Code-Switching in Character Work
The craft question of when to perform linguistic, cultural, or class codes that aren't your own, when it's character work, when it's caricature.
Known for
- Core question: who can play what. Black performers code-switching between AAVE and standard English on stage is craft; white performers adopting AAVE is usually caricature.
- Coaching guidance post-2017: characters whose identity you don't share are high-risk; play them with specificity and dignity or not at all.
- The test: would the real people in that community recognize this as a person, or as a joke about them?