Last night I did a table reading in class of the scene I have been assigned from the play “One Sunday Afternoon”. This scene is definitely going to take a lot of work. It’s a beautifully sensitive touching scene about a man who has changed since his time in jail in which his wife (which he didn’t really care for that much - he covets after another woman he wish he had married) has kept in touch with him by sending letters. In the scene he has just been released from jail and meets his wife in the park. There’s lots of awkward moments, silences and pure emotion (tears of love and joy) as he tries to connect with his wife hoping she loves him and will take him back after his two years in jail.
I actually have been assigned two different partners for this scene so I will be getting twice the coaching than usual. That will definitely help.
One thing that bothered me as I was reading through the scene, is that my character has this line “…or cock-eyed chinaman…”. I was offended at first and was determined to leave out that line. During my table reading Mary (our other acting coach) said she had discussed this issue with Tom. Tom told her that he thought I was full Japanese and that that line shouldn’t be a problem for me.
Well he was mistaken. Even if I was full Japanese I still wouldn’t say that line. There’s no purpose for that line being there. This character doesn’t need to be a bigot for the scene to work. ALTHOUGH, since I am half Chinese, that line could act as a self-deprecating remark. But ultimately I’m not that comfortable with it so I’m leaving it out.
It’s also funny because my acting partner asked Mary “what’s the deal with putting all the Asians together?” (my other partner is filipino like me!) Mary quickly changed the subject. Actually it doesn’t bother me ’cause I don’t really feel it was a deliberate choice. At least I hope not, but it does reflect the attitude mainstream Hollywood currently has with Asian actors. An asian guy can’t have a romantic scene with anyone other than an asian female character. Although, it’s ok for an asian female character to be romantically involved with other ethnicities. It is a little suspiscious because my last partner was Asian as well. Actually, thinking about it, all my partners this year were Asian except for my first partner. Hmmmm….
I’m just gonna let it go
Why would you be offended? You are an actor who’s job it is to represent all kinds of life, the good and the bad! You might say the charachter is not the type to use this line, how do you know? It sounds like you haven’t had the chance yet to really dive into the meat of the charachters psyche! Plus, people do use words like that, and bigotry does exist, so don’t get offended, use it as a positive - look into why the charachter say’s these things so you will have an understanding and can learn from it, and then you can inform people on what you have learned by playing this charachter! Don’t you think that would be more beneficial than denying it exits and leaving it out totally! That is the problem with the world, we ignore ignorance instead of taking it head on! Do you thing Deniro or Sean Penn or Depp would be offended and not explore this charachter’s head. Life is a tough place with people in it and we as actors represent people in this tough world we call life!
Good luck, I really enjoy your blog and your dedication to your craft!
You do have a point. In good writing, just like in good acting, every word and every moment has a meaning. So it should be researched why this character said this line. But since I was cast in this role and the fact is that I AM Chinese does change it a bit. If I were to say this line the meaning of it changes from its original intention. So this is my dilemma as the actor. But definitely it should be explored.
Thank you for your comments!
And the fact that you ARE Chinese, could even make it *more* interesting, cause your character saying that, would give the character a total different light than when a non-chinese person it would have said it. Would that be such a bad thing? The meaning change? Perhaps it would only add, make the piece even ritcher than the writer could have imagined writing it.
Just my 2 cents.