Paradise Blue at The Geffen

From her Facebook:

Dear Theatre Village,
My play Paradise Blue will no longer continue its run at the Geffen Theatre.
There will be a lot of sweeping under the rug of why.
There will be a lot of institutional language. A lot of “unforeseen circumstance” type of language. A lot of “we regret to inform you”.
But the sweeping under the rug is a part of the harm. I sweep the whole damn floor. Nothing hidden under the rug. That ain’t cleaning. That’s presenting an image of clean. And that’s not what I do.
Geffen Theatre might tell you that they have work to do. Perhaps they programmed the wrong play (meaning mine) in the wrong time (meaning after a year of trauma).
That would unconsciously or consciously blame my work for the reason why institutional failure has happened. That Paradise Blue, will like so many Black plays of depth, beauty and pain, be labeled as “Black trauma.”
That will be a scapegoat.
I don’t do scapegoats.
That is not the truth.
I only do the truth.
And the truth is this. I gave the theatre an ultimatum. Respect the Black womxn artists working on my show, or I will pull my play.
Harm has happened. And harm always happens, as we know.
But some theatres - many that I support - are consciously working on addressing that harm. They have pulled experts and training in place. They have combed through demands and calls of action from BIPOC artists and are finding their way into a new day. Some too slowly for our taste. Others at respectable speeds. But there are many who are at least beginning to look within and face hard questions about themselves.
But here. In the experience of my play Paradise Blue, harm was allowed to fester. Grow. And go un-checked. I caught wind of it, as I was not involved in the process. I then investigated it personally. And ultimately, refused to stand for it. I wrote email after email. Drew lines in the sand. And even gave grace and mercy that was not necessarily warranted.
I was met with boldface dishonesty. Commitments to do a thing and then doing the exact opposite of that commitment. And in the process, I watched more and more of my creative team continue to be harmed.
It is layered. Harm began from within. Harm happened internally within the creative team, when fellow artists were allowed to behave disrespectfully. To not acknowledge their impact on one another. To center themselves and their personal struggles over everyone else’s. There are many individuals who carry their own weight in the destruction of a creative project. I do not negate this. I do not exempt grown people from personal responsibility and self respect and dignity for the work that they are hired to do.
However, when harm has been reported to a theatre. When an institution has the final say on how harm will be addressed. On whose harm matters and whose doesn’t. When Black womxn are verbally abused and diminished, and this is brought to the attention of the theatre by myself and other creatives, and the theatre applauds the Black womxn for how they “take” the abuse…..
I say no more.
We are not to be applauded for suffering.
We are not to be expected to be stronger than everyone else.
We are not to be treated so insignificantly that when we are harmed, we are ignored. Asked to tough it out. Or worse, pretend to be listened to when in fact, we are being handled. Tolerated. And not respected. Nor Heard. Protected. Valued.
Then it is time to pull the plug.
I am sharing this publicly not to shame the Geffen. They have produced my work in the past. I thought of this place as one of my first west coast homes for theatre. I don’t have many.
This has gutted me.
To think of myself as a playwright who is only trying to contribute humanity and heart to the world, and to have my own humanity and heart crushed and discarded…
This has made me feel insignificant. Foolish. And hugely disrespected.
I demanded that an apology happen from a creative team member for their abuses against other members of the creative team or they do not continue to work on my play.
And instead of staunchly backing this, the Geffen continued to enable more abuse.
That is when I say no more.
I am writing this note in solidarity with the Black womxn of my show. Not all of them. We are not a monolith. I do not speak for the Black womxn who may feel harm was just a normal part of the theatre process.
I speak for the Black womxn of my show who, in some fashion or another, stood up to the theatre and said no more. They walked. They demanded respect and an apology. And I stood up with them. Promised them I will have their backs. That they will not be fearful or un-courageous and feel obliged to suffer more abuse.
I gave the theatre the ultimatum because I am not passive. This play is not getting pulled for “unforeseen circumstances”. It is getting pulled because I said NO MORE.
And any theatre that has ever worked with me directly knows that I am generous. Beyond generous. I help with their programming. I go above and beyond. I make myself in service of the work, and in service of theatre at large, because I believe in it as the pathway to illuminate a new future.
But I am not taking business-as-usual into that future. I am not taking the normalization of abuse against ANYONE into the future of this field.
The Geffen Theatre is a necessary institution in our field. It needs support to continue to make space for LA Theatre artists, playwrights, storytellers and change makers. Even if I am no longer in that number.
But it will not be in service to our field until it recognizes the root of what went wrong here. To blame anything but the culture of misogyny and abuse that has been allowed to run rampant in our field for generations, is to lie to themselves and the rest of us.
To blame the subject of a play, that was built in the tradition of Black liberation storytelling, and is a story about Black womxn empowerment against abuse…. is to lie about my play and its impact.
To blame the individual artists who felt powerless, lied-to, and frustrated… is to lie about the responsibility of institutions built on patriarchy.
To look inward and acknowledge a pervasive culture of anti-blackness, anti-womxness, and anti-black-womxnness…
Is to finally be pointed toward the truth.

Updated On: 11/24/21 at 05:54 PM

I’m just confused as to what even happened? And feel bad for the cast and crew out of work. 

Sorry to all the actors and the crew that are now out of work during the holidays. This is such a mess.

The Geffen gave a statement to the LA Times, though its still vague on details of what specifically happened: “An incident between members of the production was brought to our attention, and we did not respond decisively in addressing it. As a result of these missteps, some members of the production felt unsafe and not fully supported.”

LA Times

Though its crazy that despite the playwright's facebook post, the Geffen STILL used the "closed due to unforseen circumstances" line in their closing announcement.

RippedMan said: "Sorry to all the actors and the crew that are now out of work during the holidays. This is such a mess."

I believe the show was supposed to close on the 12th, so if the theatre paid the actors two weeks pay, which I believe is the AEA rule in situations like this, they only would have lost a week’s pay. I’m not sure if that applies to the crew. Sometimes crew members are interns or staff members who are salaried.

The same Geffen Playhouse that fired Randall Arney (allegedly) because he disclosed a medical condition?

Former Artistic Director Says Geffen Playhouse Forced Him Out - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Updated On: 11/29/21 at 02:34 PM