…the race card you just pulled?
Put it back in the deck.
You don’t get to play it when it’s convenient for you. 98% of shows produced in this country and ESPECIALLY professionally and at the Broadway level are ALL white. Specified or not. You can’t find fault with the 2% of shows that specify diversity and allow opportunities for people who otherwise wouldn’t necessarily get them.
Not only do you not get to play the card because we don’t get to play it ever- even when you say things like “white is the default” when casting shows where race isn’t specified. (Yeah that’s right. I’m still reeling over that one Roundabout).
You also don’t get to play the card because the playwright and creator of the play (in this case the unmatched practically perfect Mr. Lin Manual Miranda) had specified the ethnicities of his characters (because based on historical figures or not they are characters that he created in his brilliant mind BASED on the lives, writings, personalities, etc of those historic figures). The buck literally stops with him CUZ HE WROTE IT. You don’t get to argue about it. There’s no debate. No one questions Stephen Sondheim or Arthur Miller about that.
And finally you don’t get to play the card because you CAN STILL GET CAST IN THE SHOW! Will you play a lead (other than King George)? No. No, you won’t. But there are white people in the show. And not just tokens (although really how can you even begin to bring that into this since the token black guy is literally an actually archetype, but I digress) but featured ensemble roles! One white male ensemble member gets a whole song. You aren’t even being told you can’t be cast. Just not in those roles.
What you’re feeling right now is the uncomfortableness of the loss of what you’ve always had. As Chris Boeskool put it in his recent (and brilliant) article (later featured on the Huffington Post): “Equality can feel like oppression. But it’s not. What you’re feeling is just the discomfort of losing a little bit of your privilege”
You aren’t used to being put in a situation where you are the minority at an audition, or are unlikely to get cast in a role or even seen for a role due to your race. It’s not something you’ve even ever had to consider. Up until now you’ve given no thought to even auditioning for a role meant for non white actors because they are typically roles that you either literally couldn’t play (for example a role in The Color Purple) or you wouldn’t want to (the nurses, servants and drivers of the cast).
And that’s ok. We can sympathize (believe me we can). Honestly, it’s not 100% your fault- this is the perspective of the world in which you grew up, trained and currently live. You’ve never known any different or had cause to disrupt the status quo. Or never mind disrupt it– you’ve likely never even thought about it.
But you don’t get to change the rules when the color of your skin no longer gives you the advantage.
We certainly don’t get to.
P.S. I’m not even an actor I just write this as a person of color looking out for her fellow people of color.
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Article Referenced Above: http://theboeskool.com/2016/03/05/when-youre-accustomed-to-privilege-equality-feels-like-oppression/
