I was aware that the awards were being given, but I didn't realize until afterward that they were actually going to stream an awards presentation ceremony. Glad to hear it went well!
I did vote though, and I read the list of winners. I think the choice to use a voting system was the only viable way to do it this year, because everything was being done retro-actively. They had no other way to recognize shows that their small group of organizers hadn't seen. But yes, I agree that they should put together a committee of Black theatre artists to go see these shows. Hopefully this will also allow them to see more Off-Off-Broadway shows.
I do hope that we get to a point someday when the categories can be filled out by entirely Black-created shows. It's pretty sad to look at the list and see so many nominees that can barely qualify as Black theatre. The Wrong Man was written, directed, and produced entirely by white people. And not only are the races of the characters never mentioned, but Ryan Vasquez (who isn't Black) played the lead at many of the performances. Girl From the North Country is about a large group of people - two of them are black? And the show was written and directed by a white man. Similar situation with Jagged Little Pill. Secret Life of Bees at least has a Black woman as the adaptor, and it's about Black people. But Duncan Sheik, a white man, actually WON the award for Best Score. And West Side Story and Little Shop get to count in Best Revival just because they have a few Black people in them?
The sad part is that they had to include to these shows to fill out the categories, because there weren't enough Black written shows at the major theatres. I do think opening it up to Off-Off-Broadway will alleviate the problem somewhat, but we do also need to look at adding more Black voices to Broadway and Off-Broadway.
As for the Best Play category, all of them were written by Black people, thankfully. The problem is, I just don't think that the pool of nominees were very high in quality. I saw one in two, All the Natalie Portmans, BLKS, and Paris, and I heard mostly negative things about Toni Stone. I thought Paris was the best play in that bunch, but overall I didn't care much for these plays.
I'm not saying that to diminish the contributions of Black artists, I'm saying that it's a testament to how few opportunities they have, that just a few mediocre plays can make or break the quality of the Antonyo pool of contenders. If Black playwrights were produced as often as White playwrights, it wouldn't matter if 5, or even 10-15 of the plays ended being bad or mediocre. Because the pool would be larger, and as a result, the number of good plays would go way up too. As it is, I'll bet that the number of mediocre plays by white people this season (On and Off-Broadway) exceeded the total number of Black plays - of any quality.
