Even the Plank Chicken is White 3: how far have we come since 1989?

Author Name: 
Valerie Sing Turner

_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