www.forbes.com: It’s been over a year since the live entertainment industry went dark, and while the damage has been catastrophic, hope of recovery is on the horizon. Vaccines and federal aid are allowing venues to plan - finally, cautiously - for autumn reopenings.
4 comments:
The dichotomy mentioned in this article of whether economic success or morality should take precedent is so upsetting. That seems to be the argument people in power use for everything, especially in theater, but the dichotomy is entirely false. It is very possible that a theater can be both diverse and successful. Like the article mentioned, black people can become a more prevalent portion of the Broadway audience, we have just not proved to them that theater is worth their money, because we are showing them that this is an exclusively white industry. Even amongst my classmates, I am very underwhelmed by the diversity especially in theater design and tech. Us, as the next generation of theater makers, need to put in the work to only support theaters that will support our BIPOC peers. Pressure decidedly must be put on the white men on top, so that finally Broadway can live up to its false sense of inclusion.
Before the protests last summer and the anti-racist theatre courses we took this year I was inexcusably disconnected with racial issues within society as a whole. While I do believe I've improved since then, as far as being aware of the issues, I still don't have a firm grasp on the intricacies that go on behind the scenes that perpetuate these intense imbalances of power, representation, and safety. One of the things we were introduced to in the antiracist theatre course was We See You White American Theatre and some of the things they asked for surprised me so much more than they should have. Reading that for the first, second, and third time really made me realize how much a had never considered or thought about. I do hope that parts of the theatre industry stop pretending, as Jem said, that there is a big battle between economic success and morality. At the end of the day morality should always matter more, even if there was a correlation the way they present it, that shouldn't even be up for debate.
As I read this article, I think back to the diversity and inclusion day we had in production planning. It seems like what both this article and what our guests had said pretty much align. Most people in major positions on Broadway are white. I mainly think this is because these positions have been held by the same people for over 30 years which makes easy to understand why it might be all white people. Hopefully these people recognize this issue and try to change positions. I also think that we have a similar problem at the university level where the professors were all hired a very long time ago and are not willing to give up their position until they retire which I definitely understand. I would not give up my position either. So I would guess that in 10 or 15 years a lot of these people will retire and will be replaced by someone of a more diverse background.
I agree with this article where it truly is in the beginning if it even happens. People high up on Broadway did nothing this summer they said nothing this summer when people were begging them to. Everything the public heard when it came to equality on broadway was said by people working in the industry not the people controlling the industry. I definitely see people using the economic situation from the past year as an excuse to not do anything to make the space more inclusive and justify hiring back the same few people as they were before. I think that as the industry starts to open up again people need to stand their ground and demand action. I understand that many people are desperate to get a job after a full year of not having one but racial justice and having a job should not be one or the other. The only way this industry can have any progress is if people continue to speak out and continue to contribute to change. This summer should not be a "trend" only for us to fall back into what caused all of these problems.
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