When Diana Huey,????? ?????? ??? ????? a Japanese-born actress, accepted a role as Ariel in a the touring production of "The Little Mermaid," some folks were mad.
In conversation with Buffalo News, Huey explains she came across Facebook comments from people discussing the show before a Memphis performance. Folks were actively disagreeing with her casting because she was not a white woman, despite the fact that Ariel is...a mythical mermaid.
The interview with the Buffalo paper was intended to simply promote on the show itself, but the conversation propelled into a larger discussion about race and made Huey turn to her Facebook page to discuss the importance of representation on the stage as she travels throughout America.
SEE ALSO: Someone broke down the color psychology behind your favorite Disney characters"When you are in a show, much less as a pinnacle character of it, there's a huge fear that if the audience doesn't like you or isn't with you, that you are doing them a disservice or ruining the show for them," she wrote, explaining the pressures of "baring your soul" every day for an audience. "For me personally with this show, I've often also felt the added pressure of feeling like I have to work even harder to get the audience to like me or be with me because I'm not what they might have expected to see as an Asian American actor. "
"When I auditioned for Mermaid, I was just excited to get to sing Part Of Your World with a live accompanist - I didn't think I had a real chance in booking it because I'm Asian. Looking back at that now, that thought makes me so sad," she wrote. No one should feel like they aren't enough because of the color of their skin or the shape of their eyes or any factor outside of WHO THEY ARE."
"And as I go out on the road city to city as an Asian American playing Ariel, I hope that it will inspire the next person who is out there auditioning for something to believe that THEY can be cast in a role based on their work and their talents," Huey continued. "I want to believe in a world where racism and bigotry no longer exists. I want to believe that we can truly have equality in this world - and the arts are a damn good place to start."
In the Buffalo News, Huey discussed seeing the impact her role had on kids in the audience, particularly young Asian American girls.
"The mom pulled me aside and said, 'The second I saw that you were playing Ariel, I just burst into tears for the sake of my daughter being able to see that,'" Huey told Buffalo News. "Seeing a little Asian girl in a place where there aren't a lot of Asians, it reminds me how important it is to say diversity matters and being open-minded matters and equality matters. If I have to take the brunt of it every now and again, I will."
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Huey also shared a video message to fans, thanking those who had stood up for her throughout this experience. "I am so proud to be a part of this company and I am so proud to be an Asian American artist. I didn't by any means set out to try to be the face or voice of anything - but I am humbled to be fighting for a more loving and equal place in the arts and in this community," she wrote, ended her note.
While diversity in theatre is getting increasingly better, it's still a far from equal industry. “In America, things get boiled down into a black and white issue, but I want to see stories about Asian people, I want to see stories about trans people — diversity is not just a black and white issue. … We’ve still got some work to do when you talk about real diversity," Hamilton's Leslie Odom Jr. told The Hollywood Reporterin 2016.
Simply put: more Diana Hueys, please.
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