美国国家公共电台 NPR Why A Theater Director Made A 'Color-Conscious Choice' In 'Virginia Woolf' Casting

 

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

The next story started when a director and producer from a tiny theater in Portland, Ore., posted a message on Facebook. He was outraged¹ that the estate of Edward Albee wouldn't grant him rights to produce "Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?" because he had cast a black actor in one of the roles. The post went viral, but Jeff Lunden reports this isn't entirely² about race.

JEFF LUNDEN, BYLINE³: Michael Streeter says he wanted to dust off Albee's 55-year-old play and give it a new angle, so he cast an African-American actor in the role of Nick, a young biology professor who visits an older academic couple with his wife. Nick is described in the script as blond and blue-eyed.

MICHAEL STREETER: In 1962, the year the play was written, African-Americans were facing tremendous strife⁴ with the civil rights movement, and the character of Nick was ambitious. He is striving to get ahead, and he puts up with a lot of invective⁵ from the other characters in the play. And this is something that I see as emblematic⁶ of what was happening in the African-American community in 1962.

LUNDEN: But the Albee estate, which approves the casting of all professional productions of the late playwright⁷'s work, did not agree. Streeter vented⁸ his frustration⁹ online, and the media responded.

TANIA RICHARD: I knew the minute I read the initial article that I felt it wasn't racist¹⁰, that I felt it was completely within Albee's estate's rights to maintain the vision that he intentioned.

LUNDEN: Chicago-based actress Tania Richard, who co-hosts a podcast called "Race Bait," wrote a blog post about it. Richard is black. Streeter is white.

RICHARD: To ask the character of Nick to be black in this world in the '60s on a small campus in New England is sort of suggesting an alternate universe that couldn't have existed, you know, and this isn't a fantasy piece. This is a very specific piece.

LUNDEN: Many plays in the American canon are very specific about time and place, which can limit opportunities for actors of color. So for years, theaters have attempted to correct this with colorblind casting. There have been mixed-race productions of plays by Arthur Miller¹¹, Tennessee Williams and the musicals of Rodgers and Hammerstein, says New York Times drama critic Ben Brantley.

BEN BRANTLEY: It has to be done, I think, on a case-by-case basis in which you weigh the elements and think how much does this distort the author's vision? But when you're talking about Shakespeare, when you're talking about musicals, when you're talking about plays that have been in the canon of Western civilization for centuries, I think then anything goes.

LUNDEN: However, what Director Michael Streeter was proposing with "Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?" was not colorblind casting.

STREETER: There's also color-conscious casting where you deliberately¹² choose to cast a person that is different from what's written in the play. This was a color-conscious choice on my part because I thought that it added depth to the play, that there would be certain lines that would have more resonance¹³. There would be the question that would happen throughout the play as the audience is watching these people abuse this character. And you wonder, OK, are they going to start using racial slurs¹⁵?

LUNDEN: And in the boozy second act of the play, things get particularly nasty between the two academic couples.

(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?")

ARTHUR HILL: (As George) So I know what we'll do. How about a little round of Get the Guests? How about that? How about a little game of Get the Guests?

RICHARD: Will they or won't they throw a racial slur¹⁴ at this guy? And for me, when I heard that, I was like, well, that's just awful.

LUNDEN: Tania Richard again.

RICHARD: And as an actor, I don't want to be put in that position. I don't want to be sort of the target for the audience almost bloodlust about whether or not the character is going to be called the N-word or not. That's creating a whole other layer to the piece that was never intended in the first place.

LUNDEN: The Albee estate wouldn't speak directly to NPR about the decision. Instead, it sent a statement saying Albee had remarked on several occasions that a mixed-race marriage in the early 1960s would not have gone unnoticed in the script. Though Albee did approve the casting of a black actress as the older professor's wife when the playwright was still alive. This is the first time the estate has had to deal with this issue since Albee's death last September. For his part, Director Michael Streeter, while disappointed, understands the estate's position.

STREETER: I don't think this is racially motivated. This is absolutely about a fealty¹⁶ to the integrity of Edward Albee.

LUNDEN: In the end, if you want to insert your ideas into someone else's play, Tania Richard offers some advice from one of her old writing teachers.

RICHARD: He had this wonderful quote where he would say, well, maybe you should write that play.

LUNDEN: For NPR News, I'm Jeff Lunden in New York.

1 outraged   

a.震惊的，义愤填膺的

参考例句：

• Members of Parliament were outraged by the news of the assassination. 议会议员们被这暗杀的消息激怒了。
• He was outraged by their behavior. 他们的行为使他感到愤慨。

2 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 strife   

n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争

参考例句：

• We do not intend to be drawn into the internal strife.我们不想卷入内乱之中。
• Money is a major cause of strife in many marriages.金钱是造成很多婚姻不和的一个主要原因。

5 invective   

n.痛骂，恶意抨击

参考例句：

• He retorted the invective on her.他用恶言讽刺还击她。
• His command of irony and invective was said to be very classic and lethal.据说他嬉笑怒骂的本领是极其杰出的，令人无法招架的。

6 emblematic   

adj.象征的，可当标志的；象征性

参考例句：

• The violence is emblematic of what is happening in our inner cities. 这种暴力行为正标示了我们市中心贫民区的状况。
• Whiteness is emblematic of purity. 白色是纯洁的象征。 来自辞典例句

7 playwright   

n.剧作家，编写剧本的人

参考例句：

• Gwyn Thomas was a famous playwright.格温·托马斯是著名的剧作家。
• The playwright was slaughtered by the press.这位剧作家受到新闻界的无情批判。

8 vented   

表达，发泄（感情，尤指愤怒）( vent的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He vented his frustration on his wife. 他受到挫折却把气发泄到妻子身上。
• He vented his anger on his secretary. 他朝秘书发泄怒气。

9 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

10 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。

11 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

12 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

13 resonance   

n.洪亮；共鸣；共振

参考例句：

• Playing the piano sets up resonance in those glass ornaments.一弹钢琴那些玻璃饰物就会产生共振。
• The areas under the two resonance envelopes are unequal.两个共振峰下面的面积是不相等的。

14 slur   

v.含糊地说；诋毁；连唱；n.诋毁；含糊的发音

参考例句：

• He took the remarks as a slur on his reputation.他把这些话当作是对他的名誉的中伤。
• The drug made her speak with a slur.药物使她口齿不清。

15 slurs   

含糊的发音( slur的名词复数 )； 玷污； 连奏线； 连唱线

参考例句：

• One should keep one's reputation free from all slurs. 人应该保持名誉不受责备。
• Racial slurs, racial jokes, all having to do with being Asian. 种族主义辱骂，种族笑话，都是跟亚裔有关的。

16 fealty   

n.忠贞，忠节

参考例句：

• He swore fealty to the king.他宣誓效忠国王。
• If you are fealty and virtuous,then I would like to meet you.如果你孝顺善良，我很愿意认识你。