AMERICAN THEATRE: Most books about history begin with a question or puzzle that sparks the author’s curiosity. In 2008, when I first scrutinized Harry Watkins’s diary in the Harvard Theatre Collection’s reading room (a space that has since been shuttered), one question pestered me more than any other: Why had no one cared about Harry Watkins? The many citations of One Man in His Time by Otis Skinner and Maud Skinner demonstrated that historians knew about this mediocre actor’s diary, but apparently, no one had attempted to find it.
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Hughes’s article really made me think about how privilege and mediocrity often intertwine in ways that still shape society today. Though it is often a topic on my mind, it is often difficult to quite put in to words. Specifically with the ‘case study’ of Watkins in a way. I found it fascinating that she chose to study Harry Watkins, not because he was talented or famous, but precisely because he was ordinary. Her focus on his “white mediocrity” revealed how systems of privilege allowed some men to advance—not through brilliance, but through entitlement and access. I was struck by how Hughes connected this 19th-century actor’s story to the ongoing myths of meritocracy and individualism that continue to define American culture. It’s uncomfortable to realize how much those same myths still operate in the arts, where opportunities often depend on who fits accepted norms rather than true merit. I would also absolutely agree that this is extremely prevalent today, specifically in theater and film it is running rampant, and is therefore reflected in our society.
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