Broadway Loves the White 'Diva' but Shuns the 'Difficult' Black Performer
“I’ve seen white performers show up late for call or call out at the last minute for reasons they’re not being honest about. I’ve seen white performers throw fits in rehearsal studios, dressing rooms, and recording booths. Yet their employment is never threatened. Producing teams don’t shun them, they try to appease them.
But for the black performer? We’re the ones who have to behave, stay in line, don’t act out. We’re the toxic element that needs to be removed for the production to go on as a cohesive unit.”
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Finding Balance in Performance Awards
“No system will be perfect, and art will never be objective, but I absolutely find value in participating in the recognition and celebration of theatrical productions in my community.”
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Meat Loaf, musical theatre & what could have been
“That theatre people don’t seem to know that Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman were fellow theatre people first seems to me like a failing of theatre. But it also confirms the ways that theatre’s exclusivity and protectiveness of Broadway as a “brand” limited the types of stories that could be told onstage.”
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Omicron is Exposing New York Theatre’s Failure to Change
“Beneath the obvious concern of getting sick and infecting loved ones, shows with deep pockets have still only allotted to pay for a fraction of the necessary time to quarantine, shouldering the cost of getting infected on the worker.’
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How COVID is changing our attitudes around illness in theatre
“Producing theatre in a pandemic has completely changed the narrative around performing while sick. The caution around illness has forced us to take a step back before deciding to perform or rehearse with symptoms.”
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The "Tiny Tim Effect": Stereotypes of Disability in Popular Stories
“While we are living in a time of growing positive portrayals of people with disabilities in the media, it’s more important than ever to acknowledge the way disability has been depicted in the past and how it still affects our views on disability and people with disabilities today.
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What to Expect When You're the "Token Black" Performer at a Summer Stock
“If you show any emotion that isn't happiness, it will be conceived as anger”
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What are you grateful for in your theatre world this year?
“This Thanksgiving season, I encourage you to find gratitude within the grind. Remember why we missed these rehearsal rooms so much when we weren’t allowed to be in them. Remember the passion that led us to the theatre in the first place.”
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From Hero to Villain: Why We Suddenly Hate Evan Hansen
“Evan makes a really bad, hurtful choice. He takes advantage of other people. Evan also was left by his father, tried to kill himself, and suffers from a mental illness that significantly impacts his life. These facts about him can all exist simultaneously – and they all elicit an emotional response within us. We are forced to live with the dichotomy of Evan’s vulnerability and his deceit.”
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"How the World Can Be" - Lessons for a Revolution from 'Hadestown'
“It’s not hard to catch on to the fact that Hadestown is an analogy for 21st-century social concerns.”
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"Why the green girl is never Black?": Racism in casting
“Elphaba has never been played by a Black woman full time in the United States. A character, who is painted green for the entire production, has almost always been played by a white woman full-time in America. One argument defending this is that theatre should not “be political,” or “politically correct,” and that the role should just go to “the best person.” To this, I ask you – why do you believe that the best person is never Black?”
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An Open Letter to Laura Osnes
“Being a paid performer is a privilege, a wonderful, joyous privilege. With privilege comes responsibility, and yes, as someone who is receiving money from paying public customers, you do have a responsibility to treat their health as safely as possible.”
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