Racial Casting Call Criticized

Racial Casting Call Criticized

Claudio Medeiros, an Associate Professor of theater sends an email titled "Invitation to African, African- American and Latino Women" to nearly 100 recipients in order to find a female student to play the role of Elizabeth, a "wet nurse hired by a white couple to care for their newborn child, in the play "In The Next Room". Specifically, the email was sent to Alianza and AAA. This prompted an ongoing email chain of outraged student emails, which soon became a broader conversation about race and racism at Middlebury. There was then a forum to deal with these issues.

Volume 112, Number 9

Kelsey Collins

The Campus

11/14/2013

Claudio Medeiros- Associate Professor of Theater
Missian DeSouza '14
Shirley Collado- Dean of the College

"I am declining your invitation to audition, as I am not interested in playing 'Mammie', a wet nurse, or a slave, and the prospect of being casted in a part with the 'only' fulfilling sexual experience in the entire show' while being the object of a white male character's 'jungle fever' are anything BUT appealing to me... So please, in the final year of my Middlebury experience, I would appreciate if the theater department only think to solicit me for roles that are fitting for EVERYONE to be casted in, if it is that my creative contribution is truly valued. "- DeSouza

"'Classrooms at Middlebury are very exclusive... Across any department, in any classroom, is apparent,' said Tim Garcia '14 at the forum. 'Often it feels like there is an extra burden if you are of color within the classroom because you are asked to be an expert, play a role that other students are not'"