I see that articles have started to come out regarding the recent casting controversy at the La Jolla Playhouse with their China-set but remarkably Asian actor-deficient production The Nightingale.
http://www.kpbs.org/news/2012/jul/23/playhouse-apology-casting-controversy-forum/
I actually think that theater companies have a right to cast shows however they please, but they should always be aware of what the consequences might be. Given the theater market in which they are located and the high profile of their company and the parties involved in the production (Laramie Project creator Moises Kaufman and the team behind the hit Spring Awakening), I'm really shocked that they should be socially tone deaf to the idea that they might be wading into choppy waters.
I feel like there is a general assumption that folks in the theater community are a progressive-minded and/or PC crowd, hence it comes no surprise that so many Asian American actors were shocked and angered that a company should seem to deliberately chose not to cast Asian American performers in a show set in, well, Asia. I think that La Jolla and company have come off rather badly in the process, making them look like a bunch cloistered and narrow-minded. I don't actually think their decision-making fits the definition of racism, but I certainly see why many are tacking that label onto them. And I do think the burden of dealing with that label is there's, not anyone else.
Monday, July 23, 2012
Friday, July 13, 2012
Outside of acting, one of my other major pursuits is the martial art of Aikido. I've been studying it since 1993; starting out as a member of a college club when I was studying at Waseda University in Tokyo as an exchange student. I am presently training with a small club in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood (http://www.chicagoaikidoclub.com/) and am also teaching an 8-week summer program for a day camp run by the Jewish Council of Youth Services. My first entry on the aikido club blog about the experience is now up and running.
http://chicagoaikidoclub.wordpress.com/2012/07/12/bringing-aiki-to-the-little-masses/
Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood. I’m standing in front of 15 children
ranging around ages 10 to 12, wide-eyed, excited, ready and raring to
go. My face projects a friendly, optimistic smile (at least I hope it
does), while my brain races to remember all of the ideas, exercises and
plans that I had been poring over since April. I get a nod from my
contact at the host organization. We’re schedule to start at 10:00am but
things are running ahead of schedule, so it’s time to take the plunge
at last. I open my mouth to speak: “So, who can tell me what they think
of when they hear the words ‘martial arts’?”
I was quite surprised when the Chicago Aikido Club was first contacted about running summer aikido classes for the Jewish Council of Youth Services (JCYS). After all, we’re a relatively modest operation, and there’s a lot of bigger and more established aikido dojo in the area. However, Gene Lee, the JCYS staffer who gave me a call, was impressed by our website. Gene had been looking for something new for the JCYS’ summer day camp programming, and had brought up the idea of martial arts with his bosses. His own background included some tae kwon do training, but he was attracted to the idea of introducing aikido. Specifically, he liked the idea of introducing the kids to ukemi, aikido’s concept of cooperative training which is quite different from many other martial arts.
After first trading phone calls and e-mails with Gene in April 2012, I started chatting with club members and colleagues at other dojo about how to put together a kids program. I myself had never taught one, but several trusted friends had, and since I was going to end up being the primary instructor, I wanted to make sure I had as good a grip on things as I could.
From what I could gather, there were a couple of disadvantages with aikido in terms of teaching it to kids. First off, unlike karate or certain Chinese styles, it doesn’t have a repertoire of solo kata forms, which would certainly lend itself well to keeping groups of children occupied. I remember noted judoka Donn Draeger cynically mentioning in a Discovery Channel documentary that the appeal of kata is “the clock ticks by and the dollars roll in” (my paraphrasing).
Also, my more experienced aikido colleagues reminded me that you cannot teach aikido to children the same way you do with adults. I would be dealing with late elementary/junior high-level kids; kids whose focus is not always functioning at maximum. While there is a certain “sink or swim” aspects to adult aikido learning, it would be on the instructor to maintain the kid’s interest, not to mention keep them entertained.
Luckily, everyone I talked to had as many suggestions as they did warnings. I cannot praise enough Bill Cruz from Milwaukee, who simply had an arsenal of games and exercises gleaned from years of teaching aikido to kids. I already knew that I would have to hold back on teaching waza (techniques) for reasons of safety and liability. Bill introduced me to variations of tag, follow-the-leader, duck-duck-goose that incorporated everything from basic tenkan and irimi movement to demonstrating the foundations of centering and connection.
As it so happened, Day 1 turned out to be great for all. The kids turned out to be an exceptional group – attentive, enthusiastic and willing to learn. Added plus was the camp counselors all participated in the class as students (giving the kids a great visual example) as well as ran defense for me when discipline needed to be maintained.
What really surprised me was how easy it was to let the class develop its own thematic identity organically. I had stockpiled some ideas of what the theme of the 8-week program would be (including concentration, cooperation, maybe some basic self-defense). I had also been informed that bullying is a big issue for many of the kids and their parents, something I had a lot of experience with from my years doing social issues performances with Imagination Theater. Starting the kids out with some basic warm-ups and stretches, and moving to posture and practicing tenkan, it gradually became obvious what my targets would be: relaxation and awareness.
Of course, those two points are fundamental cornerstones familiar to any aikidoka, but watching how the kids responded to each exercise led me to believe that these two points would guide everything else. Relaxation, because it would be a way of communicating to the kids the idea that anger or aggression was not always the way to respond to a situation, whether it be frustration at themselves or towards another person. Awareness, because of both the issue of safety during training, but also awareness of how what you do affects another person (whether mental, physical or emotional).
For an experience that I thought would top my shodan test for wracking my nerves, the JCYS summer kids program is shaping up to be quite a trip. I expect to learn a lot from these kids, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Dwight Sora, Chicago
July 12, 2012
http://chicagoaikidoclub.wordpress.com/2012/07/12/bringing-aiki-to-the-little-masses/
Bringing Aiki to the (Little) Masses
9:45 AM, Thursday, June 28, 2012.
Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood. I’m standing in front of 15 children
ranging around ages 10 to 12, wide-eyed, excited, ready and raring to
go. My face projects a friendly, optimistic smile (at least I hope it
does), while my brain races to remember all of the ideas, exercises and
plans that I had been poring over since April. I get a nod from my
contact at the host organization. We’re schedule to start at 10:00am but
things are running ahead of schedule, so it’s time to take the plunge
at last. I open my mouth to speak: “So, who can tell me what they think
of when they hear the words ‘martial arts’?”
I was quite surprised when the Chicago Aikido Club was first contacted about running summer aikido classes for the Jewish Council of Youth Services (JCYS). After all, we’re a relatively modest operation, and there’s a lot of bigger and more established aikido dojo in the area. However, Gene Lee, the JCYS staffer who gave me a call, was impressed by our website. Gene had been looking for something new for the JCYS’ summer day camp programming, and had brought up the idea of martial arts with his bosses. His own background included some tae kwon do training, but he was attracted to the idea of introducing aikido. Specifically, he liked the idea of introducing the kids to ukemi, aikido’s concept of cooperative training which is quite different from many other martial arts.
After first trading phone calls and e-mails with Gene in April 2012, I started chatting with club members and colleagues at other dojo about how to put together a kids program. I myself had never taught one, but several trusted friends had, and since I was going to end up being the primary instructor, I wanted to make sure I had as good a grip on things as I could.
From what I could gather, there were a couple of disadvantages with aikido in terms of teaching it to kids. First off, unlike karate or certain Chinese styles, it doesn’t have a repertoire of solo kata forms, which would certainly lend itself well to keeping groups of children occupied. I remember noted judoka Donn Draeger cynically mentioning in a Discovery Channel documentary that the appeal of kata is “the clock ticks by and the dollars roll in” (my paraphrasing).
Also, my more experienced aikido colleagues reminded me that you cannot teach aikido to children the same way you do with adults. I would be dealing with late elementary/junior high-level kids; kids whose focus is not always functioning at maximum. While there is a certain “sink or swim” aspects to adult aikido learning, it would be on the instructor to maintain the kid’s interest, not to mention keep them entertained.
Luckily, everyone I talked to had as many suggestions as they did warnings. I cannot praise enough Bill Cruz from Milwaukee, who simply had an arsenal of games and exercises gleaned from years of teaching aikido to kids. I already knew that I would have to hold back on teaching waza (techniques) for reasons of safety and liability. Bill introduced me to variations of tag, follow-the-leader, duck-duck-goose that incorporated everything from basic tenkan and irimi movement to demonstrating the foundations of centering and connection.
As it so happened, Day 1 turned out to be great for all. The kids turned out to be an exceptional group – attentive, enthusiastic and willing to learn. Added plus was the camp counselors all participated in the class as students (giving the kids a great visual example) as well as ran defense for me when discipline needed to be maintained.
What really surprised me was how easy it was to let the class develop its own thematic identity organically. I had stockpiled some ideas of what the theme of the 8-week program would be (including concentration, cooperation, maybe some basic self-defense). I had also been informed that bullying is a big issue for many of the kids and their parents, something I had a lot of experience with from my years doing social issues performances with Imagination Theater. Starting the kids out with some basic warm-ups and stretches, and moving to posture and practicing tenkan, it gradually became obvious what my targets would be: relaxation and awareness.
Of course, those two points are fundamental cornerstones familiar to any aikidoka, but watching how the kids responded to each exercise led me to believe that these two points would guide everything else. Relaxation, because it would be a way of communicating to the kids the idea that anger or aggression was not always the way to respond to a situation, whether it be frustration at themselves or towards another person. Awareness, because of both the issue of safety during training, but also awareness of how what you do affects another person (whether mental, physical or emotional).
Day 2
I received some added assistance from Ian Miller and Andy Vitale, which led me to introduce the basics of forward rolling. On the point of awareness, I decided to make it clear to each of the kids that only they could decide whether they were ready or not to take a roll. I did not mind if one of them was afraid or felt hesitant, but I told them that if at the moment of truth they could not bring themselves to take the roll, they had to decide not to do it, and waste no time in moving on and to the back of the line (Of course, hoping they might decide differently the next time around). It turned out to be a great tactic, simultaneously keeping things moving along, but also reinforcing the idea that everyone was an active participant.For an experience that I thought would top my shodan test for wracking my nerves, the JCYS summer kids program is shaping up to be quite a trip. I expect to learn a lot from these kids, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Dwight Sora, Chicago
July 12, 2012
Thursday, July 12, 2012
This has already soared about the internet and blogosphere more than a few times now, but I don't think it can hurt mentioning it again. Controversy has erupted about the La Jolla Playhouse's upcoming production of The Nightingale, a Chinese-set tale based on a story written by Hans Christian Anderson.
Like many folks, I was first alerted to this by the blog post by Asian American actress Erin Quill.
http://fairyprincessdiaries.com/2012/07/07/moises-kaufman-can-kiss-my-ass-heres-why/
This has since been reposted on various sites, including www.angryasianman.com. I recently caught the response of the show's creators here: https://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/jul/11/behind-a-playhouse-casting-controversy/?page=1#article. Frankly, I don't find the explanations at all acceptable, just a lot of lazy, intellectually dishonest justification for orientalism and cultural appropriation.
Sheesh, it's the 21st century. Gilbert and Sullivan I forgive, but not the makers of this thing.
Like many folks, I was first alerted to this by the blog post by Asian American actress Erin Quill.
http://fairyprincessdiaries.com/2012/07/07/moises-kaufman-can-kiss-my-ass-heres-why/
This has since been reposted on various sites, including www.angryasianman.com. I recently caught the response of the show's creators here: https://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/jul/11/behind-a-playhouse-casting-controversy/?page=1#article. Frankly, I don't find the explanations at all acceptable, just a lot of lazy, intellectually dishonest justification for orientalism and cultural appropriation.
Sheesh, it's the 21st century. Gilbert and Sullivan I forgive, but not the makers of this thing.
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