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NYPOST.com: "Here's a way to get those 'God of Carnage' grosses back up to $1 million a week -- an all-star, African-American cast. Yasmina Reza, zee French lady who wrote zee play, has OK'd the idea, and so the search is on for four major stars."
This article is outrageous in so many ways, it's hard to even find where to begin. To me, a show's casting needs to depend on what the actor brings to the role, and if black actors really bring a new interpretation of the characters (not unlike how American actors apparently changed the interpretation of the French play), then I see the value in it. But expressly casting the show as all-black, or with a gay couple as mentioned in the article, with the justification being "there's a black audience and they'll pay full price for it", that's incredibly demeaning to the actors, the audience, the creative staff and even down to the script. If bringing in stars will help you sell more tickets, fine. Black stars? Fine. But requiring an all-black cast with only money as your rationale? That's dangerous.
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This article is outrageous in so many ways, it's hard to even find where to begin. To me, a show's casting needs to depend on what the actor brings to the role, and if black actors really bring a new interpretation of the characters (not unlike how American actors apparently changed the interpretation of the French play), then I see the value in it. But expressly casting the show as all-black, or with a gay couple as mentioned in the article, with the justification being "there's a black audience and they'll pay full price for it", that's incredibly demeaning to the actors, the audience, the creative staff and even down to the script. If bringing in stars will help you sell more tickets, fine. Black stars? Fine. But requiring an all-black cast with only money as your rationale? That's dangerous.
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