Friday, May 9, 2008

Everyone Who Majors In Theatre Is Gambling

Last night I gave a post-show lecture/talkback with the members of a local continuing education class. They had seen my play, and had nothing but lovely things to say about it, except for one woman.

She asked me why I cast a particular actress, a young woman who is... um... not skinny. She told me that was just getting the poor girl's hopes up, and that "students like that should know there is no future for them in the theatre and they should be smart enough to choose a different major!"

Well! I told her that there were roles in the theatre for all body types, and yes, theatres are sometimes less willing to cast heavier actresses, but that we shouldn't dismiss this particular student outright. Let her learn and take her chance like everyone else.

"After all," I said, "they only cast 1% of the skinny actresses, too."

2 comments:

The Director said...

Well, that's a pretty dumb thing to say on her part. Has she ever heard of Danny DeVito? Camryn Manheim (from The Practice)? Queen Latifah? Oprah? Loretta Devine (Grey's Anatomy)?

ALL body types work on stage. There are parts that skinny girls SHOULDN'T get.

Geez. That just riles me up. I'm gonna stop now before I pop an aneurysm.

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