Taking ethnicity to the stage

For many student performers, racial diversity in campus theater groups is an issue that plays itself out behind the scenes. Many point to a scarcity of minority actors as well as minority issues in productions.

Noelia Saenz '01, formerly a participant in Theatre-Intime and now a member of the Black Arts Company, said she is disheartened that theater groups tend to produce shows that fail to address minority issues.

"It's actually kind of scary how things have become really white," she said, "I don't think people are really striving to keep [shows] as diverse."

When Saenz directed George C. Wolfe's "The Colored Museum" two years ago, her show went up during the same semester as Tom Stoppard's "Arcadia" and Agatha Christie's "The Mousetrap." The latter two shows attracted larger audiences because they are "very white," Saenz said.

"This is Princeton — very crusty white middle class. They're used to seeing Stoppard and cheesy stuff like 'Mousetrap,' " Saenz said.

She said groups also fail to cast non-white students. "They won't even see that as racist or biased," she said. "They'll say, 'Oh, the playwright wrote it for a white person.' You need to think about this day and age."

Unlike Saenz, Doug Lambert '01, Triangle Club president, said he does not believe any group purposefully discriminates against minorities. Instead, he said he thinks many minority students themselves gravitate toward minority theater groups.

"I think all the groups are serving a different purpose, and it's just a matter of what people look for in a group. I think it's the undergraduates that self-select in terms of the groups they go for," Lambert said.

According to Lambert, the Performing Arts Council — which comprises the heads of all campus theater and dance groups — has not discussed the issue of race in depth. "We don't place much emphasis on it. We don't think it's a problem," he said.

Kesana Branford '02, a member of BAC, said the lack of minorities in "mainstream theater" campus groups like Theatre-Intime mirrors entertainment in the rest of American society. "You look at TV and you don't see minorities anyway. Representation here is as it is in the general American society," she said. "Here and there you'll see some minorities."

Amit Shah '02 said that he considered joining Triangle when he was a freshman but instead chose to join Princeton South Asian Theatrics. Also a member of BAC and NAACHO — an Indian dance group — Shah said these groups educate other students about diverse cultures and minority issues in addition to providing an outlet for students to have contact with other minorities. Shah said the P-SAT show appeals to a wide audience. "It's usually a trip for any type of race. It's pure comedy. People in the audience are rolling on the floor," he said.

Like Shah, Alicia Wright '02 said she initially auditioned for BAC because the idea of a minority student group at a school where the majority of students are white appealed to her.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

"Princeton doesn't have a very large minority community. I think when a lot of minorities come to school, a lot of them want to be around people who have a similar culture to them," she said.

Wright, who dances with BAC, said she often is disappointed by the audience turnout. 'I'm a bit disappointed that BAC doesn't seem to draw the crowds that DiSiac and BodyHype do," she said, adding that though the group will now perform in Frist, in the past it was often assigned to the Forbes Black Box, "a terrible performance space" that is a trek for many students.

Unlike Shah and Wright, Kurt Uy '01 has dedicated most of his acting time to "mainstream" theater groups, such as Theatre-Intime. Uy, who has performed in more than 20 campus shows, said he hasn't "run into too many stumbling blocks" as a Filipino actor.

"I've never had someone come up to me and say, 'Well, you're Asian and you can't play this role,' " he said. In fact, Uy said he has taken on the roles of a Nazi, an English professor and a Jew.

According to Uy, talent alone determines who makes the cut. "If you have talent, if you have the ability, no one's going to actively stop you," he said.

Uy also said that he would like to see more campus productions that address minority issues. "A lot of us are relying on the old favorites," he said. "You don't have to be a minority to be doing minority theater."

Tamara Taitt '02, co-director of the drama division of BAC, said she also values this type of theater because it challenges an audience. "It is something that will perk people's ears up. As a director, there is a burden of having to bring something that is challenging and new and different and makes people think."

Taitt challenged the lack of minority theater on campus during her freshman year. She and Charity Tinsley '02 complained to BAC that it did not perform full-length productions but instead mixed together dance numbers and theatrical skits. In response, BAC helped them produce Ntozake Shange's "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf."

Taitt said she was grateful that groups like BAC provide the means for students to pursue their goals. "It's OK for you to care about something and want something to happen, but unless you have a group of people supporting you and wanting to be a part of that, you're there by yourself," she said.

Adam Friedman '01, the general manager of Theatre-Intime, said his group does not produce many plays that address minority issues because students fail to propose them.

"We depend entirely on whoever proposes shows to us. We try specifically to recruit minority groups to propose shows, and besides that, we're dependent on what people propose," Friedman said. He added that Theatre-Intime has specifically asked minority theater groups to submit shows that address minority issues.

As groups try to increase the variety of cultural voices in the theater community, Friedman said, minority actors themselves must also play their part. "It depends on people being proactive about wanting to get themselves in the arts," he said.

Friedman pointed out the advantages of having a diverse group in "a collaborative process" like theater. "The more diverse group you have, the more diverse the ideas might be," he said.

He said his group's encouragement of minority theater proposals is one step Theatre-Intime has taken to incorporate minority actors and shows. "That was one good way to get good representation in theater — at least in our theater," he said. "It's one small thing we've done, but much more could be done."