Broadway News: I’ve been working professionally as a theater critic since 2013; I’m a board member of the Drama Desk (where I also serve as part of the nominating committee), and I’ve written for every reputable publication in town. For as long as I’ve been attending theater in the city, my name and brown skin have made me the target of bullies and racists.
4 comments:
I liked this article on how the author discussed the entire theatre experience from their point of view as a Person of Color going to watch a production. It wasn’t as much about as the stage experience, but the accessibility and inclusivity for a PoC to attend a show. The statistic regarding the percentage of white people that attend Broadway was annoying yet not necessarily surprising? Theatre, although I would say more accessible than, classical music, for example, is still a predominantly white audience. Even when I go to my city’s local Asian or Black theatre, I am sometimes surprised a bit at how much of the audience is white.
It is unfortunate this critic had this theatre experience with the theatre as a whole, as well as with the patreons. A part of me wonders if maybe what happened was simply bad timing and a combination of the planets not lining up? But something does seem off with the juxtaposition between how the box office treated the author and then the white, male customers.
This kind of experience is not limited to the theatre. We, as people of color, experience these preposterous discriminations everywhere in daily lives. The sales clerk might not answer your simple question of where things are located, there will be at least one person following you with one’s eyes if you go out for a walk alone, or if you are walking around the town as a group of the same race. If that is so, then why do theatre in particular need to make a change first and foremost? I think it is because unlike supermarkets where the main purpose of your visit would be to get groceries, theatres are where people visit to experience emotions. Every time, I step into the theater with full of excitement, with their heart fully open, like a dried sponge ready to soak up all the emotions from the stage. It is the most luxurious way to spend time. It is so painful when my whole experience gets ruined from discriminatory words or actions in the theatre. Needless to say, racial discrimination as a whole should be settled, but I really wish theatre to become a place where I can truly be defenseless.
This experience that the author of this article is something that people of color experience on a daily basis especially where they find the majority being White. These experiences are not fun to go through and leave people with the imposter syndrome and discourages them from doing such things again. So, I don't think that this had to do with "bad timing and a combination of the planets not lining up" which also negates the experience of the individual. Theater needs to be more accepting of people of color not just on stage but in the audience, decision making positions and all around. I am honestly tired of hearing and reading stories like this without any action being taken to help reduce or eradicate incidents like this. Diversity is something that has become a trend that is cool to be a part of because of good publicity and it is downright frustrating and annoying.
José Solis's article is a very localized instance of the way PoC are treated on a day to day basis. The experience is truly exemplified by the elderly white box office clerk spurning Solis, then immediately giving special treatment to the white critic after him. I am fortunate in that I have never been snubbed at the box office or by an usher, in part because the town in which I lived has a high Asian population, but the nagging anxiety is always in the back of my mind. I am constantly preparing myself to be denied service or to be treated differently from white people because of my race. What frustrates me also is Second Stage's response to Solis. It is nothing more than a boilerplate corporate apology. At this point it can be inferred that "unconscious bias training" will consist of workers going through the motions but never really learning anything. In the end, very little will change and it saddens me.
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