Award Winning Playwright Almost Slaps a Theatre Patron (and what that apparently says about our theatre) — Page 2

A Director said: "I will defend your right to comment on Dominique Morisseau article, but I wonder why you feel the need to call her Miss Thing?...As you middle aged, white, gay man, why do you feel the need to reduce an African-American woman to just a thing? Is this your way of putting Dominique Morisseau in her place?"

What are you talking about? "Miss Thing" doesn't mean that he is saying she is not worthy of being referred to as a person. Miss Thing is someone who thinks they are better than everyone else. Usually Miss Thing is not very polite and she demands respect even when she doesn't deserve it. And, like the author of this ridiculous article, she has a chip on her shoulder.

I never realized that when my son and I got upset with my wife the other night for talking during the Hunger Games and telegraphing who Katniss was going to shoot with that arrow near the end we were engaging in some kind of elitist and supremacist microagressive behavior against her. He always gets me in trouble.

I agree with Taz...the whole scenario seems made up so this woman could write this article.

American Theater, the way to build a younger, more racially and economically diverse audience is to support the funding and creation of theaters whose main goal is to build a younger, more racially and economically diverse audience.

You know what you should do when you see a show? Sit in silence. This isn't a race issue, this is an issue of a whiny you-know-what using the Internet as her personal diary. Some people frustrate me to no end.

The lack of awareness of privilege in this thread is astounding. And tone policing is as old as time, or at least as racism.

Everyone knows this is an actual issue, especially based on the kind of frequent threads of complaining of these "new audiences" coming to the theatre and asking whether or not they will "ruin your experience". And yet, instead of looking at the call for diversity in the theatre as something that runs up against the primary audience's desire to keep the experience identical to its current values, everyone is attacking her tone.

It's as old as time and yes, as AC126748 said, you might as well call her uppity.

Not taking one side's story as fact without hearing from the other party isn't casual racism. It's common sense.

That's my take on it as well. But somehow, that will be considered racist as well. I'm sure someone will provide a detailed explanation why shortly.

"I love young 20-somethings who have realized that it's their mission to tell the entire world how they should be (need it be stated that they should be exactly like said 20-something?)"

Why did you find it necessary to try and generalise this person's behaviour to an entire group of people? (which could obviously offend people in said group). Ridiculous.

Updated On: 12/10/15 at 04:28 PM

qolbinau said: ""I love young 20-somethings who have realized that it's their mission to tell the entire world how they should be (need it be stated that they should be exactly like said 20-something?)"

Why did you find it necessary to try and generalise this person's behaviour to an entire group of people? (which could obviously offend people in said group). Ridiculous.

"

I hate all of the constant "all Millennials are THE worst" crap you always hear, but in this case there is some context since the Award Winning Playwright brings up the age thing constantly.

What bothers me about the article is that the author became beyond enraged and had the desire to slap the woman. If you have that extreme reaction to a disagreement about theater etiquette, you need professional help. And when "Jane" was going to "further chastise" the author she was met with an immediate dismissal of "no more". But then the author seemed displeased when she tried to "engage" "Jane" after the show and was greeted with a similar response. And of all her friends who attended the performance that evening, there was no one who could lend her money for a ticket purchase. Lousy behavior for all parties.

Brick said: "The lack of awareness of privilege in this thread is astounding. And tone policing is as old as time, or at least as racism.

Everyone knows this is an actual issue, especially based on the kind of frequent threads of complaining of these "new audiences" coming to the theatre and asking whether or not they will "ruin your experience". And yet, instead of looking at the call for diversity in the theatre as something that runs up against the primary audience's desire to keep the experience identical to its current values, everyone is attacking her tone.

It's as old as time and yes, as AC126748 said, you might as well call her uppity.

"

So when Balinese theater patrons fall asleep and even snore during wayang kulit performances (9 hours long and performed, in theory, for the gods, not the humans) are they engaging in yellow privilege? Or is privilege just a white thing?

All communal art forms depend on complex matrices of group conventions. Pretending this is only true of white people and Western European/American forms of theater is disingenuous.

The op ed writer betrays her ignorance (or perhaps just her bias) when she equates theater with religious services and blithely asserts that some people worship silently while others worship loudly. Either form of worship is fine with me, personally, but it is dishonest to pretend that each is equally disruptive and equally benign relative to the other. It simply ain't so.

And for the record, I have never complained about boisterous audience participation at this forum. (I admit I wasn't crazy about it when I first encountered it 35 years ago. Why was the DREAMGIRLS audience screaming so loudly I couldn't hear Jennifer Holliday? And didn't the character basically disappear amid the riotous acclaim for the singer?) But I got over my annoyance as I came to understand the tradition. I still think shouting out during an Ibsen drama is inappropriate for that style of theater, but I can deal with it in the rare event that it happens.

Updated On: 12/10/15 at 06:22 PM

Kad said: "Why are we calling/implying that Dominique Morisseau a millennial? She's in her later thirties. "

I meant it in a general sense--but Morisseau does seem to imply it was at least as much an "ageist" issue as a racial one

Damn, that was well put, Adam!