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Friday, April 07, 2023
A New Bill Aims to Stop Discrimination Against Height and Weight in the Work Place: What This Means For Broadway
www.broadwayworld.com: A new bill supporting equal opportunities regardless of height and weight is being proposed in New York City, and may have a lasting impact on Broadway.
3 comments:
Jasper
said...
Despite many people’s efforts to make the theater industry progressive and inclusive to all, there are still many barriers to inclusivity. As much as we can claim to be inclusive and accepting of all people, there are still many practices in the industry, and especially in casting, that are very non inclusive to many groups of people. One major area that is lacking in inclusivity is discrimination against people who have different body types. As this article points out, many theater professionals do not care about inclusivity when it comes to body type. If this bill gets passed, many things will hopefully have to change in terms of allowing more opportunities for people with different body types. There is definitely a lot of work to do and inclusive practices are not going to spring up in one day with just one new law but hopefully this bill will force a step in the right direction.
Before around Middle School height and weight didn't really seem to be something that I would think about especially in my dance life. but As I Grew Older and started to notice how I looked in comparison to other girls, it honestly started to get to me more and more. I was always jealous of the girls who were small who got to be lifted by big groups of people, and who always just got to be in the front of the dances and I was also jealous of the taller girls Who got solos because of their height or just who stood out because of their height. I understand that height is a visual that does matter when creating pieces that rely on body shapes, but I also wish that pieces were more focused on the ability of certain individuals rather than the way that they just presented themselves.
New York's Bill INT 0209, which was introduced in 2018 to address discrimination in the casting process of Broadway productions while beneficial, still does not prevent bias against actors of color. While it requires Broadway productions to report demographic data on their cast and crew, it does not have any methods to enforce the bill and hold productions accountable for discrimination. The bill only addresses Broadway productions and not other forms of theater or entertainment, which leaves out the majority of the entertainment industry and only focuses on a small portion of theater. The INT 0209 Bill also does not address issues related to casting and education which are inherent issues related to systematic racism and show that the bill really has little effect. The bill will only benefit white actors rather than all cast members and could in fact take away more jobs from actors of color because if you think about it by putting this bill in place it expands the demographic of casting but not to actors of color. Although this bill is beneficial it lacks fundamental important aspects and these issues must be addressed to create change.
3 comments:
Despite many people’s efforts to make the theater industry progressive and inclusive to all, there are still many barriers to inclusivity. As much as we can claim to be inclusive and accepting of all people, there are still many practices in the industry, and especially in casting, that are very non inclusive to many groups of people. One major area that is lacking in inclusivity is discrimination against people who have different body types. As this article points out, many theater professionals do not care about inclusivity when it comes to body type. If this bill gets passed, many things will hopefully have to change in terms of allowing more opportunities for people with different body types. There is definitely a lot of work to do and inclusive practices are not going to spring up in one day with just one new law but hopefully this bill will force a step in the right direction.
Before around Middle School height and weight didn't really seem to be something that I would think about especially in my dance life. but As I Grew Older and started to notice how I looked in comparison to other girls, it honestly started to get to me more and more. I was always jealous of the girls who were small who got to be lifted by big groups of people, and who always just got to be in the front of the dances and I was also jealous of the taller girls Who got solos because of their height or just who stood out because of their height. I understand that height is a visual that does matter when creating pieces that rely on body shapes, but I also wish that pieces were more focused on the ability of certain individuals rather than the way that they just presented themselves.
New York's Bill INT 0209, which was introduced in 2018 to address discrimination in the casting process of Broadway productions while beneficial, still does not prevent bias against actors of color. While it requires Broadway productions to report demographic data on their cast and crew, it does not have any methods to enforce the bill and hold productions accountable for discrimination. The bill only addresses Broadway productions and not other forms of theater or entertainment, which leaves out the majority of the entertainment industry and only focuses on a small portion of theater. The INT 0209 Bill also does not address issues related to casting and education which are inherent issues related to systematic racism and show that the bill really has little effect. The bill will only benefit white actors rather than all cast members and could in fact take away more jobs from actors of color because if you think about it by putting this bill in place it expands the demographic of casting but not to actors of color. Although this bill is beneficial it lacks fundamental important aspects and these issues must be addressed to create change.
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