a cynical way that would be to just try to get around the issue and the protests and the controversy, instead of doing the right thing.
It is co-opting our stories and then excluding us from the telling of them.
(Yes I know some old dead white dutch guy wrote Nightingale, but hey if he wrote it about us/put us in it/placed his story in Asia, its our story. And actually I am more concerned here about the broader issue, and future battles.)
And it is discrimination plain and simple when, as history has shown, they apply that kind of approach primarily to minority themed shows.
Thanks!
I would like them to keep it in China. Do I think they will? No, Steven Sater was pretty clear on his comments, to him, this is a ‘multi-cultural’ world. So…if that is what he is saying, then I think they will move it. Does it suck? Yes, of course.
Would I prefer the Nightingale with Asian Americans and the setting still China? Absolutely. However, if they are going to remain committed to this ‘rainbow that wasn’t really a rainbow as the 5 male leads were Caucasian’ then I would prefer they not put in Chinese costumes, sets, and names in the next version which STILL will not likely have more API faces.
Just my take on it after watching the talk back. I think the fact that they said they had a number of workshops means that they are committed to the piece, and that they are not going to let it go. It is just that now people are paying attention, so they are either going to change the setting OR use API performers.
I had no idea you were the original voice behind Christmas Eve in ‘Avenue Q.’ It was the first Broadway show I saw as an adult and LOVEDDDDDDD your character. You were truly spectacular. Words will never be able to express how happy I was to see an Asian-American face on that stage. As an A.A. from the Deep South, that trip to NYC was such an eye opening experience to see that people who looked like me weren’t going to be relegated to a career in the math or sciences.
[…] disappointingly, the way that I heard about this production was through the blog post Moises Kaufman Can Kiss My Ass & Here’s Why, where the writer points out a very glaring, facepalming-ly idiotic thing about the show: in a […]
Excellent, Erin. Thank you for speaking out.
Simply ludicrous that a Jewish man (Moises Kauffman) could be at the center of such a racist clusterfkkk.
Stay angry.
Hello, David! I am one of Erin’s readers from when she started this correspondence. I’m a Jewish woman who founded and runs the only Asian American Performance Ensemble in a 64-campus State University of NY system (if you can support us by going to GENseng Geneseo on FB and “liking us,” trust me, an Asian American student performance group on a campus that is only 6% Asian American can use all the liking it can get). I am proud to say we are 14 years old this year. I just wanted to comment on your comment relative to Mr. Kauffman (whom we once hosted to our campus connected to a production of LARAMIE PROJECT — which I did not direct). Just two things: I have found that being of this or that ethnicity is no guarantee of any sensitivity to casting or indeed anything else related to human and civil rights or awareness. Earlier in this blog I described a video version of THE NIGHTINGALE distributed in the 1990’s in which Mick Jagger played the Emperor in Yellowface, outrageous enough if you’ve ever seen it, but more to our point today, Edward James Olmos, who should have known better but apparently didn’t, played the First Minister to the Emperor (or some such role), also in Yellowface. Meantime, Mako and other Asian Americans got to play Third Schlep from the Left, or whatever small roles were available. And, as a Jew myself, I agree with you that, as a Jew, one might think Mr. Kauffman should be more attuned to the rights of Asian Americans and other so-called “minorities.” But it is no guarantee of anything, and honestly, do we really know to what extent Mr. Kauffman has a sense of his own Jewishness? We don’t, since Jews represent a broad spectrum of attitudes and practice and politics. Somewhere in this conversation, on the LaJolla side, someone asserted that because it was Kauffman directing, and Kauffman being Kauffman somehow “legitimized” all his artistic choices which could not be questioned. What nonsense that was. These are issues we must learn over and over and over again, and we must remind ourselves that no one’s ethnicity automatically protects them from being immune from, well, being a horse’s ass, just because they directed an important play however many years ago and are a member of a minority group. All that said, I do agree with you at the bottom of my heart, that both Mr. Olmos’s actions in this regard (whom I mostly admire greatly) and Mr. Kauffman are, as we say in Yiddish, both “shonders” (shameful).
I am so grateful to Erin, whom I don’t know personally, for starting this conversation online because out here in the wilds of Western NY State, I get to talk to folks like you and so many others who inspire my day. Have a good one!
Randy,
Thanks for your candid and insightful thoughts. Sounds like we’re on the same page. You have piqued my interest and I’m wondering how a fine Jewish woman has founded and runs an Asian American Perf Ensemble? No offense, and allow me to disclose that I have no familiarity with the entertainment business.
Conversely — and I’m sure you’ll agree — that it would raise eyebrows if a Chinese woman were to ever establish and run a Jewish Acting Guild. 😉
I too, find it perplexing when one minority inflicts racism on another so to hear when Jews or blacks disrespecting asians or other ethnicities seems unusually revolting. Racism is disgusting any way you cut it.
I would like to add that I would like Moises Kaufman to kiss MY ass….after he kisses Erin’s first, of course.
Good morning, David, How a Jewish woman runs an Asian American student performance ensemble is a long and complicated story, too long to take up space in this blog. Though I think it would be great if a Chinese American woman ran a Jewish acting company, and I’d be the first one to buy a ticket for a show, I don’t believe I have could give you an example of this happening. If you really want to know the whole story, please write to me at kaplanr@geneseo.edu, and I can give you more details so I don’t up-end the focus on the blog and turn attention towards myself personally. Thanks, and I hope to hear from you, Randy
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Highly energetic article, I liked that bit. Will there be
a part 2?
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