Art

All I said

With regard to the color-blind casting thing

Was—

Was it author’s intent?

That’s all

Was it author’s intent?

Because if it isn’t

Then should we be doing it?

I posed this question

And suddenly I’m a racist

I’m a racist for suggesting

That Yasmina Reza

(Who, by the way, I think might be racist)

Didn’t intend

For a black guy

To be playing one of the three roles

In Art

Not that a black guy CAN’T play one of those parts

Just that it wasn’t the INTENT

Oh, but God forbid you even suggest that

God forbid you bring up race

And casting

In the same sentence

And nobody’s bringing up the fact

That some people go overboard

With the whole colorblind thing

We had directors at the Orpheus back then

Back in—uh, uh—2004, 2005

Who were OBSESSED with the colorblind casting

We did a production about this family

This family of four

Father, mother, two sons

Where the father was played by a white guy

The mother was Hispanic

And the two kids were Asian and Native American

I mean WHAT THE FUCK?

I hate to be that guy

That affirmative action guy

But seriously

Those people have their own roles, right?

I mean, those people—

--And I don’t mean THOSE people, but THOSE people—

Have roles that were written for them

Intended for them

And, let’s face it

There aren’t a lot of roles

In general

To go around

Compared to how many actors there are

So when those people

Takes roles

Intended

For people like me

Yeah, I get a little upset

And I may—MAY—question that

From time to time

And that makes me a racist?

I mean, if somebody cast a three hundred pound man

As Nora in A Doll’s House

Don’t you think somebody would SAY something?

And somebody SHOULD say something

Right?

I mean, right?

I mean—

Are you following this at all or…

I just wanted to say

That I thought

It needed to be said

And so I said

What I wanted to say

Because nobody else

Was saying it

That’s pretty clear

Isn’t it?