Posted: 6/8/20 at 12:43pm
Ann responds:
Dear Chris Giordano and Artists for Anti-Racist Accountability (AFAR)
I resent having to address this right now since the conversation should really be about how black lives matter, but you have chosen your platform to attack me personally, attack a show I was involved with from the very beginning, and to harass a company I respect and love dearly. So here goes.
You don’t have to like Avenue Q. You can have whatever feelings you want about Avenue Q. What you do NOT get to do is judge my personal character if you don’t know me and we have not worked together. Chris, you are a white man who has no problem calling me, a woman of color, racist. If you’re so interested in supporting POC actors why are you shaming me? Whatever problems you or anyone has with Avenue Q, you’re all comfortable blaming me for them? Gee, thanks.
HOW F*CKING DARE ANY OF YOU imply I tolerate and encourage systemic racism because I agreed with the song title “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist”. What I was speaking to, and what I believe the song is about, is that we all have unconscious bias due to our various upbringings. I don’t think that is a particularly controversial opinion. The song escalates as it goes along, showing how ridiculous certain stereotypes really are. As for the character of Christmas Eve, of course I see how she is a racial stereotype because of her accent. I believe that is the POINT. I have always maintained that her accent does not indicate that she is ignorant or that it even makes her the butt of the joke. People have accents in real life, it does not make them “less than”. Christmas Eve is the most educated character in Avenue Q.
But why am I even defending her? She doesn’t need it. The content of her character is on the page.
MOST insulting to me personally is that anyone would think I would accept a job I find offensive. Also that my colleagues, many of whom you tagged in your original post, would support work THEY found offensive. I am proud of Avenue Q and of our process in developing the show. I DID speak up about things in the script and score that bothered me, and I am happy to say the creative team listened and treated me with respect, which is more than I can say about you.
I am proud of what we accomplished together. Shows and humor are products of their time and maybe back in 2003 people were more open to irony and satire. I realize some of the content that seemed fine then may not play so now. But I have been told the creatives are open to changes and there are plans to adapt it. I trust them to do what’s right because I know them.
This is, of course, only my personal opinion. You don’t have to like it or like me or like how I played the role. I can only say that at the time it was joyous and liberating to be part of a new kind of storytelling. I will always be grateful for that experience.
However, Chris, I don’t know that it is a good look for you to randomly attack a show that has been closed for a year, to single out a veteran actor of color for particular disdain and bullying, and to be enthusiastic about calling out your “friends” for their “complicity”. To me that does not make you an ally. It makes you a virtue-signaling creep.
Sincerely,
“Broadway’s original Christmas Eve, an actress of Asian-American descent”.
Ann Harada
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