Friday, October 15, 2021
Trans 'Hamilton' Actor Claims Discrimination by Production
www.themarysue.com: Suni Reid, a transgender performer on the hit Broadway show Hamilton, has accused the production of discrimination against them for asking for a gender-neutral dressing room.
Per the complaint, which was published by The Hill, Suni Reid, who has been apart of the New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles Hamilton productions, did not have their contract renewed.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
12 comments:
Trans and nonbinary actors and characters are still so rarely represented in theatre that when problems arise teams and theatres simply don’t know how to deal with them. As the article mentioned, Hamilton is constantly seen by the public as this great show of diversity and acceptance, but based on some of the statements of actors, behind the scenes seems to be a different story. I think as such a diverse show, it’s easy for the producers to push aside issues such as this because they think they have so many other good examples of equity. Based on the statements by Mx. Reid and the Hamilton team there are conflicting stories. But as this beacon of diversity, they don’t want to lose that status and likely are afraid of this conflict. It was also interesting that the Jagged Little Pill complaints were also brought up, showing that trans and nonbinary people asking for equality is not an isolated incident.
It’s disturbing that this happened to Suni Reid, this is one of those situations where they did not have a good option; either prepare in a misgendered dressing room, or ask for a separate one, when a separate one should have been created in the first place when they hired a nonbinary performer. This was a serious oversight on the part of the management team, and by excluding Reid from further performances, they made the production an unwelcoming and exclusionary space. It’s easy to hire people and espouse how much you value diversity, but what is truly equitable is taking people’s needs into account and not assuming they’re fine within the preexisting structure. It’s also disturbing to learn about Nora Schell’s struggle with Jagged Little Pill and their PCOS surgery. Sometimes medical conditions don’t get fixed or go away; people live with them and continually treat them, and this means giving paid medical leave when people need it.
This makes me feel terrible. This isn’t the first I have heard of actors having issues with working conditions in Hamilton, and I am sure there are countless other stories from cast and crew members on Hamilton and any other major production, Broadway or not. It really makes me sick that issues based on gender identity, race, sexuality, and more are still so prevalent in the industry when they have been at the forefront of so many movements in recent years. I know the change is never going to be instant or quick, but still seeing such egregious disregards to actor’s simple and basic requests disgusts me. All Suni Reid had asked for is a gender-neutral dressing room, and their simple request was not fulfilled. Even though Rory O’Malley was generous enough to give up his private dressing room, the fact still stands that Hamilton could not fulfill Reid’s request. The continuing discrimination that is ever-present in the theatre industry is appalling and disgusting to me. I feel so sorry for Mx. Reid, and I wish them well on their future endeavors, and I hope the industry can get its shit together.
When the concept of gender has so clearly been constructed by society, who’s to “other” those who refuse to constrain themselves to a subjective norm. While the issue may on the surface level seem insignificant or superficial, the reality is that refusing to establish gender-neutral dressing rooms produces serious psychological harm on those who would otherwise feel listened to. In short, theatrical companies cannot advertise for inclusivity and then refuse to meet an actor’s needs. Especially when the request is nothing outside of the realm of possibility. Moreover, it is said to hear producers “retaliated” against Suni Reid by not renewing their contract. For one, I am sure Mx. Reid is incredibly talented– I mean, they’re part of the hit Broadway production of Hamilton! So, refusing to renew their contract as a response to them requesting “that the performers have a gender-neutral dressing room in addition to the ones for men and women” is outrageous.
Hamilton profits off of being labeled as ‘diverse’ while behind the show, the show is discriminatory against non-white and trans actors, both from a production lens and a interpersonal lens. Another show like this is Jagged Little Pill. The thing is, members of the oppressive group, while they may not be doing direct harm, often they are complicit in production-wide harm. Lauren Patten took up space that a nonbinary actor should’ve taken up, publically denied that Jo is a nonbinary character, and now after so much harm is done, is apologizing after winning a Tony for playing the role of Jo. Hamilton can apologize and make excuses in regards to not accommodating an all gender dressing room, but apologies mean nothing with no action. How will this kind of discrimination be prevented in the future? Do productions and members of productions care enough to prevent this kind of discimination in the future? Only time will tell how empty these apologies are.
This shows how out of touch management is in our industry. We talk of diversity and want the world to see us as such but we have this almost narcissistic approach to it where we ignore the ones that are close to us because so long as we present as diverse, we have no real need to actually be diverse. And this is wrong, when the production cast a non-binary actor, they should have planned to have non-binary changing rooms. Especially considering that there were private dressing rooms. I disagree with another sentiment in the comments that says that direct harm isn't being done by the oppressive group. By not accommodating a non-binary actor (something that would be trivially easy to do) they are making it clear where their priorities lie and they aren't validating this actors identity as non-binary. These people that are profiting off of a show that is labeled as diverse see it as a joke and something to deal with on the back end rather than something to anticipate and accommodate on the front end.
This unfortunately appears to be a case of blatant transphobia from the production staff of Hamilton. Despite it being relatively simple, they denied Suni Reid's request for a gender neutral bathroom and did not renew their contract. It's unclear why a request as basic and unproblematic as a dressing room anyone can use would be met with such a response, which is upsetting. The theatre world often claims to be welcoming and inclusive for all, but that is not usually the reality. Often the theatre lags behind social movements, especially when it comes to Broadway and high-budget productions. Hamilton is one such example of this occurring. Despite having a cast of primarily African-American and Latino actors, they seem to have issues when it comes to LGBTQ rights. Discrimination against non-binary people in theatre just recently came into the news with Jagged Little Pill's erasure of a non-binary character as well. Hopefully this is not a continuing trend into the future, but it's impossible to say right now.
This certainly would not be the first publicized case of discrimination behind the scenes of Hamilton, though it was initially praised for its diversity and colorblind casting. A while ago, a story came out about one of the ensemble members, who was Black, experiencing many more difficulties and pushback than some of their other colleagues due to being Black. In this case with Suni Reid, solidarity once again comes from peers when another cast member ceded his private dressing room for gender-neutral use. I will never understand what is so difficult about accommodating trans people especially in cases like this where it seems pretty cut and dry. I am also greatly discouraged to read about a stage manager of Jagged Little Pill downplaying a cast member's need for surgery. SMs are supposed to be a bridge and pillar to the cast and crew. This SM does not seem to be doing their job of supporting their community.
I think for an industry that touts LGBTQ+ diversity, there are still so many problems. For those who are trans and non-binary, there are so little spaces for them to perform and create their art. There are so few stories that are given the chance to be put into production because investors only seem to care about the marketability of the story. Not only that, but the problem also arises when these stories and actors ARE given the chance to perform. They are often met with additional discrimination and aggression. A gender neutral dressing room is not hard. It doesn’t require any special maintenance or materials. Especially for a production such as Hamilton, which should have no problems when it comes to space and funds. The performers were asking for a simple room designated for themselves, a place where they could get ready and feel comfortable just as their peers. I think it is hypocritical and frankly disgusting that shows (especially something like Hamilton, whose selling point is diversity) clearly only use these performers because their diversity is marketable.
This article really showed how Anti-Racist and Equitable Practices in Theatre is a VERY important course. Hamilton was and still is a beacon of diversity and representation in Broadway, which makes it so disappointing that its production team does not live and breathe its ideals backstage. Equitable practices are just as important as diverse representation in theatre because if a production is not respecting it’s talent, it is not creating an authentic piece of art. The workers behind a production deserve to be prized just as much off stage as they are on stage. This article also highlights some of the issues addressed in IATSE’s strike around medical needs. The fact that Schell was denied medical leave for a dangerous ovarian syndrome shows how production simply does not care for the wellbeing of its talent if the wound is not evident on-stage. This kind of treatment really cheapens the perceived progress that broadway has been making and I really want to see a bigger shift towards equity backstage.
I am surprised that the Hamilton team did not create a gender neutral dressing room from the beginning of the process the moment that they hired a nonbinary performer. It seems like an obvious necessity. It clearly was not due to a lack of rooms, as some cast members had private dressing rooms, but rather a lack of foresight. I am curious about what exactly occurred regarding the contract as clearly someone is lying or both are misrepresenting the facts. The Hamilton team states that they offered a contract, Suni’s complaint states that their contract was not renewed and they were dismissed, both cannot be true. I assume that Suni was offered a contract, but it did not properly meet their terms. That is different than not being offered a contract at all, but obviously we have no way of knowing what actually happened. I hope that the publication of the complaint and the backlash the company is receiving will bring out the truth in the situation.
I found this article to be extremely eye opening to the issues that occur behind the curtain in many Broadway theaters. To me, it seems ironic that productions whose main attraction to audiences is this celebration of diversity and representation would treat the people who are making that happen so poorly. As mentioned in the article, “publicly, Hamilton is a beacon of diversity”, which was always my perception on the production, so it is shocking to learn the harm the production has caused to actors. This article reminded me that just because one thing was said or supported, doesn’t mean that behind closed doors that is the case and we must pay attention to even the slightest allegation or suspicion. This mentality was proven later in this article when the author explains another instance where a show the public thought may have stood for one thing is alleged to have different expectations behind closed doors.
Post a Comment