Theatre “diversity”

[binau]

Posted: 12/20/17 at 2:10am

Can people stop using the word ‘diversity’ if they really mean ‘racial diversity’? If we eventually solve (or reduce) the racial diversity problem we will still continue to face issues with ‘diversity’ in other demographics: whether it’s age diversity or age by gender diversity (why do women of a certain age struggle to find leading roles?). Whether it’s physical attractiveness diversity (why don’t people who look like Ben Platt often find leading roles? Especially females). Or disability (why has only one actor in a wheelchair appeared on Broadway?).

I find it odd that diversity has become synonymous with racial diversity. It isn’t. Diversity is a higher-order category and people face issues with discrimination across a broad range of different demographics, including race. I don’t think it’s practical or right that the term has been hijacked as if diversity is just about race.

if the issue is racial diversity, call it racial diversity. When will the theatre community learn from the business world that diversity is more than (but certainly includes) race?

Updated On: 12/21/17 at 02:10 AM

[JBroadway]

Posted: 12/20/17 at 2:22am

I agree. I would guess that it's because there is arguably more racial diversity than most other forms - which is sad considering we still have such big problems with racial diversity. We have so few people with disabilities on Broadway, for example, that people rarely even think of it when discussing diversity. 

By the way though, there have no been two actors wheelchair-using actors on Broadway including Madison Ferris from The Glass Menagerie. 

[UncleCharlie]

Posted: 12/20/17 at 4:28am

qolbinau said: "if the issue is racial diversity, call it racial diversity. When will the theatre community learn from the business world that diversity is more than (but certainly includes) race?"

Having worked in the business world for the past 30+ years mostly in high tech, when companies talk about diversity, they are talking about racial and ethnic diversity. The term was originally coined as it relates to the workplace to represent a social policy of encouraging tolerance for people of different cultural backgrounds, ethnicities, countries of origin and race. That's how the term became synonymous with race and ethnicity. That doesn't mean that companies are not sensitive to ensuring opportunities for women, handicapped, older employees, LGBTQ etc. Every company should have a policy on equal opportunity that ensures equal and fair treatment of both applicants and employees in any protected class in matters of hiring, training, salaries, promotions and advancement etc. and should make sure that policy is being followed. But being open to the richness that people from different countries, cultures, races etc., bring to the workplace instead of shunning them cause they are "different" is what the foundation of diversity was based on.

So I'm not sure the business world, at least the corporations and industries I've been a part of see diversity as any different than does Broadway. If the different corporations you've worked for have used it more broadly, I'd be interested to hear about what you've seen. 

Updated On: 12/20/17 at 04:28 AM

[BWAY Baby2]

Posted: 12/20/17 at 5:34am

Yes- I agree- diversity has come to mean black presence or lack thereof. I always lament, especially at Oscar time, when diversity issues arise and it means the demand for black nominees- whether deserving or no- no ne talks about how many Jews, or gays or Asians or disabled people, etc. are not in the mix. Unfortunately, this type of thinking has given impetus to so many in the age of Trump. I love to see all kinds of diversity in all segments of society- and the extreme focus on only racial diversity needs to widen, in my opinion, to include diversity of all types.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 12/20/17 at 7:57am

Nobody talks about Jews or gays because the arts are riddled with them.

 

People DO talk about a lack of Asians and handicapeed people (especially when they are played by able bodied actors.)

[BWAY Baby2]

Posted: 12/20/17 at 9:25am

All segments of society are riddled with gays- and Hollywood is notoriously homophobic- yes, it has gotten better- and it has gotten better for blacks too- but sexism and homophobia are not of the past- but I do agree that in the theater, gays and Jews are immersed in a culture of equality- rare indeed- and blacks are immersed in a culture of equality in many sports- but this does not solve the problem, of course. And yes, Jews, gays, blacks, handicapped people, Asians, etc. etc. should be included when talking bout diversity- and it should not be ONLY racial diversity- and that is what it has become in a general sense, in my opinion. And that is too bad because it narrows the focus and the solutions.

Updated On: 12/20/17 at 09:25 AM

[Sugar78]

Posted: 12/20/17 at 12:23pm

As a person with a disability, I'm happy to see it being discussed here in the context of diversity because we are rarely given a seat at that table, especially in entertainment. Unfortunately, disability is seen as a problem to be fixed (or ignored) as opposed to being another type of diversity with a unique voice that deserves representation.  Obviously there is a lack of performers with disabilities (at least that are obvious- some likely have invisible disabilities), but there is also a need for accurate portrayal of disabilities regardless of whether the performer actually has a disability or not. I often wonder if they ever consult with actual disabled people before writing/portraying disabled characters, or do they just go with the most stereotypical horror they can think of?  I wonder because it seems that the rare times we are included, it follows 1 of 3 themes: 1)"cure it" (character is paralyzed, dramatic never!walk!again! music is played, then 30 minutes later they're magically cured), 2)"kill it" (pull the plug rather than live with a disability) or 3)"pity it" (use the disabled character as an object to make non-disableds feel better about their own lives).  There seems to be a stubborn resistance to portraying that it is entirely possible to thrive and find success in life AND also be disabled.  Ableist terminology is also too common, with words and phrases such as "confined", "bound", "suffering from", "the r-word", and "handicapped" being dropped without hesitation.  Words do matter, and those words do nothing to foster inclusion and accuracy.  So yeah, while I certainly support any and all of the other types of diversity that are acknowledged, I'll admit to rolling my eyes when I hear anyone pat themselves on the back for being diverse when they don't bring the disability community into the conversation. 

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 12/20/17 at 12:54pm

Diversity is not a black and white issue. In fact, African American performers seem to have better representation than any other minority group. It seems that the only shows with Asian representation are Miss Saigon and The King and I and for Latin performers, West Side Story and In the Heights. That's definitely a problem. Also, yeah I loved seeing the recent Spring Awakening revival, which gave a wonderful opportunity to disabled performers who typically have an extremely hard time finding a place in the acting world. It's also nice to see genderqueer representation in Once on this Island. On the topic of gay people being well represented in the theatre community, gay MEN are, but gay women are still extremely underrepresented in both Broadway and Hollywood.

[Lot666]

Posted: 12/20/17 at 1:20pm

GeorgeandDot said: "On the topic of gay people being well represented in the theatre community, gay MEN are, but gay women are still extremely underrepresented in both Broadway and Hollywood."

Why do you think that is?

 

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 12/20/17 at 1:31pm

No clue, but there's always been some lowkey lesbianphobia. Fun Home was the first time that the lead role in a Broadway musical was a lesbian and that didn't happen until 2015.

[theatregeek6]

Posted: 12/20/17 at 1:38pm

People speak about  (rightfully) ethnic diversity, and to some extent gender.  We don;t hear/see people with various disabilities for the most part.on this board I have seen comments about actors reading 'too old', 'too young', etc.  TBH, 'typing in' is the first part of auditioning.  What does that even mean in a truly diverse world?

[SchuylWERKsister]

Posted: 12/20/17 at 6:19pm

In my opinion, this word is losing all meaning. It is taking a similar trajectory as "equality." Most of the people really pushing “diversity” are middle class, cis-gendered, able-bodied, and Caucasian. It’s become a mask of guilt, uncomfortableness, and poorly formed self-reverential, virtuosity. The use of this word consistently dilutes and conflates the complexities of marginalized groups making it ultimately reductive. The positive intent of the theory romanticizes very flawed and stagnant application.

Updated On: 12/21/17 at 06:19 PM

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 12/20/17 at 6:28pm

GeorgeandDot said: "No clue, but there's always been some lowkey lesbianphobia. Fun Home was the first time that the lead role in a Broadway musical was a lesbian and that didn't happen until 2015."

I don't think it's "lesbian phobia". As a rule, straight men--the supposed
power brokers in theater and film are fascinated by lesbians.

If there is a shortage of lesbian performers, I think it's a by-product
of the shortage of roles for women in general.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 12/20/17 at 6:31pm

I asked this on another thread, so perhaps I'll find it has been
answered. But does anyone have any empirical data on
diversity among Broadway performers?

I'll grant we have a shortage of black stars, but I'm not
at all convinced African-Americans are underrepresented
on stage relative to their numbers in the population at
large.

[BWAY Baby2]

Posted: 12/20/17 at 8:55pm

People who view African Americans through the lens of victimhood- seemingly Jada Pinkett Smith every Oscar season for one- really do a disservice to the issue of diversity- African American presence in film and in theater has improved dramatically- and various segments of the population just roll their eyes when Smith goes off- and the issue of diversity for so many tragically underrepresented groups gets buried.

[binau]

Posted: 12/21/17 at 4:31pm

GavestonPS said: "I asked this on another thread, so perhaps I'll find it has been
answered. But does anyone have any empirical data on
diversity among Broadway performers?

I'll grant we have a shortage of black stars, but I'm not
at all convinced African-Americans are underrepresented
on stage relative to their numbers in the population at
large."

This would be important to know!! I suspect (and hope for the sake of all the noise about this) if we looked at the proportion of leading generic/non-African American specific roles we’d find a lower proportion relative to population size compared with white. But I don’t have any real evidence. It would be shocking if the data told us there wasn’t as big a problem as we thought. 

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 12/21/17 at 9:13pm

I ask because it seems as if every time the issue of "diversity"
arises we have a conversation on the lack of casting
opportunities for black actors. Yet the actor with the most
Tony wins is African-American is black and the most
successful straight-play writer of my lifetime is (deservedly)
August Wilson, who wrote almost exclusively roles for black
actors. We have HAMILTON, we had GREAT COMET, etc.

It appears to me that we have a ways to go with directors,
producers and designers. And I'm sure black actors have a
hard time making a living, but that is true of actors of all
races.

So I wonder...

[SchuylWERKsister]

Posted: 12/21/17 at 9:53pm

I think when we get to technicalities around population and proportions we get ourselves into tricky territory. It’s not about stopping the advancement of black actors, it’s about opening opportunities for other marginalized groups. We need addition and further development which can exist without subtraction and complacency.

What does anyone gain by providing evidence that huge strides have been made for black actors to support an argument that diversity is not “as big a problem as we thought”? That’s not progressive at all.

Audra and August Wilson are exceptions that have almost transcended race in their achievements. They are as indicative of Black Artists as Steve Jobs is of White Technologists.

[binau]

Posted: 12/21/17 at 10:02pm

Having real evidence to substantiate claims of non-representation is always a good thing - if people care about the truth of course. I for one would like to know objectively how big of an issue it is (and which races are most affected - because I doubt it’s uniform). The truth is always useful. It will help provide urgency for the cause to be continued, celebrate success and/or pivot to other issues depending on the outcomes. 

Updated On: 12/21/17 at 10:02 PM

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 12/22/17 at 5:52pm

SchuylWERKsister said: "I think when we get to technicalities around population and proportions we get ourselves into tricky territory. It’s not about stopping the advancement of black actors, it’s about opening opportunities for other marginalized groups. We need addition and further development which can exist without subtraction and complacency.

What does anyone gain by providing evidence that huge strides have been made for black actors to support an argument that diversity is not “as big a problem as we thought”? That’s not progressive at all.

Audra and August Wilson are exceptions that have almost transcended race in their achievements. They are as indicative of Black Artists as Steve Jobs is of White Technologists."

Yeah, what good could possibly come from any-
thing as annoying as facts?

The all-time Tony-winning actor and the most
successful commercial playwright are by definition
outliers, yes. But a context that allows their
success is somewhat different from one that
prevents their success. I mention them only
because their achievements lend support to
my suggestion that we do a head count before
assuming that Broadway casts have a racial
diversity problem in terms of African-Americans.

[SchuylWERKsister]

Posted: 12/22/17 at 6:25pm

It’s obviously not about the facts. It’s the exposing undertone. Some of these comments read, to me at least, “let’s prove that Black people don’t have it as bad off as we think.” which is highly problematic given the historical context of Blackness in America.

It doesn’t read, “let’s look at the facts and see how Black Artists have blossomed so that we can potentially use that information to create opportunities for other, less thriving, marginalized groups” That effort would be awesome. Some of these posts are reading, “let’s get data to prove that it’s not so bad so that we can shut Black Artists up”. Diversity for Black Artists was referred to as “noise” just a few posts above.

The result of exposing that representation for Black Artists isn’t “as big a problem as we thought” has the potential to undo the progress that has been made. We find this data, and then what? We stop? Pat ourselves on the back? This is an active and ongoing effort.

It’s not the facts, it’s what the facts are being used for. These posts are reading very subtractive and punitive. Not in support of the advancement of other underrepresented groups.

Updated On: 12/22/17 at 06:25 PM

[michaelhale]

Posted: 12/22/17 at 6:45pm

On mobile so I'm taking a swing at making these links clickable.

Coalition Releases Report on Diversity in NY Theatre

Broadway League Research Reports

[michaelhale]

Posted: 12/22/17 at 6:56pm

I'm with SchuylWERKsister, though, but also the stats are important. I am not trying to disregard their point. Especially when regarding performers of marginalized identity, lots of he numbers are unseen, how many performers can't even get into regional theater due to their race/size/age/disability, how many feel they can't even start due to these aspects of themselves.

And on the original point, I think it's mega important that we specify what kind of diversity we are talking about. Personally, I know I have wrongly used the terms so I will be looking out for how I discuss diversity in the future. Diversity amongst all body types and disabilities is super important and should be discussed, unfortunately it is the wide-accepted idea that these are problems to be "fixed," as was already said here, not that these are natural ways for people to exists.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 12/22/17 at 8:31pm

SchuylWERKsister said: "...It’s not the facts, it’s what the facts are being used for. These posts are reading very subtractive and punitive. Not in support of the advancement of other underrepresented groups."

Your post seems to be "begging the
question". I asked for numbers on racial
representation; you accuse me and others of
not being supportive of "underrepresented"
groups. But how can we know if they are
underrepresented without data?

I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't assume my
motives in posting, beyond what I actually
write. I have no plans to throw a party to
declare racism solved, not at all. I'm just
not sure the American entertainment in-
dustry is the best place to mourn a lack
of opportunity for African Americans.

The data Michele located (and thank you
for it, michelehale) suggests the case is
much direr for Latinos and Asians (ex-
cept for the latter in years when THE
KING AND I is revived).

Like most such articles on social science
data, there is confusion and questionable
choices in the PLAYBILL article. (Is it 
most enlightening to compare AA actors
in major venues with the % of AA people
in the tri-state area? I think not, since
actors come from all over the US to work
in New York, a better comparison might
be to national numbers.)

But that's not a reason we should stop
discouraging stereotypical casting,
wherein a character with no
specified race is assumed to be white.
Such thinking is not only unfair to
qualified applicants of color, it also
limits our creative media if we keep
shows less than representative of the
racial diversity of the country. (As
others have pointed out, there are
also issues of diversity that have
nothing to do with skin color.)

But if we are decrying the evils
of racism in casting, perhaps we
should concentrate on Latinos.

[passing strange]

Posted: 12/24/17 at 7:46pm

GeorgeandDot said: "Diversity is not a black and white issue. In fact, African American performers seem to have better representation than any other minority group. It seems that the only shows with Asian representation are Miss Saigon and The King and I and for Latin performers, West Side Story and In the Heights. That's definitely a problem. Also, yeah I loved seeing the recent Spring Awakening revival, which gave a wonderful opportunity to disabled performers who typically have an extremely hard time finding a place in the acting world. It's also nice to see genderqueer representation in Once on this Island. On the topic of gay people being well represented in the theatre community, gay MEN are, but gay women are still extremely underrepresented in both Broadway and Hollywood."

African American performers got a foot in the door in musical theatre, mainly because our community has a very unique and rich music history.  From jazz, to gospel, to the blues, to R&B, to hip-hop, and more, there is a lot of American music that has roots in the black community.  When the industry wanted to capitalize on that, it was common sense to hire black performers.  You are right that Latino and Asian roles are far too few.  For that reason, creative minds like Lin Manuel Miranda should be applauded for putting pen to paper, and writing the roles that they so desperately need.