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Color-Blind Casting in “Romeo and Juliet” ProductionSkin color plays no role in Bartlett High playRelated Content
ANCHORAGE - In the world of theater, the practice of non-traditional casting – also known as color-blind casting –has been used to give members of ethnic minorities roles that traditionally have gone to white actors. At Bartlett High School, a production of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet this weekend features a young Caucasian man and a young African-American woman as the “star-crossed lovers” of the famous tragedy. "I enjoy being Juliet. And this has been the greatest experience of my life so far," said Shae Lisa Metoyer-Anderson. Metoyer-Anderson did not expect to snag the lead female part in Bartlett High School's production of Romeo and Juliet. "I actually didn't think I would get in at all because of my complexion. But when I finally got the part… it still hasn't hit me that I’m Juliet," she said. It happened because director Marty Decker chose to ignore race in casting. "I probably could have cast in such a way that nobody looked too different in the Capulet family or too different in the Montague family, but I actually went the opposite direction… which was to seek differentiation, and definitely to allow the strongest performers to play the roles they were born to play," Decker said. The practice of non-traditional or color-blind casting originally arose because of a shortage of strong theatrical parts for minorities. For Decker, it was partly a practical matter, given the racial mix at Bartlett. "Romeo is Caucasian, Juliet is an African-American girl; Romeo’s father, Montague, is Hispanic; his mother is Anglo; his cousin Benvolio is a Korean kid." "I think it's actually better in a way, because just to have like this new society that we're in, about how everyone is trying to get rid of what we say [is] racism now, it helps kind of, a little bit, by showing that not only a certain type of ethnicity needs to play a certain part, that anyone can do it," said Zachary Hunter, who plays Romeo. "I hope that they don't see it like, they don't go, oh, he's Asian or oh, he's white or oh, he's black. I just hope they focus on the story more… because it doesn't matter about who's playing who. It just matters about who is who," said Hunter. A black actress also played Juliet at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in England in 2008. There will be public performances of the Bartlett production tonight and tomorrow night at 7 p.m. The play lasts about two and a half hours. |
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The rest of this non story? said on Friday, Mar 2 at 6:58 PM
So what part of Africa did this African-American come from? Is the Caucasian, Caucasian-American, and what about that Hispanic, is he Hispanic-American or just a Hispanic in the USA on a visit? And that Korean kid, is that a North Korean kid, South Korean kid or a North Korean-American kid or South Korean American kid? Can KTVA please update the story so we can get the full story?
82883384JM said on Sunday, Mar 4 at 10:46 AM
This story is entirely contradictory. On the one hand, the title suggests that race was not a factor used to parcel out the roles for the play. On the other, the story explains how it is now fashionable to give lead roles to minorities. It seems to me that the casting was explicitly not color-blind. Instead of calling the practice color-blind casting, they might as well call it color-biased casting.
82998512Lluna said on Sunday, Mar 4 at 2:35 PM
JM said today at 9:46 AM This story is entirely contradictory. On the one hand, the title suggests that race was not a factor used to parcel out the roles for the play. On the other, the story explains how it is now fashionable to give lead roles to minorities. It seems to me that the casting was explicitly not color-blind. Instead of calling the practice color-blind casting, they might as well call it color-biased casting."" ............................................... more like "PC" or hate the whitey Casting in “Romeo and Juliet” Production.. plus im not surprised ktva did this non-news story, thier about the biggest libTARDs/demonRATs news station up here in alaska, ktuu is next then tv 13..
83014784Mercutio... said on Sunday, Mar 4 at 11:37 PM
If you think Mercutio was a Hispanic...I'm actually Filipino-italian...
83041536Benvolio said on Monday, Mar 5 at 10:23 AM
For people that think Im North Korean, Im South korean. and stop being racist...
83083464Prince Escalus of Verona said on Monday, Mar 5 at 12:52 PM
I'm British/American. Just in case you were wondering...
83101126KP said on Monday, Mar 5 at 5:17 PM
I think it is wonderful to see coverage of a High School play from another school other than West High. Channel 2 seems to focus and promote only plays at West High. Thank you Channel 11 for realizing that there is more than one high school in Anchorage.
83132846Balthasar said on Monday, Mar 5 at 11:37 PM
For those of you that think this production was biased toward people of color, Romeo (the male lead-his name is in the title) was white. But aren't we ALL colored people- even white people? (I use the 'peach' colored crayon to draw white people, therefore white people are of color, too) This cast was chosen purely based on talent and compatibility with their roles. It isn't the director's fault that Bartlett is very multicultural. And instead of supporting a group of young, passionate actors that worked for MONTHS to bring Shakespere (do you know how HARD it is to understand, let alone SPEAK Shakesperean) to life, you call the cast color-biased. Well, I hope you really satisfied yourself by bagging on a high school production you didn't even bother to come see.
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