www.theroot.com: This was how our audience was greeted back to Broadway. Finally, after 16 months without an audience in the space, the theatre was filled with this incredible energy. It was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced; a moment met with explosive energy from our audience that will forever be etched into my memory.
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Sometimes, news articles need to point out joys and successes, especially within theatre, and this article does just that. This article discusses stage manager Cody Renard Richard’s view of the play, Pass Over, and a discussion of ‘We See You, White American Theatre’. Pass Over is significant, not only as the first play to open on Broadway, but also as a play that involves so many Black artists–performers, crew, playwrights, producers, and more. The piece points out, when we as a community value and embrace a variety of voices, we no longer feel the need to speak over one another. When there are a given number of slots “allotted” to people of colour, we compete for those spots instead of working together–’a scarcity mindset versus an abundance mentality.’ Having the ‘Great White Way’ reopen with Black voices is a tremendously powerful precedent to set.
I appreciate how hopeful this article is, however, I'm still skeptical about any change the theatre industry will actually make. It all feels so performative to me, so to speak. The author points out that change takes time and it's really happening with like, Broadway putting on a lot of shows written by Black playwrights, but I also feel like they're all just reacting to the political climate of right now. Maybe it's the pessimist in me, but this feels like a bottom up approach to fix the problem when really we need a top down solution. Even in the article it talks about how people think the shows won't work out and how people don't say things like that in regards to white shows. I'd argue it's not about the shows themselves, but its about the status quo of the domineering producers who preach about liberalism and equality but don't put forth the effort to be as equitable as they could be.
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