“The Spectral Wound” and color-conscious casting
Is “diverse representation” in theatre dehumanizing individuals?
I was recently speaking to one of my subjects, Shubhangi Kuchibhotla, who is a cast member of The Mail Order Bride. She plays the character of June, a young woman of asian descent whom has been “purchased” as a wife to a man named Argan. I found this somewhat odd. Not the plot of the show. I knew that was set up as social critique and satire, as the girl Argan thinks he is bringing over from China actually was born and raised in San Francisco. What I found odd was the casting. As stated, the part of June is written for a Chinese or Chinese-American actress. What I discovered was that the production staff had recast the role as Indian.
I wondered how this affected the script. It was a relief to know that Shubhangi would not be attempting to play a Chinese woman. But, it raised several questions in my mind. Was this done thoughtfully? Or was the decision made based on the “universality” of Asian-Americans? Furthermore, how would this impact the content and message of the play? Did the author write the script to be malleable? Or was it an “essentially Chinese” role?
In The Spectral Wound, Nayanika Mookherjee speaks on the public perception of the birangona. She analyzes how entertainment has “crystallized and sedimented the imagery and temporality of the war heroine.” (Mookherjee 226) One specific example she notes is of a play called Life of a Snail, which disregards the true nature of its source materials. She spoke to the directors about why they chose to end the play with both raped women loveless and without husbands, contrary to the real lives of the women they are based on. The directors “explained that they did not want to show birangonas living normal lives. To raise awareness about the trauma of war heroines, they said, the audience should not feel that the birangonas are living well.” (211) Despite the real, varied, colorful, and individual lives of the living birangonas, they are essentialized, deindividualized, and made universal through media representation. Their many different stories and life experiences, each as different as the next, are reduced “to a horrifying and aestheticizing genre.” (227)
A similar theme exists in theatre. Historically, ethnically diverse roles are few and far between. Those that are present and available are so identified as the opportunities for artists of color, that they become “the ____ Play.” When actors are asked about shows with roles for Black actors, the answers are always the same: Fences, Ragtime. The show I am currently working on has five professional black actors in it, and all of them have recently played Seaweed in Hairspray. While it is good that these roles have emerged, we must begin to look at what kinds of roles these are, and what narratives these shows push. It is important to share the historical struggle of minority people onstage, yes. But when that becomes the ubiquitous narrative presented in theatre — when Fences becomes The Black Play — that presents a problem. What we must seek is not roles for diverse actors, but diverse roles for diverse actors. When an entire ethnic group is reduced to a genre, or a character type, or a singular show, humanity is lost. The individuality, the uniqueness of what each actor is able to bring to the table is painted over by the color of their skin.
This comes to a head with the issue of casting. The term “color blind casting” is one that has been heard and uttered many times. Particularly with the recent films Doctor Strange and Ghost in the Shell, the ideas of disregarding race as a form of equality have been both touted and challenged. Colorblind casting was pioneered as an idea to disrupt traditional racial norms of characters. To give actors of color a chance at traditionally white roles. What it is too often used as is an excuse to side-step true diversity, and to do what is easy and reliable. There are plenty of asian actors who could have played Major Matoko Kusanagi. Scarlett Johannson was more profitable and better known. What we must call for now is not colorblind casting, but color-concious casting. Casting that is aware of the actor’s race, rather than pretending not to see it. Casting that asks “What statement will this make within the show if we make this character this race? How will it change things?”
Minorities are not ubiquitous. Each individual has a history, with a unique story. Each brings something different to the character they’re portraying. Making them uniform and interchangeable doesn’t provide more visibility and diverse opportunities; it removes their humanity. When we cast a half-Egyptian actress as a Puerto Rican teenager, what does that say? When we reframe a character from Chinese to Indian, what implications does that hold?
