7.24.2012

the nightingale panel discussion at la jolla playhouse



Some more on The Nightingale casting controversy... On Sunday afternoon, community members gathered for a post-performance talk-back discussion at the La Jolla Playhouse. The panel included members of the Asian American theater community, as well as some key creatives from The Nightingale.

For those who were unable to attend, here's a video of the entire panel.

First of all, props to La Jolla Playhouse for setting up this discussion. They could have easily chosen to ignore the growing voices of concern over this production. But I applaud this effort to open up some semblance of civil, intelligent dialogue without making it seem like everybody showed up to throw stones (even though it's apparent that people really wanted to).

That said, it's frustrating to feel like we're having the same conversation over and over again. I suppose the hope is that with each discussion, we get a little bit closer to a situation where this won't happen again. In the case of this production of The Nightingale, the point has certainly been made.

Believe it or not, there were actual apologies offered by the creative team. That's great, but where the heck do they go from here? More here: Heated exchanges at La Jolla Playhouse over multicultural casting.

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