Even the Plank Chicken is White 3: how far have we come since 1989?
_Valerie Sing Turner forwarded to us the following exchange between herself and theatre artist Camyar Chai, which includes the letter he sent to_ "vancouverplays":http://www.vancouverplays.com/index.shtml
_You can find Valerie's letter_ "here":http://plankmagazine.com/thots/even-plank-chicken-white-2-white-identity...
_And the letter that started it all_ "here":http://plankmagazine.com/thots/even-plank-chicken-white-diversity-perfor...
_And the debate also rages on at Jerry's_ "website":http://www.vancouverplays.com/letters.shtmlas as well
Hi Valerie,
What a very beautifully articulated response. Thank you for writing it and thanks for encouraging others to do the same. Here's my two cents that I sent to Jerry Wasserman last night:
Hi Jerry,
Smart minds weighing in on this issue indeed and all these observations are valid - as well as the fact that Vancouver has lots of great theatre companies for whom diverse casting is part of their nature. One example of many is - to toot my own horn - neworldtheatre's production of Crime and Punishment. I picked this one as it's an example of a classical piece that may normally be entirely populated by people whose ethnic background might be ... I don't know, English, Irish, German ....
In all honesty though, I can't believe we're still even discussing this issue. I love the theatre, but please indulge me with a general statement: echoing what David said, we're supposed to be reflecting the world around us. But sometimes we get so caught up in our own theatre world, we lose sight of the world around the world around us.
These days, when I'm asked about the issue of diversity, I reply with a poem I've written. I offer this poem here. It's sincere and does not make light of the issue. I'm just tired of talking about these issues as if it's still 1989.
olive is my colour
sorta brown kinda white
sometimes pasty yellow in the wrong kind of light
when i sit in the sun i get bronze and tanned
in the middle of the night i look like moonlight on the sand
i'm vancouverite iranian and muslim too
with a touch of zoroaster and the witches brew
i even groove on jesus though not the freaky kind
i'm a closet li-ber-tarian with a socialist mind
my line is aryan and arab mixed in there
i may even have some french chocolate eclair
my past was invaded by mon-go-lians as well
i sometimes think chinese though outside its hard to tell
my son is part armenian with a dash of egyptian
he's also got australian so he's english african
and speaking of the continent from where my brothers come
when i jive talk for fun my soul feels like the sun
so you can label me coloured or caucasian classified
if i told you that i knew i would tell you that i lied
yesterday i looked in the mirror i was beige
when i watch the nightly news i turn red with rage
i'm a passionate man with a feminine side
sometimes i'm exotic and other times i hide
my culture is quixotic and my blood is wine
i ain't brown i ain't white
i'm from the human-kind
Peace, Camyar Chai