Welcome to the mud pit.

    Please bear with me a moment while I roll up my sleeves.
This conversation is and always will be muddy. Kaitlin is correct in that there
will never be one right answer for all situations. The example she cited while not
the same is  a common story I’ve seen play out in many theaters over the years.
Despite the actions that theater did take, my point is they did not do enough. I
recognize that we only know as much as Kaitlin could share with us.

   But when the theater
realized they were not going to find an ethnically accurate cast did they even try
contacting Dramatist Play Service about getting a refund of the royalties? That
may not be standard practice but perhaps an exception could be made on the
grounds it was a decent and ethical thing to do.

    When the theater realized they were not going to find an
ethnically accurate cast did they even try to discuss the idea of paying
actors to do the show? Did they make counter offers to the three Latinx actors
who had agreed to the show? I know it is community theater which is mostly volunteer,
but some community theaters have a successful model of hiring professional actors
alongside their volunteer artists. Reagle Music Theatre in Waltham MA has a successful
model of using guest artist contracts to hire celebrated local talent. It is
one of the draws for both audience and volunteer artists for the chance to see
and or work with local celebrity. On top of that many community theaters
have a standard practice of paying their directors, designers and sometimes
running crew. It’s not a big leap to pay some actors from that.

     When the theater realized they were not going to find an
ethnically accurate cast did they even try to contact the playwright? We
can guess from the details of the public relations nightmare that the didn’t. Imagine
if Nilo Cruz, had been consulted on this dilemma of a theater trying to
introduce his work to audiences and artists who have never had the opportunity
to experience people different from themselves. Imagine if he had actually
endorsed this effort to learn through theater. But this does not sound much
like an effort to learn through theater. While the actors may have needed to do
broaden their horizons to play their roles the insensitive jokes and comment
from the leadership suggest they really don’t think they need to be more
inclusive, or respectful.

 Let me take a breath
for second.

…

OK that’s one. Only thousands to go.

   And that’s a great
opportunity. It’s not a burden that there are thousands to go, but a blessing.
We need to lean into these conversations. Hopefully we will learn to lean into
them before opening night.  It is awesome
when theaters want to become more inclusive in their casting and their audiences,
but not if they are being dragged kicking and screaming to the party. If the
efforts aren’t coming from an understanding of the importance of the work then
you get White washed productions.  Not
every theater company needs to equally inclusive in their choices of plays. Like
the community theater Henry mentioned. I haven’t read the mission statement of
the theater but if they effectively want to be the theater doing old White
plays, for old White people, in old White suburbs, good on them. Better that
than to make a half-hearted attempt at being inclusive just to convince yourself
you’re not racist. It also doesn’t automatically make your company racists because
your mission is to produce A Death of a salesman, A Streetcar Named Desire, and
Our Town every other year.

          
     The mission
matters as much as anything. Does the theater serve a diverse population and does
it care if that population fills its seats (and its bank account)?  If so then the theater has to make the
commitment to prove it. Is the theater a “teaching theater” that encourages a
culture of studying the culture or people who create drama different than that
of the community the theater serves? Or does the exist just to offer amateur
artists the chance to have fun creating live entertainment in their spare time. 

     Like I said this conversation is muddy. We need to get dirty
every single time. And then we need to turn around and get muddy all over again.

    I’m not bothered by the mud it is where I have lived for
many years now. And I am an actor so I have to add a little bit about myself in
here somewhere. Just to add a little more mud to the pit.

When I was with Theatre Espresso I was in all six of the repertory
shows. For years I played Captain Thomas Preston the British officer responsible
for the Boston Massacre.

And, that's me playing a Black guy, for the same theater company.