VOA慢速英语--When Should Race Influence Choice of Actors?

 

When the musical “Miss Saigon” first opened in New York City in 1991, critics questioned the choice of Jonathan Pryce to play a French-Vietnamese engineer.

“Miss Saigon” is a love story between a Vietnamese woman and an American soldier.

Pryce, a white actor, was from Britain, not Asia.

A labor¹ union representing actors criticized the decision.

"Equity² (the actors’ union) believes the casting of Mr. Pryce as a Eurasian to be especially insensitive and an affront³ to the Asian community,” the union said in a protest letter.

Twenty-six years later, “Miss Saigon” is back on New York’s Broadway. This time an Asian actor is playing the engineer.

Linda Winer reported on the show for the New York newspaper Newsday. She noted⁴ that while the music is much like it was in 1991 and the show still has a helicopter seeming to lift people away at the end of the Vietnam War, there are differences.

“Most obviously, many of the main roles and, especially the engineer…” are now cast “with powerhouse Asian-Americans,” she wrote.

Parts played by white actors wearing makeup⁵

For years, Asian and black characters were often played by white actors. Those actors wore makeup to make them look less white. One example is the decision to cast Katharine Hepburn as a Chinese women in the 1944 war movie, “Dragon Seed.”

More recently, theater critics questioned the casting of a white actor as Michael Jackson, and a Hispanic actress as singer Nina Simone, an African American.

Today, more shows like “Miss Saigon” are casting actors who have the ethnic⁶ and racial backgrounds of the characters they represent. But some directors are choosing diverse actors for parts that, in the past, went to white actors.

As New York director Jackson Gay says, there are parts that really are not clearly connected to a racial or ethnic group.

Gay recently cast African-Americans as Russian soldiers in a production of the 1900 play “Three Sisters.” The play was written by Anton Chekov more than a century ago. It was performed recently at the Studio Theater in Washington, D.C.

Russian soldiers in the late 1800s and early 1900s were generally not black. But Gay said the emotions and pressures felt by soldiers are universal -- meaning that gifted actors of any race could play the roles.

An all black production of ‘Proof’

Dawn Ursula starred in a recent production of “Proof” at the Olney Theater in Maryland. The play had all white stars when it opened on Broadway in 2000. Later, it was made into a movie starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Anthony Hopkins.

But at the Olney Theater, Ursula and the other three actors are all African-American. Ursula played the part of Catherine, a woman who is good at mathematics like her father. But she is afraid she also might have some of his mental problems.

Did the African-American cast make a difference? Ursula said it did to some theater goers.

There are lots of African American mathematicians⁷. But that did not stop theater goers from reacting approvingly to the casting of blacks as math geniuses. Ursula recalls her satisfaction watching some older African-American men stand and cheer after her performance – happy that “Proof” showed four successful people – all of them African-Americans.

That kind of reaction made Ursula feel “like I had crossed the finish line in some Olympic sport that ‘black’ people may not normally be associated with and had won the Gold.”

Some white audience members told her that an all African-American cast did not make a difference to them. They just enjoyed watching excellent acting⁸.

Ursula is thankful for their praise, but hopes the day will come “when those pronouncements are not necessary.”

Taunya Lovell Banks is a professor at the University of Maryland’s School of Law. She often writes about ethnic and racial diversity in theater. She said casting decisions can be a difficult balance.

Normally, Banks supports open casting. Casting an African American, for example, in a part usually performed by a white actor can bring new meaning – even to an established show.

That happened in “Proof,” when Ursula’s character discusses a conflict she had with police officers.

Washington Post theater critic Celia Wren⁹ said the discussion produces more tension with an African American cast “in the aftermath of the police-related incidents that have fueled the Black Lives Matter movement.”

But Banks said that casting at times can still be a divisive issue.

Recently, the estate of playwright¹⁰ Edward Albee refused to approve a Portland, Oregon production of his famous play, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf.” The reason: the director wanted to cast an African-American actor in the part of Nick, a young professor.

Director Michael Streeter went on Facebook to express his anger with the decision.

Sam Rudy, spokesman for the Albee estate, said the playwright had created Nick as a character with “blond hair and blue eyes.”

Rudy said the casting proposed by the Portland director would have led to a mixed marriage between a black man and white woman. He said “that would have not gone” unnoticed at the time the show is set -- in the early 1960s.

Other parts in Albee plays carry no limitations on the race of the actors, Rudy said.

I’m John Russell.

And I'm Ashley Thompson.

Words in This Story

cast – v. give someone a part in a show or movie

affront – n. an insult

role – n. the part that an actor has in a movie or play

character – n. a person in a story or play

diverse – adj. including people of different races and ethnic groups

audience – n. people attending the performance of a show

genius - n. a very intelligent person

associate – v. connected to something or someone

pronouncement – n. a message

estate – n. the things left by someone who has died

1 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

2 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

3 affront   

n./v.侮辱，触怒

参考例句：

• Your behaviour is an affront to public decency.你的行为有伤风化。
• This remark caused affront to many people.这句话得罪了不少人。

4 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

5 makeup   

n.组织；性格；化装品

参考例句：

• Those who failed the exam take a makeup exam.这次考试不及格的人必须参加补考。
• Do you think her beauty could makeup for her stupidity?你认为她的美丽能弥补她的愚蠢吗？

6 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

7 mathematicians   

数学家( mathematician的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Do you suppose our mathematicians are unequal to that? 你以为我们的数学家做不到这一点吗？ 来自英汉文学
• Mathematicians can solve problems with two variables. 数学家们可以用两个变数来解决问题。 来自哲学部分

8 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

9 wren   

n.鹪鹩；英国皇家海军女子服务队成员

参考例句：

• A wren is a kind of short-winged songbird.鹪鹩是一种短翼的鸣禽。
• My bird guide confirmed that a Carolina wren had discovered the thickets near my house.我掌握的鸟类知识使我确信，一只卡罗莱纳州鹪鹩已经发现了我家的这个灌木丛。

10 playwright   

n.剧作家，编写剧本的人

参考例句：

• Gwyn Thomas was a famous playwright.格温·托马斯是著名的剧作家。
• The playwright was slaughtered by the press.这位剧作家受到新闻界的无情批判。