Howard Sherman: I wish that I could write a play, but I haven’t the talent. I wish that I could compose a musical score, but I haven’t the gift. I wish that I could dance, but I have neither the freedom in my body nor the discipline to train. I can sing, a bit, but only well enough to entertain myself on long car rides. So because of my deep admiration for the people who can do these things, because of how they uplift me, move me, teach me, I go to the theatre.
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Over the past couple of days that have followed the election I have herd a number of my peers shyly and almost shamefully bring up their internal debate that has them questioning their importance and relevance in theatre. Of course, how can I blame them. How do you react when you believe the world will break out in chaos? It is hard to do your arts and crafts project when the world seems to be crumbling. However, because I may be a little too optimistic for my own good, I think that I have always seen theatre's relevance to this world; in society. Our community is full of people from everywhere. They are all different ages and come from different places and identify as whatever they feel like they want to identify as and because we work in a business that automatically gives us a lifetime of diversity and understanding through the art that we make, we accept everyone for who they are and understand that its not our place to tell someone who they can and can't be. We understand that everyone's feelings are valid. whether they come from decades of oppression or are in their own way struggling, we have compassion. The art that we practice, the stories we tell all have a meaning/ feeling/ emotion that through our art can be understood. I don't know about you, but this is certainly not the first time I have questioned why I was doing theatre but whenever I do, I remember what it has done for me/ why I love it. It has open its arms wide to me and welcomed me in every way imaginable anywher I found it. Theatre has made me cry and laugh and live stories that I would never have imagined. Sure we have books and documentaries and heck even the news, but we all know that the feeling you get when theatre gets you to understand something on a deeper level can't be found anywhere else. So I honestly thing that are is more relevant than ever before. The divide within our nation is simply people being scared of what they don't know; its ignorance. theatre is the art that can reach deepest into a persons heart and get them to understand. (that might have been a little to sappy but I believe in it 100%)
So here we are. Obviously the results of the election were shocking to me, as they were to so many people. Because the echo chamber is a real and dangerous effect in our society. But one of the most emotionally, violently unsettling parts of the past 48 hours was when I first walked in Purnell the morning after. The building, and most of campus for that matter, seemed overwhelmed by a sense of sadness, defeat, and fear. But after we have given ourselves time to process we have to go back to work. And I agree, our work is vitally important right now. Because theatre is the art of empathy, and there is nothing the world needs more right now than the ability to understand people who are different than themselves. And I don’t just mean that some mysterious “they” need that. “They” being Republicans, or Trump supporters, or whoever. We all do. I refuse to believe that half the voters in this country are bigots and idiots. We have to try and understand why they supported someone with such discriminating and hateful rhetoric. A friend of mine who was talking to lots of undecided voters before the election said he was shocked by the fact that they seemed to be working with a completely different set of information about the two candidates than he was. Whatever happens over the next four years, we must try to listen to each other better. We cannot preach love and open mindedness and then refuse to listen to the voices of the other half of the country. Theatre can help with that in so many by showing the stories of people from all walks of life. Exposure leads to understanding, understanding to empathy, and empathy to love. So we must continue this work in the face of adversity: to start a conversation with people across the aisle, to spread love, not hate, and to give a voice to everyone who has a story to tell.
Upon going to bed on Tuesday I hoped that by the time I woke up Trump’s lead would have miraculously fallen and Hillary would be president. But alas, I woke up on Wednesday to see Donald Trump is the new president of the United States. I immediately began to plan the next four years and how I could protect myself about the assault women’s rights will undoubtedly take. Truly, the only shield I have against the horribleness is Theatre. And since I’m not an artist in the typical sense of the word I agree with the article when it states: “I wish that I could write a play, but I haven’t the talent. I wish that I could compose a musical score, but I haven’t the gift. I wish that I could dance, but I have neither the freedom in my body nor the discipline to train. I can sing, a bit, but only well enough to entertain myself on long car rides. So because of my deep admiration for the people who can do these things, because of how they uplift me, move me, teach me, I go to the theatre.” Theatre will truly be my save haven and shelter from the storm of the next four years.
It's a massive challenge to overcome the emotional distress that this election season and it's result, but as a community we have to keep moving forward. We have to keep this "collective embrace" alive, as we have a massive duty and opportunity to continue to reach out and educate and scream out against the racism and sexism and homophobia and islamophobia and climate change denial etc, etc, etc. We are at such a critical turning point in terms of so many of these issues, and it's incredibly depressing to think about how many steps back we could potentially be taking, however, I do think we need to stand together in solidarity now more than ever. The world needs our art and our message. We need to make this country into a place of love an acceptance rather than ravaging polarity. It is an undeniable truth that we are a country filled with disenfranchised people that don't feel as though their voices are being heard, and we have the opportunity to change that.
The results of the election have affected everyone in very different ways. For many people this is a chance to use their art to create social change and get a message that they are extremely passionate for out into the world. I think that there are three avenues that one can take with this. The first is to create a full BOAL piece that clearly demonstrates the issues and forces the audience to break the forth wall and create change. This method is a little too aggressive for me, but it does work really well. The second, is to support the artistic endeavors of our peers and the messages they are putting out there. This is an easier method, but what doesn’t sit right with me is that you are spreading someone else’s message, not your own. The final method is to inspire people to make good art. This is the method that I have chosen because it is as easy as when someone asks you what should be done replying with, “make good art.” At the end of the day, anything we with a strong positive message will do good.
This is a remarkably-written piece, and it falls right next to all the Facebook posts I have read from my friends in the past few days. Most are filled with love, some with news articles showing the divisions that are already appearing in America, the rest with fear of the future. Though there are many love-showing posts, articles, and messages proliferating the nation, they are nearly matched by the hateful, racist, sexist, and islamophobic acts that have popped up as well. That is the difficulty of such a close, divisive race – for every person that is happy, there is a person that is unhappy (more, even, since Clinton won the popular vote), and these unhappy people are more than upset that they lost – they are afraid, because Trump made them afraid. This election was for the millennial generation because this next president would decide the future for millennials. However, the worst possible choice for us was elected, and now we all fear what may come and what has already happened in “Trump’s America”. I don’t mean to demean the message of this article – I am more than humbled by the way that the writer appreciates theater because he cannot do what production teams do but finds pleasure in their work and gives due credit for his likings. But, the article does little to address the fear that is driving all the protests that have been happening recently. And, it does not help that the author is a white male, meaning he is not quite in the line of fire. However, I cannot assume anything about him because I do not know him personally, but something I have noticed among my white male friends is this feeling that “this election does not affect me”, to which I respond: but, it does. It affects communities, not individuals, because Trump was so radical in his ideals and his “promises”. I suppose what we have to do now is something the School of Drama is already doing: spread love, not hate, and express our true opinion of the results of the 2016 elections.
This article is really inspiring in its truth and honesty. After the election, I really wanted to curl up in bed and sleep until these four years are over, but I (in addition to wanting to graduate and get my degree) realized that art and theatre are a way to escape. By dedicating ourselves to our work, we can point the world to a better tomorrow. We can present the public with more options and better alternatives to things that seem terribly binary right now. We may be sad and dismayed by the results of the election, but we can still shape the future through our art, and we can make our voices heard through our work. So I got out of bed and came to school to work on one play that addresses sexism in its worst form and another show that blatantly speaks to the effect that the patriarchy has on today’s young women of color. That’s how I am going to move forward from this: I am going to make strong art that fights misogyny, sexist, and hate at every turn.
I was really hoping this article would be up. Not because I feel like I have anything new to say about it, but because I wanted to have an excuse to read it again. There is no doubt that this article is incredibly inspiring. This article gives us a perspective that we often glance over in school, that of the audience. In the School of Drama, we are all makers. Because we are all of the making-mindset, we tend to forget the impact of our work on others. Hopefully we can let this article be a reminder to us, throughout these four years, of the import of our work.
It is important, however, to note the lack of acknowledgement of privilege in this article. It seems as though the author must be fairly wealthy if they can afford to go to the theatre night after night. I am not condemning this, but it is important to think of those that cannot afford that luxury of escape. It is also important to think of those that cannot afford to produce plays. We need to not only make theatre, but make theatre as available as possible to as many audiences as possible.
This election has left many people very upset especially those associated with theatre. Theatre is an outlet where playwrights can say whatever they want and convey any type of message to their audiences. Playwrights have a huge responsibility to express their feelings as well as many people’s voices that are unable to put them into eloquent ways such as a play. Theatre is also an outlet for people to go to when they want to escape from the their lives in the outside world. Theatre is also a place where current issues are put into a meaningful story. I do agree that this election will change the conversations had in plays as well as how they are that message is portrayed. As theatre artists I think it is our duty to continue the important conversations that are happening as a result of the election. It is also important that we protect and help speak up for the people that feel like they are not being heard.
I don't think I've ever realized how much of a bubble I've grown up in until this past Tuesday, when my country turned blood-red with hate before my eyes. I have always been so proud to be from Texas because to me, it is a place where people of all colors and backgrounds and beliefs get the same chance. But my Texas is very different from others'. My Texas is Houston, the fourth largest city in the US and the second most diverse. Home of the United States' first openly gay female mayor, of a medical center boasting doctors and patients from all over the world, of art and museum and theatre districts which have raised generations of ingenuous young creators. More than that, my bubble has been expanded by the color of my skin. My grandmother may have been born in India, raised in Japan, held in a concentration camp by her own country during World War II, and my grandfather may be a 1st generation Russian-American, and that's not even counting my mother's grandfather's sailing all the way from the coast of Ireland to Galveston island at the start of the 20th century - but I look white, and so I have walked through the world with privelege from the moment I was born. My father, however, has not had that same chance. My father looks his ethnicity (Japanese and Indian and Russian all combined), and for that reason people give him funny looks when we stop through small towns on road trips. My sister inherited my father's skin, and so did my niece after her. And despite what my father may have faced in those small towns, the world my sisters and I come from has never questioned them for it. The bubble in which we have always lived has held us close and safe. And perhaps if not for one thing, I would not know what to do without that bubble.
But that one thing, the thing which has always expanded my worldview and helped me to heal and shown me the meaning of empathy - that thing is art. And art is necessary to our survival now more than ever.
When I first read this article on Wednesday, it was after receiving a message from my father that we needed theatre desperately at this difficult time, so I had to get out of bed and get on with my life in order to help my country. What he was essentially telling me was that I could not afford to pull up the covers. I could not afford to wallow in sadness and anger. Houston, the same place that had taught me love and acceptance and hope, had also taught me art. It had been preparing me for the day that bubble would pop all along.
This country needs us. Little girls with caramel skin who have never known the meaning of hate, like my niece, need us. Little girls who deserve nothing less than to achieve every dream in their hearts, like all my nieces, need us. My nephews need us. Our families need us. Our communities, our cities, our country need us. Humanity needs us. If ever there were a time to believe that we are important, that we matter, that our art has meaning, that time is now. We cannot afford to believe anything otherwise.
We also cannot afford to lie down, as I know I will be tempted to. But the thought that my world and my loved ones deserve better than for me to withhold what I have to offer them - a small chance for healing and empathy and strength - will help me get out of bed in the morning every day for the next four years. And when even that knowledge cannot help, someone else's art will carry me through the day. My fellow artists will carry me as much as, if not more than, I will carry myself.
This is our call to arms.
Don't let the bastards grind you down.
I was avoiding this article for this entire week. I guess I assumed it would be this over whelming demand to pour ourselves into our work in the hopes of enlightening audiences. That is important and something I believe is possible. And yet for some reason I have never felt farther from my work. I haven't given up by any standards, and I wouldn't even say I was incredibly shocked by the election, but I am angry. I guess I feel so stuck because racism, sexism, xenophobia, all of these were problems before trump and the affected groups were all trying to tell others, and were denied. Maybe that was the problem, maybe minority groups weren't listening to one another enough. We should all work together to have each other's stories told. Feminist theatre should not neglect the fact that women of color have different issues they face in the same way that Hester made by people of color should not ignore the plight of women. Maybe that's what we get out of this, a stronger team. I don't know.
Over the past few days, ever since I first read this article, the authors points have definitely been on my mind. Right after the election, I couldn’t bring myself to get back to work, whether on theatre or other things. It just didn’t seem important or pertinent. However, this article has definitely bolstered my spirits. In this time of uncertainty and fear, theatre has the power to teach, comfort, and empower. This should not be forgotten, and should be embraced. The theatre community, especially in the past few decades, has been a place of inclusion and empathy. It should continue to be, especially considering how the election results were especially devastating to the theatre community. But as the author said, it is up to us as artists to use our talents to make a difference. And being part of the CMU School of Drama, we can band our talents together to make a bigger wave than we can individually imagine.
This article is beautifully written I woke the morning after the election I was sick to my stomach. It was awful what happened. But immediately people wanted to make a change. I believe that theater can help make that change greatly. wether it be a show about whats happening in the country and what we could do. Or just a show to make you forget what is happening. Both are of equal importance. Theater should be an outlet for when people are having issues. Hopefully it will all be okay....
I was hoping I'd find an article like this this morning. It's been a really difficult, upsetting week for a lot of us, and I think the writer of this article is completely right. We discussed in Seminar this week the comforting power a theatre community can have, as well as the strength it can give us to move forward and create art that informs and empowers others. This, of course, is very difficult to do in our community since it is one of the biggest echo chambers possible: a college campus in a blue city. But there is more we can do. I think this is really the time to keep the conversation going, to not be complacent with our racist, sexist, homophobic acquaintances, to keep shouting at the top of our lungs against prejudice and unkind behavior. We really need, now more than ever, to come together to do some good in the world. It seems to me that our country has an empathy problem, and the more we can show it, the more good we can do. Theatre is a great avenue for that, so I'm hoping that our industry can make a bit of difference in the coming weeks, months, and years.
How we as communities process difficult times is very important in how we move forward. When tragedy strikes, or unsettling political decisions are made, many people are left at a loss for words. I have before heard the saying that artists provide nourishment for the soul. Similar to how we like to cook food for the bereaved, artists cook up comfort and explanation when reality is does not provide it. This can come in the form of much needed distraction (entertainment), or as expression and meditation on events that have transpired. I appreciate the motivation that this author offers to artists - I know that many artists have felt exhausted following this election cycle/decision. Motivation to keep pushing forward is important. I think it is an interesting point that this is a defining moment in our history that will likely frame a certain period in our artistic work.
Artists of all kinds must be more active than ever now, hopefully to help facilitate communication and understanding both within and between the disparate mindsets in America. While it will take more than art alone, art is a very powerful communicator. The question then is how do we get these opposing voices to listen to what artists are saying. I think one place to start is for artists to listen to what they view as their opposition is saying – not to accept or validate, but to comprehend. We must keep working towards being able to "reach" people who we see as existing in a whole different ’world.’
I know that most of us have stopped reeling from the events of last tuesday and are starting, instead, to see what we can do to take action against what will be a difficult and emotionally harrowing several years. It’s great to be in drama, where pretty much everyone has been filled with conviction to combat hatred and exclusion after the election. It’s definitely been difficult to justify some of our class projects at a time like this. In my heart I know that theater matters now more than ever in times of governmental uncertainty, but there has always been a small voice at the back of my head (that has now gotten quite loud) that is telling me that theater is not how to solve such huge nation-wide issues. The night of the election, many of us gathered to watch the events unfold, and as time passed and it became more and more clear that what we were expecting wasn’t going to happen, the atmosphere got more and more somber. We started to talk about how we were supposed to contribute to the world while at theater school. We talked about how we hope that there will be more main-stages that work to make commentary on real-world issues, even though there is certainly a time and place for shows that provide an escape for it’s audience members, I don’t think this is the time. I love what the writer of this article said in this quote, “I don’t look to the theatre for escape, but for engagement, which includes the potential for epiphany and joy”. If we’re not making art to change the world then what are we even here for?
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