My journey as a Latina performer losing Latina roles to White actors

by Phoebe Avila-Olderman, Guest Editorial

A recent experience I had with a semi-professional theatre company sent me on a journey of self-reflection and realization. I was passed over for a role in favor of another actress, a typical experience I’ve had as a working actor. Only the circumstances of this specific role and show were different; I am a Latina actress, and the role I was passed over for was Mimi Marquez in Rent; the actress I lost out to was white.

Whitewashing is, unfortunately, nothing new. Since the dawn of theatre, white actors have played people of color. Minstrel shows featured white actors in blackface playing caricatures of Black stereotypes. The original Broadway casts of West Side Story and Miss Saigon featured white actors in makeup and even prosthetics to play Puerto Rican and Vietnamese characters, respectively.

It’s no secret that theatre has historically been predominantly white, and this issue is still relevant today. Not enough roles for people of color are written. Whiteness is still seen as the default in storytelling. Systemic oppression and racism prevent people of color from becoming actors, writers, directors, and producers in the first place. There is a general lack of roles for people of color in theatre. These roles can often partake in stereotypes, profiling, sexualization, or be one-dimensional.

Well-rounded and fully developed characters for people of color are few and far between. While this is slowly changing on Broadway, many smaller professional theaters, and especially community theaters, struggle with diversity.

In a post-COVID America, many theaters sought to diversify their casts and be more inclusive. This is a great step forward for progress, and while it’s not easy and doesn’t happen overnight, it can be done. This is why whitewashing roles for people of color is so frustrating. Particularly in a show like Rent, this is extremely problematic.

Whether it’s happening on Broadway or in local community theaters, whitewashing is a method of systemic racial exclusion. Regardless of the casting directors’, producers’, or white actors’ intentions, they are partaking in a racist practice. This isn’t to say they are racists themselves, but rather that people who have participated in these types of castings should reconsider their priorities when casting non-white roles. 

At any level of theatre, whitewashing shouldn’t be happening. But a lot of theatergoers and even those involved in theatre themselves still don’t understand why whitewashing roles for actors of color is wrong. “Maybe the director just picked the best person for the role.”

In cases where characters are written to be people of color, the best actor for the role is a person of color. If the casting pool is white or doesn’t yield an actor of color who is up to the standard the director wants, additional auditions should be held. “[City] is very white, so of course that theatre cast a white actor.” If they don’t have the resources, theaters shouldn’t pick shows that center on people of color.

A theater with a no-fly system would never pick Peter Pan for their season, and a small theater would never pick a big musical like The Producers, which requires many actors and set changes. While I understand wanting to pick shows with people of color to tell more diverse stories, with that want comes an effort to cast people of color. To want to tell a story that celebrates people of color and then cast a white actor is hypocritical and contradictory. “They probably did the best they could with who auditioned.” The best that theaters can do is to cast actors of color.

In my case, a Latina actor auditioned for a Latina role and was still passed over in favor of a white actor, and I’m certain I’m not the only performer this has happened to. And again, if the people who audition aren’t up to standard or don’t fit the characters’ needs, more auditions should be held. “Wouldn’t it be racist to deny someone a role based on race? Even if they were white?” This is a tricky area to navigate. All I will say is that, in my own personal opinion, racism is a word used to describe systemic oppression and discrimination based on race or ethnicity. You can be prejudiced or judgemental of white people, but on the whole, in America, large-scale systemic oppression of white rights does not exist.

Furthermore, it feels counterintuitive to argue for colorblind casting to benefit white actors. Colorblind casting has been employed primarily to help actors of color play roles that have been traditionally played by white actors but could be played by any race. It has allowed actors of color to step into roles like Shakespearean leads, Disney princesses, and classic musical characters. It was never intended to allow white actors to step into roles specifically intended for actors of color.

Especially considering that many narratives written for people of color specifically center on narratives that focus on marginalization, cultural touchstones, or civil rights, white performers appropriating our stories feel even more tasteless.

I’d love it if we lived in a world where barriers due to race were obsolete, but unfortunately, we don’t. As such, people of color sometimes get what seems like “special treatment,” but it is really a stepping stool to help us reach the heights our white counterparts have already effortlessly achieved. An easy analogy is a glass of water. If our glasses are half full and we ask for more water, we become equal to those who already had full cups to begin with.

But if those with full glasses ask for more water, either their cups overflow or they get a second glass, and we are unequal once again. 

Again, I don’t think that theater companies or schools that partake in whitewashed casting are being intentionally racist. But I do think they are being ignorant of the struggles that their performers of color have faced. When a role is whitewashed, the director, producer, or casting team is essentially telling people of color that even when the narrative is written to include us, even when the odds are finally in our favor, even when the story is essentially ours to tell, we are less important than white actors, and our voices are unnecessary.

This is why whitewashing shouldn’t be done at any level of theater. Beyond the fact that it defeats the purpose of telling diverse stories and the long history of racism, it discourages actors of color from going out for roles specifically intended for them and even from doing theater at all.

How often have we heard an actor say that they were encouraged to go into arts because they saw someone who “looked like them” on a stage or screen? We are so much luckier and richer when we spread the wealth of theater, especially today; whitewashing is an archaic practice that I hope we leave in the past as soon as possible.