We've wrapped South Pacific at the theatre here at UMD, and it received very mixed reviews. As predicted, one of the major qualms spectators had about the production was the theme of racism, and how it was presented.
I'll take us back a little in the history of this play for me...
When I auditioned for South Pacific, I tailored my audition package to the role of Nellie. Obviously, I assumed that since I was the only blonde character actress in the musical theatre program, I'd be considered for that role. And I was! I was called back for the role, and I was so excited. South Pacific, my senior year, and I might (just might!) get the chance to be the lead.
But I was also called back for Bloody Mary. Ok, I thought, I get it. I've done mask work. I know how to create different physical bodies. The songs are in my range. I understand...But I didn't want the role. Who would willingly want to take on that burdon? I put it out of my mind until callbacks...which went, in my opinion at the time, to the dogs. I landed each Bloody Mary line, I hit the notes, and I left with the sinking feeling that I had just secured the role I had wanted least. And sure enough, the next day, I saw my name on that list, and I (honest to God) burst into tears. With the facebook incident last year, and how everyone handled that, how was I supposed to get away with this! I half expected people to bring eggs to the performance.
Flash forward to now. We've wrapped the show, and there was very little incident. And the one incident happened in a controlled environment, the Wednesday night of our pick up show, when the Multicultural Center brought students to see the show and then invited them with a talk back after the show.
Such highlights include....
"The girl who played Bloody Mary was really great! She cracked me up!"
Gee, thanks!
"How did you approach the role?"
Well, I wanted to do it sensitively, and so I researched the culture and I interviewed actual Chinese people and I did all this work...until I realized that Josh Logan wrote Bloody Mary as a character, not as a symbol for all Chinese people. She's just one instance of a million, she's not the entire culture. So I shouldn't feel bad or weird about performing her, because she is who she is.
"I didn't think it was funny."
I-wait, huh?
"I was really offended by the Bloody Mary character. For one, you cast only 4 people of color in the entire show..."
....but only 4 auditioned!
"...and you made the blonde, blue eyed girl put on Asian make-up and wear a black wig to play the part..."
...what would you have said if I had went out there just as I was and said all those lines? Would you be happy then?
"...and then there was the accent!"
Here we go.
" I didn't know if the audience was laughing at her accent, or her lines. But I didn't think the lines were funny, so they must be laughing at her accent, and I take offense to that."
I honestly apologized for offending the young man. I told him, if I had thought this role was simply designed to offend and be a spectacle, I wouldn't have taken it. But instead, I knew Mary is a teaching tool, showing the dangers of stereotype, and by watching how the sailors treated her, the audience would see how far we have come in how tolerant we are. And as for the voice, I defended myself...."If I went up on stage and said in a big Minnesotan accent, 'I'm goin' down to the church bake sale to sell some bars!" and it got a laugh, it would be because of the dialect. The line itself is not funny, it's how it is said that is amusing, because it is a cliche. The word "Lieutenant" is not funny on its own, but the word "Lootellen" is pretty darn funny. I see these two as the same thing."
Needless to say, the young man with the issue did NOT see these two as the same thing. But at least I got to defend myself, share my point of view, and I hope that everyone left a little more enlightened.
EDIT:
I was approached by several people at school during the next few days who had attended the talk back. They actually told me that they had approached the young man who had spoken out, and asked him why he had spoken to me so roughly. He replied, apparently, that he didn't know he was coming off very harsh, and that he was sorry....I guess some times people just don't know how their tone of voice effects their point of view.
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