SHUT DOWN SLAVE PLAY

[troynow]

Posted: 6/20/19 at 10:52pm

from the original NYTW run this petition began:

https://www.change.org/p/abernalwbrc-yahoo-com-shutdown-slave-play

I am on board with this.

I am all for new theatre and work that is stirring it this is pure racism!

Shut it down

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 6/20/19 at 10:57pm

Shouldn’t people be allowed to see art and judge it for themselves?

[Alex Kulak2]

Posted: 6/20/19 at 11:02pm

Just don't see it.

Broadway is not a political platform. It's a math equation. They think putting this play in a Broadway house will make money. If it doesn't make money, it will close. Be done. Shut down, if you will.

I haven't read the play or seen the production, but if it's as offensive and problematic as the petition claims it is, no one will want to go see it.

[BroadwayRox3588]

Posted: 6/20/19 at 11:02pm

Sometimes art is gonna make you uncomfortable. When I saw Blackbird a couple of years ago, I was squirming in my seat, and it was one of the best plays I've seen in recent seasons.

[Pose2]

Posted: 6/20/19 at 11:12pm

Oh no, more people being offended by art. Cool. Hey, if something offends you feel free to scroll right by it or simply don't purchase tickets for it.  It's very, very simple. 

[DoTheDood]

Posted: 6/20/19 at 11:22pm

First off, when has a Change.org petition ever actually stopped anything before? I keep seeing them protest so many things, but I've never actually seen anyone follow them.

Second, would this play ever be seen by a racist and have it approve what they think? I haven't seen the play, but reading about it and knowing the writer and director are black, I feel like that would probably have noticed that.

Third, I don't think white people laughing is in a mocking way. This seems like a very raw play so they were probably more uncomfortable if anything. White people should be called out on any inappropriate behavior in plays like this, but I think uncomfortable laughter might be what the playwright is going for. To make the audience uncomfortable and have them rethink how they view the world.

[Alex Kulak2]

Posted: 6/20/19 at 11:32pm

Can someone tell me what is in this play that is so distasteful? I know reading about something doesn't pack the same punch as seeing it on stage, but I can't really find what the show is about, or what's in it.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 6/20/19 at 11:38pm

I haven’t seen the show but kind of over this rhetoric.

[LightsOut90]

Posted: 6/20/19 at 11:42pm

take this BS somewhere else

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 6/20/19 at 11:52pm

Oddly, the petitioner gives no facts as to why this play is so oppressively and insultingly offensive that it should be shut down by popular demand.
If she wants to convince people that this play is beyond the pale of acceptability and that they should join her in censure, why doesn't she explain what it was that she saw that was so appalling?

The fact that she only provides ad hominem criticism leads me to believe that she might well have no persuasive grounds for her disgust.

Having said that, I'd be open to hearing any facts that might support her position.

[haterobics]

Posted: 6/20/19 at 11:53pm

troynow said: "I am on board with this.

I am all for new theatre and work that is stirring it this is pure racism!"

Well, if you signed the petition you did your bit... no?

But did you see the show? Or are you just signal boosting your virtue signaling?

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 6/21/19 at 12:34am

I went to college with Jeremy O. Harris and we were pals, so maybe I’m biased, <<edited by BWW staff>>. I don’t live in New York and didn’t get to see Slave Play, but it was pretty universally acclaimed. The best dramas often do make people uncomfortable. Maybe she should have seen Frozen instead?

That said, the petition has almost 5,000 signatures. Then again, how many of those that signed actually saw the play?

Updated On: 6/21/19 at 12:34 AM

[WldKingdomHM]

Posted: 6/21/19 at 12:53am

Not once did I feel uncomfortable during the show, and it's not that crazy that everyone is making out to be;  kinda of like been there, seen that....next.  Over hyped galore! I was rather bored, but to each their own. Good luck

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 6/21/19 at 1:02am

All that this petition made me want to do was go and see this play. Sounds insane.

I just find it so funny that she really doesn't elaborate at all on what made the play so "racist." Can't imagine that a black man would write a play condoning salvery, so maybe she missed a key point. I've been constantly amazed by how many people can't recognize satire when they see it. Maybe that's what the situation here is.

[Cape Twirl of Doom]

Posted: 6/21/19 at 1:27am

The Distinctive Baritone said: "I went to college with Jeremy O. Harris and we were pals, so maybe I’m biased, <<edited by BWW staff>>. I don’t live in New York and didn’t get to see Slave Play, but it was pretty universally acclaimed. The best dramas often do make people uncomfortable. Maybe she should have seen Frozen instead?

That said, the petition has almost 5,000 signatures. Then again, how many of those that signed actually saw the play?"

Most like 0. They just see the word “slave” and that’s it. 

Updated On: 6/21/19 at 01:27 AM

[Ledaero]

Posted: 6/21/19 at 2:15am

This all is very absurd. I think one of the major issues with this petition is that she is inappropriately substituting the word "racist" for "triggering". SLAVE PLAY deals with very intense sociopolitical issues in a very graphic way, but by no means is the piece racist. It dives full front into the exploration of racial stereotypes. I mean that's pretty much what the play is about. Accessing deeply rooted associations of identity that we have suppressed in the evolution of our culture. It's very fascinating and there's a lot to think about. And as for having a predominately white audience laughing, Harris and O'Hara knew that was going to be a thing and they highlight it brilliantly by having a mirror angle down onstage so that the audience sees themselves and become aware of their own tendencies and reactions.

It would be great if people who've actually seen the play make arguments about this debate. There is way too much of "I haven't seen it or read it, but..." This play is way too complicated to talk about if you have not experienced it in some way. I look forward to this debate when it opens again in the Fall. 

[troynow]

Posted: 6/21/19 at 7:48am

This is an excellent question and I am happy to educate and respond.

In the African American Museum in Washington DC, there is an exhibit on display that logs the history of the way "black exploitation" (not the films) began. Dating back to early days of "cooing". Making black people UGLY, Big liped, Big hair, Larger than life eyes....all these things done to create saddness for the less fortunate, building a system where when you see a person like this you feel sorrow. You feel, poor them..... Create an immediate bias for anyone dark skinned. Therefore by doing this White people were able to justify the action created and supported because how could black people ever be better.

I say this because to understand why a play called "THE SLAVE" play is so racist and should be shut down, you have to be 

BE BLACK IN AMERICA

BLACK ON BROADWAY

UNDERSTAND that for decades calls of the size of my lips being told they are ugly. y hair is too big, "DONKEY BLACK DICK" is only for white pleasure.

THE RAPING of black women as SLAVES being taken by white me against their will.

NOW fast forward to THE SLAVE play, where all of this is on display for comedy? Where ony WHITE producers re apart o this BS because they think it is advancing the image of BLACK PEOPLE?


ART can motivate and educate and entertain. Sometimes it can disturb. However there is a LINE! This is NOT art this is setting black people back by decades!

 

There are only five black producers on broadway:

Stephen Byrd

Rashad Chambers

Brian Moreland

Alia Jones

Ron Simons

 NONE OF THESE PEOPLE are participating in this CRAP! 

Before you claim Art, think about the history of Black people and what has been endured!

 

 

 

[HogansHero]

Posted: 6/21/19 at 8:48am

First of all, your list of black producers is wrong. 

Secondly, is there a reason you chose to disregard that both the writer and the director are black? Is their "be[ing] black in America" somehow less entitled to expression than yours? 

Third, is there a reason you chose to disregard the words of others who have as much standing as you as "black in America"?

Don't get me wrong: you are totally entitled to your reaction to this show. But you are not entitled to make your point(s) in intellectually dishonest ways. Or by purporting to speak for folks that have not hired you as their spokesperson. 

Shutting down the expression of others is never the right result.

[troynow]

Posted: 6/21/19 at 8:56am

I speak for myself not their production. 

People sell out all the time. Black or not, the show is wrong. Being Black In America is an understanding. There is a history and understanding. Not all "get it" much like Jeremy. Setting Black in America back! WAY BACK!

Name the other active black producers on Broadway?

Having a black director and writer means nothing about the content. 

[Huss417]

Posted: 6/21/19 at 9:05am

troynow said: "I speak for myself not their production.

People sell out all the time. Black or not, the show is wrong. Being Black In America is an understanding. There is a history and understanding. Not all "get it" much like Jeremy. Setting Black in America back! WAY BACK!

Name the other active black producers on Broadway?

Having a black director and writer means nothing about the content."

Have you seen the play?

[dramamama611]

Posted: 6/21/19 at 9:39am

So is this going to turn into The Scotsboro Boys? Ruined by people that only have a knee jerk reaction to what a small minority might feel? I can't fault the woman that started it, as I believe she's simply relying on her feelings and if she feels offended, the material is offensive.(her truth)

I can't speak to the piece, not having seen it. However, how widespread can her opinion be if there hasn't been other discussion of this before now? Or have I missed that?

[haterobics]

Posted: 6/21/19 at 9:56am

Huss417 said: "Have you seen the play?"

That seems like the bit that never gets a response...

[Alexander Lamar]

Posted: 6/21/19 at 9:56am

There was quite a big to-do regarding Slave Play when it was playing off-broadway, but I knew I wasn’t going to see it so didn’t look into the details. Maybe I will now. I knew this announcement would re-ignite that conversation though. Yikes.

[HogansHero]

Posted: 6/21/19 at 10:16am

troynow said: "Having a black director and writer means nothing about the content."

Seriously? Now you're just being silly. What means something? Just your opinion and those of folks who agree with you? I gather you have a monopoly on "understanding" what it means to be black in America. Must be great to be able to erase the worth of humans who don't "get it." Sorry, but no. 

 

[Smaxie]

Posted: 6/21/19 at 10:16am

A more reasonable AA response to Slave Play from The Undefeated's Soraya McDonald. (Her piece includes spoilers). 

The subversive ‘Slave Play’ peels back the veneer of racial innocence in Northern whites