This is a call for diversity, equity, and inclusion in pit orchestra hiring. Joe LaRocca surfaces inequities embedded in the current contractor system of pit musician hiring, as well as some steps companies can take to remedy these issues.
Josephine Lee discusses the casting and performance choices of the 2024 Gypsy revival—from Audra McDonald’s Rose to a Chinese waitress in yellowface—to consider what they signal about the complex histories of racial performance that continue to influence theatre today.
Dave Osmundsen counters the idea that working with Autistic artists presents a “challenge” by offering practical recommendations for casting, rehearsing, and performing with Autistic artists.
As universities put more emphasis on collaboration, inclusion, and student buy-in, theatre departments address these issues in their season planning and casting. In this episode, Dr. Colleen Rua, interim associate director and assistant professor of theatre, dives deep into the practices that the School of Theatre and Dance the University of Florida has put in place in order to create a more equitable planning and casting process.
Victor Vazquez joins Yura Sapi to share his experience creating X Casting, a casting company that spans theatre and film in the United States and worldwide through a shared purpose of collective liberation and anti-racism. This episode’s topics include thinking about our role in the political landscape, globalism, and a curiosity for generous solutions.
Theatremaker Sara Nicole reflects on her college theatre experience and shares changes she’d like to see in theatre education that prioritize students’ physical and mental health.
Theatremaker Latrice Richardson addresses the ongoing misogynoir in storytelling by detailing one of her past experiences and advocates for better representation of Black women in theatre.
Gender Euphoria, the podcast, host Nicolas Shannon Savard sits down with playwright and performer, Dillon Yruegas to talk about two productions of his play The Brunch Crowd. They talk about what a slice-of-life, kitchen sink play full of trans of color characters looks like and what kind of intervention that makes in the theatrical landscape. They dive into the importance of trans joy and queer friendship and its absence on stage. Finally, Dillon reflects on how expansive approaches to casting trans and non-binary characters and how identity-based casting might open up dialogue and create space for a much wider range of faces and experiences to be seen on stage.
Nicolas Shannon Savard and Joshua Bastian Cole continue their conversation about transgender representation. They critique Time magazine’s 2014 declaration of the “transgender tipping point” of cultural visibility and explore the ways in which Hollywood’s handling of trans narratives bleeds over into the theatre, politics, and daily life for trans and gender nonconforming people.
In episode 1 (part 1) of Gender Euphoria, the podcast, host Nicolas Shannon Savard sits down with Joshua Bastian Cole to talk about popular tropes in transgender representation, gender legibility on stage, and the implications of each for trans and nonbinary theatremakers.
Moving Beyond Color-Blind and Color-Conscious Casting
2 February 2021
Text-based director and adaptor Lavina Jadhwani chats with casting director Victor Vazquez about her shift from using “color-conscious casting” to “identity-conscious casting,” the importance of casting being seen as part of a show’s design and dramaturgy, and more.
Jeff Bouthiette notes that the pandemic has provided an opportunity to reevaluate and rethink everything about the way theatre is created in America, argues that this work has to include fat people, and offers suggestions for a way forward.
David Valdes shares the main excuses theatres give when not programming shows created by and with BIPOC artists, how moving to online theatre offers new opportunities, and what the benefits are of making change.
AJ Schwartz responds to Will Wilhelm’s recent HowlRound piece about trans inclusivity in theatre casting, arguing that, while that’s important, theatre companies have to go a lot further.
Why Trans* Actors Should Transcend the Character Breakdown
24 February 2020
Will Wilhelm argues that trans* actors are particularly skilled at performing gender and questions why it is so rare to see them perform on large stages.
Tara Brooke Watkins discusses how Oklahoma! has shaped the state’s cultural identity, the Tulsa Race Massacre, and Spinning Plates’s production of the musical with an all-black cast.
StageSource in Boston presented the Gender Explosion Forum—a moderated panel discussion on ways to foster gender diversity in the New England theatre community—livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv Tuesday 20 November 2018 at 6:30 p.m. EST (Boston) / 5:30 p.m. CST (Chicago) / 3:30 p.m. PST (Vancouver) / 23:30 UTC +0 (London).
Theatremaker Sloth Levine uses the casting conceit in Jaclyn Backhaus’s play Men On Boats as a jumping off point to explore gender diversity in casting.
Playwright and scholar Julie Taiwo Oni reflects on the experience of casting an actor with albinism for her play Chisel, and discusses why authentic casting is worth the work.
Director Lavina Jadhwani summarizes conversations about casting she's been involved with in the past, and offers advice to artists and producers who find themselves facing criticism for their choices.
Kaite O’Reilly considers how Richard III has been portrayed on stage, the alignment of atypical embodiment with evil and suffering, and her inspiration with The Llanarth Group to create a new staging of Richard III.
Playwright David Valdes discusses the importance of writing more diverse and intersectional characters, and reflects on the conundrum of “color conscious” casting.
