Diamond’s comment cut to the core of a question posed by National Public Radio’s Michel Martin at WNYC’s Greene Space Sept. 19: Does Broadway reflect the vibrant, dynamic stories of its diverse city? The event, titled “A Broader Way,” kicked off Martin’s 10-city tour centered on having what she called “difficult discussions with dignity.” Diamond was joined by fellow award-winning NYC playwrights whose work explores racial issues—David Henry Hwang, Kristoffer Diaz, and Bruce Norris—to get to the bottom of whether the Great White Way is too white.
3 comments:
Diamond's comment is especially thoughtful for us now, that we are doing August Wilson's Seven Guitars. She says "If i go to see a show, I want to see myself". I would argue that one of the reasons that we go to see any number of shows, is because we don't see ourselves onstage. Some people might have a lot of objection to a black person playing Abraham Lincoln or Jesus in a play, but I think there would be even more outrage at a white person playing a role in seven guitars. Not for any prejudiced reasons, just because that is not how the art was meant to be viewed.
I would agree with the discussion that in general, too much of Broadway's bread and butter is white. Yes the Rockettes are supposed to be all the same, but there might be room for some more diversity in shows.
I think there's truth to Diamond and the other playwright's words, that the more exposure a play gets the less diverse the audience becomes. It's difficult to deal with the fact that Broadway has become so exclusive and so seemingly generic. Native New Yorkers don't go to 42nd street for shocking new theatre anymore; if anything, the majority of the people in your average Broadway audience will be from out of the city, out of the state, even out of the country. Smaller theaters on off-Broadway and off-off Broadway like the Cherry Lane Theatre or the Pearl Theatre boast more eclectic, diverse, and thought-provoking shows because there's a humongous amount of young talent working there instead of on Broadway. I think this article epitomizes the growing gap the New York theatre scene is seeing as more musicals based off of Blockbusters hit Broadway.
Diversity, what does that word mean. Combination of differences, combinations of things not the same but what does the word mean. Broadway is full of Caucasian people, Not good, Aladdin on Broadway casted mostly Caucasian people, (form what I hear, bad move REALLY, Christian Bale is playing MOSES what. Another article another Day).
I think they are doing the right thing, talking about it. But we need to talk about it earlier in life. To make it normal to see different races together, so as people grow up they think it is weird to see a movie, theatre, or tv with only Caucasian people or only Chinese, or only Indian, or only African, or only Middle eastern. That we see a joint venture, combine working together. Moving forward together.
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