http://www.post-gazette.com/news/ed...ed-that-show-won-t-go-on/stories/201511130221
Here we have a Korean playwright writing a play that takes place in India. It is to be presented at a college in Pennsylvania with less than 1% Asian student population (no telling how many of them are majoring in the Arts). When the playwright finds that the students in the three key roles are not Indian - or at least Asian, he refuses permission. In his teensy little brain, the ACTORS must be Asian.
How can somebody who is a playwright be so stupid, vindictive, and unaware of...what drama is, for Christ's sake. Acting is acting; they are only playing pretend, and the audience must always be prepared to suspend its disbelief in the interest of appreciating the artistic merit of the play.
Men portray women and vice versa. Linda Hunt, of all people. played a man in The Killing Fields. Audrey Hepburn played a Puerto Rican princess in West Side Story. Lew Gossett played a red-neck drill sergeant in An Officer and a Gentleman. Mel Gibson (5'9", maybe) played a 6'8" Scot in Braveheart. Dustin Hoffman played...well, maybe that's not the best example.
This is not your typical example of racism. It's probably more one of stupidity than anything else. But this guy's stupidity resulted in a lot of wasted time and effort on the part of some well-meaning people - people who admired the playwright's work - and cost the playwright himself, I suppose, a couple bucks in royalties.
Real life is real life, and drama is drama. Actors are charged with portraying FICTITIOUS (or historical) people in a believable way, and often the audience must use its imagination to overlook obvious differences between the gender, race, or physical appearance of the actor, as contrasted with the person s/he is portraying. It is POSSIBLE that the actor himself might be an insult, or totally inappropriate for the part - a fat Italian playing Ghandi, or what have you, but that was not the case here.
Academe has gone to the dogs.
Here we have a Korean playwright writing a play that takes place in India. It is to be presented at a college in Pennsylvania with less than 1% Asian student population (no telling how many of them are majoring in the Arts). When the playwright finds that the students in the three key roles are not Indian - or at least Asian, he refuses permission. In his teensy little brain, the ACTORS must be Asian.
How can somebody who is a playwright be so stupid, vindictive, and unaware of...what drama is, for Christ's sake. Acting is acting; they are only playing pretend, and the audience must always be prepared to suspend its disbelief in the interest of appreciating the artistic merit of the play.
Men portray women and vice versa. Linda Hunt, of all people. played a man in The Killing Fields. Audrey Hepburn played a Puerto Rican princess in West Side Story. Lew Gossett played a red-neck drill sergeant in An Officer and a Gentleman. Mel Gibson (5'9", maybe) played a 6'8" Scot in Braveheart. Dustin Hoffman played...well, maybe that's not the best example.
This is not your typical example of racism. It's probably more one of stupidity than anything else. But this guy's stupidity resulted in a lot of wasted time and effort on the part of some well-meaning people - people who admired the playwright's work - and cost the playwright himself, I suppose, a couple bucks in royalties.
Real life is real life, and drama is drama. Actors are charged with portraying FICTITIOUS (or historical) people in a believable way, and often the audience must use its imagination to overlook obvious differences between the gender, race, or physical appearance of the actor, as contrasted with the person s/he is portraying. It is POSSIBLE that the actor himself might be an insult, or totally inappropriate for the part - a fat Italian playing Ghandi, or what have you, but that was not the case here.
Academe has gone to the dogs.
