Category: theatre

“We can dismantle oppression in our language as a means of valuing and honoring individuals in the room. There are a plethora of sayings used in rehearsal environments that cause a BIPOC artist to feel powerless and othered in the room; these phrases will not have the same effect on white artists, who have the privilege of doing their work without that added baggage.” – Minnesota Playlist

“The Red Lion is thought to have been built around 1567 and probably played host to travelling groups of players. … Archaeologists are as certain as they can be that they have found its remains at a site in the East End of London where a self-storage facility once stood.” – The Guardian

Producer Marie Cisco created a public Google spreadsheet and titled it “Theaters Not Speaking Out.” It was open for anyone to edit, and it had a simple directive: “Add names to this document who have not made a statement against injustices toward black people.” At 5:50 p.m. PDT on that Saturday, May 30, she shared the document on her personal Facebook page as well as with the Theater Folks of Color Facebook group to which she belongs. – Los Angeles Times

Andrew Alexander, who helped launch the careers of dozens of prominent performers since he purchased Second City’s Toronto outpost in 1974 and the Chicago flagship in 1985, issued an apology saying, in part, “The Second City cannot begin to call itself anti-racist. That is one of the great failures of my life.” Second City artistic director Anthony LeBlanc, who is Black, has been named interim executive producer. – Chicago Tribune

Theatre workers who design and build productions are perfect for this moment, some of them say. “‘For anyone who has arts training, they are taught early on how to collaborate with people. And that collaboration comes with the ability to quickly organize and problem-solve,’ said University Rebuild organizer Daisuke Kawachi, who pointed out the valuable stagecraft skills volunteers are now applying to their community.” – CNN

Many theatres have put out statements of support for Black Lives Matter protesters, and some have put up posters saying the same things on their boarded-up windows. Then New York Theatre Workshop opened its doors to provide water and food and bathrooms for protesters, and a hashtag, and a campaign, was born. “In just a week, what started as one theater opening their doors to 64 theaters around the country opening their doors goes to show how easy you can change an industry. Not by waiting for them to do the right thing, but by artists pressuring them to do so.” – Token Theatre Friends

The theatre group tweeted out something that said Black Lives Matter. Then former SCT employee and actor Dwayne Perkins weighed in, sparking a series of tweets from Black actors and other actors of color about many Chicago theatres. In Alexander’s resignation letter, he said, “On stage, we dealt with the absurdity of the equal opportunity narrative that society uses to oppress BIPOC. We dealt with the double standard that rationalizes violence against people of color. We dealt with the cynicism of the liberal pact with capitalism. Offstage, it’s been a different story.” – Chicago Tribune

The actor – known to American audiences as a Sherlock and Doctor Who writer, and Mycroft Holmes on Sherlock – says, “There’s always a debate about how London-centric theatre is,” but adds that regional theatres have been “part of the ecosystem forever.” They’re in deep peril now, thanks to the Covid-19 shutdown and uncertainty about the future. – BBC

But the adaptation isn’t easy or OK. “‘This is the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do,’ [Nicole] Carroll said of working in the theatre. ‘It feels like a grieving process, letting go for a while of the thing that you’ve wanted to do for so many years.'” – American Theatre