Theatres of Color Demonstrate Collective Resistance in St. Louis
By Leilani Chan
Statement read at a session titled “How We Move Forward” on Saturday, June 16th at the TCG Conference regarding the Friday, June 15th performance of Jerome Robbins’ Broadway at the St. Louis Municipal Opera Theatre (The MUNY). The transcript below was created in only a few hours by artistic leaders of color from across the country in response to the production. This transcript has been edited for punctuation, grammar, and wider inclusivity.
Video from TCG “How We Move Forward” Session (via Facebook)
[VIDEO: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=10156288433341217]
Last night, Friday, June 15 at St. Louis Municipal Opera Theatre, known as The MUNY, representatives of Theatres of Color nationwide demonstrated the power of collective resistance to systemic oppression against people of color. When those who benefit from those systems fail to acknowledge the ways in which those systems oppress others, it limits our ability to live up to the promises of who we say we are as a nation.
When the theatre industry allows instances of black face, brown face, red face, yellow face, crip face, disability drag, and heteronormativity, it sends the message that these types of representations are acceptable.
Let us be clear: they are not acceptable and will not be tolerated by communities of color and our allies.
We acknowledge that all American theater takes place on occupied Indigenous land — and that in this particular case, the performance takes place in a region from which all Indigenous peoples were violently and forcibly removed. Under those (or any) circumstances, the derisive use of Native American headdresses — ceremonial pieces with deep spiritual meaning for many tribal nations — is especially egregious.
After many years of advocacy and education, we see the need for continued action and transparency around theatre practices and performances that reinforce systemic white supremacy in our industry. Even if The MUNY’s 11,000 seat production of Jerome Robbins’ Broadway had been cast, directed, or presented with a contemporary contextualization, the original form culturally appropriates and therefore is inherently racist and is painful and offensive with racial and ethnic stereotypes. We refuse to turn away or ignore and thereby be complicit with the actions and portrayals that wound our colleagues, friends, neighbors, and families in the name of “tradition.”
TCG was immediately reactive to our concerns and for that we are immensely grateful. However, the continued silence from our professional theatre community at large around these destructive narratives that mock marginalized people only ensure the continued oppression and economic, emotional, physical, and sexual violence against those who cannot access the agency afforded to the dominant culture. Additionally, inaction on these irresponsible production choices results in historically white theaters continuing to receive 55% of all federal arts funding. This allows these privileged few to have the power and access to shape the way race and ethnicity are portrayed on stage, further enabling the dehumanization of people of color, women, and the working class.
Theatre is the space for communication, and for intellectual, and emotional process. As artist and agitators, intellectuals and art makers, we are conveyors of the thoughtful, heartfelt, inquiry and action to which our nation aspires.
As representatives of Theatres of Color nationwide, we continue in the tradition of the Civil Rights Movement, the Women’s Movement, Standing Rock, Stonewall, #insteadofredface, #BlackLivesMatter, Beyond Orientalism, #MyYellowFaceStory, and #MeToo.
We voiced our dissent against the minstrelsy in The MUNY’s production of Jerome Robbins’ Broadway last night. With members of the theater community nationwide, we stand in solidarity with the St. Louis theater community, and are here to support your efforts to address the systemic oppression reflected in The MUNY’s production. We support artists involved in the production, and seek to further a national conversation around these issues. We also encourage The MUNY to hold a public forum to address communities of color to hear our voices and experiences, and to mutually come to a way forward.
We charge the American theater community to engage in sometimes uncomfortable conversations which are often ignored by predominantly white institutions as too difficult to engage in, and dismissed as not relevant to their audiences. We are here to assert that this is a conversation that is essential both to our audiences and our shared humanity.
SIGNED
Theatres of Color Collective Response Statement : Signatures
Peter J. Kuo
Freelance Director/Producer/Educator
TCG Rising Leaders of Color Grantee
New York, NY
Supporter
Roger Tang
Executive Director
Pork Filled Productions
Seattle, WA
Supporter
Leslie Ishii
Co-Chair, Steering Committee and Founder/Director
CAATA and National Cultural Navigation Theatre Project
Los Angeles, CA
Statement Contributor, Supporter
Quita Sullivan
Program Director, Theater
New England Foundation for the Arts
Boston, MA
Statement Contributor, Supporter
Khanisha Foster
Individual Artist
Los Angeles, CA
Statement Contributor, Supporter
Meena Malik
Program Coordinator
National Theater Project, New England Foundation for the Arts
Boston, MA
Supporter
Jenny Marlowe
Artistic Associate
Indigenous Direction
Los Angeles, CA
Statement Contributor
Ron Himes
Founder/Producing Director
The Black Rep
St. Louis, MO
Supporter
Kyoung H. Park
Artistic Director
Kyoung's Pacific Beat
Brooklyn, NY
Protestor
Kayla Kim Votapek
Associate Producer
Crossroads Theatre Company
New Brunswick, NJ
Protestor, Statement Contributor, Supporter
Ako
Artistic Producing Director
AMATERASU ZA
NYC, NY
Protestor
Celine Song
Playwright
New York
Supporter
Andrea Assaf
Artistic & Executive Director
Art2Action, Inc.
Tampa, FL / New York, NY
Protestor
Shannon Fitzgerald
Managing Director
Theater Mu
Saint Paul, MN
Supporter
Isaac Gomez
Playwright
Chicago, IL
Supporter
Vijay Mathew
Cultural Strategist
HowlRound Theatre Commons
Boston, Massachusetts
Supporter
Jamie Gahlon
Co-Founder
HowlRound
Boston, MA
Supporter
JD Stokely
HowlRound Fellow/True Colors LGBTQ Youth Troupe
Co-DirectorHowlRound/The Theatre Offensive
Boston, MA
Supporter
Trevor Boffone
Founder
50 Playwrights Project
Houston, TX
Supporter
Amelia Acosta Powell
Steering Committee Member
Latinx Theatre Commons
Ashland
Supporter
Alexandra Meda
Artistic Director
Teatro Luna
Los Angeles and Chicago
Supporter
Arlene Martinez-Vazquez
Founder
Thriving Artists Theatre Company
Seattle, WA
Supporter
Roy A Arauz
Steering Committee Member/Producing Creative Director
LTC / Milagro
Portland
Supporter
rose cano
Artistic Director
Se Teatro: Seattle Latinos Take Stage
Seattle
Protestor
Randy Reyes
Artistic Director
Theater Mu
Twin Cities, MN
Protestor
Carolina San Juan, PhD
Arts Education Director
East West Players
Los Angeles
Protestor, Statement Contributor, Supporter
Larissa FastHorse
Co-founder
Indigenous Direction
Los Angeles, CA
Statement Contributor
Ty Defoe
Co-founder
Indigenous Direction
New York, NY
Supporter
Randy Wong-Westbrooke
Freelance Scenic Designer
San Francisco, CA
Protestor, Supporter
Mina Morita
Artistic Director
Crowded Fire Theater Company
San Francisco, CA
Supporter
Alison Carey
Director, American Revolutions
Oregon Shakespeare Festival
Ashland, Oregon
Supporter
Bernardo Mazón Daher
Co-Founder
TuYo Theatre
San Diego, CA
Supporter
Elizabeth Nungaray
Community Engagement Coordinator
Chicago Shakespeare
Chicago, IL
Supporter
Martine Kei Green-Rogers
President
LMDA
West Hurley, NY
Supporter
Kate Moore Heaney
Associate Artistic Producer
Noor Theatre
New York, NY
Supporter
Leilani Chan
Founding Artistic Director
TeAda Productions
Santa Monica, CA
Protestor, Statement Contributor, Supporter
Andi Meyer
Director of Management Programs
Tradewind Arts
Kansas City, MO
Protestor, Statement Contributor, Supporter
Ariel Estrada
Founder and Producing Artistic Director
Leviathan Lab
New York, NY
Protestor, Statement Contributor, Supporter
Samson Syharath
Founding Core Member
MediaRites’ Theatre Diaspora
Portland, OR
Statement Contributor, Supporter
Nicole Serio
Producing Associate
Crossroads Theatre Company
New Brunswick, NJ
Supporter
Abigail Vega
LTC Producer
Latinx Theatre Commons
Statement Contributor, Supporter
Claudia Alick
Artistic Producer
Calling Up
Supporter
Monica Ndounou
Associate Professor
Dartmouth College
Hanover, New Hampshire
Statement Contributor, Supporter
Daniel Bryant
Director of Community Engagement
Baltimore Center Stage
Baltimore, MD
Supporter
Aaron Todd Douglas
Lecturer
Northwestern University
Evanston, IL
Supporter
Chris Anthony
Managing Director
California Repertory Theatre
Long Beach, CA
Supporter
Kamal Hans
Producing Artistic Director
Rasaka Theatre Company
Chicago, IL
Supporter
Taous Khazem
Actress/Director/Teaching Artist
St. Paul, MN
Supporter
Ariana Cook
Managing Director
Cara Mía Theatre Co.
Dallas, Texas
Statement Contributor, Supporter
DAVID MENDIZÁBAL
Producing Artistic Leader
The Movement Theatre Company
New York, NY
Statement Contributor, Supporter
Anna Skidis Vargas
Founder/Artistic Director
Theatre Nuevo
St. Louis, MO
Statement Contributor, Supporter
John Rooney
Steppenwolf Theatre Company
Chicago, IL
Statement Contributor, Supporter
Christina Rios
Artistic Director
R-S Theatrics
St. Louis, MO
Statement Contributor, Supporter
Alexa Antopol
Accomplice
New York, New York
Statement Contributor, Supporter
Kamal Hans
Producing Artistic Director
Rasaka Theatre Company
Chicago, Illinois
Protestor, Supporter
Nancy Lipschultz
Professor
IU Bloomington
Bloomington IN
Supporter
Gabe Taylor
Co-Artistic Director
Theatre Nuevo
St. Louis, MO
Supporter
Carl Overly, Jr
St Louis
Supporter
Pia Haddad
Creative Producer/Actor
3k2 Productions
New York, NY
Supporter
Fiore Barbini
Actor
AEA
New York NY
Supporter
Tracy Cameron Francis
Free-lance director
TCG Rising Leaders of Color cohort
Supporter
Erika Crane Ricketts
Actor
Overland Park, KS
Supporter
Rebecca Martínez
Freelance Director
Latinx Theatre Commons Steering Committee Member
Brooklyn, NY
Supporter
Kevin Duong
Marketing & Communications Associate
Theater Mu
St. Paul, MN
Supporter
Sylvia Kwan
Actress
Los Angeles CA
Supporter
Jeannie Barroga
Playwright
Self - organization
Sausalito
Supporter
Olga Sanchez Saltveit
PhD Candidate
University of Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Supporter
Preston
Professor
Boston University
Massachusetts
Supporter
Ron P. Muriera
Development Director
San Jose Stage Company
San Jose, CA
Supporter
Rachel Brink
Tampa
Supporter
Monica Cortés Viharo
Doctoral Candidate
University of Washington, School of Drama
Seattle, Wa
Supporter
Rachel Grossman
Ensemble Director
dog & pony dc
Washington, DC
Protestor, Statement Contributor, Supporter
Kiel Williams
Student
Fort Cooperative
Jamaica Plain
Supporter
Greg Watanabe
Actor, company member
Oregon Shakespeare Festival, 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors
Ashland, Oregon
Protestor, Supporter
Amelia Parenteau
Supporter
Alberto Isaac
actor/director
Los Angeles, CA
Supporter
Catherine
Co-founder
Blindspot Collective Theatre
San Diego, CA
Supporter
Ramona Ostrowski
Associate Produced
HowlRound
Boston, MA
Supporter
Judith
Writer
PenUltimate Communications
Ithaca, NY
Supporter
Donatella Galella
Assistant Professor
UC Riverside
Riverside, CA
Supporter
Seeley Quest
Concordia University
Supporter
Kerry Reid
Freelance arts journalist and critic
Chicago, Illinois
Supporter
Maren S Robinson
Resident Dramaturg
TimeLine Theatre
Chicago
Supporter
Amy Brooks
Program Director & Dramaturg
Roadside Theater
Big Stone Gap, VA
Supporter
Rena Heinrich
Theater professor, Freelance director
USC
Los Angeles, CA
Supporter
Karen Jean Martinson
Assistant Professor
Chicago State University
Chicago, IL
Supporter
Mo
studio resident
Charlotte Street Foundation
Kansas City, MO
Supporter
Andrea Kovich
Freelance dramaturg
Seattle, WA
Supporter
Dan Venning
Assistant Professor of Theatre
Union College
Schenectady, NY
Supporter
Jeremy Stoller
freelance dramaturg
New York, NY
Supporter
Adrian Centeno
Literary Manager
Playwrights' Arena
Los Angeles, CA
Supporter
Matthew Krawcheck
Charlotte Street Foundation
Kansas City, Missouri
Supporter
Jordana Fraider
Programs Director
National New Play Network
Los Angeles, CA
Supporter
Anna Kull
Director of Communications & People
The Lark
New York
Protestor, Supporter
Tiffany Wilhelm
Program Officer
Opportunity Fund
Pittsburgh, PA
Supporter
Additional names forthcoming
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