“We See You White American Theater” Publishes Demands

#1“We See You White American Theater” Publishes Demands

I’m surprised nobody has started a thread on this yet. 

We See You WAT, which has gotten close to 150,000 signatures on their petition about racism in the theater community, has published a 31 page list of demands for American Theater. A few demands that stick out to me: 

• Rename 50% of theaters after BIPOC artists
• Do away with main stage and second stage content at nonprofit theaters
• Have 50% BIPOC staff in every element of theater
• Reserve early ticket sales exclusively for BIPOC audiences
• Abolish 10 out of 12s and 6 day rehearsal weeks, as they are “seeped in capitalist and white supremacist culture.”
• Whether or not there is any nudity, every show must have an intimacy director.

There are many other demands in the document, but those are just a few that stuck out to me. I suggest reading the full document to get the full picture.

Any thoughts on this?

#3“We See You White American Theater” Publishes Demands

And this is how progress stalls. These demands are so far out of line that any meaningful discussion will break down. A lot of the original signatories of the petition will soon be disavowing they organization.

#5“We See You White American Theater” Publishes Demands

I don't even know where to start.  Actually, I do but this is too much and some of it is unrealistic.

#7“We See You White American Theater” Publishes Demands

"Reserve early ticket sales exclusively for BIPOC audiences"

So they want so solve racism with......racism? I didn't realize that the telecharge or ticketmaster websites knew the color of my skin when tickets went on sale. This is one of the dumbest things I've read all year and that's saying a lot with everything that's gone on all year.

#9“We See You White American Theater” Publishes Demands

Thank goodness the statement isn't directed at the people on this board. We can only pray that the people in charge of these organizations are more open-minded. 

Some of these changes will definitely take some time and effort, and will involve long-term investment and gradual changes in order to achieve in a practical way. Particularly when it comes to the hiring percentages. But I'd say 75-80% of these demands are pretty achievable in the short term, as long as the people with power actually take responsibility and put in the effort to implement the changes. 

#11“We See You White American Theater” Publishes Demands

Here's some that stuck out to me...

"Broaden Tony eligibility to include shows produced under a union contract at any theatre in NYC larger than 500 seats, including qualifying shows at The Apollo Theatre in Harlem"

"Abolish the current system of secret handshakes that give theatre rentals to the same producers over and over again."

"We demand that all theatres/productions cease all contractual security agreements with police departments across the United States. Theatres/productions must invest in security agencies that are not affiliated with or founded by police/ex-police officers"

#13“We See You White American Theater” Publishes Demands

I did read all 31 pages, though I skimmed over some of the bits that seemed to be repeating essentially the same demands for different institutions. Some of them seemed a bit far-fetched to me upon my first read, but I think that's partly because I'm so used to the unbalanced status quo that true efforts to correct the imbalance sound impractical to me. So I sit with it and process it, and try to be open to what marginalized people are telling me. 

I won't fully address your comment about racism tonight, because it's a long, complex issue and I have to go to bed, but I would encourage you to Google articles about why "reverse racism" isn't real. Suffice it to say that while the "racism" technically means any discrimination based on race, the word as more commonly used in today's social justice movements refers more to systemic power imbalances that effect day-to-day life for both individuals and communities. 

I have found this graphic to be helpful in demonstrating what the intention behind this sort of measure is necessary (see image below). We are striving for equity (the image on the right) not equality (the image on the left). Providing everyone with equal treatment is equality, and that's good in theory. But when some people are at a constant disadvantage, they require additional, active support - like the shorter person getting an extra box to stand on because the fence is too tall. Many of these demands are examples of "extra boxes" like in the image below. 

#15“We See You White American Theater” Publishes Demands

Reverse racism doesn't exist, because it is just that, racism. According to the official definitions anyway. I am not saying context doesn't mater and power constructions don't exist, but racism is racism.

 

Also, if you have the power to make me feel bad for something I have no responsibility in or I can't help, you have the power to be racist.

#17“We See You White American Theater” Publishes Demands

Seems like the authors don't understand a lot of how the business works. Divest from IATSE? One party can't unilaterally agree to back out of a collective bargaining agreement. Give one opening night ticket to white critics and a pair to black critics? Lots of issues there but mainly that critics aren't invited to opening nights. Require theater owners to attract more diverse audiences? Productions market their shows, not the theater owners. Ensure 50% of Tony nominating committee is BIPOC within 3 years? That shouldn't be a problem because it's already 44%.

#19“We See You White American Theater” Publishes Demands

JBroadway - 

I understand your graphic but, unfortunately, the majority of the demands are ridiculous, and eye-roll-inducing. Many of those demands are not looking for equity - they come across as wanting to be the tall person AND standing on two boxes (which I hope all of us can see would be wrong for any group to do).

I would call on someone like LMM (only because he signed the letter - not because he should be “expected” to lead a movement) to use his hard-earned wealth and talent to create a company that cultivates and nurtures BIPOC artists without having to rely on anyone else (read White).  

 

 

 

#21“We See You White American Theater” Publishes Demands

There is something so unpleasant and threatening about this statement they have put out.  This isn’t the way to deal with it.

#23“We See You White American Theater” Publishes Demands

Owen22 said: "Granted, some of these requests seem a little out there. But it also seems, by the intense, nasty reactions that some people think those making the request are acting a little uppity."

I'm a biracial (Black and Korean) person of color who has worked professionally in theater for 30+ years. A reckoning with the systems of racist inequity within the industry is a long time coming. There are, and will continue to be, people who engage with #WeSeeYouWAT (and specifically, these demands) in bad faith. At the same time, I'm concerned that many people are going to start thinking they can't engage in a dialogue in any way without appearing like racist gatekeepers, and that they need to essentially treat everything coming from this collective as gospel. That's not the way forward.

#25“We See You White American Theater” Publishes Demands

@Wick3 - actually a rating system like the one you described IS already included in the list of demands. See page the very top of page 12.

@bawoman - to be clear, when I said “reverse racism,” what I meant was “racism against white people.” By the standard definition of the word “racism,” yes, racism against white people exists. But today, when people talk about racism, they are using the word in the sense of the more complex definition I described above. This is because the complex definition is more useful to describe the most prevalent and dangerous form of racism plaguing us today. The kind of racism that’s in the most need of addressing. By the standard definition, “racism against white people” exists, but because white people have the power, any “racism” against us is really not a prevalent problem, and can be chocked up to rare, isolated incidents. And in any case, in most of the incidents in which white people feel they are the victims of racism, it’s actually just POC calling them out for doing harm, or POC asking for active means of recompense for that harm (i.e getting more boxes to stand on at the baseball game).

@blm2323 - I hear what you’re saying, but to continue the metaphor:

Maybe the reason we think that is because we as the “tall people” (white people) don’t actually understand just how tall the fence is, or just how many boxes it will require to allow them to see.

@Broadway Joe and others - I confess I don’t totally understand the logistics of how the ticket reservation would work, or why exactly it’s necessary. But as I said above, that’s probably because there’s something about the ticket-buying process that doesn’t take into account the ripple effects of systemic racism, and we as white people can’t see that because, on the surface, the ticket-buying process seems perfectly equal. But I’ll also say that the spirit of it might simply be another means of outreach and actively making space for POC. How is this different from Hamilton reserving tickets for student groups at very low prices? When you create greater access, in combination with outreach, it fosters equity, inclusion and diversity.