I’m really glad you brought up the idea of coalitional
casting, because that has been one of the ideas that I’ve been wrestling with a
lot as we have moved (so quickly) through our discussion on race. I have never heard this term before, and my
initial instinct is that it is hogwash.
But, I am a fan of Dr. Ybarra, so I did some more research into clarifying
her creation/definition of coalitional casting.
I read an address of hers, in reference to a play done at Brown:
“Although no one in the cast was Seminole, the majority of
the actors were African American, Latinx, and Asian American. International
actors and Anglo actors joined them onstage, telling this story while getting
in touch with their own identities and the privileges that come with them. This
type of casting is what I call coalitional casting because being onstage in these
roles is not only an act of becoming a culturally different person, but an act
of committing to the cause of telling a marginalized story; it is committing to
doing the work it takes to get over one’s trepidation over telling someone
else’s story. And it requires realizing that no single story is universal
unless everyone’s story is.”
I see her ideology and what she’s trying to do. And I think, that if handled correctly and
ethically, that coalitional casting can make things better, or demonstrate to
and inform students about theatre that they might not have otherwise been
exposed to. Truly, I would rather see a high school do In The Heights than Oklahoma, if it meant teaching the student about
Miranda’s or Hudes’ work or the idea of using hip/hop rap in a musical. At the college level, it gets dicey-er. If LSU decided to do In the Heights, I know that we only have a handful of Latinx in the
department. And three of us are Mexican,
so while we’d be “appropriate” in the sense that we are Latinx, we’d be playing
cultures that might not be as familiar to us.
So, while I’d love to introduce the musical to the LSU and Baton Rouge
community, it begins to become problematic. What would I suggest? Being proactive! Sending invitations to the Latinx
community. I’d reach out to the
International Culture Center on Campus, to any groups/clubs for Latinx, to the
Baton Rouge Arts Council. If LSU decided
to do this show, or if I was casting this show at another university, I would reach
out to these groups first and find people who were interested in and able to
advocate for or participate in this show.
I’m also a fan of the co-pro. When doing Nilo Cruz’s Anna in the Tropics at the Goodman in Chicago, they co-produced
with Teatro Bravo. In Baton Rouge, if you were to partner with a
group like the Hispanic Chamber of BR or the Hispanic Apostolate, you could
double your resources and your audience base.
Yet, while I like to think that being proactive would help, I’m not
sure. Because at the same time, I feel
like people are going to use the idea of coalitional casting for evil rather
than good. Mainly due to laziness. For instance, your horrifying example of the
production of Hall’s The Mountaintop
in which they cast a white Dr. Martin Luther King Junior. You can’t tell me that they couldn’t find an appropriate
actor. They should never have decided to
do that play if they weren’t willing to do the (not very difficult task!) of
finding a talented African American actor.
In a sense, as I look back over my career, I think I have
been used as “ally” or stand-in in instances of coalitional casting, though I
am a minority. I should note that personally, my career has been a struggle
because I have been told, to my face (for real!), that I’m not white enough to
play Caucasian, but I’m not brown enough to be Mexican. To which I’ve always
offered back, “Can’t I just be an actor?
Can’t I just tell the story?”
With some, “fuck you” subtext. I
have played Cubans, Brazilians, Puerto Ricans, Spaniards, and Ecuadorians. Which is weird, at the end of the day, I’m
American, but my home town is on the border of Mexico. I know a decent amount of Mexican history,
but culturally my knowledge is limited to the Sonora/ Northwestern border
region of the country. I’ve frequented
Nogales, San Luis and Tijuana because they are close. But if I were to venture into southern
Mexico, the dialect, food, and culture would be very different. When I spent time in Cuernavaca, so much of
my vocabulary (and Bordertown Spanish) were simply wrong. The food was not the tacos and tamales and posole
I grew up with. So, if things are that
different in the country where my family is actually from, how
different/foreign to me are these other Pan-Latin American countries I’ve been
cast to pretend I’m from? I used to not be able to understand or differentiate
the dialects from any of these places. Now that I’m older and have studied
dialect more, I have a better ear for it. But that doesn’t me that you can just
plop me into any Latinx role and expect me to get it right. I’m just a
representative of what that character might be. But my experience is different. So, can I be an effective “ally”? Ybarra
notes, “many students, particularly students who might be great allies (white
and straight students who wish to support students of color and queer students)
were paralyzed by the fear of “doing it wrong.” I never want my lack of
experience to cause me to “get it wrong.”
I guess one could argue that experience might be different
for roles for other reasons. I’ve played a drug addict, a lesbian, a mom- and
I’m none of those things. But for me, when I’m portraying any character, I am
tasked with the idea of getting it right, or as close to perfect as I can. If
I’m playing a character from a Latinx, yet non-Mexican background I want to
honor their culture, just as I would hope that an actor playing Chicana would
honor mine.
I feel like I could talk about this issue for pages and
pages- which is why there are semester-long courses on race, I suppose. So, I’ll attempt to wrap up with this story,
which demonstrates to me the loophole a company can find under the guise of “coalitional
casting.” I know you wanted to stick to
the university level, but I wanted to share an article from a production of IN
THE HEIGHTS that happened at Phoenix Theatre.
Phoenix Theatre is one of the oldest regional theatres in the country
and it is the oldest one in Arizona.
They chose to cast Pasha, one of the theatre’s associate artistic
directors in the role of Usnavi. My
friends Ricky Araiza and Marcelino Quiñonez chime in on their thoughts. I guess for me, I don’t understand why, if
there was casting done in New York and Arizona (and with LA being in Phoenix’s
backyard) why they didn’t take the time to conduct a more exhaustive search for
this role. I know qualified Latinx actors in LA and Phoenix, and I am sure
there are multitudes in NYC. So why cast Pasha? Don’t get me wrong- Pasha is an
amazing talent. But part of me also wonders, knowing how miserly Phoenix
Theatre can be when it comes to paying their actors, if Pasha was used because
as an employee of the theatre, they don’t have to pay him for being in the show. I know that as a salaried employee of the
theatre, Pasha is required to act/direct in several of the season’s shows. So, while there is the argument that Pasha
could sing/play the role well, and that certainly Pasha understands the
immigrant experience, I truly think it was about money. And laziness in casting. So, we see another example of “coalitional
casting” gone wrong.
I could go down any number of the rabbit holes that you have
referenced. I think, for the time being,
as artists we must aim for radical continuance of the conversation. We may never get it right, but we definitely
can do better.
Pasha Yamotahari as Usnavi in Phoenix Theatre's IN THE HEIGHTS
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