Hey. In the FRESH SHEET I sent out about 40 minutes ago, the dance link "Sunshine" doesn't work — and I really want you to see it, so here's a new version with a working link. - C
In expressions of solidarity with black Americans and others protesting the murders of George Floyd and countless other people of colour, theatres and theatrical organizations are canceling events and making public statements.
The Drama Desk Awards, which were scheduled to take place in New York on Monday, have been postponed. And the Tony Awards Celebration scheduled for this Sunday has been cancelled.
Lin-Manuel Miranda posted a video on the Twitter account for Hamilton in which he said it was a "moral failure" that the official channels for the musical had "not yet spoken the inarguable truth that black lives matter and denounced systemic racism and white supremacy".
Some Canadian theatre makers are also focusing on the ongoing tragedy and, in at least one case, acknowledging complicity in systemic racism.
In Toronto, the Dora nominations press conference has been postponed. And companies across Canada, including the National Arts Centre in Ottawa and Vancouver’s Arts Club Theatre and the frank theatre company have posted statements. Speaking on behalf of the Stratford Festival, artistic Antoni Cimolino and executive director Anita Gaffney acknowledged, “As a company we have upheld white supremacy in the past. It must be dismantled.”
A number of theatres in Chicago and London have issued proclamations of solidarity, often attaching powerful quotes.
Chicago Shakespeare Theater cited James Baldwin: “It is a terrible, an inexorable, law that one cannot deny the humanity of another without diminishing one’s own: in the face of one’s victim, one sees oneself."
And Chicago's Definition Theatre Company quoted Archbishop Desmond Tutu: “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”
> It’s time to ask theatre companies who’s on their boards and who’s in leadership positions. It’s also time to ask artistic directors about their plans for improvement.
> There are all sorts of places to donate, including the Minnesota Freedom Fund and Colin Kaepernick’s Know Your Rights Camp. In Canada, there are chapters of Black Lives Matter, including in Toronto and Vancouver. In Vancouver, Pivot Legal Society works with clients — often Indigenous folks and people of colour — who are disenfranchised and oppressed within the legal system. Toronto’s Obsidian Theatre and Montreal’s Black Theatre Workshop are the two biggest black theatre companies in the country.
+ THIS JUST IN:Broadway.com is reporting that at least seven New York theatres have opened their doors to provide safe space for protesters. The Public Theater is opening its washrooms and Playwrights Horizons is offering snacks, water, hand sanitizer, and personal protection equipment. On the new Twitter account and organizing hub @OpenYourLobby, IRT Theater posted: “Today, 2:00 – 5:30 pm. Thanks to National Queer Theatre for setting it up. Daniel from @OneEighth1 will be in the lobby to let folks in. We stand with all protestors. Come recharge. #BlackLivesMatter#OpenYourLobby”. ...
“Sunshine”, which is set to Gene Autry singing “You Are My Sunshine”, is part of an hour-long evening called Dance On!, which Morris and his collaborators conceived for Zoom. (You can find other individual dances here.)
So much buoyancy. Such relief. ...
Sarah Joanou’s cadence is incantatory: she's casting a spell.
3. SILENCE
Discovering a new talent always feels a bit like falling in love. Allow me to introduce you to Sarah Joanou.
I stumbled across Joanou's storytelling in Trespass, an evening of short monologues that Dark Glass Theatre streamed May 15 to 18. Now Dark Glass has posted Joanou’s eight-minute contribution on its website. (Scroll down.) It’ll be up until June 15.
“When I was a child, my evangelical Christian missionary father told me about the Kumari,” she begins.
A Kumari is a prepubescent girl worshipped in Hindu and Buddhist traditions as a divine manifestation of the female. In Nepal, where Joanou’s father went as a missionary, the Kumari is selected for her stoicism, her silence in the face of horror.
I’m not going to tell you anything else about the content because I really, really want you to discover it for yourself.
But I will tell you that Joanou’s writing is lean and essential. And the performance by this handsome, tattooed artist is frank and hypnotic.
A Nepali girl dressed as the living goddess Kumari. (Photo by Sunil Sharma/Xinhua) ...
4. POLITICAL THEATRE
Not good with props.
Can’t fill a pause. ...
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Here's where to check out the FRESH SHEET archives. And this is the link to last week’s issue, “Act Two, Places Please”, which includes an item about the fascinating friendship between playwright and queer firebrand Larry Kramer and Dr. Anthony Fauci.
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