School auditions with color requirements

[Anonymous]

OP - just tell us the show already.

[NoVaMom22205]

I'm curious as to the show...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:umm it worked pretty well (with other color requirements) for Lin Manuel Mirnda??

This is why I am never paying to see Hamilton. I might go if I get a super cheap ticket or watch the stream some day, but I am not in a rush

Np if you think people are going to beg for you to see Hamilton than think again. Nobody cares! You will have missed a great and groundbreaking show but, that is your loss, not ours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:umm it worked pretty well (with other color requirements) for Lin Manuel Mirnda??

This is why I am never paying to see Hamilton. I might go if I get a super cheap ticket or watch the stream some day, but I am not in a rush

Maybe it isn’t for you at all? You seem to miss the whole concept. Just listen to the sound track and imagine everyone Caucasian.

Yeah maybe it’s not for me. But why can’t the school play be something similar and therefore call for a specific race in a specific role?

Yeah, none of this is true about Hamilton, as you can see from the current Broadway cast: https://hamiltonmusical.com/new-york/cast/. Many of the characters are played by actors of different races than the original Broadway cast.

?? nearly everyone (other than king george) would appear to be a visually identifiable POC (which includes Asians these days) or a person with a latinx name (many latinx individuals consider themselves POC). I'm not inclined to view the world this way, but the anti-racism training i recently participated in makes it pop to me.

You’re so full of sh*t. The cast of Hamilton represents many races. Considering that actors playing the same character are of different races, it’s clear that there’s no race-specificity in casting.

If you’re just upset that there aren’t a lot of white people in the cast, I don’t know what to tell you.

You are wrong about the bolded. White people are discouraged to audition for the main roles. They used to spell it out but were called out for it so now it is more subtle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:umm it worked pretty well (with other color requirements) for Lin Manuel Mirnda??

This is why I am never paying to see Hamilton. I might go if I get a super cheap ticket or watch the stream some day, but I am not in a rush

Maybe it isn’t for you at all? You seem to miss the whole concept. Just listen to the sound track and imagine everyone Caucasian.

Yeah maybe it’s not for me. But why can’t the school play be something similar and therefore call for a specific race in a specific role?

Yeah, none of this is true about Hamilton, as you can see from the current Broadway cast: https://hamiltonmusical.com/new-york/cast/. Many of the characters are played by actors of different races than the original Broadway cast.

?? nearly everyone (other than king george) would appear to be a visually identifiable POC (which includes Asians these days) or a person with a latinx name (many latinx individuals consider themselves POC). I'm not inclined to view the world this way, but the anti-racism training i recently participated in makes it pop to me.

You’re so full of sh*t. The cast of Hamilton represents many races. Considering that actors playing the same character are of different races, it’s clear that there’s no race-specificity in casting.

If you’re just upset that there aren’t a lot of white people in the cast, I don’t know what to tell you.

You are wrong about the bolded. White people are discouraged to audition for the main roles. They used to spell it out but were called out for it so now it is more subtle.

That is literally the POINT of the show. A professional broadway show is not the same as a public high school production. Surely you can see the difference?

[Anonymous]

Is there a racial theme to the show? I could understand this point if the show is *about* racism and thus it doesn't make sense for two characters to be of the same race.

In our middle school production, they say there are not even gender-specific roles. I'm not sure if they would press the issue for a lead role that has historically been gendered (little mermaid or whatnot). But that's what they say in casting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there a racial theme to the show? I could understand this point if the show is *about* racism and thus it doesn't make sense for two characters to be of the same race.

In our middle school production, they say there are not even gender-specific roles. I'm not sure if they would press the issue for a lead role that has historically been gendered (little mermaid or whatnot). But that's what they say in casting.

Does your middle school have even close to enough boys for most shows? In my experience that's the real issue with gendered casting for shows at middle and high school level, but maybe times have changed.

[Anonymous]

Is it To Kill a Mockingbird? That story doesn’t work without specific races for the roles.

[Anonymous]

It's Texas. Duh. I was a very good dancer and could not get onto the Kilgore Rangerette dance team because I was black and it was clear they wanted all their girls uniform. It was soul crushing.

[Anonymous]

Just try to be a high school theatre director finding appropriate roles for the transgender students...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your school has roles ( not specific historical figures like George Washington ) that have color requirements, how would you feel? This is for a school play btw and the role calls for white students when it can easily be color agnostic. DS who is highly talented is disappointed. We are brown, if you didn’t guess that already.

Honest question: are you in Arkansas or Tennessee?? I can't imagine a color requirement in any school with a higher literacy rate

No We’re in Texas. It isn’t Hairspray, or Hamilton or any race specific role, as I said before. DS is a stellar performer but didn’t get the role. As expected all the leads - male and female are white. I don’t want to name the play, because it would be a dead giveaway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your school has roles ( not specific historical figures like George Washington ) that have color requirements, how would you feel? This is for a school play btw and the role calls for white students when it can easily be color agnostic. DS who is highly talented is disappointed. We are brown, if you didn’t guess that already.

Honest question: are you in Arkansas or Tennessee?? I can't imagine a color requirement in any school with a higher literacy rate

No We’re in Texas. It isn’t Hairspray, or Hamilton or any race specific role, as I said before. DS is a stellar performer but didn’t get the role. As expected all the leads - male and female are white. I don’t want to name the play, because it would be a dead giveaway.

A dead giveaway to what? Most of us live in DC

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your school has roles ( not specific historical figures like George Washington ) that have color requirements, how would you feel? This is for a school play btw and the role calls for white students when it can easily be color agnostic. DS who is highly talented is disappointed. We are brown, if you didn’t guess that already.

Honest question: are you in Arkansas or Tennessee?? I can't imagine a color requirement in any school with a higher literacy rate

No We’re in Texas. It isn’t Hairspray, or Hamilton or any race specific role, as I said before. DS is a stellar performer but didn’t get the role. As expected all the leads - male and female are white. I don’t want to name the play, because it would be a dead giveaway.

A dead giveaway to what? Most of us live in DC

+ 1

Texas is huge, too. How on earth would we know where you live??

Also, South Pacific doesn’t work as well with race blind casting either.

[Anonymous]

It would probably be easy to figure out what school if the OP told us the name of the play and we already know it's in Texas. What I can't figure out is why the OP apparently thinks there might be friends, relatives or neighbors from her Texas location reading DCUM. Maybe....I guess.

[Anonymous]

That's nuts.