{"id":74713,"date":"2020-09-25T13:23:59","date_gmt":"2020-09-25T17:23:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cfa\/?p=74713"},"modified":"2022-08-02T14:04:07","modified_gmt":"2022-08-02T18:04:07","slug":"boston-globe-feature-in-boston-theater-a-growing-group-of-black-leaders-have-a-decisive-role-at-a-pivotal-time","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cfa\/news\/articles\/2020\/boston-globe-feature-in-boston-theater-a-growing-group-of-black-leaders-have-a-decisive-role-at-a-pivotal-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Boston Globe feature: In Boston theater, a growing group of Black leaders have a decisive role at a pivotal time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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September 25, 2020<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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CFA Dean Harvey Young. Photo by SUZANNE KREITER\/GLOBE STAFF<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This article was originally published in The Boston Globe on September 24, 2020. By Don Aucoin<\/em><\/p>\n

As Harvey Young<\/a> was preparing to move from Chicago to Boston a couple of years ago to become dean of Boston University\u2019s College of Fine Arts, several friends sent him links to the Globe\u2019s Spotlight series on racism in the city, published not long before.<\/p>\n

A leading theater historian who has done extensive research on \u201cthe performance and experience of race,\u201d Young was already aware of Boston\u2019s longstanding reputation as a place not welcoming to people of color.<\/p>\n

When he arrived in January 2018, one of the first people Young met was Emerson College president Lee Pelton, who is Black and a pivotal figure in Boston theater, since Emerson College owns three major downtown venues: the Emerson Colonial, the Paramount Center, and the Cutler Majestic. Moreover, Pelton\u2019s support of the presenting organization ArtsEmerson has created much more visibility for international and multicultural works on big local stages.<\/p>\n

That same month in 2018, Young attended a production by the small Company One Theatre of Idris Goodwin\u2019s \u201cHype Man: a break beat play,\u201d a searing examination of racial injustice set in the hip-hop milieu and galvanized by a police shooting of an unarmed Black teenager. Young recalls thinking, as he watched the performance with a diverse Company One audience, that \u201cthere\u2019s really something going on here in the city with respect to diversity and inclusion\u201d \u2014 an impression that has been fortified since then.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Boston theater scene is significantly more dynamic and more complex than I thought it would be when I was living in Chicago,\u201d said Young.<\/p>\n

Boston obviously still has a very long way to go. Neither Young nor any other knowledgeable observer believes that area theater companies, much less the city itself, have solved the kind of racial inequities that have long bedeviled Boston. More diversity is needed on the city\u2019s stages, at numerous levels behind the scenes, and, importantly, among the largely white audiences. Systemic racism remains a powerful and pernicious force in theater, as it is elsewhere.<\/p>\n

But one measurable and heartening sign of progress in the last few years has been the growth in the ranks of Black theater leadership in the Boston area, with multiple appointments to top decision-making positions at formerly white-led institutions. The impact and insight of these leaders may be especially crucial now, as Boston theaters attempt to respond to the urgent issues brought to the fore by Black Lives Matter and the demands for sweeping reform by national coalitions like We See You, White American Theater and Black Theatre United.<\/p>\n

At this fraught historical\/cultural moment, the emergence of Black leaders could have positive ramifications in terms of audiences that better reflect the city\u2019s diversity, the opportunities that open up for Black actors and other theater professionals, the plays that Bostonians see and the voices they hear, the message sent to the many college students of color preparing here for careers in theater \u2014 and, possibly, for Boston\u2019s overall sense of itself.<\/p>\n

Read the full article<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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