[NEohioPAL] Total Rudeness At An Audition

[Michael A. Miller]

I did theater from the 1970s until my last show in 1996. It's always been a
cliquish, gated den of self-entered, backstabbing snobs with, seemingly, no
way in. Unfortunately, the people who could benefit most from your remarks
are the ones who will fail to recognize themselves. If the part was
race-neutral and your granddaughter didn't fit the type, someone could have
let her know. Or they could have read her to see if they could have used
her in upcoming shows. Your granddaughter should bring this to the
attention of the artistic director of the theater or the company so s/he
knows how the organization is representing itself in the community. Since
the downfall of community theater in northeastern Ohio thanks, in part, to
a Beck Center's Tiny Emperor For Life, and organizations that used to be
"community theaters" now referring to themselves as "emerging professional"
companies because they had received grants that allowed them to pay
stipends to hand-picked actors, there should be zero tolerance for this
kind of nonsense. Never hesitate to call out oppression and face it down.

=Michael A. Miller=

On Fri, Mar 16, 2012 at 1:33 PM, EVA WITHERS-EVANS <eweworld1 at yahoo.com>wrote:

> I very seldom complain to this list, but I feel that I have to address
> this concern.
> Last night, my granddaughter (an African American) went to an audition at
> the Mayfield
> library.  When she got there, everyone looked at her as if she were an
> alien.  When
> she said she was there for the audition, instead of being told they were
> auditioning only
> Caucasion girls, she was told to fill out an audition sheet and have a
> seat.  When it was
> asked who in the group was 20 or over, she said she was. Another girl
> (caucasion) said
> she was twenty, she was asked to come into the auditioning room; my
> granddaughter was
> ignored.  She was totally ignored until she finally got up and left.  I am
> not just upset because she
> is my granddaughter, I am upset because this behavior is unacceptable in
> the theater.
> Common courtesy would have been to tell her what the situation was and
> there would have
> been no hurt feelings.  It's never right to make someone feel unwanted,
> especially
> in the theater; I would hope that this is not the norm for Cleveland
> theater.
>
> MATTERS OF THE HEART SHOULD ALWAYS BE ABOUT LOVE.
>
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