I've always loved theatre. I've always loved putting on a show. When I was young, when I saw my uncle's old movie camera, I dreamed of making a movie. I loved standing on a stage. I loved the feeling of a spotlight on me.
I became a software developer by writing games. Even then, I was essentially putting on a show!
I acted a bit in school. Nothing earth-shaking, and usually the result of a friend needing someone to play a part in some-play-or-another. One day, I stopped. The problem was that there were very few roles for me. It was one thing when I was busy with something or another (usually my endless hunt for a girlfriend) and a friend asked me. It was another thing when I wanted to actually try out for a role.
The problem is that I look very ethnic. I am an Asian Indian. My hair is black and I usually keep it long. My skin is very brown. I guess if I grew a mustache I could pass for hispanic, but even then . . . how many roles are out there?
I took a little time off from theatre. My "little time", I mean twenty years or so. I got married, worked on my career, and raised two kids. My kids got started in theatre, and both love it.
One day, we got involved with a Unitarian Universalist church and I saw that they were holding auditions for their Christmas play. The kids were interested, so we went to auditions. I figured, having nothing better to do, I would audition as well. The play was "A Gilbert and Sullivan Christmas Carol", and I got the part of the narrator: they liked my speaking voice, it would seem.
I played that part for three years. This theatre company decided to take a break from this play and did a version of "Gift of the Magi". I was their narrator for that for the next two years. I was called the best narrator this group had ever had.
One day, thinking about how much I enjoyed theatre, I would start auditioning for more plays. That started my obsession!
This hasn't been an easy process. I still have the same problems finding roles that I had in college, when I gave up on theatre. Even when I am cast, I am rarely put in challenging or interesting roles. It has become clear to me that theatre is very much still a "white person's world".
This leads me to this blog. I feel as though I need to document my experiences the past two years, and what I might experience this next year. Truth be told, I am seriously considering giving up theatre altogether. Outside of theatre, I rarely find myself looking at my skin color as a negative, as something that is impeding me.
Before anyone says it, I have heard people say that this is now changing. I heard that same line 26 years ago. Sorry, folks, it's not changing. I hear about "color blind casting", but I can count on one hand the number of community theatre companies that actually do that (and two of those groups are Gilbert and Sullivan groups, which seems to by definition mean they are desperate for people). I find it ironic that community theatre groups will think nothing of using a few boxes and saying "that's a sofa", but absolutely can't stand the thought of a brown person playing a role meant for a white actor!
Around the same time that I am writing this blog entry, I saw some articles regarding the play "Motherf*cker With A Hat". The play ran on Broadway and had several Tony award nominations. It closed on Broadway and then opened in Connecticut. The author of the play was shocked to see how it was cast. The lead roles were for hispanic actors. In the casting call, there was no mentioning that these were hispanic actors. The director, apparently, had already chosen two white people for the role, and didn't even audition any hispanics. Here, it wasn't a case of an ethnic actor being turned away from a role because the director wanted a white actor for that role . . . this was a case of the role being written for ethnic actors, and the role STILL going to white actors.
So, I hope this blog won't be an endless series of articles where I rant about the unfairness of the "system". Maybe I'll find a whole new world of theatre this next year, and I'll be writing about that. More than likely, I'll just be ranting.
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