In the Room Where it Happens!
But I wasn't there and that's okay. Having conveyed my own opinions I felt confident I would still be heard among the assembly of TOSOS board members, our costume designer, Ben Phillip; sound designer, Morry Campbell, and director Mark Finley.
But there is always a delicate balance, especially with a mix such as ours. Being a queer company I think TOSOS-The Other Side of Silence-has put a premium on paying attention to who participates in their projects--on both sides of the table. At the same time as a mostly volunteer group, really focused on getting the work up on its feet we're always grabbing the bar as it swings our way in mid air.
As a writer of colour I've worked almost exclusively with queer theatre groups: TOSOS and New Conservatory Theatre Center (SF) so I take a lot for granted. Not that they will always have accomplished the most socially conscious thing possible. But most important to me: if I raise an issue about ethnicity or gender we can have a productive discussion and see some action rather than simply feel the breeze from nodding heads.
I think most of us act out of our own ignorance--people of colour and queers included. But since non-POC tend to hold the reins most of the time their ignorance is most evident and damaging. We only need to look at statistics about how few POC show up in regional theatre productions on either side of the table--acting or administration. I don't want to repeat the sad stories and stats. Just read a little bit:
I'm especially thinking about this because this play about Alberta Hunter, Leaving the Blues, (even more than the play about James Baldwin, Waiting for Giovanni) is about colour/racism and sexism.
At one point Alberta admits to a young friend what a reviewer said about her: "She sings well despite her 'dusky' appearance." And this is an attitude that Alberta lived with all her life. She was not a sleek, fair skinned Lena Horne. Nor did she turn her life or business over to men-white or black. Exercising her professional power left her open to being called a 'tough bitch.' If she'd been a male the phrase would have been a 'self-made man.'
Perception of colour and power is a theme through out the play: how Alberta has survived the negativity about her colour; what it means to work with other women who have fairer skin so automatically assumed to be more beautiful and have more opportunities offered them. Also the play looks at how colour and class interrupt Alberta's relationship with her lover. And what the perception of colour means the two young male dancers on the circuit with Alberta. Then there's her guiding spirit who performed during his professional career in black face.
Skin colour is never neutral for anyone in this country....that's probably true around the world if we examine closely. And few of us recover totally from how we were (mis)treated because of skin tones. My own mother never thought I was fair skinned enough while some kids in my neighborhood taunted me with 'yellowface!'
But dismissing colour (You know that worn out phrase: I don't see colour") is a disaster not progressive. In the old days of television make up artists and lighting designers refused to see that people with darker skin or varying skin tones needed different make up and lighting. People of colour often showed up as greenish or sucked in the light so fiercely our features were unintelligible! To be real--technically, socially and spiritually--we have to acknowledge the variations and the emotions that go along with colour; it gives us a better sense of everyone's reality not just our own. And a chance to honestly appreciate who people are.
Next time we look at the actors who are putting on their make up, stepping into the lights and telling us a story we can all celebrate whatever our colour!
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