Thank you IMS members!

Today's poster boy came to my attention through a diligent IMS member who thought I would appreciate some South Asian shirtlessness.  I do.  Adam Caldera is part Sri Lankan, part Dutch, and totally giving good shirtlessness.  That multiple pack of abs is ridiculous, and I feel confident saying that Mr. Caldera really should not wear a shirt most of the time, unless of course, he wants people to listen to what he is saying and then definitely a shirt should be worn. 

In the New York theater world, or at least the small part that I inhabit, the Asian American theater world, there is currently a hub bub over a production of the show "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" at the Roundabout Theatre Company which features two Caucasian actors in brownface portraying two people of Sri Lankan descent.  The story is about two English actors impersonating Sri Lankans which presumably justifies why these two actors have been dipped in brown paint to look like they are South Asian.  What I don't understand is why it's okay to resort to brownface in this day and age.  Casting notices have taken to reading "open to all ethnicities to convincingly play Indian," and I'm not sure what I am supposed to take this to mean.  When I read it, I think "looking for white people to play Indian" but I am assured that this is not what it means.  I'm really looking forward to when I am called into an audition that is "open to all ethnicities to convincingly play white."  White is not neutral, people; it's an ethnicity open to being impersonated like any other.  In fact many of us do so in our daily lives just to fit in.

One thing I will say for the mainstream theater is that while it has still not embraced multiculturalism, it has embraced shirtlessness.  Just this week another IMS member sent me a page from the Wall Street Journal with an article entitled "Beefcake on Broadway" and offering its suggestions for Best Pecs Tony.  If only they would give out a Tony for Best Shirtlessness!  Until that day, I continue to be...

Yours in shirtlessness,
Nandita
President
IMS