Browse through the headshots and the business cards scattered across the tables in the mezzanine of the Marriott Hotel, and one thing pops out:
Most of the people hustling for gigs are black.
Makes sense in a festival designed largely for black audiences, but the irony is, if you’re a white actor or actress, you perhaps stand a good chance of acting in a play this week. A major element of black plays is, well, the black experience, and since that experience is so closely tied to the relationship with white people, a white actor has a good chance of getting an acting gig. At least two plays this week feature white actors in key roles, for example.
But here’s a question: if more non-black actors and actresses were to show up for the festival, looking for work like everyone else, how would that change the dynamic of the festival itself? Would it change at all?
(Yeah, we just went there. But it’s Friday!)