Nine
I had a lot of difficulty putting into words my experience with Circle. I have many fond memories of my time there and I learned a lot, but there were a lot of things that happened that should not have been ignored in the way that they were. In solidarity with my black classmates and everyone else who was affected by Circle’s actions or lack of action, I think it’s important to share my experience as a WOC and foreign student at Circle in the Square.
It was clear from the beginning that they favoured white or white-passing students. I’d see classmates, especially my white male classmates, being let off the hook for behaviour that many of my other classmates were reprimanded and punished for. That is something that I’ve come to expect, but academic institutions do have a responsibility to do their best to uplift every student equally. Of course, to do so perfectly would be difficult but I felt like they didn’t even try. I am very proud of what I achieved as a student and as an actor at the school, but I felt that I needed to work twice as hard for any teacher to take me seriously.
Resources for BIPOC students are practically non-existent in Circle. The faculty members during my time there were all white, except for one Asian teaching assistant. You could argue that the school is small, but there are many qualified BIPOC theatre practitioners in NYC; please consider hiring them. Not only that, the administration would constantly talk about how Circle was a professional environment, but when several students complained about the tardiness, unprofessional behaviour, and racist actions of a certain faculty member, they did nothing and that person is still working there. There were very few black playwrights in the school’s library and virtually no Asian works. The school made little effort to diversify the curriculum and shifted the responsibility to the BIPOC students.
Almost all of the roles I played at Circle were written for white, Western women. Not only that, I was mostly typecast in children’s roles. The only time I played a character of Asian descent was as Marcy Park from Spelling Bee, the stereotypical Asian overachiever. The instructor who assigned me said I was “perfect for the role”. I asked her if I was only given this role because I’m an Asian person. She just laughed, because we both knew that that was the reason. I later found out that Six Languages was assigned to another Asian alumna, and it seems that this is their default option for Asian female students that they’re unsure how to cast. While Marcy Park is a fun role and I played her to the best of my ability, if they’re going to keep accepting Asian students, they can’t keep using “Marcy Park” as their “go-to” and expect us not to notice.
The reason I chose to go to school in the US was for professional and artistic development, but because of the lack of BIPOC resources and faculty in the school, me and many other students felt like we were on our own after graduation in terms of professional opportunities. Most of the professional advice I was given was along the lines of “you should audition for Miss Saigon”. Never mind that I wasn’t a musical theatre actor, that Miss Saigon is a white man’s vision of Vietnam with many of the characters being racist stereotypes of Asians, and that the original production notoriously featured an actor in yellow face. For a school that is in the heart of the theatre district of one of the most multicultural cities in the world, to not have any other advice other than that isn’t reassuring.
If you’re going to continue accepting and taking money from BIPOC and international students, at least give them what they’re paying for. Hire more BIPOC instructors and diversify your curriculum. Give your staff anti-discrimination training and hold them accountable for their actions if students bring up valid complaints. Form connections with BIPOC theatre companies and artists and have them come in for seminars and give us advice. Especially in the midst of a global pandemic, please also give your international students more assistance on procuring health insurance than pointing to a flyer in the office. I’m very fortunate to have family members who work in the medical industry in the US to help me, but many of my classmates were left to figure it out on their own. In such a physically demanding programme where injury is highly probable, you have a responsibility to your students to help them navigate this unfamiliar system, so they aren’t saddled with massive medical debt. This is hardly an exhaustive list of demands, but if you’re going to ask others like me to pay thousands of dollars, uproot our lives, and work ourselves to the bone for our education, please consider putting these ideas into action.
— Anonymous