| re: I'm tired of 'token' minority performers in the ensembles of Broadway musicals. | |
| Posted by: RelaxnNYC 11:20 am EDT 10/26/17 | |
| In reply to: re: I'm tired of 'token' minority performers in the ensembles of Broadway musicals. - huskyital 05:32 pm EDT 10/25/17 | |
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| I rarely post - mainly a lurker, but I'd like to respond to this. I don't mean to sound harsh, but you're obviously not a POC (and I apologize if you are, you may have grown up in a similar situation as I). I'm a non-black POC. I was lucky. One parent was a classical musician (the other a scientist) and had the means and inclination to take us to the theatre, opera, and orchestra. My (mostly white) HS had a very active and popular theatre program - the football team would regularly participate in the ensemble of the shows "for fun." But this isn't the case for most POC. If the parents don't have a love of theater, why the heck would they foster it in their children (I'm talking about any color parent here LOL)? If you want more diverse audiences, you have to find a way to get them to the theatre, have them fall in love with it, and then have them foster that love in their children. The correlation I'd make is with sports. My parents did not follow sports at all. They made us participate in team sport to be "well-rounded." That was it. We didn't sit around the TV together and watch it. They didn't take us to games. We didn't have favorite teams and we didn't discuss it. Thus, I was not instilled with a love of sports. I grew to enjoy it through friends, conversation, and wanting to be able to join in on the "water cooler" chat. We are lucky to now have HAMILTON making theatre a national topic of interest. Everyone in my office knows what HAMILTON is even if they don't go to the theatre. Everyone wants to see it and everyone has an opinion on it. We need build on this momentum in order to grow minority audiences who will in turn foster an interest in their children. Incidentally, according to the last census, 50.2 percent of children under 5 are minorities (link below for reference). In 15 years there will be a "minority-majority" in America yet the stories we are telling and the stages don't reflect that. We need to start telling more diverse stories and the audiences will come. That, combined with more affordable ticketing and marketing to minority groups. It's kind of a chicken/egg thing as well. If you have more diverse offerings, you'll naturally attract more diverse audiences. If you cultivate more diverse audiences, you'll be able sustain and produce more diverse offerings. It's a two way street. |
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| Link | Minority-Majority |
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