IN RESPONSE TO THE FUROR OVER CAUCASIANS PLAYING PUERTO RICAN ROLES

With theater as diverse and interracial as it is today, it’s not really about color anymore. So to get ignited over the fact that Caucasians were casted to play Puerto Rican roles, wow, wait ‘til you hit Manila where actors are asked to do shaky, caricature accents to keep with the integrity of the characters they portray vis-a-vis the material. That’s just the way it is my friends. It’s called artistic license. To quote MJ, “It doesn’t matter if you’re black or white.”

I feel that nowadays, color or ethnicity should no longer be an issue when casting a role. Which is why you have the likes of Lea Salonga, an Asian, playing Eponine and even Fantine many years later in Les Miserables, and she probably plays it better than other Caucasians who may have played those roles before. It seems that the continuing issues on racial casting are all part and parcel of the racist undertones that believe it or not, are still prevalent in society today. Hello, Asuncion?

I’m well-aware of those minstrels that used to be conducted before during the vaudeville era, pre-Broadway where whites like Al Jolson would paint their faces black and make a caricature of African Americans in order to do comedy that resonated with pre-homogenous white audiences. I understand too that back in the Shakespearean era, women could not take to the stage as an actor - which explains movies like Shakespeare in Love where Gwyneth pretended to be a man. 

But in casting Caucasians to play Latinos in The Mother______ with a Hat, a play in which starred Chris Rock before in the Broadway run, I understand that yes, perhaps they won’t be able to harness the depth of Latino culture as a genuine Latino actor would (and that’s not even taking into account the Latino actor’s background because some Latinos were raised to be white, in the same way that some Filipinos who live in America don’t even think they’re Filipino because of the mentality instilled upon them) but race should not and should never take away from the capability of the actors, and possibility of employment. Period. 

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