On Type Casting...

by Ashley Griffin

There’s a Broadway story that was told to me a long time ago…I don’t know who the actress in the story was, or the show in question, nor can I verify the validity of the story. But either as a historical recounting, or a Broadway myth, it sums up the heart of a truth all actors have had to deal with…

Here it is:

Allegedly, once upon a time, a new Broadway play was holding open auditions (this is back in the days when these types of auditions were held on the stage of the theater where the show would go up.) There was a talented, decently established NY actress who knew there was a role in the show she was PERFECT for. If her “essence” were summed up in a character, it would be this one. Excitedly, she waited in line for two hours before she finally was called to the stage – along with thirty other women. All of them were told to line up, and then they were “typed out.” “Typing out” occurs to this day, and it involves a director or casting director looking down a line of performers and telling them they can stay and audition or “thank you very much” purely based on the way they look (and, if they’re lucky, a cursory glance at their resume.) Well, this woman was typed out and that was that.

The woman was incredibly confused. As she was leaving, she saw the stage manager at the back of the theater. It turned out she knew them and so decided to take a chance and talk to them.

“Do you have any idea why I was typed out?” She asked. “No ego involved, I’m perfect for this role, and I’m just not sure what’s going on.”

“Oh,” the stage manager replied, sadly, “They want a blonde woman. So they’re only keeping blondes.”

The woman looked around, incredulously. Sure enough, only blonde women were being asked to stay. “But, I’m sure they’ll have a wig department,” she said.

“Absolutely. They’ll probably wig this role just to keep the hair consistent.”

“So why do they need an ACTUAL blonde?”

The stage manager shrugged. “No imagination,” they added.

But the woman wasn’t going to take this lying down. She went down to a fantastic wig shop a few blocks away and bought a really great blonde wig. She waited a while, then got back in line for the auditions. Another two hours later she was back onstage. This time she was typed in. She ended up getting the role – and winning a Tony.

“Type Casting” has many different connotations depending on who you’re talking to. In its most simple terms, it refers to the fact that most roles require a performer who looks a certain way to play it. In the musical theater world, if you’re around 5’8’’, blonde, cute, seem to be in your 20’s, and have an “all American” look – you are the “Elle Woods” type and will never be considered for Vivian. If you’re tiny, pretty, have big doe eyes, a button nose, look like you’re in your early 20’s, and can sing soprano, you’re an ”Ingenue.” That is the “slot” you fill and those are the only roles you will be brought in for. Sometimes this is chalked up to a lack of imagination from the creative team, sometimes it’s down to “requirements of the role.”

But “typing” often goes beyond physical appearance. Remember how audiences turned on “Buffy” star Sarah Michelle Gellar when she did a 180 turn from playing, plucky badass good girl Buffy Summers to play villainous, sexual Catherine in “Cruel Intentions?” “She just doesn’t work in those kinds of parts!” Was a rallying cry at the time. And that had nothing to do with her appearance. It was about the inner “quality” she was most identified with. Some thought she just wasn’t “believable” as a seductress villain.

And yet, when Charlize Theron left behind her bombshell image (both physical and “quality” wise) to play Aileen Wuornos in “Monster” – she won an Oscar for it (not just, ostensibly, for her brilliant performance, but for showing her range as an actress.)

So what are actors supposed to make of this contradiction – where they are primarily (or only) called in for roles that fit their “type” but will only be truly taken seriously as a performer if they demonstrate their range? Not to mention the fact that most performers got into the business for the range part in the first place, and often don’t even identify with the “type” they’ve been stuck with? And what happens when you don’t easily fall into a “type” at all?

Let me get right to it. I’ve worked in this business on both sides of the table and I have two things I want to say:

The first is, except in very special circumstances, I think we need to, for the most part, let typing go. In its worst instances it can be cause for discrimination and racism (it’s the root of horrible sayings that have been flying around for years including “Glinda in ‘Wicked’ has to be white! She’s blonde!” (um…look at Brittney Johnson, the fantastic performer who was the first black actress to play the role on Broadway,) or “At bare minimum Ado Annie can’t be disabled! She’s supposed to be sexy!” (Um…Ali Stroker, a performer who is a wheelchair-user, won a Tony for playing the role…)) When we really get down to the root of what is actually REQUIRED for any given role, you find the constraints are far more minimal than they’re usually assumed to be.

And even at its best, typing can limit the emotional range of what an actor is able to do, and what a role is portrayed as. After generation upon generation of “typing” we’re now at a place where, more often than not “innocent” in a character description is subtextually replaced with “stupid,” and on, and on and on. One of my absolute favorite musical theater performers is the great Sara Jean Ford (https://www.sarajeanford.com) who, though her sweet, beautiful looks and stunning soprano voice make her a shoe in for the “Ingenue” is one of my favorites precisely because she brings far more to the table than the stereotype of an ingenue might warrant. I will go on record and say she is my favorite Christine in “Phantom” of all time precisely because she plays innocent, not stupid, and knows that innocent and intelligent are not mutually exclusive qualities (I’m not saying other Christines don’t achieve this, but Sara has just blown me out of the water with what she can do as an actress even when having to give the powers that be a version of the “type” they want.)

But, let’s be clear, not all production teams welcome any deviation from the “type” or freedom for the performer at all.

Performers become like manufactured products – “Wow! He was really great as the jerky boyfriend! Let’s cast him as all the jerky boyfriends!” While this may make casting easier – in the way that automation made factory management easier, it doesn’t necessarily do anything great for the show being created. And that’s without taking into consideration the practical fact that for many long-running shows you literally need someone who fits into the same costume as the performer who previously played the role. So when they need a “type” that comes with specific measurements, they’re being very serious.”

Secondly - I was incredibly fortunate to study with the late Sam Christensen (his studio still exists, and I highly suggest you check it out: https://samchristensen.com.) Long story short, Sam specialized (and now his associates do) in helping you articulate both what makes you unique as an artist, and what makes you universal. And neither of those things have anything to do with what you look like. He once said to me (much better articulated: ) “Sure, physical type is a “thing” in that you (meaning me, Ashley,) are probably not going to be cast as an old Asian man, but other than that I think it’s a little ridiculous.” (I’m a cis Caucasian woman, so yeah, old Asian man would be wildly inappropriate.) But Sam advocated for the fact that we all have an “essence” – a kind of story (or type of story,) within us that we tell just by existing. And I mean that in a mythic kind of way.

When someone is performing in their “essence” it’s a home run – and usually you can bring your essence to most things you play. He explains and teaches it far better than me, but I think all artists know in their soul the kinds of adjectives they gravitate towards being described as. Not in a vain way, but in a way where they feel truly seen – some may adore hearing that they’re “sexy” where for others “delicate” might be the highest compliment. And we all have types of stories we gravitate towards telling (“preparedness,” or lack thereof…”being taken seriously”…on and on…) And these special, unique, yet universal things about us are not limiting – they free us to be ourselves within any role we might be given…I think about that wonderful line from “Sunday in the Park With George”:

“Anything you do let it come from you – then it will be new.”

Casting roles shouldn’t be an assembly line – it should be a celebration of how a role becomes special and uniquely moving as told by any individual actor. And I think it’s a way for actors to liberate themselves and take some control in a system that often tries to fit us into a cookie cutter mold.

And for anyone on the other side of the table – do everything you can to look at the whole person, not just the easy trappings of the basic information in front of you. Take a chance! If Sara Ford were to walk into a room, hand you her resume and do nothing else, you would see a pretty woman with a ton of ingenue roles on her resume – and it would be very easy for you to slot her into that type of character. But you would miss so much of what makes her an extraordinary artist and human being. She is absolutely hilarious, insanely intelligent, and a very grounded and serious actor. That doesn’t mean you can’t cast her as an ingénue, but it means you will be even more enriched, as will your show, if, whatever you cast her as, you’re able to take advantage of her full skill set.

Some of the best “straight” dramatic actors I know only have musical theater on their resume and are incredibly frustrated that no one will call them in for a Shakespeare play, simply because that’s not what their resume is loaded with. If you want to experience something truly remarkable (as I’ve had the pleasure of doing,) ask a performer you admire what a type of role is they’ve always wanted to play but have never been cast as – and then cast them as that. It’ll blow you out of the water.

One good thing about this age of social media is the fact that we can, to some degree, be in control of what we want to put out there about ourselves. We can post videos of us doing monologues, songs, or dances that we feel really show off our “essence” and give creative teams a taste of what they might not have seen in the room. Likewise it’s liberating, if you do have a strong type you often perform as, to start utilizing the things that make you unique, and not feel you have to do “what you think they want,” (though that’s another whole discussion for another day.)

I highly recommend Sam Christensen Studios (https://samchristensen.com) – they helped me enormously as a performer and were a life raft as I was trying to find my place in this industry (they are primarily based in Los Angeles but travel to NYC, Atlanta and other cities.) John Dapolito (https://johndapolito.com) teaches a similar class in NYC.