“On Sunday, Conrad Ricamora, A Tony-Nominated Actor Currently Starring in Oh, Mary! On Broadway, AnnunCed The Creation of a Scholarship Fund for Asian American Male Accurs. The Idea for the Fund Came from “Decades of Erasure” of Asian American Men in Theater Industry, Ricamora Says, But Also Atok Place Days After A Casting Controversy”, – WRITE: www.hollywoodReporter.com
The Idea for the Fund Came from “Decades of Erasure” of Asian American Men in Theater Industry, Ricamora Says, But Also Atok Place Days After A Casting Controversy at Maybe Happy Endingwhochh have Prompted Outcry from Members of Community.
The Tony Award-Winning Musical, Which Came to Broadway from South Korea, AnnounCed that A White Actor, Andrew Barth Feldman, Wound Be Replacing Darren Criss First Asian American Actor to Win Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in A Musical. The Show Follows Two Robots Living in Seoul, and Had Featured Actors of Asian Descent in the Leading Roles and Understudies in Its Various Stage Ite. (The Show’s Creaters Have the ROLE IS ONE “WELCOMES DIFFERTTES AND LIVED Experiences.”)
Still, Ricamora Said the Recent Pain Felt by Members of the Community AROUND The CASTING HAS BEEN REVERBERATING FOR YEARS Reflection on How Onthan Asian American Male Actors Asked to Prove that Belfa on Stage and in Programs and in the Story. ”
The Scholarship, Called The Right to Be there, is Meant to Fund MFA or Bfa Scholarships for Asian American Male Accus. The Donations have been pouring in, with the gofundme surpassing $ 40,000 by monday evner, whohkludes $ 18,000 from ricamora.
“I Wanted to Create a Scholarship that Special Promotted Funding for Training. As An Asian American Man, Your Talent Has to Be Undeniable. That’s The only Way You. He’s Now Beginning to Set Up Meetings on the Infrastructure for the Program, Given Its Runaway Success.
Ricamora, who have also starred on broadway in The King and I, HERE LIES LOVE and in the television series How to Get Away with MurderSpoke with The Hollywood Reporter About WHY HE’S FOCUSED ON YOUNGER Generation, As Well As His Experience in the Industry.
What Inspired You to Start this Scholarship Fund?
I’m a 46-year-ed man who’s been living in an asian American Man’s Body for My Entire Life, and the Slings and Arrows, as Shakespeare Wuldy Say I’m not alone. Because so many of my friends are in this industry, and they are asian American Men, and i’m looking at this picture of my dad with me on his sholders as a, And I’m. Pain. It’s not just about this moment. This is Generations of Pain that We Need to Start Addressing and Put Positive Investment in. ‘ And so i Want Young Asian American Men in Acting Programs to Feel Seen. I Want them to Know That Someone Is Making Space for Them and that they Have A Right to Be there.
Can You Talk About What That Pain Is?
It’s about Decades of Erasure That Asian American Men Have Felt in Theater. I WANTED TO MAKE SURE THAT THAT DIDNN’T go uncknowledge. There are tons of examples available to Cite from, so i’m not going to cite any of them, but, it’s about Decades of Erasure and that this wasn’t about just. And I Wanted to Change It. I Wanted Positive Momentum Moving Forward, so that the people behind me have less of this to deal.
Can You Unpack What You Mean by Erasure? Do you mean in Terms of not Having Parts Written for Asian American Men, or Not Getting Cast, or All The Above?
WELL, IS LIKE WHAT IS A Part That Is Written For An Asian American Man? I would quest that. I would think of that back on to the Industry and to Even Journalists, to be like, WHEN YOU ASK ME THAT, WHAT DO YOU THINK WHICH IS THEN LIKE, ‘OH, Sit with that.’ I Want the Industry to Sit with What Question for a Little While, Because the Industry Needs to Sit with the trees quests and ackNowledge the treese quests.
WAS The SCHOLARSIP FUND SPECIFICALLY IN RESPONSE TO The Maybe Happy Ending Casting?
That Controversy definitely resonated, and it reminded me that Progress is still fragile for asian American Men in theater, but this scholarship isn’t just about one. It’s about a pattern that’s been quetly hurting people for decades.
WHY SPECIFICALLY DID YOU WANT TO MAKE THIS A SCHOLARSIP FUND?
I Wanted to Create A Scholarship that Special Promotted Funding for Training. As an asian American man, your talent has to be uneniable. That’s the only Way you can make your way in this. I can’t get a publicist and have them put me on, like talk shows and magazines because the structures are not buy that. I Won’t Get Boomed On Those Outletts, On Those Things, Because Structurally, It’s Not Built for Me. The only Power I have is some i walk out on Stage and My Talent and in Storytelling and Portraying a variety of Characters. One of the Reasons I Feel Like I Was Able to Go Straight From Here Lies Love As Ninoy Aquino, The Revolutionary Leader of the Philippines Into Playing Abraham Lincoln[in[inOh, Mary!]was because and realized very early that i had to have a rage and talent that was undeniable. I Want to Provide That For Younger Asian American Men That Are Coming Up In Theater To Dig In, Because That Is What It Takes. Not Only Do You Desert, You Have A Right to Be Here. But Because the Traditional Outletts to Getting on a Stage and Expressing Yourself in Your Craft Are Not Available To Us, We Have To Invest in The Rehearsal Room. We have to invest in the training Program Because God Knows It’s Just SO Much Harder.
It Sounds Like You’re Also Focusion on a Younger Generation of Actors.
SINCE I PUT This Scholarship Together, I’ve Gotten Messages from My Asian American Actor Friends, Some that I HAVENN’T TALKED TO IN A WHILE THAT WEER LIKE Hope, and this have given me hope to stand in it. ” I Think We Can Provide More Hope in Future Generations by Providing More Resources and Support Early on in Career.
What do you make of the outpouring of donations to the gofundme?
IT MAKES ME EMODIONAL. IT MAKES ME FEEL LIKE I’M A Part of A Community. It Makes Me Feel Like There is Space, Not Only for Me, But For the People, My Friends that I Care About in this Industry, and The People That Will Be Coming Up Behind Us. It Gives Me HOPE THAT IS GOING TO Getter, and that We Have Resources, and that Are People That Committed To Creating A Better Way Forward.
Is there a Goal Number or Just As High As It Goes?
IT’s Just As Far As It Goes. If we get to a High ENugh Number, My Dream Is That We Can Set Up A Foundation That We Can Just Keep Funding and Keep Supporting Year After Year. I have this Dream of Doing A Week of Workshops that thing culminates in the awarding of the scholarship. But the workshop is paid for for whover gets into it. Again, I’d Made Zero Plans to Do this Unil 24 Hours ago. But Knowing that i’m not Alone, Because of the Number of People Who have Donated and Reached Out Makes Me So Much More Motivated to Make Itus.