Life or Art

As a society, we need art. We need the symphony, museums, theater, and dance. It isn't enough to simply want them; we have to make sure they exist and thrive. Self expression through these cultural forms is vital to the telling of a people's history, promoting understanding, and validating individual and collective experiences. It's a tragedy to never see one's self reflected back to them in some form of media. Our lives are inundated with images telling us what we are and aren't. It's nice to every so often stumble upon a depiction you feel is true or possibly so. I don't like to admit it, but there needs to be both an August Wilson and a Tyler Perry. People have a right to see themselves creatively. 

Personally, I've been fascinated with art since grammar school. I have always known that creative expression would be a part of my life somehow. In September 2001, I moved to Baltimore to take a full-time internship at a regional theater that paid only $85 a week!!! Not because it was the only thing I could find, but it was what I knew would make me happy and I was willing to sacrifice for it. What I was able to expose myself to, I don't think I could've made up for in a salaried position fresh out of school. But the experience wasn't all roses. Sure, I made wonderful friends, saw plays every week, visited sister cultural organizations around town, and met cool actors, but there were indeed times that troubled me. 

For starters, I was one of only 3 African-American interns. I recall only 2 other African-Americans working there and they were both women. No young Black men to jump into the creative arena. And there were 2 African-American board members. You must keep in mind that when you combine staff, crew, and board members, there are over 100 people working to make a theater function. Why aren't more of us becoming involved in a more meaningful way with large cultural institutions? Can we complain that we don't see ourselves on stage when we aren't submitting our work to be shown? Can we complain about outreach when more of us are afraid or too busy to step up and become board members? Are we not willing to sacrifice instant pay off for maybe a more fulfilling career option? I'll tell you what, earning that $85/wk while bartending and babysitting around B-more to supplement it was actually a period of my life I look to more fondly than I did my first 5 years in NYC!! 

But not just behind the scenes, we need to as audiences take ownership over what we find entertaining and inform decision-makers of what we are interested in seeing. All too often I saw the biggest crowds of Black folks in the shows that were African-American led. We go to the movie theaters to see De Niro, Pitt, Cruise, or Pacino, but we won't go see a production of Miller, Williams, or Coward? Annoyingly, when I did get to see my people come to plays, there would always be those who didn't seem to know the protocol. I had to face the same while seeing African-American led shows on Broadway. Folks came late; talked back to the stage; believe it or not, I actually saw someone sneak in Popeye's chicken to a show; and I won't get started on the cell phone ringing or constant walking and talking. Yes people, there is a protocol no matter where you are!! 

This weekend, I came across an article in the New York Times about a production of Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman" now running at Yale Rep. They have decided to mount a color-blind cast, meaning they using Black folks y'all for a play originally intended for a white cast. I was ruminating on the fact that the article makes plain that before his untimely death, August Wilson objected to this practice on the basis that 'To mount an all-black production of a 'Death of a Salesman' or any other play conceived for white actors as an investigation of the human condition through the specifics of white culture is to deny us our humanity, our own history." 

I have a ton of respect for Mr. Wilson, but I'm not so sure I agree. Isn't the human condition the same when you strip away the markers of cultural, racial, or gender identity? We all have the same basic human needs: love, companionship, acceptance, success, freedom, etc. I understand that because of the aforementioned markers, these things look different for every group, but at the core they are the same. I love the fact that there are stories to be told from the unique perspective of the African-American experience. But is it so hard to fathom that "our" experience looks different for each one of us? 

The article supports Mr. Wilson's view by referencing a portion of the script wherein the son wants to go live on a ranch in Texas in 1949. That doesn't support anything in my view. White or any other group doesn't own the sole rights to ranching. I, for one, long to live on a ranch one day. I love horses. And the fact that they say it's because of the year doesn't prove anything to me either. There's nothing new under the sun, nothing - I promise. My desire to live on a ranch isn't foreign to Black people. I'm certain that even in 1949 there existed some young brother or sister who wanted to escape it all and go to a ranch. Owning land of any sort is part of the American Dream. 

I'd been concerned over whether or not they stories I want tell will be "Black enough." But what does that mean?  My influences vary from Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers to Diahann Carroll and James Earl Jones. How do I express my experience without being told "we don't live or think like that" and still create something that everyone wants to see? I guess I say screw it, write what's in my heart, pray that I have enough grace and favor to be blessed with an audience, and go to bed knowing I created something that I was happy with. 

On Friday, I'll connect with a friend who has a theater company in D.C. and I can say I'm proud of what she has done. She has chosen to tell our stories in all the ways that "our stories" may look and to help others who are brave enough to try to do the same. 

Support the arts with your time and money. It's the only way "our" or any other type of story will survive. Trust me, I'm not trying to go to no one's house and listen to them retell me "A Raisin In The Sun" or "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Wasn't Enough" with your bad butt kids running around in sheets as costumes and your Cousin Bobby as the sound effects. Don't do it. I'll walk out and never return!