Expos Can Serve To Bring Diversity to Harvard Theater
To the editors:
The Arts expos ("Something Rotten in the State of Harvard Theater," Oct. 22) presents the theater community with an opportunity to discuss diversity in Harvard productions. This piece presents the Harvard theater community as a closed group that shuns racial diversity in casting. While the lack of diversity in student theater is clearly a problem, the situation itself, and its causes, are more complex. Several productions this semester received a mixture of actors in their audition pools and ended up with diverse casts; indeed, minority actors are now playing leading roles in several shows.
However, Harvard theater in general remains disproportionately white, and along with this imbalance, there remains the perception that shows do not welcome minorities--a perception that harms not only actors but also productions: several shows this semester that specifically planned to cast minority actors in conventionally white roles were unable to do so because they did not receive a large enough audition pool of minority actors.
The Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club (HRDC )wants to make clear that theater here is open to all members of the Harvard community. The lack of diversity is not intentional in any way. We, as well as directors around campus, would love to see a more diverse audition pool.
Anyone and everyone is encouraged to become involved in the solution. We will be having an open meeting to discuss this issue, among others, on Wed. , Nov. 17, 4-6 pm, in the Loeb Drama Center; all students are encouraged to attend. Further, anyone who has ideas on how to confront this issue is welcome to contact the HRDC at hrdc@hcs.harvard.edu. Further, we would love to have a more diverse pool of directors, production staff members, and playwrights: applications for spring shows in the Loeb Drama Center will be available in the coming weeks, and anyone with questions about how to apply should contact the HRDC.
In the last several months, we have been discussing ways to diversify Harvard theater, and we hope that the Crimson piece can serve as a catalyst for further discussion, rather than a reinforcement of the perception that the theater community is biased.
Michael P. Davidson '00, Jerald M. Korn '00, Michael S. Roiff '01, Jessica F. Shapiro ' 01, Justin M. Krebs '00, C. Larry Malm '00, Nicholas R. Parrillo '00, Erica P. Rabbit '00
Oct. 27, 1998
The writers are members of the Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club Board.
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