the week of june 21 - 25, 2021
follow the money
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Identity design by Elizabeth Haley Morton.
this week in racism: foundations & donors love funding white NYC theatres
The Asian American Performers Action Coalition (AAPAC) released its annual visibility report last week. This year’s report covers 2018-19, the last full New York theatre season before the pandemic, and focuses on racial representation on and off stage, employment statistics, power structures. For the first time, AAPAC also covered racial equity in public and private arts funding. As always, I recommend reading the full report — especially if you love infographics as much as I do — but here are a few key findings:
58.6% of all available roles on NYC stages went to White actors. Black performers were the only group to have increased visibility from the previous season, jumping from 23.2 to 29%. By contrast, Asian-American representation dipped from 6.9 to 6.3%, Latinx representation from 6.1 to 4.8%, MENA actors from 2% to 1.3%, and Indigenous actors down to zero, from only .2% the season prior.
93.8% of directors on Broadway were white and 78.7% of Off-Broadway directors were white. (BIPOC directors increased by 5.9% in this space from the previous year). Numbers were similar for designers: 92.6% white on Broadway, 73.3% at non-profits.
100% of artistic directors at the largest non-profits were White. 88% of board members were White. On Broadway, 93.6% of the producers from the 18-19 season were White as were 100% of general managers.
Of both public and private contributions tallied for the 18 largest non-profit theatre companies, referred to as Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs), and 28 theatre companies included as part of the City Council's Coalition of Theatres of Color, 92.2% of the funding went to the PWIs. PWIs received nearly $150 million in total funding, while the theatres of color received roughly $12.5 million.
In the study’s introduction, the co-authors Pun Bandhu and Julienne Hanzelka Kim write, “It remains to be seen whether or not the multitude of antiracist solidarity statements and pledges to diversity will result in real action and systemic change.” They also issue a direct challenge to funders: “We ask governmental agencies and foundations to commit to a reallocation of funding that gives more weight to the theatres of color who have been uplifting underrepresented voices for decades.”
audio & digital theatre
Gregory Keng Strasser’s Dark City, a visual novel video game series, is now available from DC’s 4615 Theatre Company. The project, devised by theatre artists and game developers, is a four-episode interactive experience that “fuses a retro, ‘choose-your-own-adventure’ interface with powerhouse storytelling.”
Donnetta Lavinia Grays’ Where We Stand is now streaming at Steppenwolf. Directed by Tamilla Woodard and featuring Grays, the filmed play “through poetic verse and music…challenges our capacity to forgive and our ideas of mercy and who might deserve it.”
Avery Deutsch’s short audio play The Donor premieres June 27th from Playing On Air. Directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel, the play features Sakina Jeffrey and Hamish Linklater.
Jaisey Bates’ When We Breathe streams June 29th at 5PM PDT as part of Native Voices at the Autry’s Festival of New Plays. The play traces “four paths crossing in a sacred, storied land where every breath is a riot of beauty—a revolutionary act of courage grit grace faith fire.”
Sarah DeLappe’s The Wolves, featuring an all-trans and gender non-conforming cast, will stream at Actors Theatre of Louisville on June 29th. The reading is directed by Regina Victor and all proceeds will go directly to the ACLU of Kentucky.
in-person theatre
Aleshea Harris’ What to Send Up When It Goes Down is now playing at BAM through July 11th. I saw this production on tour on Woolly Mammoth: it's a stunning community ritual and reckoning that creates a truly activated space. I've never seen anything like it.
Extreme Length Productions’ People Watching plays on a rooftop in DC’s Navy Yard neighborhood from June 23 - 27 as part of Cultural DC’s Mobile Arts Season. Audience members will view the performance through binoculars while performers are seen off in the distance throughout Navy Yard and across the Anacostia, located on rooftops, balconies, and bridges. People Watching explores “intimacy through distance, uniting a diverse mix of performance forms using elements of movement, sound/music/song, and poetry/text.”
The outdoor, immersive theatrical anthology series The Seven Deadly Sins opens on June 29th. The project premiered in November at Miami New Drama in a series of vacant storefronts. The New York production will be staged in the Meatpacking District and feature seven new 10-minute plays by Ngozi Anyanwu (gluttony), Thomas Bradshaw (sloth), MJ Kaufman (pride), Jeffrey LaHoste (envy), Ming Peiffer (wrath), Bess Wohl (lust), and Moisés Kaufman (greed), who will also direct.
2021-22 season updates
Pittsburgh Public Theater announced its 2021-22 season. Projects include Wendy MacLeod’s Slow Food and Ken Ludwig’s Murder on the Orient Express (both directed by AD Marya Sea Kaminski), Rob Zellers & Gene Collier’s The Chief (directed by Kyle Haden), Lesley Nicol & Mark Mueller’s musical How the Hell Did I Get Here? (directed by Luke Kerneghan), and August Wilson’s Two Trains Running (directed by Justin Emeka).
Playwrights Realm will forgo productions and focus on writer development and support in 2021-22. Resources and services will include a writers group, a retreat, readings, financial assistance (including caretaking refunds) as well as special events, classes, and panels.
Berkeley Rep announced new commissions. Artists include Jack Thorne and Nico Muhly, Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal, Sarah Ruhl, and Dipika Guha.
