Alexander Hamilton, One of Americas founding fathers, author of “The Federalist Papers,” and the gentleman on the ten dollar bill, has a riveting Broadway musical biography on his life by the great Lin-Manuel Miranda. What makes this show absolutely unique is that it not just white men dressed up in powdered white wigs, it’s a contemporary piece with scores of music in pop, hip-hop, R&B and only uses Black and Latino actors. In theatre, the concept of colorblind casting has been used for a long time but it is still a debate whether or not it’s an effective practice. Even the celebrated Black playwright August Wilson, in his speech addressed to the Theatre Communications Group National Conference “The Ground on Which I Stand” states that, “colorblind
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“Hamilton” summoned a casting call requesting actors that are were only people of color. Many white performers got upset over this request. The notion of colorblind casting is supposed to produce an even playing field when auditioning for a role. Colorblind casting asks that the casting director to ignore race and concentrate merely on the actors ability to perform. The second notion is to end the racist custom of white actors doing blackface. Although, race is sometimes essential to the role of a character, we have to figure out a few things about the script. Is the script racially specific or is there no reference to race at all. These two types of scripts are “contextually specific or contextually neutral.” Sometimes it is okay to cast by race only when a play is specifically examining concerns of race. However, in the case of “Hamilton” and other shows like it, even though an actor may not historically match the role they represent, actors should be able to represent historical figures from any era (Marcus). This conscious artistic decision behind this casting move for “Hamilton” was not to hurt anyone feelings. Lin-Manuel Miranda, notes that this was intentional, “the story [becomes] more immediate and more accessible to a contemporary audience … allowing you to leave whatever cultural baggage you have about the founding fathers at the door” (Bennett). Because
“Hamilton” summoned a casting call requesting actors that are were only people of color. Many white performers got upset over this request. The notion of colorblind casting is supposed to produce an even playing field when auditioning for a role. Colorblind casting asks that the casting director to ignore race and concentrate merely on the actors ability to perform. The second notion is to end the racist custom of white actors doing blackface. Although, race is sometimes essential to the role of a character, we have to figure out a few things about the script. Is the script racially specific or is there no reference to race at all. These two types of scripts are “contextually specific or contextually neutral.” Sometimes it is okay to cast by race only when a play is specifically examining concerns of race. However, in the case of “Hamilton” and other shows like it, even though an actor may not historically match the role they represent, actors should be able to represent historical figures from any era (Marcus). This conscious artistic decision behind this casting move for “Hamilton” was not to hurt anyone feelings. Lin-Manuel Miranda, notes that this was intentional, “the story [becomes] more immediate and more accessible to a contemporary audience … allowing you to leave whatever cultural baggage you have about the founding fathers at the door” (Bennett). Because