| I have mixed feelings about the segment. Matt Spangler is a friend and esteemed colleague in performance studies, and so I am thrilled to see "The Kite Runner" make it to Broadway after his decades of hard work (yes, I know the reviews have been decidedly mixed--I still plan on seeing it). He works very hard on refugee/immigrant issues and is a valued faculty member at SJSU, where his adaptation of TKR originated and is a hell of a nice person and smart and talented. Therefore, I was a little sad that there was no reference to speak of to him in the story: I get that the focus of the story was an the representation of Afghani lives and stories and the importance of Afghani artists to the production. But I think a bit more reference to Matt's role in the entire project was warranted. I also know he is busy helping run an NEH Institute this summer on immigrant experiences and stories, and that may have precluded his participation in the PBS story. But he deserves acknowledgment for getting the novel onstage and for remaining so committed to and inclusive of different voices and perspectives--of working to "decolonize" the performance space. As his NROTC supervisor his freshman year at Northwestern (he decided NROTC was not for him), might have said, "Well-done, Shakespeah!" |
