UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, RIVERSIDE
Department of Theatre, Film and Digital Production,
Department of English, and Center for Ideas and Society

Casting in Color symposium: Race on stage and screen
Donatella Galella, Kimberly Guerrero, Katherine Kinney, co-organizers
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Popular discourses such as #OscarsSoWhite and burgeoning scholarship on American actors of color have highlighted racial disparities in casting, but rarely do these discussions meet in spaces accessible to students. A symposium at UCR, “Casting in Color: Race on Stage and Screen” brings together scholars, professional artists, and students to talk about the dilemmas, theories, and strategies for casting people of color across theatre, film, and television. Casting is both an artistic issue and a labor issue. African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinx/o/as, Native Americans, and mixed-race people are dramatically underrepresented on stage and screen, and they often play secondary characters. Although multiracial casts in traditionally white plays create new opportunities and perspectives, they also paradoxically promote the idea that race no longer matters. “Casting in Color” provokes an exciting, educational conversation on how racial politics shape casting and how audiences subsequently interpret casting, all of which has a profound impact on the materiality of race and racial hierarchy.

May 18, 2019
Saturday, 9:00 A.M.-6:00 P.M.
Free and open to the public. Registration required.

Location: CHASS Interdisciplinary Building, South:
Symposium Room, INTS 1113 and Round Room, INTS 1111
ARTS Building: Studio Theatre, ARTS 113

Parking: Complimentary permits available in Lot 24.
Information: (951) 827-3245, performingarts@ucr.edu

SCHEDULE
Sessions will be livestreamed.
The livestream will be published on UCR CHASS YouTube Channel

9:00am  (INTS 1111)
Registration with coffee and light breakfast

9:45am (INTS 1113)
Welcome

9:55am -10:55am  (INTS 1113)
Session 1 – “Actors, Directors, and Producers on the Ground”
    Snehal Desai (East West Players)
    Elizabeth Frances (“The Son,” AMC)
    DeLanna Studi (And So We Walked)
    Moderator: Kimberly Guerrero (UC Riverside)

11:05am - 12:05pm (INTS 1113)
Session 2 – “Toward Theories of Casting”
    Brandi Wilkins Catanese (UC Berkeley)
    Brian Eugenio Herrera (Princeton University)
    Dorinne Kondo (USC)
    Moderator: Donatella Galella (UC Riverside)

12:15 pm - 1:15 pm (INTS 1113)
Session 3 – “State of the Field: Actors of Color on/off Stage and Screen”
    Ana-Christina Ramón (UCLA)
    Nancy Wang Yuen (Biola University)
    Monica White Ndounou (Dartmouth College)
    Moderator: Katherine Kinney (UC Riverside)

1:15 pm - 2:15 pm (INTS 1111)
Luncheon

2:30pm - 4:0 pm (Studio Theatre, ARTS 113)
Performance of Marisol by José Rivera
Director: Makeda Kumasi

4:10 pm - 4:45pm (Studio Theatre, ARTS 113)
Post-performance Talkback
Moderator: Brian Eugenio Herrera (Princeton University)

5:00pm – 6:00pm (INTS 1111)
Reception

Sponsored by the Department of Theatre, Film and Digital Production; Department of English; and Center for Ideas and Society

Image: Argonautika by Mary Zimmerman. UCR Department of Theatre, Film & Digital Production, 2016. Alan A. Call, photographer