Replacing Color-Blind Casting with Color-Conscious Casting: A New Roadmap to Diversity in Performing Arts

The American theatre and film industry has suffered from institutional racism where practices such as whitewashing were common. Beginning in the 1960s and 1970s, the term color-blind casting emerged to supposedly make theatre and film more inclusive and welcoming to people of all ethnicities. However, color-blind casting has done more harm to marginalized communities by disregarding their historical experiences and oppression. Therefore, instead of encouraging color-blind casting in performing arts, the industry should move towards color-conscious casting, a casting technique in which actors’ ethnicities and historical experiences are taken into consideration. The poster will demonstrate the negative aspects of color-blind casting including unequal pay, unacknowledgement of historical racism, and the oppression of actors of color. My poster will present color-conscious casting as the future-thinking roadmap for diversity by acknowledging the role of race in an inclusive performing arts industry. Sources include Johnny Depp\u27s Lone Ranger and Alec Guinness as Prince Faisal.https://ecommons.udayton.edu/stander_posters/3651/thumbnail.jp