Eric Ting is midway through his first season as the artistic director of the California Shakespeare Theater. “This place is such an inspiring cultural institution,” Ting says. “It’s at the intersection of the classical theater and what it means to be a theater today.”
Diversity is a big part of your mission. Why?
Shakespeare was writing for the broadest audience possible. For him that meant class diversity, from the groundlings to royalty. Theaters, just in general, need to reflect the communities they serve and live in; it’s a challenge that’s faced a lot of Shakespeare theaters. My vision is continuing the evolution of a classical theater in pursuit of its place in the 21st century.
You use the word “evolve” in your vision. How do we continue to deepen and develop, in a more nuanced way, the diversity on our stages?
This genuine communication between people with different points of view has eroded. We’re in a polarized moment in our country. It’s fascinating to observe and terrifying to live through. Part of our job in theater is to create a space where we can find the middle ground—not so much a compromise but to find communion, to be in a space where we listen. The gift of the actor is to create that space where an audience can be confronted with someone who is abhorrent to them, unlike them, but in the process find empathy for them.
How else does that vision relate to actors?
When we talk about institutional theaters that are pursuing a more diverse audience, the artists onstage should reflect the audience you want to have. We often look to playwrights to write culturally specific stories with specific actors. But Shakespeare...presents a great opportunity for theaters to expand what is possible. Shakespeare in the past has been used in the vanguard of colorblind casting, but there’s something to the idea that these plays have been the testing ground for envisioning a world that steps out of the traditional containers.
Do you see the language of Shakespeare as a barrier to inclusivity?
We’re brushing up against the perception that Shakespeare is inaccessible and it belongs only to a small portion of our society. That’s a huge fallacy. It doesn’t help if you don’t understand a portion of the words, but we have to remind ourselves that Shakespeare was making up words to make sense of the world, so his own audience was trying to make sense of him. It’s not so much about the language but the performance. Actors were supposed to fill these archaic words with such emotional truth that the audience couldn’t not understand them. We recognize truth onstage. If the actor’s skill is one of truth, we respond to that as an audience, even if we don’t understand what’s being said.
Looking to improve your stage presence? Check out our theater audition listings! For tips check out the video below!