Australian Theatre under fire for whitewashing 'Little Shop of Horrors'
UPDATE: 8/31/21
Rather doing the work necessary to correct the issue, officials at the theater have decided to just simply cancel the production. They posted two letters on their Facebook page today.
There were at least a dozen other ideas that should’ve been considered before just simply taking the easy way out of canceling the show.
We are learning that cast members were willing to resign the roles, so that black performers could take their spot. And instead of supporting that decision, the theatre committee just decided to cancel the show within 48 hours of the controversy erupting.
It seems that officials our only just digging a deeper hole of their own failures.
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Imagine that you’re a Black performer in Melbourne, Australia and you see that a local theatre is preparing to perform Little Shop of Horrors.
Even more encouraging, the theatre included a beautiful statement of wanting people from all backgrounds, gender, size, and ability, to come and audition. So you do.
You make it past the initial auditions and then arrive for callbacks. You read and sing for characters that are explicitly stated should be played by black performers - so, you think you have a great chance of being cast.
Then, imagine your shock that not only has the theatre decided not to cast you in the role, but they’ve whitewashed the entire cast of the show.
I honestly don’t know how I would react to that news but that’s exactly what happened at Beaumaris Theatre Inc. this week when they announced their casting decision on the Alan Menken/Howard Ashman iconic classic.
Here is a snapshot of the cast that the theatre posted.
Obviously, this isn’t a great look. Especially after casting inclusion had become a topic of conversation in every theatre community, all over the world, last year. But even more so, this is awful because the roles were written and meant to be played by Black performers. And the theatre knows this because it’s in the licensing materials.
MTI’s casting description of the show clearly states that the roles of Crystal, Ronnette & Chiffon are “African-American street urchins.” It states that in the United States licensing page as well as the one for Australia. Here it is.
By not casting these roles they were written, the theatre is violating the author’s intent. While there might be a debate about casting representation, no one should argue against the author's intent. What the playwrights and composers wanted for these roles, should be followed to the letter.
And the folks at Beaumaris knew this because they stated they wanted the show to match that diversity on this audition advertisements.
So, what happened? Did not a single Black performer show up to auditions? I mention this because this is often the excuse we’re given when local theatres fail to cast BIPOC roles with BIPOC performers- simply not enough BIPOC performers showed up for auditions.
But this is a lame and lazy excuse because if theatre officials had any respect for the writer’s work, they would do their due diligence to find the right people to play these roles. In the past, I’ve said that theatres should reach out to community groups, churches, schools, to find people to audition for these types of roles. They should even go as far as pre-casting them to ensure they’ve don’t it the right way.
It appears the folks at Beaumaris didn’t do any of that.
Thankfully, the community isn’t having any of it. Many have spoken out on the theatre’s Facebook page and letting them know that this type of casting, especially after everything we’ve been through, is unacceptable.
One person commented, “Once again, this community has shown that when push comes to shove, our activism is performative at best. We say that we understand and value the importance of conscious casting and diversity, but we do the absolute bare minimum (if that) to make it happen.”
Another said, “We have come further in the past 18 months. We said we would do better, we can do better and we have to do better. So disappointing.”
The theatre has not commented on the controversy yet.
While some may think that Beaumaris isn’t a diverse area that would make casting this show easy, there are two things I want to stress.
Beaumaris is outside of Melbourne, the second-largest city in the country, which has a diverse population.
If diversity was an issue in Beaumaris, then WHY ARE YOU PRODUCING A SHOW THAT REQUIRES A DIVERSE CAST?!?!?!
It’s downright maddening that theatres will try to produce diverse shows and fail on the casting because of simple laziness. It’s dumb and it’s hurtful to the community that was ignored.
Something that also needs to be mentioned - many are saying that the outrage over the casting is unfair to the actors. Some might think me writing about it is unfair to them. But what needs to be remembered is that these actors knowingly auditioned and attended callbacks for roles that weren’t written for them. What they should have done was to decline the invitation to continue in the audition process, so that a Black performer could take their place. It’s a mystery to me as to why that didn’t happen. It’s unclear if Beaumaris Theatre pays their actors, but no paying gig should be worth stepping in front of a BIPOC performer when that role is meant for them.
While Australia is no stranger to whitewashing issues in theatre, after all this is the country that did the most obscene version of whitewashing to In The Heights I’ve ever seen, there are also plenty of times theatre companies have gotten it right. Beaumaris doesn’t appear to be a professional company, with the ability to fly in actors to play these roles. But they absolutely should have worked within their means to ensure they got this casting right. If not, don’t do the show at all.
As theatres reopen all over the world, with many pledging to change their ways and really start making an effort to improve casting inclusion, I’m worried that many will simply give up and go back to their old ways. And so far, Beaumaris Theatre Inc. is proving that my concerns are warranted.