The Flea. The Flea. The Flea.
I couldn’t sleep last night. The Flea. The Flea. The Flea.
To begin, here are some masterful words from Bryn Carter. I don’t know Bryn personally, but she is definitely a member of the New York theatre scene that we are incredibly lucky to have. Here is a small portion of her response to The Flea’s Instagram post in response to the most recent murders of Black folks by the police:
Bryn also has some brave words that specifically list the many microagressions (small, yet large racist incidents) perpetrated by The Flea’s staff. I will put the link at the end of this if you wish to read the full letter. Many thoughts came up for me after reading this letter. This section stood out to me for two reasons:
The Flea’s “Color Brave” Season:
Despite the inspirational title of the season, Bryn details that, while the purpose of this season was to elevate Black voices and show pride in Black stories, many of these stories were filled with nothing but violence against Black bodies. I agree with Bryn in that it’s disappointing to look back on this season knowing what we know now. Specifically, we know that we should be careful with the violent content that we post online: while videos of police brutality are ingenious ways of holding law enforcement accountable, they are sometimes inappropriate to convey to the masses- inappropriate to the white masses in particular. Learned behaviors are ones that we see over and over again and, thus, we believe it’s okay to do them as well. For example, as a kid, I was a big fan of Lizzie McGuire (God, this comparison is probably an inappropriate analogy, but I’m trying to get a point across in a much simpler way). I watched the show every day, and like any 6-year old, I wanted to be just as popular as the show’s villain, Kate. I saw Kate’s behavior, thought it was acceptable, and I repeated it at school. Thank god I got in trouble at school. You can see that young children, in particular, are vulnerable to spreading this kind of violence if we allow it to spread. To go back to Bryn’s words, what are we saying as a theatre community if we put up a season about “celebrating Black voices” when, in reality, it’s only perpetuating racist stereotypes about how Black people are dangerous and violent people. This leads me to another point…
The Dangers of Virtue Signaling
First of all, from what I gather from Bryn, the “Color Brave” season is a flat-out example of incredibly harmful virtue signaling. I’ll touch more on this a bit later, but right now, let me tell you a little bit more about The Flea. Usually around this time (if we weren’t in a global pandemic right now), myself and a lot of my peers would be considering auditioning for The Bats, The Flea’s resident acting company. I’ve heard my share of horror stories from folks who have actually been in The Bats, and Bryn has even more. It’s known by everyone that The Bats are unpaid and probably overworked, if we know anything about theatre. I’ve also looked into how their auditions are organized, and they are broken down into careful categories. These intention of these categories is to promote equity. From what I remember, these categories include, but aren’t limited to Latinx, Asian/Pacific Islander, Black Diaspora, Non-Cis/Het….something like these, but they probably disguise them in more clever language. While it is awesome that they are explicitly requesting new voices other than just white, cis, heterosexuals, this also, I imagine, could be incredibly harmful and dehumanizing. This is putting folks in boxes and, from Bryn’s testimony, it’s all for the wrong reasons.
Yet another important issue to note is that the design of The Bats disproportionately affects POC. By creating an unpaid system and requesting that POC/queer individuals be apart of this, you are not doing those individuals any favors. As a matter of fact, you are just making their financial lives even more difficult than they already are. It is really really really hard to make a living as an artist- especially in New York, especially if you are a person of color, especially if you are a LGBTQ+ person of color. The Flea’s design of their resident acting company perpetuates an already disadvantaged system. For all these reasons, I have definitely thought about auditioning for The Bats, but I have decided against it every time.
On a final note, I want to simply alert you to another theatre company that may also be participating in dangerous virtue signaling: New York Theatre Workshop. I’ve seen many incredible productions at NYTW, but when I looked into applying for their 2050 Fellowship, I ultimately decided it wasn’t for me. Pay careful attention to the language here:
The 2050 Fellowship is named in celebration of the U.S. Census Bureau’s projection that by the year 2050, there will be no single racial or ethnic majority in the United States.
This projection provokes thoughts at New York Theatre Workshop about the transformations that will take place in the American landscape – technologically, environmentally, demographically and artistically. They are a catalyst for broader questions about our moral and artistic future.
In response to these questions, NYTW’s expanded 2050 Artistic Fellowship program exists to support the diversity of voices and aesthetics that will make up this new minority majority.
What does this language make you think? For me- and I can’t quite put my finger on it- it’s a strong indication of white guilt. Besides the fact this fellowship was clearly NOT for me (hello, there are SO many white Jewish girls in the theatre), I hesitated to apply also because this language seemed to me to be more of an apology. Reparations are okay, but there is a big difference between feeling sorry for someone and knowing that someone has been treated unjustly for many, many years. I did some more research into NYTW. Go ahead and look at the “Who We Are” on their About page. Note the absence of pictures. This is very unusual, especially among theatre folks. You usually get headshots of staff, even if they are artistic or managing directors. I looked them up. It was hard to find pictures, even through Google! I went to Facebook. Bingo. James C. Nicola, Artistic Director: white man, Jeremy Blocker, Managing Director: white man, Linda S. Chapman, Associate Artistic Director: white woman (okay, a little different here). All of this isn’t to say that NYTW is incapable of change. They clearly have a desire to change. Are their reasons honest? Do we care if the outcome is the same either way?
Thank you so much, Bryn Carter. Your courage to speak your mind has inspired theatre collectives to hold their institutions accountable. I hope to see you on stage when this is all over and personally thank you, if I ever have the courage to do so.
Here is the link to Bryn Carter’s full letter: https://tinyurl.com/y8qd9jd8
The Flea’s BLM Instagram Post: https://www.instagram.com/p/CA6D2tJjJqV/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
NYTW’s Staff Page: https://www.nytw.org/about/who-we-are/
Check out my Facebook for the Flea’s Resident Acting Company’s response.