Award Winning Playwright Almost Slaps a Theatre Patron (and what that apparently says about our theatre) — Page 11

If the mods deleted this thread, I would be certain to go directly to American Theater Magazine and all theater-related media outlets and let them know that BWW has no interest in the conversation about race.

So, you would lie.

I have no interest in insulting you.

That's sort of true.  You are definitely interested in insulting as many as possible.

Rather than continue the conversation, you choose to make jabs at me and others who move the conversation along.

Not only is that untrue, it's wildly hypocritical (as is 99% of almost everything you said regarding the subject of racism).  You don't move the conversation along at all.  You insult those who disagree with you, ignore their questions, then repeat the same unsolicited information again and again (you'd make an excellent white conservative Christian "Libertarian"...same methodology).  Then just repeat that cycle again.  Spinning your tires in the mud doesn't move anything forward at all.  Now, I don't speak for everyone, but I know that I've heard your theories countless times in almost twenty years (to my best recollection) and you're not introducing anything new or thought provoking.  

You have already made up your mind about who we are, how we think and invented fictional motivations to fit your one-sided narrative.  You've made up your mind, insulted and ignored them.  You are not interested in a conversation.  You are interested in lecture and conversion, not a conversation.

YES! I invite more playmates!

That pretty much sums up your agenda.  It's not about enlightenment, conversation or thought.  It's just to incite others to disagree with you in order to feed your ego.  Hopefully, you're full.  I'm done feeding the broadwaybelter self-admitted troll.

I just remembered something that happened to me several years ago. I bought tickets to see a concert by a reggae singer  I had admired for most of my life. At the Beacon Theater, I believe. When my friend and I got to our seats, they were occupied  already. I guess I should mention that as far as I could see by looking around the house we were the only white people there.

Anyway, I told the people in our seats that those were my seats. Not only did they not move, they didn't turn their heads to look at us. The show hadn't started  yet, so looking straight at the stage was telling us something. We tried to speak to them, but they refused to acknowledge us. 

Finally we got an usher. This couple also refused to look at the usher, who was black. It became obvious that we weren't going to get our seats. The usher said he was sorry but there was nothing he could do about it. We ended up leaving.

Oh, I know he'll have something ridiculous to say. I don't care. I totally forgot about that night all these years until now, reflecting on this race issue.

broadwaybelter said: "If the mods deleted this thread, I would be certain to go directly to American Theater Magazine and all theater-related media outlets and let them know that BWW has no interest in the conversation about race. But I know that BWW is better than that, well, at least the mods are."

Is facilitating conversations about race part of BWW's charter? I would be curious to see if you could get anyone to care that a website deleted a forum where everyone was calling each other racists.

Oh, dear. Now you're resorting to completely irrelevant moments that have nothing to do with engaged audience behavior. 

@Jane2: You are talking about a pre-show incident prior to the event itself. It sounds like the people you were dealing with were jerks. There's no doubt about that. I would've had some words with them if they were in the seats I had reserved. They were in seats they knew were not their own and refused to leave.  You're also talking about a completely different live event. Theatre has a notoriously homogeneous audience. Concerts tend to be some of the most diverse outings depending on the performer - in this instance, it was a reggae concert.

@smidge: Experience real life? Uh. I'm just...why don't you..I...need a drink. When you say 'experience real life' do you suggest I live blissfully unaware of racism? Or do you suggest I live, as I do, constantly facing the utterly deplorable nature of race dynamics? If you intend to mean the former, I'd rather choose the latter in hopes it can one day be vastly overhauled. The actions Ms. Morisseau describes are consistent with that of engaged black audience behavior in conflict with monolithic, conservative white audience behavior. In response to your jab about the NY Post article: they merely served as a conduit for a survey regarding audience demographics that other media outlets also posted. Are you also suggesting that you disagree that theatre is a mostly white audience? You would be wrong. I have no other way of telling you that. Just because you've seen a handful of black people in the audience of a play once does not make theatre diverse. I wish that were the case. But it's not. I also suggest you read more. You would be malcontent with social structure, and this thread for that matter, if you had more information at your disposal.

Updated On: 12/18/15 at 08:14 PM

Again, I welcome the insults if you are unable to provide an articulate, critical assessment. Hell, it makes this thread a little fun. But it seems as if you don't, so insult away!

Dominique Morisseau goes to the movies

Oh dear, a movie theater just FILLED with racists!

smidge said: "Broadwaybelter said : one day, people of color will be able to clap along to a play without an entire thread telling them they can't.

You have absolutely no idea this occured, other than what the playwright put forward in her article. Your problem is that you jump to conclusions and prejudge the people on this board based on what you read in a book or NY Post article.  Maybe you should stop reading and experience real life

"

Your post sent me back to the original link, because I couldn't remember any mention of what other black people in the audience were doing. There are two such mentions: the writer ("DM" mentions that her companion was also laughing loudly at what they considered appropriate moments (but accuses the companion of no other distracting behavior); and DM also notes that "Jane's" husband sat stoically throughout the performance (for reasons DM considers inexplicable).

As a result, nearly every post on this thread (including mine) addresses the issue as if DM and Jane were the only two people in the audience, each a token representative of her race. Since DM wants to extrapolate her experience to two entire races, how odd that she never mentions how other African Americans were reacting to the performance!

With so few examples, isn't it just as possible that Jane's issue wasn't "white privilege", but a feeling that since she had paid for everyone's ticket, she should be allowed to enjoy the play without distraction?

Only broadwaybelter can tell us the race of our friends and how they feel.

I'd love it if everybody everywhere read A People's History of The United States and did a values clarification seminar and maybe did some sort of Racism 101 learning.  To start. 

Namo said "I'd love it if everybody everywhere read A People's History of The United States and did a values clarification seminar and maybe did some sort of Racism 101 learning.  To start."

Yes, NAMO, there is racism in the US!!!!!!!!

We are arguing about deciding one woman must be a racist because she asked a black person to quiet down in a theater. Again - YES, there is racism in the US

Thank god you got here.