It is no secret that theatre has been a safe haven for the more liberal side of communities, dating all the way back to the 1800s. It has been more welcoming of other cultures, genders and sexualities than other industries and that is incredible in it's own right.
But we are now faced with a dilemma as a community that started during the 2016 presidential election. I'm sure many of you remember the Hamilton performance that Vice President Mike Pence attended and the hostility from the audience that he experienced. We also saw the "performance" put on by Robert de Niro at the Tony Awards when he yelled "F*ck Trump!" that received a standing ovation by the people in the audience. While I share my frustration with these fellow members of the arts community, I am also concerned. By creating this safe haven, have we made a hostile environment for our conservative audiences? Have we lost those audience member for good?
This is obviously very difficult for me to write because one, I am a Democrat, feminist, liberal and two, I love this community that we have created. It's diverse, it's beautiful and rich with culture. I don't think we should lose that. What I do think we should lose is this attitude that we are making a positive change when making these hostile statements to these audience members. I will use the example of Facebook. You know that annoying former teacher, family member, or former high school friend who is screaming MAGA all over his Facebook page? Right. What do we do to those people? We block, we unfollow, and we don't listen. Right now I hate to say it, but we are doing exactly that to our conservative audiences. So what do they do? They don't come, they don't listen, and that means they don't pay.
Now I am a firm believer that we can use our art to express our political beliefs and we have a right to use our art for whatever we want. However this becomes a problem when you are only showing these politically progressive works to progressive people. They already agree with you, they get your message, and it isn't groundbreaking for them. We are just preaching to the choir and reinforcing our own beliefs. It may have been groundbreaking for your conservative audiences, but we have shooed them away. We didn't change anyone's mind. We also have created this environment of "Well if you don't agree with us, you aren't welcome here." That is not theatre. And isn't that what society did to us? Is revenge really what we want?
We cannot possibly think that we can grow as a business if we are excluding a paying population from the theatre. Now if you want a specific niche audience and are wanting to just vent about your political misfortune, great. Keep doing what you are doing. But if you are wanting to grow your theatre with a reputation of inclusivity and representing a wide range of audiences, then you cannot exclude any part of your audience. Keep creating politically driven work, but maybe allow others to have a seat at the table. They have a right to express their views too. It might be controversial to have a conservative play, but wouldn't that be interesting to bring liberal actors performing a conservative piece for a conservative audience? Imagine the conversations those two groups could have at a talk back. Imagine the bridge that could be made to close the divide. We have to do something, otherwise we will lose an audience forever, and a theatre could open on their platform of conservatism creating a culture war with our own theatres. I don't want that, and I suspect the arts community doesn't either.
Comments
Post a Comment