A Letter From the Black Theatre Commons

AMERICAN THEATRE: In the aftershock of Nov. 8, the Black Theatre Commons would like to reach out to our collective communities. In many ways our culture is shaped by stories—the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves and who we would like to be. Our national narrative is shaped by many voices, and lately this narrative has become more toxic as the result of a divisive election cycle. The current American narrative is about American citizens that we will debase, deport, and demean based on ethnicity, sexual identity, religion, ability, or gender. It is a narrative in which the victors are dictators and the villains are journalists. Our narrative has become more about who we hate than about who we are and what we stand for as a people.