Diversity in Chicagoland Theaters

[Craig T Gustafson]

Yeah... I think the clearest path to diversity is to not make a big deal out of it.

Make sure that (A) your auditions are well publicized and (B) people know that everybody is welcome. Then you cast the best actors, regardless of ethnic makeup. Saying that you HAVE to integrate your cast is kind of futile if the only ethnicity showing up is Caucasian.

Once we can get to the point where the only thing we notice about a person is their talent, we are diversified.

[crhickman]

I doubt many Caucasian* actors regularly audition at Congo Square. I also wonder how many Caucasian, heterosexual actors on this board are regular players at About Face Theater or Real Read?
One thing I?ve noticed, as the years roll by, is that people tend to stay among those with whom they feel comfortable. If few African American actors show up for auditions in Naperville, for example, there are reasons for this which are more complicated than marketing efforts of a theater.
Are people from marginalized groups, such as gay, lesbian, African American, and Latino groups complaining about not being able to audition in these suburban locales? If so, there may be a problem. If not, there probably isn?t enough community presence of that group to make auditioning for a particular theater an attractive option. In time, as demographic maps change, more people from these groups may audition at theaters that are currently have a Caucasian majority.
I think a suburban theater group in a Caucasian-majority neighborhood can advertise for diversity, but shouldn?t be surprised if the turn out is low-to-none. It?s human nature.
I?m very impressed by those exceptions to this rule; those men and women racially are not members of the US majority culture, yet audition for such theater groups, anyway.

(* The meaning of this word, which once only referred to white-skinned people from the Caucasia region, has expanded to designate all white-skinned humans of European, southeast Asian and north African descent.)

[pungster1]

I know what you mean about staying in your "comfort zone". I had cast a African American actor in the ensemble of "Our Town"-not because he was African American but because he was good. It took him a while to feel comfortable being the only non-Caucasian person in the production, but that lessened eventually as the "bonding" took place among the cast and crew. I assigned him 2 roles-that of the undertaker and also the roll of the audience member who questions Editor Webb about social problems in Grovers Corners. He asked me if I had given him that particular role because he was black, and I told him yes-because that gave the scene more impact, and he agreed with me.

[DanMuir]

I tend to speak from experience quite a bit, and this is no exception.

If any theater did "The Sound of Music" and wants to be more diversified, they're doing the wrong show. Maybe that's the trouble with most suburban theaters. Do the right show, and they will come.

It was the early 90s when Naperville's Summer Place staged Big River. I'm guessing when I say that a good half of the cast was African-American. I remember thinking, "Wow! Where did they come from?" Meaning there were so many of them, all excellent actors with beautiful singing voices, that I wondered why I hadn't seen them before. Well, logic tells me that they finally found a show they'd have a good shot at getting cast in. Word got around and apparently the director had no trouble filling those roles.

The same theater, a year before, I was cast in "The Boys Next Door" where one of the mentally-challenged men was African-American. One of the directors of Summer Place put the alert out to one of his former students who came to auditions and ran away with the part. He was one of three African-American men who showed up, but he was the best actor. I saw the same play cast with caucasian actors in that role, because no African-American actors showed up. It wasn't the same.

The same season, SP staged Kismet. I took a friend, who is half-Chinese, to auditions where she had no trouble getting cast as one of the harem and a dancer. She had no stage experience since high school, but she's quite exotic-looking and was cast the same day.

Maybe it's an easy in for any minority actor to snag a role that calls for their particular race, and maybe the competition would be sparce. But when word DOES get out that those roles are available, they have come out. Whether they'll continue to come out will depend on the show. I'd love to do "Five Guys Named Moe", but I'm the wrong color. The cast calls for six African-American men. As much as I'd love to, I wouldn't audition for it.

So how to make your shows more diversified? Do the shows that call for different races. I'd love to see it.

DM

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ August 20, 2006 06:24 PM: Message edited by: The Inspector ]</font>

[Craig T Gustafson]

Ok, now we're getting into murkier territory because we're speaking at cross purposes. What Mark was originally talking about was not the diversity of casting people of different races in shows, period, but in casting people of different races in parts that are normally cast WASPily.

As I said, I'm absolutely in favor of that type of diversity when it isn't harmful to the intentions of the script.

The idea is not that we encourage people to come out for shows in which there are obviously parts for them, but to let them know that we'll cast them when it's not so obvious.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ August 20, 2006 07:32 PM: Message edited by: Sgt. Bilko ]</font>

[Mwbrouwer]

I'm encouraged by the response this post has received. Dan, I really value your perspective and experience. (Have we met in the theater trenches before?)

?Good art is art that allows you to enter it from a variety of angles and to emerge with a variety of views.? - Mary Schmich quotes

Some very good points were made that there is a great amount of untapped talent in minorities.

How does a theater present itself as an attractive place for minority actors? Producing the right show is key, granted, but what do you think are other factors that welcome or discourage outsiders?

[rollstone]

Well, the last posts from Mark, Dan and Craig seem to be a good wrap up and Mark's question is a good one. What can companies do to to attract minorities? You can hope a company's reputation for being a good place to work would include that minorities are welcome, but that's hard to put out effectively until you actually get minorities in a show so they can spread the word. You can cast the best and be colorblind, but if your pool is all white, who knows you're really colorblind. Show selection may be key, but when a theatre's demographic is overwhelmingly monochromatic, the biggest opportunites are when it doesn't make any difference. So you advertise auditions in the usual places, do you add "looking to diversify cast" in hopes of attracting more minority auditioners? Doesn't that seem to promise some minorities will be cast and then you may compromise your 'cast the best' standard. Do quality minority actors want parts where it doesn't make any difference? Do they feel too uncomfortable performing for an all white audience, even if they feel comfortable with the company? Maybe it is better to just concentrate producing good stuff, be open to anyone where the script allows and not worry about it so much unless there is a bigger reaction in the acting community that opportunities for minorities are not fairly available.