CMU School of Drama


Friday, July 21, 2017

Theaters Need to Stop Racially Segregating Their Season

OnStage Blog: I love it when a local theater company wants to encourage diversity and inclusion with their season. The desire to tell different stories with an array of different types of people is something that should be applauded always. If your theater is doing this with their current or next season, congrats.

However, I also feel that the commitment to diversity should be extended to every show in your season and not stop with the one that would require roles of color.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

This has been something humanity has been struggling with for years. Where do we draw a line between racial connections and attempting to just provide entertainment? When does focusing on race and the issues with it become racist within itself? I personally believe society isn't at a point where we can have black, latino, transgender, LGBTQ+ characters without that being the focus of the show. It isn't a subconsciously accepted and normal thought yet. Although, racially segregated seasons is stupid. Casting non-white actors for non-white exclusive leads then relegating them to the chorus for one reason or another is not increasing diversity, it's actually hurting it. It is crucial to consider them for all roles, instead of just one show then considering them for more roles in the future. Shows like In The Heights and Hamilton, in the rights, force companies to cast non-white leads or they aren't allowed to do the show. This is a huge step towards diverse casts, because clearly companies are struggling to do it on their own.