KQED Arts: EXIT Theatre founder Christina Augello spent a year's work and nearly $3,000 to bring Paul David Power's play Crippled to San Francisco. But just weeks before the show was set to debut at her Tenderloin performance space, she received a letter from United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)—an agency that works parallel to ICE under the Department of Homeland Security—stating that Power has been denied permission to perform in the United States on the basis that Crippled is not "culturally unique."
2 comments:
I didn’t realize that whether a show was “culturally unique” or not was a requirement for performing in the United States. I find that odd and arbitrary as well as irrelevant, especially in this particular case, because “Crippled” sounds very unique in the situation it depicts. I haven’t heard of many productions depicting a disabled gay character, and as the lead, nonetheless. Not only does that make the piece unique, but with the conversation about representation in the arts being as active as it is, this piece sounds very culturally relevant as well.
I am frustrated to hear how difficult it is for non-famous international artists to perform or present their work in the States, but I can’t say I’m surprised. I’ve expressed in the past my belief in the importance of exposure to art and a diversity of exposure at that. In the States, we don’t really push for that, which is why I’m really looking forward to the Prague Quadrennial and seeing pieces from international artists that I would never be exposed to otherwise.
This argument is complete bullshit. When a performer like Justin Bieber comes and performs in the US, it's not a culturally impactful event, but yet he is still allowed to come because he's surrounded by powerful lawyers and fans. The fact that this independent artist wants to come and represent the queer disabled community and he is denied says a lot about our culture and what we seem to value. We've become so afraid of everything that's different as a country, and the fact that this play was denied coming out of Canada of all places makes me wonder just how restrictive immigration and visas are going to get. Are we going to become like North Korea? Where it's all but illegal to visit? If we are not allowed to bring international shows to the US, then how much are we all going to suffer? The idea of America being a cultural melting pot and somewhere where everyone is welcome is dying in front of us and we're all just watching the wall build around us.
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