• Nearly 7 million of Americans described themselves as Multiracial in the 2000 U.S. Census.
• Census officials claim that the official number of interracial couples more than quadrupled between 1970 and 1995.
• Today, 1 in every 19 children born is of mixed race. In states like California and Washington, it’s closer to 1 in 10 children.
• The number of Asian men with European American women is about 1/8th of the number of Asian women with white men.
• The Berkeley (California) Unified School District has dropped the instruction "Choose One" on the "Student's Ethnicity" box on its enrollment forms for 1999, becoming one of the first agencies of government to come into compliance.
• Originally studies of mixed race people were a big topic for physicians and other biological fields due to the belief that different races were made of different biological make-up. Doctors once thought mixed kids would be born “degenerate” or “pathological”, and encouraged racial purity.
• The first Census in 1790 had a box for “number of slaves”.
• When the term “miscegenation” was introduced in 1863, race mixing between black and white people was widely taboo, and, in much of the U.S., was illegal. The British colony of Maryland was the first to pass an anti-miscegenation law (1664).
• At the time that anti-miscegenation laws were ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in Loving vs. Virginia, 16 states still had laws prohibiting interethnic marriage.
• There were 1,161,000 interracial marriages in 1992, according to the U.S. Bureau of the Census.
• According to NPR, NBC claimed that "including minorities on the air is an issue that has been a top priority for some time." (2000) To date, there has never been a tv show about multi-racial individuals on any network.
Books
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“Checking ‘Other’ is like walking into a room full of strangers and introducing myself as Barney. Although the U.S. Census has gathered data on race since 1790, the 2000 Census was the first to allow people to check more than one box… that’s over 200 years! So, if the Census is to become the grandfather test of how many “multi-racials” there are in America, this little test is the alcoholic Uncle that no one in the family talks about. At least there wasn’t a box for ‘Slave’…”
Evolving from over 200 interviews to discover how people respond to this simple question, MIXED is a raw theatre piece currently getting rave reviews across the nation.
Black. White. Asian. Latino. Multi-racial. "Other".
People understand this show.
(It's definitely not your average can of mixed nuts.)
About me:
Maya Lilly:
Creator, Writer and Performer of MIXED.
Although born and raised in New York City on a typical diet of Broadway musicals and classics, Maya Lilly is more than just an actress. Maya has vision.
Maya began her formal arts training at the tender age of 9, when her family relocated to Cincinnati, OH. She began training at The School for Creative and Performing Arts, one of the premiere arts schools in the nation at that time. The school insisted that even those in the 4th grade become acclimatized to the audition process and being onstage. Maya was constantly in production, as well as taking her daily arts classes of drama, dance, and vocal music. By the 9th grade, Maya had performed in over 30 school productions, alongside such celebrities as Drew and Nick Lachey, Carmen Electra, Rebecca Budig, and Todd Louiso. She also performed in several professional Equity productions at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, which recently won a Tony for best Regional Theatre, as well as commercials, print work, and films. Prior to high school, her family relocated to Miami, where she continued her rigorous training at New World School of the Arts.
Maya was one of only seven women accepted into an Acting Class of 20 at the prestigious Juilliard School in New York City. So, it was back to her hometown to begin a rigorous classical training program that never let her see the light of day.
Juilliard prestige is well-known and the alumni, numerous. Some fabulous theatre alum include Kevin Kline, Robin Williams, Laura Linney, Val Kilmer, William Hurt, Kelly McGillis, Kevin Spacey, Lee Pace (Pushing Daisies), Anthony Mackie (Million Dollar Baby), Tracy Thoms (Devil Wears Prada), and Sara Ramirez (Grey's Anatomy).
Maya moved to Los Angeles after receiving her BA in 2003. Around this time, she was given an Udall Congressional award for her work using the arts as environmental activism, an extremely selective honor. She has worked consistently since her move, either in her theatre roots (“Macbeth” with Will & Company and “Ramayana 2K4”) or in tv/film (prominent role in upcoming film, “Karma, Confessions and Holi” with Naomi Campbell and Drena DeNiro). She was also a recent producer for the Elevate Film Festival, which challenges the international film community to create films with new meaning. It premiered at the Kodak theatre this year, where the Academy Awards are held, to an audience of thousands.
Maya has been touring with her one-woman show, MIXED, for the past two years. As a multi-racial performer, Maya has the blessing and the curse to be able to be cast as any race, but still longs for the day when no one asks, “What are you?”
Check out the new FACEBOOK Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/MIXED/28902577614?ref=ts
Hey Mya. I'm sorry it took soooooo long to respond to your comment. I haven't checked my page in forever. Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed the show. How is everything with you?
hi there my bizzy buzzy oh so loveley making honey oh so yummy in my buzzy roaring oh so sticky sticky bizzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzummmmmmm mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm bee. kisses my love!
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