Stakeholder #2

In this blog post, I will discuss the second stakeholder that is a part of this controversy: The Asian American Performers Action Coalition (AAPAC).

SEDACMaps, "Asia: 100 km and 200 km Coastal Zones." 2/28/2011. via flickr. Attribution 2.0 Generic. 

The second stakeholder for Project 1 is The Asian American Performers Action Coalition, or AAPAC. The voices crying out in anger and frustration after the casting of The Nightingale come from members of this collective group of individuals. The group's purpose is to ensure that Asian American performers have the chance to work and receive representation in theatre, specifically based within New York City. Their collective group is a small number, and is not by definition a professional organization, however they are a powerful vocal group within the theatre world as they help offer many different Asian Americans the chance to get ahead of the racism that they continually strive against.
After taking a look at their website, their lack of development as an organization can be clearly seen. However, the information they give out right from the home page tears away at the lighthearted tone that their separate stakeholder, La Jolla Playhouse, had worked so hard to create on their website. The Asian American Performers Action Coalition scream at the top of their lungs for the world to hear at the injustice that Asian Americans face while working professionally in theatre, and specifically travel across the country to University of California, San Diego to ensure that in the United States, Asian Americans are represented to the best of their ability.

• AAPAC states that La Jolla Playhouse specifically ignored the casting of Asians in the play of the Nightingale. This quote can be seen here, where Christine Toy Johnson states "To see this production which clearly to me, kudos to your design team, looks like it was set in China with so few Asian faces reminds me how invisible we still are."
• AAPAC makes the claim that La Jolla Playhouse is only using multiculturalism as a ruse, as the cast did not truly represent this ideal. Cindy Cheung states this in the link seen here, with the quote being: "When I see a world there is 5 white men, I am still a little on the fence about whether that is truly multi-ethnic."
• AAPAC also states that African Americans have received more visibility and better representation in American theatre than Asian Americans do. This statement can be seen here, with "If this play had taken place in mythical Africa, I don't think you would have cast a white person."

These claims are important due to their extreme significance in terms of emotional impact, as opposed to the reliance of pure intentions that La Jolla Playhouse relied on consistently throughout the claims that they made. These are people who consistently fight for the right to be equally and respectfully represented in the theatrical arts, and they are very much relying on the emotional appeal of being wronged by the actions of La Jolla Playhouse. While most of their claims are emotionally charged as opposed to factually charged, that does not make these claims invalid. They successfully explain why they are feeling the way they do after the casting decisions made by La Jolla Playhouse for The Nightingale. They are consistently working as much as they can professionally in theatre and fighting for the rights of Asian Americans, and their feelings are valuable with their opinions credible as they have experienced this livelihood of Asian Americans in theatre and feel that they deserve more than what they have. 

They have more similarities with those in the community blogging about the controversy rather than those at La Jolla Playhouse. While La Jolla Playhouse does understand the feelings that come from AAPAC, they do not have the same feelings in the same degrees as opposed to the bloggers. Those in the surrounding community that give their opinions on this issue are much more similar as it is a much more emotional response rather than the focus on intentions that La Jolla Playhouse emphasizes throughout their claims. Both those in the community and those that are a part of AAPAC understand the hurt that can be felt from this controversy, and are reacting however in different ways than one another.