Dear Pantheon Board Members, 

We are writing to you to express our disappointment upon seeing your most recent casting announcement of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ‘Evita’. 

Evita is a musical that, despite being highly lauded as a piece of musical excellence by many, holds a flawed point of view at its very core. It is a musical written by two white British men with no real understanding of life in Argentina, nor its history. Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice wrote Evita because as a child Tim Rice was drawn to the image of her on a postage stamp. One of their main source materials was "The Woman with the Whip", which was written by someone born in Argentina, but who had neither met Evita nor had any basis for her “sources”.

Therefore, it is easy to understand how the musical ignores much of Argentina’s genocide, colonialism and racism-steeped history.

Evita the musical is framed as a rags-to-riches story of a woman whose innocence and beauty aids her in ascending the social ladder before being corrupted by wealth and power. Webber and Rice chose to ignore the charitable efforts of the real Eva Peron, who spent much of her life helping the elderly, impoverished and in need, as well as being committed to women’s suffrage. Instead what we have before us is an underwritten version of what could have been a prominent Latina musical theatre protagonist.

The writing aside, Evita has long been presented by entire casts of white performers. Considering that this is 2022 and the pandemic has been a time when support of Black Lives Matter have been ever more present, it's tone deaf and ignorant to opt for this show. We finally witnessed a long overdue global acknowledgment that the world is not doing enough to support Black people and People of Colour. We are certain that many members of your club are proud supporters of true equality for all races, and that this includes efforts to challenge and change the systemic racism Black people and People of Colour experience. 

It is beyond disappointing that one of the leading and well reputed amateur dramatic societies in our city, which is proudly home of many anti-racism efforts (including marches in support of BLM, welcoming refugees and asylum seekers, and much more) has chosen Evita for its next production. Particularly when our theatre community prides itself on welcoming anyone and everyone, regardless of who they are, into companies to perform and theatres to watch.

Theatre is a form of storytelling through communities but now that the voices of Black people and People of Colour are finally being amplified, the damage of systemic racism is only just starting to be understood. Whilst the Global Majority experience racism in all forms (overtly and covertly), it is no longer acceptable for white people to mimic and replicate non-Western cultures on stage whilst the people from those very cultures are mocked and discriminated against for living in those cultures every day. The fact that the perspectives of the Global Majority are still being ignored and challenged further marginalises them and therefore corrupts their stories more.

Whitewashing, to put it plainly, is systemic racial exclusion. That is what you have done here.

Whitewashing wrongfully steals the voice of marginalised people and continues the pattern of oppression and erasure, ensuring that white people are front and centre of a conversation they have no right to.

Much like cultural appropriation, there are those who attempt to defend whitewashing without any regard whatsoever to the people being directly impacted by it. You would think that, when presented with the fact that they have participated in something harmful, they would apologise, reevaluate their actions and correct themselves. This would be done if you accidentally hurt someone physically – we ask: why should it be any different when it comes to emotional pain?

We wish this letter was the first time you, Pantheon, have been made aware of how harmful the selection of Evita would be, but alas, the words of those concerned and directly affected by this have been ignored. Despite warnings, discussions, offers of an open, honest conversation and gentle guiding hands you have actively chosen to go down this route. You have actively chosen a route of whitewashing, erasure and racism. 

It may well be very easy for you to say that Evita is not about race so therefore it should not matter. It does. It is set in a non-Western country – you cannot change that setting, and interpreting it any differently is only further damaging our ties with Black people and People of Colour, and further excluding them from the audition room, rehearsal room, stage and auditorium. We also acknowledge that people have said the Latinx community has people with white skin, and that it is therefore okay for white people to take part in this show – this is colourism and this argument negates the complex nature of race as a construct, and neglects to recognise the inherent power structures that oppresses white-passing Global Majority members compared to white Caucasian people. We also hear those who then question the place of Black people and People of Colour being cast in traditionally white roles – this perspective is dangerous as it neglects to acknowledge the barriers the Global Majority community experience when it comes to theatre representation. Such casting decisions are actually a positive step forward in creating equality; and as long as systemic racism exists, then the comparison between white people playing Global Majority roles versus Black people and People of Colour actors playing white roles will never compare because of the inherent power imbalance between the two groups.

This is not “just a show”. This is not a case of actors doing their job or hobby in playing someone different. There are Black people and People of Colour who are hurt and are asking you to take accountability and help change the system.

It is up to the theatre community, at all levels from am dram to Broadway, to stop producing stories that do not belong to them. It is the responsibility of rights holders, production teams, committees and boards to take the lead in changing the systems that harm vulnerable members of our community. This accountability applies to all levels. You wouldn’t don blackface to put on The Colour Purple and this is just as inappropriate. Applying fake tan for shows such as West Side Story or, in this case, Evita has never been acceptable but it is even less-so now, when we have the Global Majority rightfully screaming at us to simply see them, acknowledge them, embrace them, celebrate them, love them and lift them up. You do not get to appropriate their stories. You do not get to dress up to look like someone who is overtly and covertly attacked for how they naturally look. You do not get to mimic accents that others are discriminated against for having. You do not get to choose whether a story from a particular country gets to be set in another context, just to avoid taking accountability and responsibility for a mistake you have made.

It is your job to cast appropriately, to reach out to people of the Global Majority who belong to this story and these roles. It has been noted that nowhere in your casting call do you say you want to find Black people and People of Colour for this production (either for the production team or for casting purposes). If you are unwilling to accurately represent Global Majority perspectives and share their stories then only produce shows where there is no question of harm involved. It is your duty to choose a show you know you can cast correctly. 

Participation in the theatre by all minorities has always been disproportionate to the population as a whole. This is an issue all its own. The theatre community had a duty to identify and challenge these existing barriers, and take the steps needed to better the situation and employ the inclusivity it prides itself to have.

We repeat: if you don’t make the effort to find the right ethnicities to fill the roles for the show in question, don’t do the show. This is not a simple concept. Reach out. Try harder when casting these shows.

The time has come for us all to make the effort to learn about the nature of systemic discrimination. It is not a question of being racist or not: for true equality to happen, we all must immediately recognise that every single one of us is racist – including the people who are challenging you on this decision. We are still learning every day on these issues as well. This is because racism is systemic. We are products of the system we live in. No longer is it acceptable to say “I’m not racist”; we now must transition to a society that actively dedicates to the movement of anti-racism. Where we deconstruct our own biases and support each other in learning how to make the world a safer place, physically and emotionally, for all. We are all actively taking steps to learn and discuss and reflect, and each of us in support of this letter have taken some time to listen to Global Majority perspectives and realise that your production of Evita is damaging. For anyone who is still questioning the validity of these perspectives, we suggest reading more about whitewashing, systemic racism, racial and cultural measure, and cultural appropriation.

We ask for you to help us in making theatre more inclusive and safer for everyone. We ask for you to join us in learning together how to make our city and country more welcoming for everyone. We ask for your next steps to be proactive and compassionate in addressing and resolving these issues.

Given what we've stated in this letter, and what the musical theatre community at large now expects from productions in relation to appropriate casting, we'd like to suggest that at the very least, a re-cast is required which makes substantial effort to reach out to Black and Indigenous People of Colour in Scotland, and even better if it could include performers from South America. To do otherwise would put the longstanding reputation of Pantheon in jeopardy. It is the duty of white people to try to re-balance the inequality in all areas of life, and theatre is no different. If the show after concrete attempts to re-cast is still not appropriate for your cast, then your only option is a change of production. The only appropriate casting of this show would be one which did not include white people, since none of them have any lived experience of systemic racism.

Can we also gently suggest that outside of casting shows, you are making attempts to learn about systemic racism as a club, and contributing as much as you are able by reaching out to the communities which are under-represented in your membership and on your board, and in your production teams, and perhaps also by publishing an anti-racism policy for the club which commits you to action in this area. Doing so will show these under-represented communities that the club is making attempts to be a safe space for them, no doubt a big barrier to their involvement currently.

“BEING RACIALLY RESPONSIBLE IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN “ART” OR “TALENT.” Melody Nicolette (OnStageBlog)

Thank you.