Archives for posts with tag: Diversity

Hashtag Not Your Mascot, Hashtag Not Right, #NotYourMascot

April 9, 2014 //

The Fairy Princess is not a sports fan.

Well, she is not a football fan – mainly because she was in the Color Guard in High School and got pneumonia waiting for those endless games to end.

The Fairy Princess likes gymnastics, ice skating, and dressage. Yes, dressage.

Lee Cheng Ni Diani of Malaysia riding Antschar in the Asian Games

The Fairy Princess could not care less about football.

Which is why, of course, she would go on to marry someone who plays Fantasy Football on a competitive level. (She doesn’t get that either, it’s a fantasy! It does not exist! Picking names of superstars that are already superstars does not make y’all Mr. Roarke! It makes it another reason to ignore taking out the garbage.)

You know what is a fantasy?

This:

Here is The Fairy Princess on her yacht, cruising the islands of somewhere where there is no mobile phone access

You know what is a nightmare?

This:

Here is some asswipe trying to explain why he gets to mock someone else's culture because he likes to drink and watch people in way better shape than him, make millions of dollars, even when they miss

This is NOT ‘being a fan’. Trust me, I’m in Entertainment, I know what ‘a fan’ is. THIS is being an ASSWIPE – I also know what that is from working in Entertainment. Ahem.

This is not ok.

Or this:

But THIS is not ok either:

Because it took away the focus of what Stephen Colbert was trying to say – which was that the name of the

Football team is offensive to Native Americans and should be changed. Steven Colbert’s comedic sketch was implying that the team in Washington knows that they should change the name, but that they are stubbornly refusing due to some innate sense of white privilege.

He was saying that trying to hide the fact that they know that they should change the name by establishing a charity is bullshit. And then he pointed out that to call the charity you are funding by the very name that is most offensive to the people you say you are going to help with this charity is, to put it in the mildest way possible – absurd.

This week, Asian American Bloggers have been asked to join with Native Americans whose opportunity to be the subject of a national conversation on the continued use of derogatory sports team names was co-opted by some folks very quick to hashtag.

The Fairy Princess joins this conversation, not only as an internet observer, not only as an “Asian American blogger’, but she joins the conversation as someone who has visited a Reservation.

She joins the conversation as the daughter of a man who was “Tribal Council Judge” to a Native American tribe.

My Father represented two Native American tribes as their lawyer in their quest for state recognition prior to a debilitating stroke that left him unable to work during the last five years of his life. It was one of his greatest regrets that he was unable to continue his work for those Tribes due to his illness.

You see, The Fairy Princess, as she has stated before, had a Father who was an excellent man. He was a man of learning, a man of science, and he believed in Native American rights, not because he was Native American – but because he was Irish.

My Father was an Irish American Lawyer, who grew up in New York City.

Himself

He was a Labor Attorney and he always considered himself an advocate for ‘the little guy’. My Father was a single practitioner of the law – he never joined a firm, although they were always after him to do so – he was not comfortable with the idea of ‘a firm mentality’ deciding who he should represent, he had his own moral code.

My Father, when asked by me, why he chose to devote so much time to helping these two tribes told me that Americans – particularly he felt, Irish Americans who had done so well in this country – had a responsibility to the Native Americans, because we decimated their cultures to make way for our own.

My Father, who was an avid student of history, often compared what Americans did to the Native Americans, to what the English did to the Irish with their ‘invasion’, although he would of course, say that the Native Americans had it far worse.

An image from the battle at Wounded Knee

A rendering of the battle at Wounded Knee

My Father would go up to visit the Tribes he represented – not often, so much can be done on the phone – but frequently enough to be a part of their councils. When he came back, he would be both energized and depressed – energized to help more, and depressed that so much needed to be done.

The Fairy Princess is not a casual observer of the fights that Native Americans have been involved in, she has been an participant – helping with paperwork and research, phone calls and so on. She has actually been to “The Res”, where she felt the wind whip through her bones. She has met and talked frequently with Native Americans in her life- obviously the ones her Father represented, and others whom she met and worked with in a show business career.

(The Fairy Princess does not believe this makes her better than anyone, she just wants to note that this is not her first time observing the way we ignore Native Americans and their issues.)

While The Fairy Princess is not Native American in any way, she understands, as a student of history and as a Person of Color in America, why images and names of sports teams, matter.

They matter because they hurt.

They matter because they are rooted in cultural misunderstanding.

They matter because they were created to substantiate the supremacy and the “Manifest Destiny’ of Caucasians in this country.

They matter because a President of the United States said this about them, to justify his attempt at extinguishing them:

“After a harassing warfare, prolonged by the nature of the country and by the difficulty of procuring subsistence, the Indians were entirely defeated, and the disaffected band dispersed or destroyed. The result has been creditable to the troops engaged in the service. Severe as is the lesson to the Indians, it was rendered necessary by their unprovoked aggressions, and it is to be hoped that its impression will be permanent and salutary.“ — Andrew Jackson

The Fairy Princess is standing with the Native Americans in their quest to have the name of sports teams changed because she is following the example set by her Father. My Father gave of his time, he gave of his intellect, he gave of his knowledge of the law.

All that The Fairy Princess can ‘give’ is a blog of encouragement, and sign a petition or two.

It is not really enough, now, is it?

The Fairy Princess has this to say to say to ‘fans’ who believe wearing face paint and bastardized Native American head dresses is not offensive to Native Americans….get ready:

You are wrong.

A Football Fan

You are offensive.

You denigrate the sacrifices of the Native American community so that you can play ‘dress up’.

The Fairy Princess has said these words before, in regards to Asian American representation, but she offers them to the Native American community, to use as they wish, for she believes that it applies to their situation as well.

The Fairy Princess will stand with the Native Americans – and she believes that Asian Americans have a responsibility to do so as well – because once again, some who believed they had ‘a right’, took away one more thing from the Native Americans with no regard for how it would affect them.

And it was us.

#NotYourMascot

Tags #APA, #API, #NotYourMascot, Diversity, fans, offensive, Washington Redskins

Categories Diversity

Good Things Thursday!

April 3, 2014 //

The Fairy Princess has observed people having a bad week or so – and she wanted to take a moment and publicly state that she stands firmly, in regards to the issues of the last two weeks, behind Jeff Yang, Phil Yu, Kristina Wong, Calpernia Addams , and Greg Watanabe and the positions they have taken.

There is no need for any community of any kind, that acknowledges in fact, that they are a community, to turn on one another and try and destroy it based only a need to be ‘right’.

Maturity can admit mistakes, in as much as immaturity cannot be self- aware.

On to #GoodThingsThursday – here is what is going on:

1. The Fairy Princess is Co-Hosting Celebrity Doodles this coming Saturday, April 5, in Palm Springs with this handsome fellow –

International Magician of Mystery, Matthew Dowden

Celebrity Doodles is an Art Auction/Fanciest Cocktail Party you have ever been to, type thing, and it is a blast! This year, they are honoring Suzanne Somers and Alan Hamel, Taylor Dayne is singing, and the artwork is amazing. Click here for more information. There ARE still a few tix left.

Special THANK YOU to The Frank DeCaro Show on Sirius XM Radio for having me on to talk about Doodles and all sorts of other things – Frank and Doria Biddle run a great show, broadcast around the Globe, that focuses on Pop Culture, LGBT Issues, News and it is always a fun time. If you have not gotten a chance to hear them, you can click here for more information.

2. YELLOW FACE, the play by David Henry Hwang, is having another go-round in London! The last time it ran, just a few months ago, it had a four star rating. It will be at The Park Theater – and I encourage you, if you missed it the first time, to run off and view a great display of British Talent.

May 21 – June 16th. Break a leg, Everyone!

Gemma Chan & David Yip in DHH’s YELLOWFACE, re-opening in May 2014

This is great, because DHH’s Kung Fu, at NYC’s The Signature Theater

Cole Horribe as Bruce Lee

must close on April 6, 2014, so it is nice to know that his voice continues to be heard around the globe.

3. HERE LIES LOVE is back at the NY’s Public Theater

AND…they have a Cast Album! Which you can Order!

Is anyone else ‘trippin’ just looking at this artwork?

4. Tiananmen, a new musical, under the aegis of director, Stafford Arima (who also directed Allegiance), made it’s NY Concert Debut in the best room in town – 54 Below.

Cast of Tiananmen, the musical, backstage

5. The API’s of the new Broadway musical, IF/THEN made their Red Carpet Bows:

The lovely Ann Sanders

IF/Then Cast Members Marc DelaCruz, Pearl Sun, and Charles Hagerty

Alongside these Superstars –

LaChanze, Anthony Rapp, Idina Menzel from the Cast of IF/Then

Speaking purely from a Diversity standpoint – this show looks to be a standout. This is one of the more diverse casts I have seen, the show is set in New York City, this is exactly what Diversity means.

The Fairy Princess says YES, this IS what New York City looks like!

Good job, Telsey + Company!

6. This next one is pretty exciting – especially if you were one of those who were sad to see the end of the TV show, NIKITA – Maggie Q, one of the most bankable API’s on Television, is back in a new pilot by Kevin Williamson.

(Doesn’t that just make you want to SCREAM!)

Meet ‘Detective Beth Davis” from the new pilot by Kevin Williamson

In addition to that, Maggie Q is also in the DIVERGENT Trilogy and a bunch more stuff. The Fairy Princess is particularly partial to Hapa Actresses whose surnames are Irish and start with Q, so many congrats to her.

7. And finally – a shout out to BD Wong, who appeared in a comedy sketch on The Colbert Report.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/616065

To put a period at the end of the Great Hashtag Wars of 2014.

Thank you, B.D. Wong, our only Asian American TONY Award Winning Actor.

And there you have it – seven (or 8, you can count HLL 2x if you want to) things to feel good about as we wend our way out of Pilot Season and into Broadway – Happy Thursday, Folks!

Tags #CancelColbert, BD Wong, Broadway, Calpernia Addams, Celebrity Doodles, Colbert, Divergent, Diversity, Doria Biddle, Frank DeCaro, Frank DeCaro Show, GoodThingsThursday, Here lies Love, IF/Then, Jeff Yang, Kevin Williamson, Kristina Wong, Kung Fu, Maggie Q, Phil Yu, Pilot Season, Sirius XM

Categories Diversity

The Fairy Princess Gives an Interview….just reblogging in case you missed it.

March 20, 2014 //

After the Panel: Stop talking. Start doing.

by Erin Quill

in Diversity & Inclusion

Post image for After the Panel: Stop talking. Start doing.

(Ed. note: The following interview series builds on Seema Sueko’s report on the Diversity: Through the Director’s Eye panel, “Jump into the Gaps.” Diversity & Inclusion online curator Jacqueline E. Lawton shared a series of questions with attendees of the panel to expand and continue the conversation.)

JACQUELINE LAWTON: First, tell me about the work you do as a theatre artist or administrator.

ERIN QUILL: Primarily I am a Performer – I hold a BFA from Carnegie Mellon in Vocal Performance. I was in the Original Broadway Company of Avenue Q, the 50th Anniversary production of Flower Drum Song, toured as Lady Thiang in King & I, your general musical theater resume… On Los Angeles stages, I am known for my work with Lodestone Theatre Ensemble’s productions of The Mikado Project and Closer Than Ever. I have been a sketch comedy performer in New York and in LA, and have studied quite a lot of improv. I have had recurring roles on two television shows that shoot in NY – Damages and NYC 22, and appeared in the film, Man on a Ledge.

As a writer, I have a blog that I started right before my son was born, called www.fairyprincessdiaries.com where I write about Diversity in theater and anything else that tickles my fancy. In 18 months, I have over 50,000 views from all across the globe.

I have produced, worked in casting, written screenplays turn into features – I have done just about everything I could do to maintain life as a theater artist. As Sondheim wrote – Art isn’t easy…

JL: In a conversation about Diversity, identity and representation is important. How do you identify? How has this identity influenced the work that you do?

EQ: Ethnically, I am Chinese, Irish & Welsh, and am a dual citizen of the United States and Australia. My Parents strived to make sure that I understood both the joys and the burdens that being multiracial encompassed – we celebrated Chinese New Year and St. Patrick’s Day with equal fervor. I studied the histories of my diverse heritages, as well as the fairy tales, the music, things that were cultural touchstones.

As my Mother is Chinese Australian, we spent a great deal of time traveling back and forth to Australia in order to maintain family relationships – so I would say that I feel I am a world citizen.

Everywhere I travel, I try to visit a museum and grab a sense of where I am in that city’s timeline. I read histories, biographies, I hang at the ‘local’s’ spot – I look for differences and similarities no matter where I go.

I think that travel and study open your mind, and in terms of being an actor, to be exposed to various accents and ways of viewing the world – it all helps. In my writing, I pull from my world view, which is perhaps the reason my blog has hit such a nerve in the international scene.

JL: Why was it important for you to attend the Diversity: Through the Director’s Eye panel discussion?

EQ: I wanted to attend the Diversity Panel, because I was the first one to write about what was going on at La Jolla Playhouse and it’s production of The Nightingale. I wrote a blog post called “Moises Kaufman can Kiss my Ass and here’s why“, and within a few weeks, it was at 25,000 views. And the resulting ‘fallout’ from that blog post caused quite a stir, and a rush to have panels to discuss diversity – none of which I was invited to. People, many many people gave interviews, based on the fervor surrounding that post, but no one asked me to speak on it, or why I wrote it – so…I wanted to attend the Diversity Panel because I wanted to see where the chips had fallen, so to speak, a year later. Did my work have any influence? Were people willing to ‘get it’ in regards to casting Asian Americans on theatrical stages?

JL: Can you share one or two moments of discovery that happened for you during the panel discussion?

EQ: The first is that East West Players theater, and its Artistic Director, Tim Dang, are ahead of the crowd. They really are – here is an ‘ethnic’ theater that decided to broaden its horizons with a multi-racial cast and do the musical, CHESS. They took a leap and the audience was there for it. They are thinking outside of their comfort zone, they are creating space for the next wave of theater goers to feel welcome. Which means, thankfully, that East West Players is going to be here for many years to come, which makes me happy.

The second is that out of the four Caucasian men on the panel – there are two that are actively embracing Diversity, one who seemed to be shamed into having Diversity, and one who does not, absolutely does not give a damn about Diversity. I think we, of the “Diversity’ camp have to look at is as a win – we have 2 out of 4 for sure, perhaps 3 – and let’s face it – you cannot win them all. 2 out of 4 is progress. They know who they are.

JL: What is your biggest take away from the panel discussion?

EQ: My biggest ‘take away’ from the panel was that people who are concerned with Diversity and with building their audience are going to practice Diversity. And then there are those that seem innately satisfied that having a’ liberal upbringing’ and proclaiming it loudly on a panel negates them from any obligation of serving the Diverse community of Los Angeles. You cannot force a horse to drink, and you cannot force people to open their minds when they have been quite comfortable with the status quo.

My biggest question coming away from the panel is ‘Why?’. WHY are we continuing to have panels? Why hasn’t everyone ‘gotten it’ yet? Because they do not want to. They do not SEE Diversity. They will NOT see Diversity and we cannot MAKE them.

How could we sit for 90 or so minutes and hear NY’s Public Theater lauded for Diversity and Art and choose not to see what makes The Public Theater so great? It is the theater of New York City – and it reflects New York City. In Los Angeles, it is equally, if not MORE Diverse than New York – and yet, when we look on our stages, you would think it was 1950′s America. It’s embarrassing. No wonder Los Angeles does not have a National reputation for theater – how can we? We do not reflect the Nation.

Do you know what happened after the panel?

A Director in the crowd, who sat through an entire 90 minutes of talking about diversity approached Chil Kong, and demanded that he give her the ‘go ahead’ to do a show about Chinese history. She was very angry – which both I and Terence McFarland can vouch for – were ‘we’ (and by that I assume she meant ‘we Asians”) going to stand in the way of the play she was intent on producing just because it was a play about China that was going to be performed entirely by Caucasians in Chinese dress and manner?

Because you see, as she told it, this play is ‘allowed’ to be performed by Caucasians in Chinese dress, because this play she is doing, was written by a Caucasian man who adopted his daughter from China and wrote it for her – to help his Chinese born daughter learn the history of China. As performed by Caucasians in Los Angeles.

We had JUST exited the Diversity panel. We were at the reception. In the courtyard of The Pasadena Playhouse!

So my ‘take away’ is that Diversity is only going to happen when Artistic Directors ‘get it’ – it is not going to happen otherwise – what will happen, is that there will be a division of theater in Los Angeles – there will be the ‘white’ houses that will only play to Caucasian audiences, and there will be “ethnic theater’ which will appeal to everyone else. And eventually, one type will die out – and we will then, and ONLY then, know the winner.

May the odds be ever in our favor.

JL: What areas still need to be addressed in your community? What conversations still need to be hand?

EQ: There have been enough conversations to sink a battleship. There needs to be less conversation. There needs to be action – who cares if people are talking if they are not doing? Actions, as every actor knows, speak louder than words.

JL: What practical action steps would you recommend to local, regional and national theatre companies to address issues of Diversity and Inclusion?

EQ: Begin with your Boards – Diversify your Board of Trustees. Those are the people that raise money for your theater. Oddly, money tends to influence what shows are produced – if your Board is diverse, the theater company tends to incorporate Diversity.

Theater Staff – if your staff is multi-racial, they are going to think in a different way – they are going to suggest different types of plays – because their background will make them open to different kinds of playwrights, directors, actors. Listen to your staff.

If you have a larger theater, then you have to start your own casting files – have ‘meet and greet’ auditions or open calls specifically targeting one group at a time. Look at your season – look at where the play is set, which city, which time period – who would be there? Then go out AHEAD of time and LOOK for those people. Call companies known for having Diversity and ask for recommendations – both for Actors and Directors. Share. Grow. Act.

If you are an Artistic Director, then plot the direction you want your company to travel in. You cannot sit back and say “I’m the AD, the Director I hired is in full charge of this play” – you, as the AD are ultimately responsible for your theater company and every show that you produce. If you, as the AD are not helping guide your guest Director, as to the whys and wherefores of your company – then you are not an AD, you are Human Resources.

Finally – stop being lazy. You know why your company is not Diverse in it’s material or staff or board or casting? Because of laziness. It takes effort to change. You have to want it – you have to want it just as much as when you wanted to be an Artistic Director, or an Actor, or a Set Designer, or a Choreographer. If you want something, you act upon it. If you want change, you make it happen.

Stop “having conversations about diversity every day” – just practice it. Stop talking. Start doing.

If you don’t do anything, I know you are not serious – don’t waste my time. Excuses are so 2013.

ERIN QUILL holds a BFA from Carnegie Mellon. She was on Broadway in the Original Company of AVENUE Q, as Madame Rita Liang in the 50th Anniversary Production of FLOWER DRUM SONG at AMTSJ, toured opposite Debby Boone as Lady Thiang in KING & I, other productions include THE MIKADO PROJECT, CLOSER THAN EVER, ANYTHING GOES and so on. TV Credits: Damages, NYC 22, NYPD Blue, Movie Club w/John Ridley, Bravo pilot DISHIN’, Screening Party, Feature films: Man on a Ledge, The Mikado Project. Her blog www.fairyprincessdiaries.com has had over 50,000 views since it’s ‘birth’ 18 months ago – she has spoken about Diversity at LA Stage Day, on Speak UP with Jimmy, appeared in Network Diversity showcases, and most recently, was a Finalist in the Writer’s Program at NBC for the Diversity Showcase. She has written 2 screenplays that went to feature production, and is exhausted about talking about Diversity. She also has a sense of humor and a toddler.

Jacqueline E. Lawton received her MFA in Playwriting from the University of Texas at Austin, where she was a James A. Michener fellow. Her plays include Anna K; Blood-bound and Tongue-tied; Deep Belly Beautiful; The Devil’s Sweet Water; The Hampton Years; Ira Aldridge: Love Brothers Serenade, Mad Breed and Our Man Beverly Snow. She has received commissions from Active Cultures Theater, Discovery Theater, National Portrait Gallery, National Museum of American History, Round House Theatre and Theater J. A 2012 TCG Young Leaders of Color, she has been nominated for the Wendy Wasserstein Prize and a PONY Fellowship from the Lark New Play Development Center. She resides in Washington DC and is a member of Arena Stage’s Playwrights’ Arena. jacquelinelawton.com

Tags Diversity, Diversity Panels, East West Players, Jacqueline E. Lawton, Pasadena Playhouse, Seema Sueko, TCG, Tim Dang

Categories Diversity

Those Wounds Heal Ill, oh @TheWoosterGroup

March 3, 2014 //

The Fairy Princess actually thought she was going to have a good day….after all, one of her old bosses is up to be an EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony) Award winner today, and she has EVERYTHING crossed for Kristen Anderson Lopez and Bobby Lopez to win for Best Song – LET IT GO, from the film, FROZEN

Bobby Lopez & Kristen Anderson-Lopez

The Pasadena Playhouse has announced that under the direction of new Associate Artistic Director, Seema Sueko, they are going to produce a workshop of playwright, Philip C. Chung’s play, COME DOWN IN TIME, as part of their Hothouse series. They will co-produce with East West Players, and it will take place on March 20 & 21, 2014 at 8:00 PM at The Vault, 60 Los Robles Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91101.

The HOTHOUSE Series is designed to highlight and develop plays that ‘authentically align with the Playhouse’s commitment to Diversity’ and will be focusing on playwrights whose representation in American theater are traditionally under-represented.

The Fairy Princess has known Philip C. Chung for a long time, and she is absolutely thrilled that his work is getting the recognition by two venerable Los Angeles Arts Institutions. Philip has been working on his You Offend Me, You Offend My Family Website and it’s accompanying YouTube Channel, as well as his career as a screenwriter, but I knew that he missed writing for theater.

So there you have it – a hit! A palpable hit!

And…as good news comes in threes – she found out that Philip Anthony Rodriguez is going to have a cool story arc on the NBC Show, GRIMM! He’s going to be a Henchman for the Royals!

New Royal Henchman on GRIMM

Three good things in the past few days! Thus the Fairy Princess was unprepared for her emails this morning about…well, for a moment let’s go back…remember this guy?

Gregory Doran, Artistic Director RSC
aka The Great Conqueror

He was the chappie who brought us that production of The Orphan of Zhao, which was the oldest play from China, about a Chinese subject, and has been called The Chinese “Hamlet’, and he did THIS to it –

The Orphan of Zhao…by way of
Exeter.

All coming back to you? Sounding familiar? The Fairy Princess gave him a bit of a trouncing in her blog, and the past year has been fairly quiet on the Western Imperial Front from RSC. In fact, the British East Asians celebrated/… the year anniversary of that controversial show, and we were kind of thinking everyone had learned their lesson.

Because it is damn tiring to have to keep teaching it.

And honestly, isn’t everyone tired of reading it yet?

Well, they have not gotten the message at The Wooster Group yet, and THAT is lying heavy on the head that wears my tiara. The Fairy Princess has long been an admirer of The Wooster Group, and in general, she believes that they are a fairly sensitive, arty crowd, who do their utmost with their liberal political underpinnings to do groundbreaking work. After all they were founded by Spaulding Gray!

He’s got stories, right here in New York City

Or that is what she thought they did.

Then, they decided to team up with the RSC for a production of Troilus & Cressida, and examine, how did they put it? I’d better just pull the quote:

“CRY, TROJANS! originated as a co-production with the Royal Shakespeare Company of Troilus and Cressida at the World Shakespeare Festival in conjunction with the London 2012 Olympics. In that collaboration, the two companies took opposite sides in the Trojan War: the Wooster Group staged the Trojan scenes while the RSC staged the Greek ones. Scenes with both Greeks and Trojans were staged by both, each side developing its own version. The companies worked separately and without consultation until they met a few weeks before performances to sew the two halves of the show together. The seam was intentionally left rough so that the contrast of artistic approaches remained a foreground feature of the production, accenting the face-off of warring cultures in the play.

Seeking a decidedly American angle from which to encounter the RSC and the language of Shakespeare, the Wooster Group reimagined the Trojans as a pastiche fictional tribe of early Americans struggling to assert its dignity as doom closes in.

Following the special engagement with the RSC, the Wooster Group returned to New York and converted the collaboration into an independent piece. The spirit of the absent collaborator/enemy still manifests in various ways, but CRY, TROJANS! concentrates on the Trojan side of the story: the corruption of sincere love and the downfall of a noble hero.”

Ah yes they are going to examine ‘the corruption of sincere love and the downfall of a noble hero”.

Yet it winds up seeming to The Fairy Princess to be a corruption of Culture exchange and the downfall of Compassion. It seems odd that in the spirit of the Olympics, which is supposed to be all nations coming together and sharing and learning, the Wooster Group has fallen back artistically – perhaps with encouragement from RSC, perhaps on their own. Who knows how they came up with their concept, but it allowed the British to remain Caucasian and the Americans to don ‘war paint’ and ape the Native American experience – with no Native Americans seemingly visible on stage or in the artistic planning.

This is the issue – and it’s long enough that we actually have a subscription, but here it goes – Native Americans are not a pastiche to be bandied about with when you think you have run out of ideas as to how to play cultures at war with one another.

Does this look ‘right’ to anyone?

Photo by Paula Court from CRY TROJANS!

Probably to Gregory Doran, because, after all, he pulled one of these:

Still from RSC’s Orphan of Zhao

Well, I guess he told The Wooster Group to bang a gong and get it on, because….

Photo by Steven Gunther

I mean, SERIOUSLY?

I had to learn about this on Oscar Sunday? Hmmmm why does Oscar Night and Native Americans seem so aligned in my head already? There must be a reason….

Oh right, who stuck up for Native Americans once upon a time on Oscar Sunday?

Marlon Brando

He was awarded an Oscar, but instead, he sent this message:

Now, tis true, that perhaps The Brits do not ‘get’ the long, bloody and shameful history that America has with it’s Native Peoples – although WHY they would not, I have no idea, as they set the ball in motion – but Americans know. Though Americans are not taught the history of most minority groups in their classrooms, they are taught of our shocking and bloody, full scale war upon the Native Americans. We are. Every one of us.

Not to mention dozens of other ways we decimated Native American tribes – blankets from people who died of smallpox, anyone? Putting them in camps? Creating and then taking back Reservations?

Bury your heart at Wounded Knee?

General rape and pillage for absolutely no reason at all except a desire to push West?

Yep, those were covered in our classrooms.

But if one needs to catch up, one merely needs to go on the world wide interweb and do a search on American Genocide and you can find THIS documentary which I first saw at a film festival many years ago:

We also know that Native Americans are not one peoples – there are 566 listed Federally Recognized Tribes in America!

566!

That is not a ‘pastiche’!

What is a pastiche? Technically? It’s a pie filling.

It is from the Italian word pasticcio, which is pie filling mixed from diverse ingredients. It is also an piece of work that imitates the style or character of the work of one or more artists. It is not a parody – which mocks others.

Imitation or Parody?

The Fairy Princess is very, very sad about this new production from The Wooster Group – and she is even sadder that they are running it again in Los Angeles at REDCAT – without RSC.

How, in the City of Los Angeles, the City of Angels, where we have been swimming in Diversity panels like they are pools in a Beverly Hills mansion, could they have invited THIS production to perform in LA? Did no one say “Hey wait a minute, we are under fire here for bad casting decisions in the past which highlight our apathy and cultural insensitivity, so perhaps we should not invite a production where all the Native Americans are being portrayed by Caucasians?”

Ya Think?

As a country, we cannot – can not – apologize to certain groups ENOUGH for what we, as a country, have done to their people. We all know who those groups are – African Americans, Native Americans, Japanese Americans.

Unless The Wooster Group is comfortable doing this:

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

Then they should NOT be doing this:

Still from the Production they did with RSC

Because IT. IS. THE. SAME. THING! Get it? GET IT?

If you are so artistically bankrupt that you need to go and paint your actors because you cannot come up with a new concept for a Shakespearean drama – then quit. Seriously. Time to go. You cannot think of anything better than Rome-pan or Rome-many Nations – you are done.

Not because the concepts do not work – but because you are letting down your concept.

You cannot continue to mine the cultures of other peoples and then refuse to cast people that represent that culture. If you want to make a statement about Native Americans and your support of them and their journey in a Shakespearean way – go ahead – BUT CAST NATIVE AMERICANS!

I spy with my little eye…

If you want to set a show in a Rome that has been conquered by Japan, then you better have some Asian American faces in that cast. If you try to find members of that group and insist that you just cannot or that you have not found talent that you are excited to work with… change the concept. Set it in Norway, set it in France, set it in Russia, set it in Ukraine, set it in South Africa, set it in New Zealand, set it in Australia, set it in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, there are lots and lots of places one can possibly set a Shakespearean play where the actors will not have to actually paint themselves. (Unless you want them to paint Celtic Blue – because you know, the Celtic Warriors did actually paint themselves for battle – and there you go – one interesting concept, go ahead and take it)

Why? Why? Because you, the Director, look more intelligent. Because you, the Director, look more educated. Because you, the Director will then look like you know more about the world – both the one you are trying to create and the one we all live in.

Now, there have already been reviews of this production – and one of my favorites was reading that this production is “Wooster-lite“. The reviewer did not feel this play lived up to the reputation of The Wooster Group. Which means what? Here is a quote: “The result is an uncharacteristically tame production, one that left me time to ponder the awkward politics of an overwhelmingly white ensemble horsing around with cultural caricatures of race.”

It means that it is no longer acceptable to critics, or to audience members, or to the theater community to continue to insist that Caucasian actors can paint or clothe themselves to portray other ethnicities. You know that when theater critics start talking about the the casting versus the concept, as opposed to the casting working with the concept that this is a problem.

The argument for Diversity is ongoing, and it is uphill, even with Critics like Wendy Rosenfeld speaking up.

The thing that gets to The Fairy Princess, is the theater establishments resistance to using full mental capacity to notice that the world has changed, is changing, will continue to change. The reason that The Wooster Group’s production is so shocking is that they were considered the cultural elitists in New York City for a very long time – melding acting, concept, technology, and new ideas.

And now, I guess I would consider them…well…behind.

I actually consider them a Horse’s…er…zebra’s behind!

Far, far behind – behind The Pasadena Playhouse, behind East West Players, behind NY’s Public Theater, and part of me thinks “my goodness, how very sad that is.” It is like seeing Dorian Gray’s portrait hidden in the attic when you have been having a delightful sherry with him in the parlor all evening.

So 10 smacks of the wand to The Wooster Group – you went to London to share, and you came back with the worst kind of Imperialism running rampant in your production. What, precisely did you ‘learn’? How to totally ignore what you know to be right, and walk all over the culture of Peoples of Color – well, you seem to be an excellent student.

Next time they ask you to do something like that, just say

Even if you think they are the totally fancy, culturally elite, Royal Shakespeare Company and you want them to be impressed by you.

Just remember, they did this:

Yes, a Princess of China for sure

Because once you put a production out there….

Werd!

Tags Bobby Lopez, Celtic Warriors, Critics, Diversity, East West Players, Gregory Doran, Grimm, Kristen Anderson Lopez, Marlon Brando, multi-cultural casting, Native Americans, NY Public Theater, Pasadena Playhouse, Philip Anthony Rodriguez, Philip C. Chung, REDCAT, Seema Sueko, Spaulding Gray, The Royal Shakspeare Company, The Wooster Group, Trail of Tears, Wendy Rosenfeld

Categories Diversity

Nothing Like a Good News Week at ALL…oof

February 8, 2014 //

The Fairy Princess is pleased to announce that she will be Co-Hosting the charity event, CELEBRITY DOODLES, which is held annually in Palm Springs, and benefits Desert AIDS Project on APRIL 5th, 2014.

Here is the Doodle I did for them 2 years ago –

It raised $600 for Desert AIDS Project! WHAT? YES!

The Fairy Princess loves Palm Springs, and she is thrilled to have been asked – she began her love affair with Palm Springs 4 years ago with the SPARKLE Concerts produced by Scott Nevins and Mark Jones, and has made many wonderful friends and had a brilliant time each and every time, so – thank you Doodles for asking, see you in April!

The Fairy Princess has not been blogging that much, because well, everything has been depressing, right?

The last few weeks, in terms of the news, have been truly, truly awful – there’s people being attacked in Russia because of the way they were born…

Ireland decided to take away the right to use the word Homophobia from GLBT people and hand it back to actual Homophobes, because it’s defaming (Say WHAT?)

Science came under attack from people who like to…well, I guess, NOT read things and learn stuff…

and a wonderful Actor is no longer among us….

Philip Seymour Hoffman, RIP

What this last one means, honestly, is that there are three young children who are no longer able to get a hug or anything else from their Dad, and this just about kills me – because The Fairy Princess has lost many people to addiction, and whatever your personal thoughts on the addict or the substance, to lose a person to addiction is a horrible, sad thing.

There has also been quite a lot of attention paid to Dylan Farrow, who came forward after years of silence, about abuse she suffered…and that has been an absolute HOTBED of debate on both the mainstream media, social networking, and print journalism fronts – and that, again, is horribly sad.

Because statistics…well…

Which means, if your little girl or boy has a birthday party, and you invite 20 or so children over, statistically, more than one child in attendance at a party – in your own home, could have been sexually abused.

Which is pretty damn disgraceful, and even as rational voices have tried to be heard, the constant attacks on Ms. Farrow – both Sr. and Jr. -would likely guarantee that if there is a young child out there, being abused, they are probably going to look at this and remain silent.

And THAT, America – is the wrong message to send – even if you like someone’s movies.

Statute of Limitations has gone by in this case, however the DA at the time, Frank Maco stated that there was ‘probable cause‘ to move forward with a prosecution, but that his office chose not to. As a Lawyers Daughter myself, that ‘probable cause’ is telling, as is the Judge’s statement -which I have lifted from The Washington Post; “1993: State Supreme Court Acting Justice Elliott Wilk denounces him as an inadequate, irresponsible and self-absorbed father. The judge says he doesn’t know if the molestation happened, but bars Allen from seeing Dylan for at least six months and limits visits with other children. He also criticizes the Connecticut investigation that found no abuse.”

And this is the last word on some of the facts from Vanity Fair (here)

So NOW we are going to focus on some GOOD things that happened this past week, HAPPY things that have to do with song and dance and all things not Olympian, Russian, Drug Related, blah, blah, blah – because we need it. Well, The Fairy Princess needs it.

1. REX LEE IS IN THE ENTOURAGE MOVIE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Squeeeeeee!

WERK that headset, Rex!

2. The Book, NOTHING LIKE A DAME by Eddie Shapiro is NOW out!

If you love Broadway, or you know someone who does – THIS is what you can get them for Valentine’s Day, Birthday, whatever holiday you claim in December, it is truly so candid and inspiring – and I am so grateful that I have a copy of my very own!

See, there’s my copy in the left corner – don’t get distracted….

3. ALEC MAPA is on SWITCHED AT BIRTH (and yes, I separated those posts so you would not think that he is Rex or Rex is him, because that is truly ridiculous at this point, folks)

And what this means is that ABC Family is now reflecting MY Family, and The Fairy Princess LOVES that!

4. ANTHONY RAPP is back on The Broadway in a new musical called IF/THEN – and here is a clip of the great work we have all been missing – and yeah, that is Tom Kitt at the piano

5. LILLIAS WHITE is doing a Valentine’s Day concert! Yes, click here for information! I was so happy to see her at the Book Launch of Nothing Like A Dame, and she wants everyone to come to her concert! Norm Lewis does too!

Lillias White & Norm Lewis

6. The Webseries SUBMISSIONS ONLY is back for Season 3, featuring people we all know from the Broadway stages – it’s got cameos from big stars and from your Broadway regulars (it could use a bit more racial diversity, honestly, I would be remiss not to point that out) – but to me, as a member of the Broadway community, it’s a great way to get to know the ridiculous side in a way that is obviously absurd, and not just SMASH absurd.

(Cuz SMASH was totally absurd)

7. Canada made a protest video for the Olympics and it features a song by Human League!

Well played, Canada, well played…

8. PAGEANT, the musical has added a show to it’s existing 4, because they were SRO! What a great thing for Broadway Cares/EFA – do not wait to get tickets to the show added on the 24th, because they are going quickly

Oh Marty Thomas, how I love thee

9. JUSTIN LIN is directing a new Pilot (this is not so much singing and dancing, but it’s diversity) for CBS called “Scorpion” (and no, it’s not about Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson in a speedo – we can’t get THAT lucky). It’s about a Super Brainy Guy that becomes a “real life Professor X”. Anyway, Geeks inherit the Universe and save it at the same time is what I am getting. Congratulations Justin Lin!

10. The David Henry Hwang play, KUNG FU, is in previews at The Signature Theater in NYC – and it looks AMAZING! WOW!

So if you are a Bruce Lee fanatic, or a DHH fanatic, or if you just want to see some Asian Americans on stage acting in what looks to be a great piece – check it out.

There you go – ten things that have helped me make it through the past few weeks, and I hope they help you and give you something to look forward to. Normally, The Fairy Princess is not so rah-rah, but…it has been an AWFUL few weeks, I have just been gobsmacked.

If I had my druthers, I would grab a mug of hot chocolate, fuzzy socks, and go vacation, well….HERE:

Tags Alec Mapa, Anthony Rapp, Broadway, Broadway Cares/EFA, Bruce Lee, Celebrity Doodles, Child Abuse, David Henry Hwang, Diversity, Donna Lynne Champlin, Dylan Farrow, Eddie Shapiro, Frankie Grande, Fundraiser, GLBT, IF/Then, Josh Lamon, Justin Lin, Kung Fu, Lillias White, Marty Thomas, Max von Essen, Mia Farrow, Nothing Like A Dame, Olympics, Pageant the musical, Panti Bliss, Rex Lee, Russia, Sexual Abuse, Signature Theater, Submissions Only, Switched At Birth, The Abbey Theater, Theater

Categories Diversity

Hapa, Can you Hear Me? Hapa, Can you SEE me?

October 13, 2013 //

The Fairy Princess’s wings are fluttering a bit slower today, because, MANAA (Media Action Network for Asian Americans) via their founder, Guy Aoki, have taken it upon themselves to decide whether or not “Hapas” count.

Randall no last name, at Rafu Shimpo is giving this issue a wider bigoted stance by thoughtfully expanding on this topic with this amazing title – ‘Does an Actress Count As An Asian American if She Doesn’t Look it?” by Randall.

(article)

Does she ‘count‘?

Old Rafu (Randall, no last name listed) read Mr. Aoki’s column of bombastic bullshit and decided he would conduct his own very scientific experiment, with his vast knowledge of mixed race people and try and decide whether or not Actress, Chloe Bennett of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. ‘counted’ as Asian American – he asked his wife.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – Chloe Bennett

She said no.

Who get’s to decide? THEY do.(?)

Apparently, Hapas – of which the Fairy Princess is one,

we are the unwanted of the Asian American Community. Oh, what IS that word that they use so frequently with derision? What IS it?

Cher?

“We have a growing dilemma with Hapa actors. If they can pass for white, that’s often what their characters are. Yet the networks count them as Asian. As I’ve told them before, while that benefits their company to show how “diverse” they are, it doesn’t benefit the community if no one knows they’re part Asian.’ Guy Aoki (article)

A growing dilemma.

Well, yes – the Asian American population IS growing, but the numbers are not those of the “Purebloods’ to use Harry Potter terminology, it’s us Half-Breed Muggles that are cause for concern. According to Bloomberg, mixed race people identifying as Asian and Caucasian has INCREASED by 87 per cent in the last decade.

Oh my goodness, whatever WILL those “Purebloods” do if we get out of our cages? Although 87 per cent.…guess we are out.

WHY would we, the Asian American community, allow this kind of destructive thinking?

Everyone would rather protest MISS SAIGON, instead of looking at the intrinsic racism of the Asian American community and it’s way of having to put everyone in a box? Oh, wait of COURSE you would rather protest MISS SAIGON, it has a number where it addresses the issue of mixed race children.

Are ‘we’ really NOT going to reach out and slap MANAA and Rafu Shimpo for what is, actually, hate speech. It’s not any different than what Hitler used to say – are we going to, now as they did in Nazi Germany, start measuring our features for the purity of our traits? And if we, the Hapas, do not measure up to ‘their’ standards, we have to, forever after, be banished from the Asian American community?

No more noodles for us Hapas? That’s it?

It seems harsh. It seems….misguided.

What THINKING person would DO or SAY this? Who could endorse this way of thinking?

Norah Jones, you are mixed race – thoughts?

What IF….our hair is just a bit lighter?

Maggie Q – Go Ahead, tell HER she’s not Asian

What IF….our eyes are different?

Actress Vanessa Hudgens

What IF, we wind up on TV with millions of people dreaming of us at night?

Ian Anthony Dale – Hawaii 5.0

But perhaps, perhaps Hapas are not just focused on the small screen? Perhaps our plans of decimation of the Asian American Community go BEYOND the television, BEYOND the Broadway….maybe we are thinking BIGGER! Oh NO!

Wait a MINUTE, wait a MINUTE – what IF some of us become film stars?

Keanu Reeves – Matrix star

Nancy Kwan, from World of Suzie Wong & Flower Drum Song fame

Hailee Steinfeld, Oscar Nominee, True Grit

Korean film sensation, Daniel Henney

WHAT IF….Hapa Actors take an even BOLDER STEP and change their look FOR A ROLE?

David Lee McInnis in IRIS

What IF….we decide to celebrate the OTHER side of our heritage and take a role THAT way?

Sharon Leal – Dreamgirls Movie – incidentally, she is the recipient of an Asian Excellence Award, which I know, because I was AT that ceremony – uh HUH

What IF we become SUPERMODELS?

Naomi Campbell – DUCK!

I want to be there when you tell Tyson Beckford that he ‘doesn’t count’ as being part Asian….tell his abs first, I’m sure his fist will answer

WHAT IF…we go into MUSIC and have the WHOLE WORLD dancing and singing along with US?

Bruno Mars, he wins GRAMMYS

WHAT IF WE ARE CROWNED QUEEN OF THE UNIVERSE???????????

Miss Universe 1997, Brook Mahealani Lee

What’s that? The Fairy Princess is being too sensitive over SOMEONE ELSE deciding if she, AS A HUMAN, counts?

Maybe I should lighten up? Watch some TV?

To sum up what MANAA and Rafu are saying – Hapas do not count UNLESS a storyline is provided to fully expand upon the Asian-ness of their character on a show, which should be done the very FIRST time they hit the screen and repeated each and EVERY time they are seen.

What do they want, for the character to say, “Well, as my Chinese Mom said….” when they begin a scene?

When they begin EVERY scene?

Hello “Number One Son” part Deux.

So that the Asian Americans at home can feel comfortable. So that the Asian Americans at home – sitting on their tukus, – can point to the screen and feel better about the fact that if they find the Actor or Actress ‘hot’ that it is ONLY because the Actor/Actress is Asian? Because why? You are afraid of finding people attractive who are not Asian?

Wow.

So as a Hapa Actor, we need to have a full array of t-shirts with our Mom or Dad’s photo emblazoned across them in order to ‘count’? And we need to appear IN them every time we are in public?

So me, I do not count – and the people above do not ‘count’.

But my son, who is 1/2 Korean, Chinese, Irish, & Welsh, would count – but only if he stands with his Korean American Dad, but not with his Eurasian Mom. And they would totally not count my adorable nieces because they are Hapa but have blue eyes?

I should have Russell Wong kick each and every one of your asses – twice!

Romeo must kick your asses!

Dear Purebloods – let me tell you something straight – the ONLY people that need to ‘count’ Hapas, is the US Census. Hapa actors are under NO obligation to wave an Asian banner every time they appear.

The fact that you cannot tell what a Hapa person looks like means, actually, that you are cloistered in a limited world, where you do not get the full benefit of what it means to be an American, what it means to be a World Citizen, and what it means to be a Human.

If you are a mixed race person of a certain age, it is because two people came together despite what society told them, and celebrated their differences and their mutual humanity. And if you are a mixed race person of a certain age, you have been THROUGH IT. So have your Parents. Your entire Family.

I salute you. I SEE you.

We are mixed race people, and we get to reap ALL, repeat ALL, the benefits of ALL our Heritages. We do not CARE if you are not comfortable with US, because you have made it your LIFE’S WORK to deny that we exist. Hapa Children have LONG been shunned – historically – by Asian Communities, so it is with GREAT humor that I tell you why you are so worried…

Because WE are Asian America 4.0, and we, like ALL upgrades, are making the Asian American community faster, and more efficient.

This makes you afraid? Well go ahead then, go ahead and be VERY afraid.

In closing, I want to address the Network Angle – that they count Hapa actors on their Diversity ‘report card’. They have every right to do so.

I say that as a former Vice Chair of the Asian American Subcommittee of SCREEN ACTORS GUILD, and as a former SAG National EEOC member.

Heritage is Heritage. If you declare yourself, if you ‘come out’ as Asian American, then you ARE Asian American. You ‘get’ to count, and you are counted. I count you, and so should the Networks.

Period.

Drop the mic and take us home, Audra McDonald….

MANAA and Rafu Shimpo can Kiss my Hapa Fan Tan Fannie!

(And BTW, I worked with MANAA Member, Aki Aleong years ago – and Mr. Aoki – HIS name was changed. So if you are going to go after Chloe Bennett for the same thing, why don’t you ask Aki why he changed his)

Tags Agents of SHIELD, Chloe Bennett, Daniel Henney, David Lee McInnis, Diversity, erin quill, Guy Aoki, Hailee Steinfeld, Hapas, Keanu Reeves, Maggie Q, Manaa, Nancy Kwan, naomi campbell, Network Report Card, Norah Jones, Rafu Shimpo, Randall, Russell Wong, sharon leal, steve byrne, tyson beckford, vanessa hudgens

Categories Diversity

America, we are having a bad week…

July 14, 2013 //

For some, the murder of Treyvon Martin is a story on the news to decry but one you will move on from- but for The Fairy Princess, it hits a bit closer to home, because she has had Great Grandfathers, on both the Irish and Chinese sides of her family, murdered.

Not many people know that about me, but it’s true.

My Great Grandfather, William Fang Yuen, was murdered in 1922 in Innisfail, Australia. He was killed by a Caucasian man who was his Foreman. The Foreman was stealing, and he had been caught, there was an argument, the Foreman left. Later, my Great Grandfather was shot as he prepared the payroll.

The different reasons given for the murder are similar to reading RASHOMAN, the play. There were rumors of infidelity, of embezzlement, of jealousy….no one bothered to get the story straight, least of all the Authorities. What I was told as a child only grew more complicated as I became an adult, but it remains a blot on the history of The Chinese in North Queensland. My Cousin, William Yang, actually does a show called “Sadness’ on this very subject.

There was a trial, but it was superficial – much like the Zimmerman case, it allowed someone who was the acknowledged killer to go free, because, essentially Australia’s treatment at the time of their ethnic minorities and other immigrants was shockingly biased. I mean, if one could go to prison for killing “A Chinaman“, then what would happen if people were examined for their treatment of the Aboriginals! One of the reasons that the defense said that the fellow did not murder my Great Grandfather, was because my Great Grandfather had a very distinct large gold ring that had gone missing when he was killed – and they could not find the ring in the Foreman’s possession, ergo it had to be someone else. This was part of the case they made, and, he was acquitted.

When my Grandfather was a young man, he went walking in the town of his Father’s murder and he saw the son of the Foreman wearing his Father’s ring. A ring so distinct, that he would remember it from childhood. And, apparently, this was a ring that had been worn frequently in that town, once the trial was over – so everyone ‘knew’ that he was guilty, but nothing was done about it.

My Great Grandfather was a very wealthy man – he owned all the sugarcane farms in the area. He was ‘the bank’ for the Chinese community there, as none of the regular financial institutions would loan money to local Chinese who wanted to start a business. My Great Grandfather built the church and helped found that town. He was murdered, leaving behind a young wife and four children…and he was not accorded the dignity of his murderer being incarcerated. His wealth did not protect him. Money cannot protect against racism.

This changed the Family in many ways, perhaps, had his Father been around, my Grandfather and his Brothers would have made different choices – in careers, in who they married, perhaps they would still own the majority of the sugar cane in North Queensland, perhaps I would not even be here – but my life is a legacy of that murder.

On the Irish side, My Great Grandfather O’Shea was set upon by British soldiers as he made his way home from the pub in Kerry, Ireland. They beat him near to death because he was a member, in some fashion, of the Resistance. When he did not come home as expected, his sons set out looking for him – he had seven children. They found him and brought him home, and he lingered for three days, dying slowly of internal injuries.

During that time, as he faded in and out, he told his children that they were all to leave Ireland, immediately. After he was gone, they all stole away in the night and everyone took a different ship leaving Ireland – and they did not tell each other where they were going in case they were captured.

Some were never heard from again. At least one ended up in Australia, married, coincidentally, to an Auntie of my Mother. My Grandmother found out, after about 30 years in America, that she had a sister living but two towns over from where she eventually wound up.

Again, the legacy that I have inherited was based on the murder of someone who was not going to be given justice by any legal system. I have to, as a Parent, consider that my Child’s heritage is based on murder, and now I have to consider that, should he wear the wrong piece of clothing and venture out after seven p.m., it could be his future.

There is 90 years between the murders of my Great Grandfather and Treyvon Martin, but nothing seems to have changed. The statement of a Caucasian is valued higher than the evidence of a crime, the eyewitness testimony, and the presence of a dead body. A dead body who is…was…a minority.

The Fairy Princess has a child. I am the Mother of a Son. I am the Mother of a Son who is, in the United States, considered a minority.

My Son is many things that I can see right now, at the age of one – he is smart, he is quick, he is physically advanced for his age, and he has a wicked sense of humor that in the future is definitely going to be an issue. That, he gets from me – the humor. Otherwise, he looks like his Dad.

There are many things about my Son that I cannot tell yet, but his being viewed as a Minority in the United States is something that I know right now, will follow him his whole life. Being viewed as a Minority is an issue that both his Father and I have dealt with on a personal basis.

Growing up for my Husband, as an immigrant from South Korea who was then transplanted abruptly to a small town in Virginia, was difficult. To say ‘difficult’ is an understatement. However, my Husband survived.

Growing up as a multi-ethnic female in New York was not without it’s own problems. Add to that a tendency to be chunky and like musical theater, and you can see that I was in for some stressful moments. However, I survived. (Power ballads are particularly useful under duress)

One day – much sooner than either his Parents, his Immediate Family, and his extended LGBT Family will like – my son will be a teenager.

Yesterday, with the verdict in the Zimmerman trial, what it means to be the parent of a teenager who falls into ‘the minority’ changed how we are able to feel when our children leave the house.

They could be leaving to go to sports practice, or to play computer games with a friend. They could be leaving to go and sketch a particularly interesting tree they saw on their way to school. They could be leaving for a million creative and interesting reasons, or they could just be going to get some candy and a drink, and they might wear a sweatshirt.

But they will, we now know for certainty, never really be safe – even if they walk the streets they grew up in. Because someone who lives in fear, or in hate, or in combination of the two will see my Son, your Son, our Sons, as ‘the other’. They will see our Sons and they will see opportunities that they feel they missed out on, or they will see someone to focus their anger on, and they will take a shot, or take a knife, or use their hands – and they will attack our Sons. Perhaps they will maim them and our Sons will recover. Perhaps they will kill them, and our Sons will become another news story.

Should such a horrific thing happen, our Legal System will then allow the Murderer to gather a Jury ‘of their peers’ who will let them go. Because their Peers will understand and make excuses for their racism, fear, and hate – because they too, have it as part of their makeup – even if they do not think so.

My Son is not African American – I am not trying to co-opt that experience. But one need only to look at the news this past week to view how America views Asians in this country.

It seems it is perfectly acceptable to many to mock the names of people who have just been through a horrific airplane crash where people died. It was blamed on ‘an intern’, but think about how many channels and levels those ‘approvals’ had to go before they wound up being reported as fact, on the nightly news. It was not ‘just a mistake’, it was racism.

This past week on a television show, Big Brother 15, some of the “Houseguests’ told the Asian American contestant to ‘go make some rice’ and were shown degrading the other contestants on the live feeds. They were not ‘jests’ or ‘all in fun’ comments – it was racism.

Remembering Vincent Chin

The name, Vincent Chin, may not be as familiar to mainstream America, but to Asian Americans it is ‘our’ Treyvon Martin story – it vibrates with the reminders that every time we hear someone yell “Chink” or “Jap” or “Gook” from a car, from an alley, in a bar….. we could be moments away from be bludgeoned to death simply because we exist in this country. This is a fear that is shared, in some respect by every person in this country who is a minority – either due to their race, gender, or sexual preference.

Apparently we, the pesky ‘minorities’, are only in this country on very specific terms, which can be challenged at any time by a man – usually a Caucasian man – who has been somewhat of a failure in his own life. So of course, instead of working hard, or studying, or taking responsibility for his own actions, it’s much better to ‘blame’ the minority for his own shortcomings.

“That chick is a BITCH” because she will not date you, “That Gook took my job” because you stopped your education at High School, “That Fag wants to touch me” because you have latent attractions you are unable to deal with in a constructive way. We, the minorities, are cluttering up ‘their Country‘, so we better ‘watch ourselves‘.

This country, which so many seem content to claim, but which was stolen from Native Americans by men whose Napoleon complexes resulted in Manifest Destiny.

This is America. Lest we forget, us ‘minorities’.

Ok, Angry Undereducated White Guy, you sure told me!

What do we, as minorities in America, take away from this horrible lesson? What is our next step?

I will tell you what I am going to do….

I am going to hold my Son tonight – as I do every night – and I am going to worry more now. I will probably go to the ‘dark place’ quite a bit – but I will teach him how to grow and achieve to his fullest potential.

We must empower our Sons to live full lives filled with achievement, education, and art.

We must teach our Daughters that they are shining examples of courage, education, and self-sufficiency with the right to control their own bodies.

We must teach, in spite of all the terrible things that we are being taught right now, about America through this case, we must teach our Children that in America, we expect them to treat people equally regardless of their race, sexual preferences, or gender.

America, as a country, is not ‘there’ yet – but Our Children may get the chance to make it so, as long as we, The Parents, do not give up. We need to work to change laws, we need to empower our educational system, we need to continue to invest in our communities through the Arts and through Social Programs. We need to show one another respect and tolerance and understanding.

We all must do this, because if we do not….the shitheads win.

Tags African American, Children, Chinese Australian History, Diversity, George Zimmerman, Hoodies, Innisfail, Murder, Race Wars, Racism, Treyvon Martin, Violence

Categories Diversity

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…..

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

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

Hashtag Not Your Mascot, Hashtag Not Right, #NotYourMascot

Good Things Thursday!

The Fairy Princess Gives an Interview….just reblogging in case you missed it.

After the Panel: Stop talking. Start doing.

Those Wounds Heal Ill, oh @TheWoosterGroup

Nothing Like a Good News Week at ALL…oof

Hapa, Can you Hear Me? Hapa, Can you SEE me?

America, we are having a bad week…

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

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

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

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