Ten
“Blacks have traditionally had to operate in a situation where whites have set themselves up as the custodians of the Black experience.”
I was a student of color at Circle in the Square Theater School in Manhattan. Actors of color have little to no proper voice, even in the year 2020, and institutions such as Circle in the Square Theater School have long contributed to this. POC will always respond to white voices before that courtesy is reciprocated. So, for once, our voice will be heard.
Circle has no Black instructors, and this is a part of the problem. They do not put up Latinx productions, and this is a part of the problem. They do not represent their Asian students well, and this is a part of the problem. They are Eurocentric, outdated, and stuck in their ways. They know close to nothing about people, culture, or voices, outside of their own. My experience at Circle reflected that.
Circle’s White majority staff mostly consists of older, stubborn individuals who do not respond to their students at all. They fail to acknowledge change. They fail to acknowledge diversity and progress in the arts, or their own lack thereof. All across the board, teachers have an incredibly limited take on culture, one that is every bit as narrow as the basement they teach in. Their mindset and curriculum is very Eurocentric. In speech class, weeks are spent studying Mid-Atlantic, British, French, and Irish dialects, none of which are useful for Black, Asian or Latinx plays. “Contemporary” scene options in the scene study class are limited to an older White man’s vision of variety; a list of decades-old plays from mostly White playwrights. While working on a scene in this class, the instructor saw it fit to motivate me with his brand of progress in my work. Shouting the “n” word at me, as if he were revving me up, while explaining his perspective of the play’s significance. In the only way he knew how. Black students invest time and effort into the mere three Black playwrights he deems acceptable, but so do the White students. In fact, a handful of the instructors at Circle openly encourage White students to continue working on Black roles. White actors consistently learn Black roles, because just like in the real world, they can take them.
In a building so White, who is going to tell them how wrong this is? What precedent are we setting for the students who are shaping the future of theatre? Rather than addressing social change head-on, they act against it through uniformed White ignorance. The teachers hardly ever meet with one another; some of them don’t even know each other. There’s no diversity training, no gender training, and there’s no organization in any regard. Their staffing is not adequate, to the point where website updates and proper room space were wishful thinking.
The final showcase was perhaps the most disappointing part of it all. Students here spend months of their final semester scrapping on scenes that are eventually performed in front of an ever-dwindling number of agents; it was about five, last I checked. Circle’s record of broken promises are about as problematic as its outlook. They are incredibly out of touch as far as why their students aren’t succeeding, or more specifically, what the theater world is asking of them. The acting world needs more diversity, more culture, more change, but Circle seems to think it’s a trend more than anything else. A White instructor once told me that Black actors often land more opportunities because of their skin color. To her, it’s a great time to be Black in the acting world, because White actors have to work extra hard in order to stand out these days. She isn’t alone in this mindset, as most of her colleagues feel that, compared to before, the work truly has been done. Things have, in fact, gotten much better for actors of color, but what is Circle doing to help this? A "Black Lives Matter'' post over a week into nationwide protests? They don’t have diversity in their staff, their productions, nor their mindset. They don’t empower the present culture, and they sure as hell don’t understand what they need to do to empower their students of color. This needs to change.
Arts institutions have to do far more than token representations, and we cannot rest until that work is truly done. This is not a trend, not as long as students of color are systematically disadvantaged in ways some will never understand. It’s already bad enough that we don’t have the housing opportunities, loan opportunities, or health access as our White counterparts; how is it easier for Black actors, in any way? At its most basic level, we need representation from those that claim to help us: the arts. It is up to institutions We need more Asian actors, more Latinx playwrights, more Black instructors. I hope Circle in the Square can start listening to their students, for once, because we will set the stage for the future. It is the next generation that will produce the next cultural movement, and we will produce true change, rather than holding onto old ways.
Circle in the Square Theater School needs to listen to us, the students of color. They have neglected us and exploited their position for far too long, as an outdated arts organization that has done nothing to advance culture or progress in any meaningful way. They are out of touch, they refuse to grow, and their ignorance is a sickness that capitalizes on us, the students of color. Is there any way for them to move forward? Circle in the Square Theatre School has a long way to go.
— Anonymous