When actor, activist and teaching artist Lauren Spencer read the document, she thought, “I guess all the bathroom conversations are now open. So many incidents in that document I knew about.” It reminded her of the candid conversations she’s had often with fellow artists of color about racism in the industry, only now, not behind closed doors.
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Transparency has been the name of the game when it comes to calling out people or institutions that have either knowingly or unknowingly participated in racism in theatre. When there's not a proper level of transparency, people that are offended become trapped in a spiral of silence, reduced to "bathroom conversations". Within the article, reading Virginia Blanco's statement about being able to share these stories made me think about just how much some people are not willing to hear about these incidents that we implicitly know are happening around us all the time. It's truly a shame that the norm has become to keep quiet, to play down the severity of the issue, and to brush over the problem time and time again. But now that this "living document" is making its rounds, these institutions are making pledges to address the issue that we've seen all across the country. Unfortunately, many of these pledges turn out to be baseless and almost a publicity stunt at best. I can only hope that those offended by these theatres' actions continue to stand up and apply pressure until progress is made.
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