Wednesday, April 13, 2016
Criticism So White? Here’s How to Change That
AMERICAN THEATRE: Thank you all. I feel incredibly honored to be standing here at my first ATCA conference, and to be asked to address you as an equal, even though, judging from the rosters and résumés of the speakers who have come before me, including my former boss, American Theatre founder Jim O’Quinn, I am the youngest person to have stepped into this podium by far.
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I agree with her sentiment whole-heartedly. I think that shows with people of color, don't have to mention their color. That's how we will know that entertainment has fully engulfed other races finally into it's front running. When a sitcom about an all Asian family or an all Hispanic family can stop making the whole show about how it is in that culture, that's a good sign. Just because a show contains people of color doesn't mean it has to be about people of color. And I think that's what older critics expect. That every show containing other races will be a race piece. But maybe we are finally capable of moving past that. Earlier this year, when I saw Cloud Tectonics, with (who should've been) Hispanic performers in the show, they had accents and the script had them make quesdaillas, even then they could have just been Hispanic people who live in California. They had to include accents to indicate they were people of color when they really weren't. Even though in California a Hispanic man might not necessarily have one. I think these things are what white people often expect of other races. And the author is right, a white critic is going to expect certain things of races that he has to take away when reviewing something. A show is not bad if it doesn't include a stereotype the reviewer expects.
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