Rubies in the crown: A conversation on racial representation in Canadian theatre with Karen Robinson

Abstract

Karen Robinson is one of Canada’s leading black actresses. Over the past twenty years, she has figured in more than 40 theatre productions, as well as in national and international TV series and films. A race-conscious artist actively engaged in portraying diverse representations of blackness on and beyond the Canadian stage, Robinson has acted in black-authored plays that have risen to canonical status, embodying memorable black female characters such as Billie in Djanet Sears’ Harlem Duet and Esther in Lynn Nottage’s Intimate Apparel. In this interview conducted in July 2016, Robinson shares some memories of the 2006 production of Harlem Duet at the Stratford Festival (Ontario, Canada), as well as her views on acting, colourblind casting, the revolutionary power of black women’s theatre, and the social relevance of individual and collective acts of resistance in a predominantly male, white-dominated cultural arena.