Response to Six Thousand Flags

To respond to Doug's anger about our presentation, all I can say is we could not ask for a better response. We should be upset about stereotypes because they make all of us look bad. We took a humorous approach to a very serious issue, and I think this approach helped bring the message across. As theatre artist we have a tremendous responsibility in representing cultures that are different from us because if we do not, we stand the chance of misrepresenting them. Our presentation was based on what could happen when misrepresenting cultures goes terribly wrong. Sometime we are so appalled because we do realize that we share in the beliefs in the stereotypes. I know I do! It can be harsh when the mirror is in front of your own face. What was really interesting to me is the question Amy Stieger posed to us. What if there where actual members of the culture we were stereotyping in our class? Would we have still went through with this kind of presentation. I can honestly say that it would have been more difficult for me to do so because I do want to be respectful toward people who are different from me. I probably would have had a conversation beforehand so they would know our true intentions. But we can't always do that with an audience so we do take the risk of offending others, whether that was our intentions or not. I think as theatre artist we need to be mindful that we could offend people with our work and be ready to face the music when it happens. This reminds me of something that happened in this department a few years ago. A group of students did a comedy skit show for Studio and one of the skits depicted a girl from urban surroundings - one might say ghetto - hosting a show about blunts. The two actors who were in it were white and some in our department were so offended that they took it to the chair of the department. It caused quite a controversy. I personally thought it was funny but I understood why some would be offended and felt they had the right to voice their outrage. But what bothered me the most about the incident was that there was no type of dialogue afterwards. The people who complained were too angry and the ones who did the skit could not see why people were so angry. Some contended that if people are going to be offended then they shouldn't be a part of the theatre world. This attitude goes nowhere. I'm all about ruffling feathers if the ends do justify the means, but I also have to take accountability for the work I produce. Offending can be a powerful tool, but it too deserves respect.