This infuriated me.
I directed high school for years. You have a limited casting pool to choose from and some times you are forced to cast someone who would never play the role professionally.
This isn’t professional theatre. This is high school. It’s about learning and working together to create. A costumer may discover their innate gift for design. A stage manager. A props person. It’s not always about the performers.
I cast an actress of Indian descent as MAME, that quintessential American flapper. I did WORKING and cast women in ‘male roles’ and we figured it out together. I cast an African-American actress as ALICE (in Wonderland), a Filipino DUCHESS, a Vietnamese WHITE RABBIT. I did it—not to be politically correct or inclusive—but because they were the best choices available. When a bitter girl who was not cast as MAME confronted me about ‘casting the colored girl’, I threw her out of my office.
Perhaps the actress chosen had the notes to play ESMERELDA—perhaps she ‘paid her dues’ in the school past productions—perhaps her parents are great to work with...Who knows? I would have resented being judged on my casting as well. |
