In this blog post, writer Patrick Gabridge talks about the need for white writers to specify the race of the characters in their plays and how the racial make-up of theatre companies make just as powerful a statement, if not moreso, about diversity in theatre. Read the article here.
Category Archives: Race and Representation in America’s Theatres
Fairy Princess Diaries: Those Wounds Heal Ill, oh @TheWoosterGroup
This article talks about The Wooster Group’s production of Troilus and Cressida (renamed Cry, Trojans! ) in which they decided to portray the Trojans as a “pastiche fictional tribe” during the time the Native Americans inhabited the country. However, they did not cast any Native American actors in their production. Read the article here.
Philebrity.com: Lantern Theater Company Goes Out for Julius Caesar But Comes Home With, Er, Asian-Fusion Tempest?
This article talks about a letter that Makoto Hirano, a self-described “dance theater artist, actual Japanese person, [and] actual Samurai descendant,” wrote to the Lantern Theatre Company Artistic Director, Charles McMahon, after watching the theatre company’s production of Julius Caesar. McMahon also wrote a letter in response to Hirano. Read the article here.
TCG Conference: To the Mountaintop
At the TCG Conference in San Diego this past June, playwright Kristoffer Diaz (The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity) gave remarks at the To the Mountaintop plenary. The session dealt with the future of diversity and inclusion in theatre. Read Diaz’s speech here.
NY Times: Women are Missing From Tonys and Broadway
In her opinion article, playwright Lynn Nottage talks about her frustrations with Broadway’s lack of women and people of color playwrights, bookwriters/composers, and lyricists. Read the article here.
HowlRound: What Happened When Critics Failed to Review My Latino Play
Director and professor Tlaloc Rivas talks about how no one from any English-language paper reviewed a show, Mariela en el Desierto, he directed at Aurora Theatre Company in Atlanta, GA. He explains how essential it is for works by Latino/as to be recognized and reviewed. Read the article here.
MPR: New Theater Coalition Wants End to Racial, Ethnic Stereotypes
This article talks about how five theatres in the Twin Cities are coming together to form a coalition that would ensure people of color are given respectable presentation on stage. Read the article here.
Bitter Gertrude: Our Role in this as Artists
This article from Bitter Gertrude talks about our responsibilities as artists with the work we create in light of the UCSB shootings. Read the article here.