HowlRound Theatre Commons: The theatre world is going through a wave of change that is long overdue. Playwrights of color are challenging audiences and companies are finally recognizing the value of people of color in leadership roles. However, there is one place that still needs changing: criticism. Where are the critics of color?
4 comments:
Although I cannot be in full accord with the author’s viewpoint that is reflected in the question which she puts up on the front, I agree that the diversity in critics is the next step for the theatre industry to be more universal. “How are white reviewers able to understand and contextualize the experience of artists of color?” just sounds to be constituting reverse discrimination, which we want to avoid when aiming for diversity. Nonetheless, along an in parallel with the movement of actors in color being more visible in the industry, we should turn attention to critics, since it is undeniable that they do have the power to give a piece of artwork a social value by providing evidence from their perspectives. I like how the author is working not only on stressing publications to open up positions for the critics of color, but on actually supporting young colored critics to improve their skills, so that they can be comfortable with themselves as pioneers.
This article is so important. The theatre world is becoming more and more filled with such a diverse population, except for those who are in control over the documentation of the productions. It is a common phrase that history is told from the winner’s perspective, and with there being a lack of diversity in the occupation of theatre critics, it follows that same mantra. As this article discusses, so much of theatre today is being used to call out oppression and injustice in our world, much of which has been caused or perpetuated by older white men, so having almost solely that population in charge of serving the production justice and promoting or speaking the truth of the production to the public feels redundant and useless. The world of theatre needs a more diverse population in the critic world. One thing I really like that this article discusses is that there is no good way to get into being a theatre critic, which is part of the reason there is a lack of a highly diverse population in the profession. At Carnegie Mellon, we do not, to my knowledge, have any classes on such topic. I think a class could easily be added to the curriculum, particularly for the dramaturgy course of study.
Conveying the same sentiments as Bianca above, this article is incredibly important. The critics circle is not discussed and touched on very often in theatre. As the author of the article said, theatre schools mainly have programs in performance and production. So how does one become a theater critic? That’s a question that I didn’t really aware of till now. The author’s work is so important in the sense that reviews should also include the voice of people of color. It enriches how we view a piece of theatre but also allows conversations to begin. And also, critics opinion are extremely important to the success of a show, from what I learned from producer Jamie deRoy’s talk here last week. It can sink or make a show! It’s amazing to see groups working to change this problem.
On another note, Natsumi’s comment above caught my eye. I interpreted “How are white reviewers able to understand and contextualize the experience of artists of color?”not as a stance from a high horse but rather one that is pointing out there is a severe lack of interpretation of these performances from people of color. I believe reverse discrimination can’t happen in this context because there are too few artists/writers/people of color that are in a position of power to exercise discrimination. However, I totally agree with the rest of the comment that theatre criticism needs to be diversified accordingly.
Oh, my goodness. The amount of reviews I've read by old white men is astounding to me! That's okay, we do need the old white men in the grand scheme of diversity, but there needs to be representation for everyone else too! I actually aspired to be a film critic for a while in middle and high school, and I wish that I could see more people who look like me and my peers in that world. I think that theatre critics are a role in this industry often overlooked, and I'm really happy this article is bringing attention to it. We focus a lot on diversity within the design/rehearsal/performance space, but can forget about all the other aspects of the theatre community. With all the work people have done to make theatre more diverse, inclusive, and accepting, we need critics who will see that change as positive. I think that I would really like to see some different faces reviewing plays/musicals, and who knows? Maybe I could be one of those faces one day!
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