Are Australian theatres too white?
Theatre director’s decisions to chose all white casts points to some serious problems on Australian stages, according to Lee Lewis. In an essay called “Cross racial casting – Changing the face of Australian Theatre”, the actor and director is critical of the whiteness of mainstream theatre companies. Lewis’s concerns have been published this week as she rehearses for an upcoming show for one of these companies. The tendency to select anglo actors can be seen across film, television and other media and isn’t anything new. Efforts to address this issue often result in tokenism or in discourses of blame that lead to helplessness in the face of discrimination. The persistence of this problem raises doubt over the commitment arts bodies in Australia have toward ethnic diversity.