Yesterday, the Asian American Performers Action Coalition released its annual report of "Ethnic Representation on New York Stages".
Theater artists usually prefer to whisper or gossip critically about their peers, but the advocacy group - the Asian American Performers Action Coalition - named the theater companies that employed the fewest numbers of Asian-American actors over the five-year period.
Playwright David Henry Hwang of the Asian American Performers Action Coalition which fought in the Nightingale battle, says: "By producing The Orphan of Zhao, the RSC seeks to exploit the public's growing interest in China; through its casting choices, the company reveals that its commitment to Asia is self-serving, and only skin-deep".
A 2011-12 survey by the Asian American Performers Action Coalition found that the racial makeup of casts on Broadway and in nonprofit theaters, which are considered fairly representative of trends nationwide, was 79% white.
Although the Toronto lineup has not yet been unveiled, a look at the British edition of Bestival reveals an eclectic lineup of performers ranging from dance acts like The Chemical Brothers, Seth Troxler, and Tale of Us to pop acts like Duran Duran and hip hop performers Action Bronson and Jurassic 5. To register for more updates, head to the main page here.
After receiving enough complaints to warrant a discussion, the theater's artistic director, Christopher Ashley, has scheduled a panel discussion -- set for July 22 -- to discuss the issues at stake, which will feature members of the Asian American Performers Action Coalition AAPACC) and a New York-based casting director, among others.
Dressur is a 30-minute theatrical percussion trio in which the performers are asked to perform actions and move about the stage in addition to playing a difficult piece of chamber music.
Good performers are given incentives in the form of increasing autonomy and a chance to get additional funding and prizes (proposed in Ghana) whereas poor performers have to sign performance action plans (Australia, Ghana) [ 77, 78].
The voluptuous performer's actions involved sashaying on stage with belly-dancing moves, while peeling off a male performer's layers (he's never fully nude).
Instead the emphasis will be on the sturdiest performers, like action figures, games and books.
