Statement on Non-Traditional Casting

In reading Titanic by Christopher Durang, it is not apparent to me that he had the issues of race, gender, disability, ethnicity, nor age to be any sort of issue in pertaining to the plot of the story.

In regards to physical disability, due to the fact that this is a farce it can be physically demanding in respect to the comedic and perhaps acrobatic movements in order to play some of the scenes. Depending on the scene, running, jumping, climbing on top of things, and other movements can and may be required.

In the issue of gender, perhaps nothing may specifically state anything other than the fact that the characters are given their sexes, and due to the humor of the play in regards to sex, both heterosexual and homosexual, changing the genders of the characters would take away from the lines, jokes, and humor and would not be suggested to change any of them or cast an actor in a role of the opposite sex. The men would be played masculine, but with the homosexual humor and undertones, specifically with Richard, he can and perhaps should be played with homosexual tendencies.

With regards to race and ethnicity, nothing in the script specifically states that any of the characters have to be of any specific race or ethnicity. One issue that may be brought up may be the race and ethnicity historically with regards to the captain of the RMS Titanic, and also its upper class passengers. It may be decided to stay true to that, but if not, it should not take away from the plot of the story. There is also the issue of the family unit and perhaps making them all alike. It can be suggested though, that perhaps since the question of parentage of the character Teddy is an issue, it could add another level to the humor if the race/ethnicity of Teddy was different to that of Richard. Even if the family unit were of a different race/ethnicity, it would not take away but could possibly add to the idea of how the relations of each of the characters continues to change and go back and forth.

With respect to age, that is also not a huge concern. The Captain, for historical purposes can be older, or at least be made to appear older as the real historical captain of the RMS Titanic. Both Victoria and Richard, being parents and older and Teddy and Lidia are the children, they should be older or at lease appear older through dress and/or make-up and vise versa. Teddy’s age is the only one that comes to question, in that he is 20 years old and his parents continually refer him to being between 12-14 years old. This can be taken care of by having a young adult actor and placing him in the proper costume to be in the dress of a much younger child.

In regards to color-blind casting and educational settings, I believe traditional and non-traditional casting is okay and would not take away from the actual plot of the story.