#MyMiddletown

Last week I scored a free ticket to see "Middletown" at the Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, RI. I was looking forward to seeing this play as it seemed that they would have a touch more racial diversity in their casting.  Also the story line seemed thought-provoking in that it was considered to be a contemporary "Our Town" set in a small town and addressing as written on their web page, "universal themes of love, birth, death, loneliness, elation, forgiveness, disappointment and redemption."

Again, I found myself being one of a handful of people of color in the audience and certainly one of the younger audience goers.  This definitely is a reality for so many theatres when it comes to the lack of diversity in age and race among audiences.  The only time that I was in the racial majority was when I went to see "Raisin in the Sun" with Denzel Washington, which was refreshing to experience. Then again, is anyone surprised by that?

As I watched "Middletown," I thought about where I grew up, which was suburban rather than small town, and about the diversity that existed there, which back in the 70s wasn't much.  My family were the only Asian Americans in the neighborhood apart from a bi-racial family in the street (a true anomaly) and an Irish Catholic family from Ireland (even more of an anomaly considered it was majority Jewish). 

So, then, did "Middletown" pertain to me in my present life? In some ways, yes. Yes, because the themes were truly universal as I dealt with the deaths of my parents within the past four years, changes in vocation in the past two years and the reality of hurdling towards my retirement years.  And, no. No, because the actors were majority White and my friends and neighbors are more racially diverse.

After the play, I was the lone person who stayed after for the "Talk-Back" with the actors and staff, and I'm so glad I did. I shared with them my thoughts and concerns about the lack of diversity in theatre and guess what? They agreed and were fully cognizant of the challenges and issues that in so many ways threaten the future of theatre in the United States.

Hopefully next month I'll see "The Glass Menagerie" with Laura being wholly different than you can imagine.

I. Can't. Wait.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Institutional Racism and Higher Education

Image
There's so much happening that it's hard to start, as it has been two years since I've written. From March 2020 to June 2020, much of the US (and the world) was shut down to the COVID-19 pandemic. It's strange to read my past postings and to find myself here - isolated most of the time and hesitant to leave the confines of my home due to this highly contagious virus which to date has killed over 500,000 and has infected over 14 million , and disproportionately impacted BIPOC . Then in May, our nation was roiled once again in racial violence with the murder of George Floyd by police officers in Minnesota. As a result, many companies, organizations, and institutions published statements of support and a commitment to change. What's disheartening is that the murders of Black men, women, boys and girls have been happening for time out of mind, and in recent memory have been viewed and heard in social media for at least a decade. Four years ago I walked i
Read more

Split and Stereotyping

Image
***This posting has spoilers for the film "Split"*** Last weekend I went to see the film " Split ", which is about disassociative identity disorder  (DID) or is still commonly known as multiple personality disorder. For many of us, we think of the book " Sybil " back in the 70s then later the film featuring Sally Field as the client, Sybil. However, interestingly, the client admitted years later that she faked her diagnosis .  Although DID as a diagnosis is fairly uncommon although the  phenomena of disassociating  is more common that we think due to stress, trauma or even illness. As I watched the film, it was clear to me that there was a significant amount of stereotyping to depict the different identities such as "Barry" who liked to design clothes and had an affect that would be stereotyped as "gay." Another is that the film was reinforcing the belief that mental illness is over-the-top and beyond repair. Also that mental illn
Read more

Lost & Found

This morning I had an argument with my BF and it did not go well. No surprise. Also no surprise that the argument started at point A and ended up at point Z or what I'd call "planet mars." My poor BF, he had no idea what hit him (metaphorically of course) but neither did I. By the end of the argument, I found myself standing alone in the middle of the living room with tears threatening to stream from my eyes, and eventually they did. The feelings that arose were a powerful potion of regret, anger, sadness and perplexity as to my teaching experience in China in 92-93. As some people know, I was interrogated in China in 1993 and my visa was unexpectedly cancelled because I allegedly broke the law. Later, Chinese officials admitted that they "may have made a mistake" which is pretty much an outright confession for having done something wrong and being sorry for it. For years I always believed that what I set out to do in China came out of a sincere desire to
Read more