An Open Letter from the Rhode Island College Theatre Department to Our Students:
We are entering the summer after a challenging period of social isolation, navigating our way across a landscape marked by the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic, in turn, has laid bare profound issues of inequity that have plagued our society since its inception. Furthermore, we continue to witness the deaths of American citizens at the hands of those who would deny their inherent humanity.
For the Performing Arts industry, the past three years have already been a period of reflection and redefinition–the MeToo movement exposed predatory behaviors and other systemic practices that encourage abuse and exploitation. The latest reflection has involved the treatment of non-white actors, designers, and technicians in our field. Written in response to the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor--and the subsequent civil rights protests that have erupted globally--the petition entitled We See You, White American Theatre (weseeyouWAT.com) has provided every American theatre artist with a list of attitudes and practices that have been damaging to the psyche, economic health, and well-being of non-white artists.
We in the RIC Theatre program have read the list and have seen ourselves. Despite having considered ourselves to be advocates and allies for our BIPOC students, we understand with clarity the extent to which white supremacy as a system has influenced our practices and expectations – from the choice of performance material and guest artists, to the course offerings and material taught – choices that have perpetuated systems that alienate and harm our students.
We want our students to know that we state unequivocally that Black Lives Matter. We will dedicate ourselves to the specific awareness of the experiences of our BIPOC students, and to the retraining that accompanies the drive for systemic change. We further commit ourselves to advocate for the most vulnerable among us—which include members of the Black LGBTQ community, who face the additional challenge of having seen a resurgence in violent attacks, as well as significant efforts to erode their civil rights.
We have long known that our program demographic does not reflect the overall demographic of Rhode Island College. We have been working to adjust this imbalance, but these efforts need to be among our primary focuses moving forward: correcting this imbalance will have a considerable impact on how our program continues to grow and thrive. Part of the demographic imbalance is due to the perceived risk-laden nature of a career in the arts, part of it is due to ineffective outreach efforts, and part of it is due to the practices of our specific program. For the immediate future, we are addressing these three parts in the following ways:
· We commit to exploring and promoting different avenues of arts careers, inviting guest artists—with a specific focus on practitioners of color—who represent a broad spectrum of what a theater arts career can look like. A new THTR 480 workshop will focus on aesthetics, techniques, and practices in the American Black Theatre tradition. We will create opportunities to invite and welcome BIPOC instructors and guest artists to share their expertise, practices, and experience.
· In addition to maintaining a presence at Open House events, we will work to redefine our Touring Theater course. Our plan is to involve a more interactive and inspired approach to engaging with high school students around Rhode Island—moving from a course that simply presents hour-long plays to students, to a presentation of skills and the potential for workshops led by RIC students. In essence, we would be fostering a longer relationship with the high school students whom we visit. The process of developing such a course will help to lay the underpinnings for further community engagement.
· To increase access to RIC student performances, as well as to present opportunity for a greater number of primary school students, we have determined that going forward, admission for school groups to all RIC theatre performances will be free.
· We will also figure out a model for a form of town hall meeting that would allow students to share their experiences, and offer input, hopes, and suggestions. Your ideas will help us to build the foundation for the future. Ideally, we would have these meetings in person, gathering in Sapinsley or the Forman. However, with the pandemic still a major factor to consider when organizing and meeting in larger groups, we may have to conduct this through Zoom.
So many of our plans, unfortunately, remain in a state of suspension – any change that we undertake will be affected by the State and the RIC Administration’s decisions regarding our instruction model for the upcoming academic year.
Above all, our goal is to ensure that everyone feels that they are heard, and so, regardless of whatever obstacles emerge, we will establish regular opportunities for an exchange of experiences, ideas, and feedback.
We acknowledge that while we will be able to make some immediate changes to our current practices, re-evaluation and restructuring will take time. We are aiming to weave new ideas and practices into the fabric of our program. We do not want our actions to be superficial, but rather the implementation of a Re-imagining.
In this respect, Theatre as an artform has prepared us. The skills that we hone for our practice – imagination, empathy, listening, observation, and problem-solving – are precisely what is needed in order to envision possibilities outside of established paradigms. There will no doubt be clumsy moments and ideas that don’t necessarily take root – but through it all, we will provide opportunities for you to offer thoughts and input.
You, our students, remain our constant inspiration. Stay safe. Stay hopeful. We will see you all soon.
