#2 Gay Casting

For this weeks post, I am again drawing from personal experience, which just shows how often we are faced with stereotypes and prejudice in our everyday lives. This week I worked closely with the cast of a show at my university. I was stage manager for a cast of 18 actors and actresses. During the preparation  our show we had a conversation that involved the well-known stereotype that only gay men participate in theatre. This stereotype does have a bit of truth to it that a lot of gay men will participate in theatre because they find it easier to let go and be flamboyant on stage, but acting is more based on talent and personality. Which means that any man can be an actor in theatre if they are willing to put in the time to gain the skills that it requires.

In the theatre department at Washburn University there are equal amounts of gay and straight men. A good example is that in the cast that that I worked with, 3 out of 7 of the men that were in the show were straight. This shows only a slight majority of the men were gay, and this is only slightly more than any other department of study on campus.

I think that it is a bit odd that the stereotype is that only women and gay men can be in theatre, when in the history of theatre only men were allowed to act and they would often portray women in the productions. It seems clear that this stereotype only entered society in the 1900's when it transitioned to the belief that straight, or manly men, only played sports. I think that the reason straight men don't participate in theatre as often as gay men is due to the social stigma that surrounds it. Straight men will often feel that they will be viewed as less manly or even mistaken for being gay if they act in a show. Stereotypes will often feed off of social stigma. This stereotype may have some truth to it, but mostly because of the fear that straight men have to participate in theatre because of the social stigma. We could easily break down this stereotype by normalizing straight men in theatre and encouraging them to try theatre. Until next week, remember #LoveWins.