"A New Deal For Broadway" abolishes all-white creative teams; includes commitments from Shubert, Nederlander, Jujamcyn to each rename theatres after a Black Artist — Page 5

I don't like quotas, and find them inherently racist, but I also don't really have any great policy ideas that would encourage diverse hiring, so I reluctantly accept that it's probably the best path forward.

Actually, maybe I take that back. One potential policy that I've seen in other industries (and I don't know if this would translate to theatre) is, rather than mandating the racial makeup of the final crew, mandating that a certain percentage of interviewees for each position comes from a minority demographic. This gives underrepresented groups an opportunity to break in across the entire crew, and seems like a more natural way to encourage diversity than by letting majority-white creative teams hire a single token black guy in order to check the diverse box without doing any further legwork.

joevitus said: "I mean, come on, what nearly everyone wants right now is a return to the Broadway that was shut down by COVID, and here's a document saying "The Broadway that closed down isn't coming back." Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. The whole thing is about the most tone-deaf approach to the issue imaginable. That's the real problem with this approach--it won't work."

1. You are wrong about what nearly everyone wants. [Why does this conjure up an image of racist Southerners sitting around singing Dixie and hoping the South will rise again?]

2. You are wrong to suggest that "[t]he Broadway that closed down is[] coming back." 

3. And you are manifestly wrong that it won't work because it already has. 

If you are oblivious to what has already happened, it is probably a bad idea to go slinging expressions like tine deaf around. LOL

@torres it would not translate because most of the people we are talking about are not hired by means of an interview process. 

ctorres23 said: "2010s-era Broadway is the Confederate South now? This board is wild."

You do realize that no one made that comparison, right?

Maybe I am delusional. I thought joevitus said "nearly everyone wants a return to the Broadway that was shut down by COVID", i.e. pre-2020 Broadway, and you compared that desire to racists who wanted the return of the Confederacy. But maybe that didn't happen.

ctorres23 said: "Maybe I am delusional. I thought joevitus said "nearly everyone wantsa return to the Broadway that was shut down by COVID", i.e. pre-2020 Broadway, and you compared that desire to racists who wanted the return of the Confederacy. But maybe that didn't happen."

You're delusional if you think people aren't thinking "I want Broadway back. I want things as they were pre-COVID." Because that's the constant refrain everywhere. So, yeah, maybe get  your head examined, too.

 

ctorres23 said: "joevitus said: "You're delusional if you think people aren't thinking "I want Broadway back. I want things as they were pre-COVID." Because that's the constant refrain everywhere. So, yeah, maybe get your head examined, too."

Sorry, I misread your last post, but we're on the same page. I both want pre-COVID Broadway back, and I also think most Broadway fans (in particular the ones who aren't extremely-online) want Broadway to return in roughly the same state as when it shut down.

That being said, I do probably need my head examined."

LOL. I appreciate this, and apologies on my part.

As someone who works on Broadway, and has been backstage at over 2 dozen shows, the creative staff of almost every show I've seen is quite diverse, and would match the US racial makeup, which is still like 67-70% caucasian. There really is no under-representation, except perhaps in the orchestra pit, which from my experience tends to be Asian heavy. 

 It would be more constructive, instead of making demands and marching around in the street to perhaps enlighten black children, the wonderful world of the orchestra, and playing an instrument, or educate them on show tunes, live theater, its history, etc. this is a cultural thing. Black people are not usually aficionados of classical music or show tunes or theater in general and few take the career path of being a professional union musician, composer, etc. although my drum teacher at one point was a black Broadway drummer and perhaps the best I've ever seen play the drums. 

It seems to me the activists don't want diversity in theater, they want to take it over by coercion and bullying.  

BroadwayPatriot said: "As someone who works on Broadway, and has been backstage at over 2 dozen shows, the creative staff of almost every show I've seen is quite diverse, and would match the US racial makeup, which is still like 67-70% caucasian. There really is no under-representation, except perhaps in the orchestra pit, which from my experience tends to be Asian heavy.

It would be more constructive, instead of making demands and marching around in the street to perhaps enlighten black children, the wonderful world of the orchestra, and playing an instrument, or educate them on show tunes, live theater, its history, etc. this is a cultural thing. Black people are not usually aficionados of classical music or show tunes or theater in general and few take the career path of being a professional union musician, composer, etc. although my drum teacher at one point was a black Broadway drummer and perhaps the best I've ever seen play the drums.

It seems to me the activists don't want diversity in theater, they want to take it over by coercion and bullying."

Thanks Uncle Vic! Bet those "five decades of Broadway experience" is serving you well in your Indiana basement. Kisses. 

BroadwayPatriot said: "As someone who works on Broadway, and has been backstage at over 2 dozen shows, the creative staff of almost every show I've seen is quite diverse, and would match the US racial makeup, which is still like 67-70% caucasian. There really is no under-representation, except perhaps in the orchestra pit, which from my experience tends to be Asian heavy."

The Asian American Performers Action Coalition’s latest visibility report makes it clear that, no, Broadway’s creatives are not a very diverse group: 

“93.8 percent of directors on Broadway were white in the 2018–2019 season; Off-Broadway, white people accounted for 78.7 percent of director positions (BIPOC directors increased by 5.9 percent in this space from the previous year). Numbers were similar for designers: 92.6 percent white on Broadway, 73.3 percent at non-profits.”

https://www.playbill.com/article/aapacs-new-theatre-diversity-study-underscores-prominence-of-white-leadership-on-nyc-stages

 

Kad said: "BroadwayPatriot said: "As someone who works on Broadway, and has been backstage at over 2 dozen shows, the creative staff of almost every show I've seen is quite diverse, and would match the US racial makeup, which is still like 67-70% caucasian. There really is no under-representation, except perhaps in the orchestra pit, which from my experience tends to be Asian heavy."

The Asian American Performers Action Coalition’s latest visibility report makes it clear that, no, Broadway’s creativesare not a very diverse group:

“93.8 percent of directors on Broadway were white in the 2018–2019 season; Off-Broadway, white people accounted for 78.7 percent of director positions (BIPOC directors increased by 5.9 percent in this space from the previous year). Numbers were similar for designers: 92.6 percent white on Broadway, 73.3 percent at non-profits.”

https://www.playbill.com/article/aapacs-new-theatre-diversity-study-underscores-prominence-of-white-leadership-on-nyc-stages

 

Of course, my experiences are not endemic of the entire industry, however, I've worked on over 2 dozen Broadway shows, and seen a diverse array of people.

You can always cook up stats to fit your agenda, you gave me agenda-driven analysis, I take nonpartisan, statistics more seriously. Take a look in a Broadway pit or a symphony, disproportionately the musicians are Asian, at least in NYC.

Have any of these activists, ever thought, that it isn't "racism" but perhaps a lack of interest in certain crafts among certain racial groups? The problem with the aggressive, slogan-shouting woke crowd, is they assume everything bad in the world is because of racism, the world is more complex than this. The idea would be to get younger Black and Hispanic kids, interested in professions that encompass theater, education is KEY.  Educators would rather preach helplessness, racism, and set children up for defeat before entering the real world. The woke, anti-racism ideology is brimming with negativity and will in time prove to be detrimental to society. The well-intentioned "left" continue to act on emotion, rather than careful analysis. This activist theater group is another extension of the anti-racism dogma. 

Again, instead of marching and making demands, more efforts should be made to enlighten and expose all ethnic groups to the theater. This is not rocket science. 

"

 

BroadwayPatriot, I agree with a lot of what you are saying.

As a part of the black community you are pretty much on target regarding black people not seeking a path to certain parts of the theater. It just isn't of major interest to our community unless it is a black oriented show. To this day I can't get any of my family, and in the past, my black friends, to go to the theater. They always said "It's for white people". But the Wiz, Dreamgirls, Patti LaBelle in "Your Arms Too Short.." or any other black show opens and they will pay top dollar. It does start with educating our kids in the black community (And not just the black community actually). I headed a program to expose and educate young black school children about theater. We planned for them to see two productions. One Shakespeare. We also took them on backstage tours for them to see what goes on behind the scenes. Most were amazed and had no clue this world existed and wanted to be a part of it. Unfortunately black kids are not getting good exposure to theater and that is why most don't choose that path or think it is too white. Anyone who thinks this is not part of the reason we don't see more black people in all aspects of the theater is wrong. It was what our organization was all about. Does theater need to do better? Yes. Hire those black people that are qualified. But what you described is most definitely part of the equation.

ok, so we have a group of demonstratedly racist trolls telling us how things are for black people, and that they just need to hush and listen to the white folks. Umhmmm. 

Luckily, the "news" in this thread is that the powers that be have put all this nonsense in the rear view mirror. But yeah, this is what racists do when they think they are losing control. PS, it's astonishing how unaware of things one must be to refuse to acknowledge the news that we are at the point of becoming a majority minority country. But that's the problem now, isn't it?