www.chicagolandmusicaltheatre.com: In late September, Black Ensemble Theater and Steppenwolf Theatre Company co-hosted an evening of performance and discussion called Chicago’s Theater Community Coming Together to Fight the Ism’s, “Highlighting Racism” – sponsored by The Alphawood Foundation, MacArthur Foundation and Field Foundation. The evening was hosted by Black Ensemble Theatre’s founder and CEO, the engaging Jackie Taylor, and featured outstanding performances by Teatro Vista, About Face Theatre, Black Ensemble Theater, Her Story Theatre and Firebrand Theatre, as well as moving talks by Tyronne Stoudemire (Vice President Global Diversity and Inclusion, Hyatt Corporation), Angelique Power (President, The Field Foundation and Co-Founder of Enrich) and David Schmitz (Executive Director, Steppenwolf Theatre).
4 comments:
I have always appreciated collaborations between theatres. Especially when it comes to diversity. This new initiative from Steppenwolf and Black Ensemble Theatre I think it is wonderful. To bring to the forefront the issues of “isms” through theatre is one of the best way to tackle this social issue. This quote from Josh Flanders I think really hits the nail on the head: “Exactly. I wonder how many white cisgender men, like myself, have spent hours upon hours thinking about how to bring about change, yet still buy tickets to yet another performance centered around our experience. These performances showed me multiple angles of what racism and xenophobia look like outside of my experience and comfort zone, and left me thinking about its pervasiveness in our culture.” We, as a society needs to confront racism and these more squirmy issues in the face in order to create real social change.
I appreciate that the even included a piece on the racism Asian Americans see every day. Too often mainstream media erases the aggressions and micro-aggressions Asian Americans face in America. In Hollywood, the issue of diversity is often only discussed in terms of white, black, and the shades between. The only two pieces of performance media in recent years I think succinctly addresses racism towards Asian Americans without (mostly) falling into stereotypes themselves are the show Fresh Off the Boat and the musical Allegiance. Neither of which really took off in mainstream media. Many people talk about how representation matters, but for many Asian American children, their only representation in Western Media is Disney's problematic portrayal of Mulan. I know that I have never personally felt well represented in media. Looking at Asian representation in Broadway's "classic" musicals makes me sick. Producers hide behind statements of how the views and stereotypes expressed in the productions are accurate to the time period in which they were written, but do nothing further to heal the wounds those harmful stereotypes have created in the Asian American community.
Though Chicago is a city with amazing theatre of all kinds, I mostly find myself going to plays with diverse casts and subjects matters when I'm back home. I find that these are the best shows because at their very core they offer tension between the overwhelmingly white audiences of theatre and the blackness that is occurring on stage.
I actually sort of forgot before reading this article that there were theatres in Chicago that were not taking on these initiatives. The last three plays I saw all featured black leads. Two explicitly spoke to racism, one of them took place in Chicago, and one of them spoke to slam poetry and the sexism involved with the craft that evolved from battle rap.
Now obviously just because the small underground theatre I go to address diversity well does not mean that it is being handled well in all sectors of Chicago theatre. In fact I work with the Goodman theatre company in their education unit on their slam poetry team and the education unit is far more diverse than the people I see when I go upstairs to the management and directing offices.
Chicago has been a historically racist city. It is a racist city now as all cities in this world are. But I believe in Chicago and the people in it. I believe that the theatre community there can give black people a seat at the table. And not just model citizen black people but loud black people. Black people who have suffered the oppression of incarceration, black women, black members of the LGBTQ community. There is no space for passive blackness in the political climate we are in currently and one day Chicago theatres will recognize that. Though I realize this will take a lot of pushing and shoving from the black theatre artists of the city, I for one am willing to do the work to make sure that my people and our stories are heard.
Nights and events such as the one described in this article are the first step. The second step is creating our own spaces if we are not let into the ivory tower of theatre, so to speak.
What a tricky subject, and thats before you relate it to theatre. Its hard to comment on this further because the conversation has been going on with, well not quick enough change. I do think this was a powerful way to let our minoritive voice be herd in a way that stands out, but I wounded how soon it will take effect. I do see strides and everyday we get more and more allies, but I fear that we wont see any chance until the generation of the millennial and generation X become of the age to control the narrative. I hope this will be enough to finally make a difference in the world and finally we can see more actual diversity in theatre and all forms of entertainment. I look forward to this endeavor, when regardless of how a pice of written work is written it can be performed by anyone regardless of their race.
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