Type casting

The process of being given/restricted from a role due to someone’s ethnic or racial background. Thankfully this has been a relatively minimal issue for me, but it has been a persistent one in the community non the less. This idea pertains exclusively to shows where the race of a character is ethnically ambiguous or if the role is only given to said actor due to their race. The entire process not only limits the accessibility of roles but also can damage their self-image as an actor. I would know this from personal experience, as in a high school production of ‘Little Shop of Horrors” I was the titular role of “Chang” or the “Old Chinese Man.” Now, I was ok with this casting decision, but what I was really hurt by was the fact that I felt that I only got the role due to my race. This sent me into a spiral, and for the better part of a week, I did nothing but linger on the fact that I didn’t deserve the role. The worst part was the director didn’t even check to see if I was Chinese first! While I did eventually get over it, it was an impactful experience that changed the way I see the theater world.