In my second year of high school, I transferred from Princeton High School to the Hill School, excited to have a real fresh start after going to school with the same people for nine years. I had done theater growing up, so I decided to sieze the new opprotunity and join the Ellis Theatre Guild at the Hill. It wasn’t surprising to see that the theater was a majority white space. However, it was the most diverse space on campus, and with a gay Black director, I trusted that the space itself could hold discussions about race and theater. Then in my first theater season at Hill, I was doing makeup on one of the actors when he told me he “would never be attracted to a woman of color,” his type was “white women only.”
I quickly understood that despite the technically “diverse” productions at the Ellis Theatre Guild, there was still an undercurrent of racism, where my friends and I knew our white counterparts saw us as a diversity card. People of color were relegated to the background and the ensemble despite making up a considerable part of the Guild itself.
During my senior year, I landed the main female role of Viola in the stage adaptation of the film Shakespeare in Love. In the film, Viola’s beauty inspires what is arguably Shakespeare’s most famous play, Romeo and Juliet. Will Shakespeare, the main man, however, was played by the same actor who told me he would never find a woman of color beautiful.
The show itself went surprisingly well, but the entire year and throughout rehearsal, I was plagued with serious imposter syndrome. I had never been cast as the “beautiful woman.” In my head I did not deserve the role, nor was I beautiful or talented enough for it. I felt as if this was my only chance to be taken seriously as an actress.
When I committed to Oberlin, I did not intend on continuing to do theater. However, theater is one of my greatest passions, so I took a chance and auditioned for a show. I got cast as Chelle, with the role of Angelle being added later on during the workshop process, of My Dead Boyfriend is a Robot. Working with Visiting Assistant Professor Preston Crowder, OC ’16, on their show was an honor, and it made me believe that Oberlin theater could be more than my past theater experiences. I knew theater in general was predominantly white, behind and on the stage, but I felt safe and understood while working with Professor Crowder, which led me to audition for a few of the fall shows.
I was not called back for one of the shows, but I was cast in the other. At the beginning of the year, I ran into one of the white people present for auditions, who told me he was “surprised I could act seriously,” and had seen me as “just a comedic actress.” I’ve also been told, during a discussion about racism in classical theater in which I said I felt as if no one saw me as an actress who could portray serious roles, that I would be an “amazing nurse” in Romeo and Juliet. Remarks like this are often offhanded, but work to create an environment where people of color are less likely to audition for shows if they feel they will face these microaggressions.
I expressed frustration to a friend that one of the shows I had auditioned for had been cast all-white, despite people of color auditioning for the cast. In fact, the casts for all shows this upcoming
semester are predominantly white or all white, save for Conservatory Editor and double-degree second-year Calvin Ray Shawler’s original Orpheus Tells Eurydice Goodbye. There are actors and actresses of color. They exist and are waiting to be utilized; however, the culture curated by Oberlin theater reminds me of my old high school — people of color are diversity cards, picked merely for stories pertaining to race, not for general shows.
One could attribute the lack of people of color in these productions to a lack of people of color auditioning, but if you acknowledge the white-focused theater culture at Oberlin, it becomes clear that people of color are less likely to audition for productions if they don’t believe they will be respected. They are also less likely to audition for productions unless those productions make an effort to reach out to these talented actors and actresses.
The onus is placed on the white people behind the stage to create an environment different from the environment most actors and actresses of color have experienced that reduces them to a diversity card. Whether through direct outreach or cultivation of a safe environment, white Oberlin thespians need to make an effort to diversify their productions both on and behind the stage. It’s important that a creative medium like theater reflects the diverse makeup of Oberlin theater itself in its shows, whether or not those shows have anything to do with being a person of color or the experiences of people of color.
