Introduction

In this book, Daniel Banks and I bring together US-based actors, directors, educators, playwrights, and scholars to ask:

What are the many ways theater practitioners can think about casting to provide more access to opportunity and broader representation on our stages, and what are the politics of these choices?

Implicit in this question is an aspirational premise. We suggest that casting is a way to invite more people to the table so that the full breadth of US identities can be reflected onstage. This premise also suggests that casting is inherently a political act. Because an actor’s embodied presence both communicates a dramatic narrative and evokes cultural assumptions associated with skin color, gender, sexuality, and ability, casting choices are never neutral. Like the contributors of this book, our goal is to expand the theater beyond its bias towards dominant cultural groups, which include, but are not limited to, Eurocentric, able-bodied, and male-dominated narratives.