Suchiththa Wickremesooriya

Suchiththa is a multi-disciplinary Sri Lankan/Canadian performer and theatre-maker who has recently been drawn to multi-sensory theatre as well as physical theatre. He was most recently seen as Priest in Jesus Christ Superstar at Talk is Free Theatre and as George in 3 Men on a Bike at the Guild Festival Theatre. Other Select Credits include Ariel in The Tempest (Citadel Theatre), Fakir in The Secret Garden (Theatre Calgary) and Kamal in Bombay Black (Alberta Theatre Projects). He is currently co-writing a play about forgiveness and family with Roselyn Kelada-Sedra. He recently had his directing debut directing a Deaf Theatre adaptation of The Little Prince at Theatre Passe Muraille.

There have been really great strides made in BIPOC communities in the arts in the last 10 years that have ensured greater representation in the arts. However, for some reason, Asians still feel like a minority in almost every production that isn’t explicitly about them. Even when present, they often fulfill “Asian” roles, and aren’t cast very broadly in ways that would be described Colour-Conscious or Equitable. I think we need to be challenging the makers of arts in how they see Asians represented, particularly in Musical Theatre. One way to do that is to really build up a wider roster of incredible talent that is impossible to ignore.

I think there’s also a really wide skills and experience gap in specialized fields like clown, puppetry, circus skills, etc. I feel that mentorship in these areas as well as mentorship in what it means to build allying relationships in theatre are really critical. Many Asian performers I know are seeking to advance their careers by buying into the current power dynamic rather than seeking to subvert it. I feel this needs to change, we need to make art in a way that builds all of us up, not art that centres ourselves as the most important.