The world is mobilizing in the movement for Black lives. Following the unjust murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, both acts of police sanctioned violence, Black people far and wide are sharing their personal accounts of racial inequity in their industries. Among them, Black theater artists.
There’s no denying the looming air of racism in the theater. These artistic institutions, that were built upon the white perspective, have been historically violent to the Black artists that they “allow” into their realms. With that being said, in the last several years, we’ve seen an influx of Black stories presented on Broadway and Off-Broadway stages. These efforts towards “diversity” have been applauded by many who feel that these strides are an indication that the theater is moving in a far more progressive direction than ever before.
The problem? It’s not enough. It has never been.
As theaters rolled out their mass statements of solidarity, social media flooded with Black artists sharing their personal accounts of the harrowing reality of being a non-white artist in the performance industry. This outward fronting solidarity from white-dominant theaters that flooded our Instagram feeds AND inboxes were, as expected, met with great critique. So much so, that Instagram pages like @BroadwayIsRacist_ , which posts anonymous accounts of racial inequities in the theater, garnered a following of over 2,000 people within the matter of a single week.
On June 8th, some of Broadway’s major hitters, shared a unified letter to the institutions of White American theater. #WeSeeYouWAT dives into the plethora of aggressions that White theater has espoused among its Black, Indigenous, POC artists. The letter amplifies the need to protect and support the voices and lives of BIPOC artists, not only on paper, but in action. The letter was signed off by 335 artists, among them, Dominque Morisseau, Lynn Nottage, Saheem Ali, Viola Davis, and Broadway Black founder, Drew Shade.
Theater artists like Griffin Matthews, who you may know from his 2015 musical Invisible Thread, was also among those who expressed their critique of the industry.
Matthews, whose IGTV video titled “Dear Amy Cooper: Broadway Is Racist”, has garnered close to 300,000 views since it was first shared on June 1st. In this video he shared several instances in which his talent and identity were exploited and/or disrespected for larger capital gain. From failed donations to director outbursts in the room, to the most surprising of all, members of the creative team telling an actor she wasn’t “black enough” (Yes, you read that correctly). These are only a handful of the experiences that he shared which speak to this shadowed racism.
“A song in act one mentioned that the fact that I was the son of slaves. Our producer in the middle of a creative team meeting said, “Slavery is over, no one wants to hear about that” Not one single person put him in check and that, is Amy Cooper.”
-Griffin Matthews
With over 50,000 additional signatures on the #WeSeeYouWAT petition since it’s posting, it’s clear that these concerns runs deep, and there are likely thousands of other stories yet to be shared.
Broadway has a big issue. This is only the tip of the iceberg.
