Portia: I Chose to Walk Away From Violence- Page 2

[TheQuibbler]

Posted: 10/23/22 at 11:12pm

RippedMan said: "This seems awful, but to make it a racial thing - as pointed out by her in her essay - seems...misguided?"

There’s a very long history of doctors not listening to women, and more specifically Black women, so it’s not as much of a stretch as you might think. 
 

‘You are not listening to me': Black women on pain and implicit bias in medicine

“[Black women] are caught between being considered impervious to pain because of their race, and overly hystericalabout pain because of their gender.”

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 10/23/22 at 11:12pm

RippedMan said: "This seems awful, but to make it a racial thing - as pointed out by her in her essay - seems...misguided?"

Also: one cannot want more opportunities for Black actors while ALSO taking problem with Black actors playing roles not specifically written for Black actors. Pick a lane.

Every actor of every race is a "prop" or "landscape" to the playwright's work.

Updated On: 10/24/22 at 11:12 PM

[PipingHotPiccolo]

Posted: 10/24/22 at 12:35am

TheQuibbler said: "
There’s a very long history of doctors not listening to women, and more specifically Black women, so it’s not as much of a stretch as you might think.”"

That is 100% true, and its certainly possible that the Atlantic Theater Co and the people behind this production are a buncha racists who disregarded Portia's health, only respected the input/views of the white cast members, and even (!) only communicated with Portia's white manager/agent due to their racial bias. All of that strikes me as plainly ridiculous, given the context here (crazy bigots running Atlantic Theater Co, right under our noses this whole time!), and undermines her entire tale here. 

[JasonC3]

Posted: 10/24/22 at 4:46am

When I read posts like Portia's or Porkalob's, I find myself swirling in a sea of reactions:

1.  Empathy for the frustration they feel and their situation

2.  Wondering if the system, institution, and/or players are really this bad and/or what everyone could have done to better handle concerns outlined

3.  Wishing they weren't so strident in a public proclamation

4.  Questioning my own potential bias that leads to my reaction stated in #2 and #3

I try to remind myself that the way I might choose to express myself in these situations that would allow my concerns to be heard and addressed may not be avenues that would produce the same outcome for others (or at least that they perceive would not do so).

[TheQuibbler]

Posted: 10/24/22 at 8:07am

PipingHotPiccolo said: "TheQuibbler said: "
There’s a very long history of doctors not listening to women, and more specifically Black women, so it’s not as much of a stretch as you might think.”"

That is 100% true, and its certainly possible that the Atlantic Theater Co and the people behind this production are a buncha racists who disregarded Portia's health, only respected the input/views of the white cast members, and even (!) only communicated with Portia's white manager/agent due to their racial bias. All of that strikes me as plainly ridiculous, given the context here (crazy bigots running Atlantic Theater Co, right under our noses this whole time!), and undermines her entire tale here."

I mean, that’s an extreme reading. Implicit bias isn’t necessarily outward racism, it’s a result of social programming, that can seep in sometimes so subtly we’re not aware of it. People can think they’re not harming another person and still harm them. Intention and impact doesn’t always align.
 

And this terribly bad faith reading of the situation is just more evidence of someone not listening to a Black woman’s pain. 

[Kad]

Posted: 10/24/22 at 10:23am

I think Portia does have legitimate concerns re: bias, and I see the logic in connecting them to the occupational safety failure she experienced. However, I don't think she did a particularly good job at linking them in this piece, and - to me, at least- it does read like she's implying that nearly everybody involved was actively racist, and that was the sole cause of everything. There's a major leap from "race was not handled well in the rehearsal process" to "I was put in physical danger because of my race."

[dinabobbiemanke]

Posted: 10/24/22 at 1:26pm

The company manager was told about her asthma. In a meeting with a cultural consultant, it was admitted that essentially, she was not believed re the severity of her asthma. That alone reveals textbook biases when it comes to black women's health. The email quoted from the director is embarrassing, and tells me he was more interested in covering his own ass than actually apologizing and taking accountability. 'I apologize if this seems defensive' is not an apology. I think a lot of biases are being revealed on this board right now, and that's worth investigating. We all have them.

It's not just Portia who walked away, PS. The costume designer and their assistant did as well. She is not overreacting here. She also offered to leave the production. Even AFTER Portia left, they did not use said fog machine, so how important could it have been? Regarding The Atlantic, a LOT of BIPOC students have come forward with firsthand accounts of experiencing racism following Portia's account. And if The Atlantic truly did nothing wrong - why has this all been covered up? No statement was released regarding what happened. An ambulance having to come to the theatre is pretty newsworthy if you ask me. Also - their EDI representative on staff is white. So... yeah, I have to wonder how willing they are to actually engage with BIPOC voices in any sort of real way. And it seems that, factually, the black women were the only ones helping her on that day. If you read Gabby Beans interview with The Times to promote I'm Revolting, she literally does not say a positive word about the show. Wonder why. She also commented on Portia's post on IG. It seems Portia is not the only person who felt this way re this production and its treatment of black actors. 

This is VERY different from Sara's piece and shouldn't even be compared. Portia left the show, and waited until it had closed to post her account. And the damage done isn't even in the same ballpark. I think what Portia's done is amazing - she has put her career at risk by putting this out there, and she has 110% of my support. No one should have to use a rescue inhaler to do their job. She mentions her doctor's appt was for that Monday - could they not have waited until Tuesday to implement the fog? 

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 10/24/22 at 1:49pm

Welcome Portia. 

And Kad you are spot on. 

[SouthernCakes]

Posted: 10/24/22 at 2:08pm

dinabobbiemanke said: "The company manager was told about her asthma. In a meeting with a cultural consultant, it was admitted that essentially, she was not believed re the severity of her asthma. That alone reveals textbook biases when it comes to black women's health. The email quoted from the director is embarrassing, and tells me he was more interested in covering his own ass than actually apologizing and taking accountability. 'I apologize if this seems defensive' is not an apology. I think a lot of biases are being revealed on this board right now, and that's worth investigating. We all have them.

It's not just Portia who walked away, PS. The costume designer and their assistant did as well. She is not overreacting here. She also offered to leave the production. Even AFTER Portia left, they did not use said fog machine, so how important could it have been? Regarding The Atlantic, a LOT of BIPOC students have come forward with firsthand accounts of experiencing racism following Portia's account. And if The Atlantic truly did nothing wrong - why has this all been covered up? No statement was released regarding what happened. An ambulance having to come to the theatre is pretty newsworthy if you ask me. Also - their EDI representative on staff is white. So... yeah, I have to wonder how willing they are to actually engage with BIPOC voices in any sort of real way. And it seems that, factually, the black women were the only ones helping her on that day. If you read Gabby Beans interview with The Times to promote I'm Revolting, she literally does not say a positive word about the show. Wonder why. She also commented on Portia's post on IG. It seems Portia is not the only person who felt this way re this production and its treatment of black actors.

This is VERY different from Sara's piece and shouldn't even be compared. Portia left the show, and waited until it had closed to post her account. And the damage done isn't even in the same ballpark. I think what Portia's done is amazing - she has put her career at risk by putting this out there, and she has 110% of my support. No one should have to use a rescue inhaler to do their job. She mentions her doctor's appt was for that Monday - could they not have waited until Tuesday to implement the fog?"

I hear what you’re saying and do agree but I’m sorta of the mind that maybe this particular stage manager was just ignorant to the asthma thing. So it’s not a racial thing just maybe she didn’t take it seriously? I just think it’s a big leap to make it a racial thing when we will obviously never know if that was true or not. 

[Kad]

Posted: 10/24/22 at 2:11pm

Generally, no, I would not say an ambulance being called to a theatre is inherently newsworthy, any more than an ambulance being called anywhere is inherently newsworthy.

And I just re-read Beans' Times profile, uh, you are reading a lot into nothing- it's a profile about her as a performer (also, noteworthy is the fact she and the director have worked together and are friends). There is no "cover up" here.

Updated On: 10/24/22 at 02:11 PM

[JBroadway]

Posted: 10/24/22 at 2:45pm

Woof, this thread is a doozy, as usual.

As noted above, history of Black women's health not being believed or taken seriously is well-documented, and is definitely connected to implicit bias.

But even if you disagree with her attempt to draw a link to race, that doesn't discredit the actual sequence of events that put her physical health in danger.

Having seen the show, I can only think of a couple moments where fog might have even been appropriate, and zero moments where it would've been missed. Maybe this conversation would be slightly different if we were talking about a show taking place in a swamp, or another context where the fog is integral to the visual storytelling. In which case, at the very least, they'd feel incentivized to keep the effect, even if an actor was forced to use an emergency inhaler. And they might even see themselves as taking the high ground, for trying to find a solution that would keep the actor employed.

But this was not that sort of production, so the choice to prioritize a totally superfluous stage effect over her health and/or employment is particularly troubling.

Again, even if you don't buy her "spin" on the situation, or even if you think she should've done something sooner - it feels sort of incidental. They continued using the fog even though she didn't have an emergency inhaler yet, and according to her, they even confessed to doing that in an internal meeting. And I'm having trouble seeing a way around that level of culpability.

Unless of course, you just think Portia is lying about that sequence of events, in which case....I guess there's no point in discussing it.

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 10/24/22 at 2:53pm

I agree that with these sorts of public call-outs, it's hard to not having conflicting feelings about it.

That said, whether the white people in positions of power here were being "racist" or not (it's all a matter of perception, isn't it?), given all the attention the poor treatment of theatre workers has been getting since the COVID shutdown, and especially when coupled with the racial reckoning the white theatre world has been having these past few years, for them to have not treated Portia's asthma with more seriousness was just plain dumb. I mean, yes, if she were white, maybe her concerns would still have been dismissed. But why risk a theatre worker's health - especially a Black theatre worker's health - in 2022 over what is (evidently) a completely pointless fog effect?

I think her essay would have been more effective had she not explicitly stated "It's because I'm Black and they are white" - there's no way she could actually know that for sure - and many people reading the essay would probably have made that conclusion on their own.

Ultimately though, this is about the folks at the Atlantic, and they f*cked up big time. This is particularly egregious since the whole fiasco could have been easily avoided by just not doing using the stupid fog machine. I remember like twenty years ago I was required to smoke a cigarette onstage (this was back before cloves or whatever they use now were the norm). After a couple of performances, a crew member spoke up and said she had asthma and it was making it hard for her to breath backstage. You know what we did? We cut the cigarette. Artistically, yes, I think the character smoking a cigarette in that scene is an effective choice (it's in the stage directions), but we weren't going risk someone's life over it. And this was a college production. You'd think that at the Atlantic Theatre Company such a thing would have been a no-brainer.

[whatever2]

Posted: 10/24/22 at 6:32pm

> I hear what you’re saying and do agree but I’m sorta of the mind that maybe this particular stage manager was just ignorant to the asthma thing. So it’s not a racial thing just maybe she didn’t take it seriously? I just think it’s a big leap to make it a racial thing when we will obviously never know if that was true or not.

It's actually a very small leap.

what several posters to this board have worked so very hard to deny or downplay -- that race was a factor in this incident -- goes to the very heart of implicit bias. White people were raised in a racist society; NONE of us (61 year-old White guy here) escaped altogether the inculcation that comes with that. it's why doctors discredit Black expressions of pain more than White ones -- not because they're overtly racist, but because they've been inculcated to devalue Black voices. (interestingly, Black doctors do this, too.)

these are NOT overtly racist acts; they are acts informed by the implicit (unconscious) bias we've all onboarded as the result of living in a racist society.

the actual interesting (but almost certainly unknowable) question here is whether the stage manager would have reacted differently had a White actor expressed concern about their asthma. not because they are overtly racist, but simply because of having unconsciously onboarded the racism of the society in which they live. therein lies the true nature of implicit bias.

Updated On: 10/24/22 at 06:32 PM

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 10/24/22 at 9:20pm

whatever2, I think most of the people who have posted here agree with you. What I was trying to express is that ultimately, whether the powers that be were being unconsciously biased or not is impossible to prove, yes, but ultimately besides the point. Because Portia is a Black woman, it definitely at least comes across as racist, which is harmful either way.

[WinstonSalem]

Posted: 10/24/22 at 10:56pm

My brother had asthma all his life--the kind that lands you in the hospital. So, he was never without his rescue inhaler. I agree with Piping that it should not take more than 24 hrs to get ahold of one. In this case, since she could not, I have to assume that she did not have a PCP who had knowledge of her diagnosis and who could write a prescription immediately. If you have to seek out an unfamiliar physician to write this Rx, that could be an uphill battle as you'd have to be seen and try to establish that acute medical history while healthy.

Having said that, my brother died of an asthma attack at age 23---with his rescue inhaler in his hand. I suspect a part of the problem in this situation is ignorance about the real dangers of asthma. Portia's story of her attack is terrifying. My advice to everyone, in every industry: don't f*ck around with asthma. It kills.

[dinabobbiemanke]

Posted: 10/25/22 at 12:59am

Kad said: "And I just re-read Beans' Times profile, uh, you are reading a lot into nothing- it's a profile about her as a performer (also, noteworthy is the fact she and the director have worked together and are friends). There is no "cover up" here."

Gabby just shared Portia's piece on her Instagram. Don't think I'm reading a lot into nothing on that front. In terms of a "cover up", if you comment on The Atlantic's Instagram asking about what happened, your comment gets deleted. They did not release a statement about Portia leaving the production (there was even a thread here where people were wondering what had happened regarding cancelled performances), a new actor joining, or the costume designer and their assistant leaving. They also delayed opening night with no explanation. Suspicious behavior to me, at the very least.  

[pmensky]

Posted: 10/25/22 at 1:54am

dinabobbiemanke said: "Kad said: "And I just re-read Beans' Times profile, uh, you are reading a lot into nothing- it's a profile about her as a performer (also, noteworthy is the fact she and the director have worked together and are friends). There is no "cover up" here."

Gabby just shared Portia's piece on her Instagram. Don't think I'm reading a lot into nothing on that front. In terms of a "cover up", if you comment on The Atlantic's Instagram asking about what happened, your comment gets deleted. They did not release a statement about Portia leaving the production (there was even a thread here where people were wondering what had happened regarding cancelled performances), a new actor joining, or the costume designer and their assistant leaving. They also delayed opening night with no explanation. Suspicious behavior to me, at the very least."

I think if the Atlantic had made a statement about Portia’s reasons for leaving the production, it could have been a HIPPA violation. 

[Tom5]

Posted: 10/25/22 at 5:20am

Regarding asthma and its fatality rate for adults and children I assume the stage manager didn't know how to use the internet. 

[SouthernCakes]

Posted: 10/25/22 at 7:36am

JBroadway said: "Woof, this thread is a doozy, as usual.

As noted above, history of Black women's health not being believed or taken seriously is well-documented, and is definitely connected to implicit bias.

But even if you disagree with her attempt to draw a link to race, that doesn't discredit the actual sequence of events that put her physical health in danger.

Having seen the show, I can only think of a couple moments where fog might have even been appropriate, and zero moments where it would've been missed. Maybe this conversation would be slightly different if we were talking about a show taking place in a swamp, or another context where the fog is integral to the visual storytelling. In which case, at the very least, they'd feel incentivized to keep the effect, even if an actor was forced to use an emergency inhaler. And they might even see themselves as taking the high ground, for trying to find a solution that would keep the actor employed.

But this was not that sort of production, so the choice to prioritize a totally superfluous stage effect over her health and/or employment is particularly troubling.

Again, even if you don't buy her "spin" on the situation, or even if you think she should've done something sooner - it feels sort of incidental. They continued using the fog even though she didn't have an emergency inhaler yet, and according to her, they even confessed to doing that in an internal meeting. And I'm having trouble seeing a way around that level of culpability.

Unless of course, you just think Portia is lying about that sequence of events, in which case....I guess there's no point in discussing it."

Agree with everything you said! I’m of the mind that just because a situation involves two people of different races, it shouldn’t just always be a race thing. In this case maybe it is. Or maybe it isn’t. 

[SouthernCakes]

Posted: 10/25/22 at 7:39am

Tom5 said: "Regarding asthma and its fatality rate for adults and children I assume the stage manager didn't know how to use the internet."

But see that is kind of my point. I didn’t realize it was such a fatal thing still in 2022. 

[annang]

Posted: 10/25/22 at 4:20pm

WinstonSalem said: "My brother had asthma all his life--the kind that lands you in the hospital. So, he was never without his rescue inhaler. I agree with Piping that it should not take more than 24 hrs to get ahold of one. In this case, since she could not, I have to assume that she did not have a PCP who had knowledge of her diagnosis and who could write a prescription immediately. If you have to seek out an unfamiliar physician to write this Rx, that could be an uphill battle as you'd have to be seen and try to establish that acute medical history while healthy.

Not everyone has a PCP at all, much less one they can contact within 24 hours. In fact, I'd venture to say that most Americans do not. 

Having said that, my brother died of an asthma attack at age 23---with his rescue inhaler in his hand. I suspect a part of the problem in this situation is ignorance about the real dangers of asthma. Portia's story of her attack is terrifying. My advice to everyone, in every industry: don't f*ck around with asthma. It kills."

I'm so sorry for the loss of your brother.