AMERICAN THEATRE: The Dramatists Guild Legal Defense Fund (DLDF) has published a new toolkit, Dramatic Changes: A Guide to Producing Live Stage Works on College Campuses in Turbulent Times. The toolkit is aimed at students, educators, and administrators, and is intended to prepare those involved in producing theatrical work in academic settings to address potential conflicts between free expression and the values of diversity, equity, inclusion, and access.
2 comments:
"Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable." Is that a dumb quote? Yes, but is it a quote that has some basis in truth when it comes to the heart of what theatre actually is? Maybe?? I don't know, everyone talks about how they never want to do theatre again, and how they hate it so much and I fully get that. Like I understand how being in a rigorous program that doesn't give you a break can really destroy the love you have for theatre and what it actually means to be in it. But I believe that there won't ever be a comfortable place in theatre. Like, it's going to make us get out of our shell and feel better about ourselves looking at ourselves in a mirror or so and so forth. This life is meaningless and theatre is just something fun to do. We may as well have fun together.
As difficult a conversation this is, now is the time to be having it. With theater slowly coming back to life, it is very wise to take a second to check back in and see if there is anything from that process that needs changing. The lines get blurry with what can be presented within educational spaces. I think that if the faculty feels equipped to handle something – especially amongst the higher levels of education – I don’t see why not have it. Censorship is partially put in place to protect people sure, but not everything should be locked away never to be seen again. Not only because you are potentially using it as a crutch for avoiding difficult subject matter but because you may be shoving aside entire groups of people. Currently what comes to mind is the “Don’t Say Gay Bill” legislation being in Florida. What about gay people existing on-stage screams “harm to the population”? Because I really don’t know.
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