Comments on: The Making of Americans

By: Justin Schell

Justin Schell — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 15:54:46 +0000

I just realized that I wrote “South Indian” rather than “South Asian,” which is what I meant. My apologies and I’ve corrected it. Here is the link to that website:

http://www.alladeen.com/HTML/ba_lo_ny/coll_team/selvaratnam.html

I think the difference with “The Making of Americans” as to shows being “heatedly discussed” is that this particular show is more discussed for what it *didn’t* do than for what it did. That’s far less constructive (and, in the end, interesting) than a show that really tries to grapple with the thorny issue of American identity.

By: Tanya Selvaratnam

Tanya Selvaratnam — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 13:37:36 +0000

Hi, Justin. I should probably put in the effort to correct whoever wrote that incorrect online bio you sourced. Calling a Sri Lankan an Indian is like calling a Spanish person Mexican or vice versa or a Korean person Japanese or vice versa. So let me know where you found it. This aside, I appreciate your opinion. What you couldn’t know is that we put out a call for a chorus of people of diverse origin, but ended up with two people of color out of a chorus of fifteen. (I don’t know where Scotty heard about an African American teenager… there was a six year old Ethiopian girl.) Almost every show I’ve done has been heatedly discussed (four of which have made stops at the Walker), and I’m glad that The Making of Americans continues that line.

By: Scotty Reynolds

Scotty Reynolds — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 01:54:42 +0000

This should get good…

I’ve been wanting to see posts about this show, since I’ve heard a range of heated opinions about the piece, including responses to the staging and the otherwise white ensemble with one african american teenage woman.

And since this was a commission, anyone have any idea about the ballpark price tag on this opera?

I was not able to attend.

By: Justin Schell

Justin Schell — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 17:02:55 +0000

Thanks for the comment, Tanya. I wasn’t trying to say you were “South Indian” in any kind of simplistic way, which is why I used the more ambiguous “descent,” which can mean a whole lot of things in the process of migration and mixture that, appropriately, trouble any easy identification of “American.” (I got that info from an online bio for you and perhaps I could’ve been more clear.) Yes, Minnesota can be homogeneous on the surface, but there are huge numbers of Somali, Hmong, Vietnamese, and other more recent immigrant groups living in Minnesota. Of course, these are not the folks who normally come to events at the Walker. I’m wondering, if there was so much discussion of this among the director and cast, why this wouldn’t be reflected more in the final presentation. I don’t want to take anything away from the performers, it just felt like a missed opportunity to really address some crucial issues that are important not only for today, but have been throughout American history.

By: Tanya Selvaratnam

Tanya Selvaratnam — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 16:01:32 +0000

Thank you for saying very nice things about my performance. I do appreciate it. However, I am not South Indian. My last name is decidedly Sri Lankan, and culturally I am very different from South Indians. Yes, aside from me, the cast is primarily of European descent, though each performer is supremely talented and a joy to work with. But maybe you need to look at the audience and its ethnic make-up. I am sitting in a downtown Minneapolis breakfast joint, where everyone is white except for one dishwasher. Gertrude Stein’s novel, for me, looks at the progress of a single family to express something about the whole of a nation. The finer points and shortcomings of this–we all discussed. In fact, the director and various cast members suggested we call it The Making of Scandinavian Americans.