Every year The Dan School of Drama and Music at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario produces two theatre productions, known as the Fall and Winter Majors. These productions allow students to get involved in a high-caliber production with a professional director – historically a member of the faculty, though occasionally distinguished alumni also direct.
In Fall 2017, The Dan School of Drama and Music decided to collaborate with Theatre Kingston to produce the play Concord Floral by Jordan Tannahill. The plays itself is about high school students in Vaughan, Ontario who go through a traumatic experience at the beginning of their grade nine year. The play then dives into different aspects of the characters’ lives, exploring what it means to be a teenager. It is a contemporary play that has room for a diverse cast; previous productions of the play have featured diverse casting. However, when the cast list was announced for Concord Floral, the cast was predominately white with one alternate being a person of colour.
This caused some students in the Drama department to raise their concern about the director’s choice in casting. In previous years, The Dan School of Drama and Music has faced criticism for whitewashing and racially monogamous casts. Queen’s University as a whole has faced criticism for practicing and not condemning racist behaviour on campus. Theatre Kingston, as producers, were not particularly involved in the casting decision, but were equally concerned after students voiced their concerns, because it is a theatre company that is committed to promoting diverse theatre.
In order for this production to move forward, a conversation started about what to do and how to fix this problem. The director of Concord Floral, Greg Wanless, agreed that casting an additional cast that featured students of colour who had originally auditioned for the production would help bring some diversity to the show. This cast would be integrated with and rehearse alongside the original cast.
context
acknowledging bias
Maryam Remtulla was connected to the show via her participation as an actor. Remtulla auditioned for the show and was not included in the first cast, but was later added to the production as a part of the double cast.
Vishmayaa Jeyamoorthy was connected to the show via her participation in the decision to add a double cast, and later, in her participation as an Assistant Lighting Designer. Jeyamoorthy was one of two students who originally approached Theatre Kingston and The Dan School of Drama and Music to voice concerns when the cast list was released. She participated in the discussions to decide how to move forward, and was offered the role of Assistant Lighting Designer in an attempt to bring diverse voices to the creative team as well as the cast.
unpacking the research question
“Can Concord Floral be considered a successful production?”
The research question is deceptively simple; the answer is not a simple yes or no. To answer the question, the researchers first defined what “successful” meant. They broke it down into two parts:
Was is a successful production in terms of equity?
The first part of our research question explores the success of the production by considering the goals of the production team in relation to creating an equitable and inclusive production. Was the double cast the best way to add diverse voices to the production? Was it the best way to create an equitable production despite its inequitable start?
Was it a successful production in terms of artistry?
The second part of the research question explores the success of the production by considering the overall effect the double casting had on the creation of the show. Did the double cast improve the quality of the art?
Overall, was the inclusion of the double cast worth adding?
forms of research
In order to fully understand the wide range of perspectives, the researchers settled on anonymous surveys as the best way to gather data, though that data was also supplemented with personal observations, and photographs.
the survey
The survey, administered online through Google Forms, allowed the researchers to collect data anonymously from a wide variety of people. The online survey was not bound by borders, time zones, distance, or schedules, giving the researchers the most access to our participants. The form also allowed the data to remain anonymous even to the researchers; though they had access to the identifying information attached to participants’ responses, they were also able to view the responses without having to see the participants’ information. This allowed them to circumvent some of the issues that would have arisen due to personal bias. The form was also helpful because the degree of anonymity helped navigate some of the emotional turmoil an in-person interview may have caused. This was especially important to the researchers because their close personal relationships with many of the participants may have made it difficult to get honest responses from the participants due to a conflict of interest.
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The survey included questions about how the participant felt about the double casting decision, how the situation had been handled, and how they think the situation could have been handled better.
In order to comply with regulations set out by the Research Ethics Board, participants who filled out the survey first gave their consent to participating in the research project in the survey directly. This helped maintain their anonymity at the time of receiving and filling out the form.
the personal observations
Both researchers had a close, personal connection to the production. Remtulla’s observations in the rehearsal room and Jeyamoorthy’s observations as a part of the production team helped both researchers bring firsthand knowledge to the research project.
Remtulla first felt invasive, as if she was joining something that she didn’t belong to. She did not know whether to accept this new role or not; she did not fully understand what the right course of action was. She felt that perhaps the original members of the cast may think she was intruding. After the experience, she felt very included and was thankful for the opportunity to perform in the production. Remtulla also observed that the double cast allowed for greater opportunity for the actors to learn, because it presented actors with a chance to see how someone else would play their role.
Jeyamoorthy was dissatisfied with her experience, as a result of several factors. Jeyamoorthy joined the team only a few weeks before the production opened, and so, was not able to fully immerse herself within the creation of the show. She also felt isolated and unsupported within the production team. Unlike Remtulla, she did not eventually come to feel accepted as a part of the team. Jeyamoorthy also felt that the show’s technical requirements needed to be modified to adjust for a diverse cast; for example, mics and mic tape needed to be coloured to match darker skin tones, as the white mics that had been available to the white cast were not suited.
the photographs
The photographs, provided by Theatre Kingston, were used to demonstrate the visual representation on stage that the production was striving for. The photographs were also used extensively during Theatre Kingston and The Dan School of Drama and Music’s marketing campaign for the show, which focused on the new double cast.
Promotional material for the show
Rehearsal photo showing the double cast observing each other's work
The first and second cast integrated for a cast photo
the results
Throughout their research, the researchers explored the cultural implications of adding racialized bodies on stage, be it in relation to equity or artistry. Was the production a successful one? The answer can be summarized by saying “it depends.”
success in terms of artistry
By having a double cast, the department created more opportunities for Queen’s students to get involved on campus. The show produced was often called “more interesting” for having had a diverse cast. The actors in this show were full-time students on top of their roles in the production, so having two cast provided understudies and lowered the risks of actor burnout, therefore leading to overall better performances. There was evidence that the actors benefitted from having the chance to observe other people in their role in the rehearsal room. There was also evidence that people saw the show multiple times in order to see the different iterations of the cast, leading to increased interest in the play and increased ticket sales. Overall, the inclusion of more diverse cast members was positive to the artistic process of this play.
success in terms of equity
The production was not very successful in terms of equity. Firstly, many of the promises made by the producers were not fulfilled; for example, the director had promised to discuss why the double casting was necessary in his note in the program, and he did not do that. The technical requirements were not met either; actors were promised mics that matched their skin tone, and that did not happen. The production team was not happy to include more people in their ranks, though the cast eventually felt that the double cast was a positive thing. That being said, the first cast strongly felt that their voices had not been heard at all during the decision process regarding the first cast. They had strongly negative opinions about how the process was handled.
"It was a shock to the original cast that could have been a more effective transition if we were told the plans of double casting in advance instead of after [the explanation letter] was sent out."
The first cast felt unsupported by their director given the lack of information they received, and felt there was a lack of accountability.
The second cast also felt uncomfortable coming into the show.
"I felt like I was entering a cast where people had already made up their minds that I didn't belong or wasn't good enough.”
Though the second cast did integrate with the first cast and eventually felt as much a part of the team as anyone else, they felt “a little uneasy” about the process. Though they had fewer negative opinions than the first cast, they were not completely on board with how the decision had made them feel like they were “there to fill a diversity quota”. Overall, the double casting decision was not a positive one and did not greatly contribute to furthering equity-based goals for The Dan School of Drama and Music or Theatre Kingston.