Eighteen
I’m a proud Latina, but my lighter skin color and upbringing in white suburbia has allowed me to not personally experience outright instances of racism at Circle. However, I sure witnessed quite a few- along with many micro-aggressions that made me uncomfortable to my core. These little things can add up quickly, and in a learning environment they can sink into your subconscious in an extremely harmful way. “Because you look like this, you can only do this.” “Because you don’t look like that, you will never realistically perform that- but it’s great to explore while you’re in school!” “Explore what I want you to explore and get rid of all of your regionalisms and cultural-isms because that’s not the truth.” While these things weren’t always said out loud, we heard them loud and clear.
It’s evident that there were some troubling events that took place at Circle in the Square Theatre School, but as you read my letter and the letters of my colleagues, please know that we write this with so much love and care. We truly want to see Circle succeed and we want to leave our school better than we found it for future students. Please keep that in mind.
Coming to Circle, I was excited to work on scenes featuring BIPOC because there actually were BIPOC in my class! Granted there weren’t that many, but there were way more than I usually had to work with. Unfortunately, because our class wasn’t the most diverse, we couldn’t always perform BIPOC scenes together that reflected both of our own cultures. Even though there were 3-4 scenes that featured only Black characters, my friend was unable to explore any of them as there were no other Black students in our class to work on those scenes with. Instead, they had to try to consolidate their experience and explore, for example, a Jewish persons struggle in a scene from the musical Parade.
It’s easy to say, we just didn’t get that diverse of a pool of students this year. It’s harder to say, we did not promote or make our auditioning process more accessible for BIPOC. In order to truly diversify and broaden incoming classes, Circle needs to do the work by trying to be more inclusive and reaching out to more high schools and colleges with predominantly BIPOC students and holding auditions in more locations- as not everyone has the means to travel to New York or Chicago to audition in person. They need to continue to do this work by making attending Circle feasible to these students, and then they can further continue by hiring more BIPOC faculty and staff to help lead and teach these incoming students.
In our second year European Scene Study, students get to explore scenes on Alan Langdon’s list written by non-contemporary European playwrights. I took it and ran, using the time I was given to explore the Spanish poet and playwright Lorca’s work as much as I could. I adored that part of my scene study class, but it was cut short so that we could spend the majority of our time working on Russian playwright Chekhov’s work. While there is something to be learned from Chekhov, I felt left out.
I can come with my bags full and do the work and delve into my character, but because there is such a sense of realism attached to Chekhov, any color blind or color conscious casting of his plays is an extremely rare find. Instead of focusing the curriculum so heavily on a Eurocentric style that only a few students can realistically pursue after leaving Circle, why not give students the option to continue to explore different types of classical scene study that embrace many different styles and cultures and provide them with even more plays to let them do so! As a learning institution, Circle must do its part by broadening its white washed library and curriculum and include more BIPOC plays and options for their students.
What was more concerning and problematic was how often I had to watch my white classmates take up even more space than they were already given by working on BIPOC characters. Sometimes the only way I could explore my Latinx culture was to work with a white male student, as there were no Latinos in my class, and I couldn’t always partner with the only BIPOC male. I also remember a white boy trying to play Puerto Rican in Jesus Hopped the A Train so another WOC could explore her truth. He was encouraged to do a “jive walk” to get more in touch with being a thug (and yes, it was as hilarious to watch as you think it would be). There was also that time a white girl and Latinx girl were encouraged to do a musical theatre scene from The Color Purple. I’m sure we can all agree that, besides being incredibly offensive, no one wants to see that. Luckily it was so late in the year, that it didn’t come to fruition- but it should be noted that Alan Langdon suggested and encouraged the girls to work on this scene.
The worst of the worst I witnessed in Alan’s class was a scene that started out with so many problems, it really could’ve only gone downhill from there. It was a Male/Female scene called The Respectful Prostitute between a prostitute and a racist, misogynistic white male supremacist in the Jim Crow era. One of the Black students said that this scene made them uncomfortable, as the N word was used and Black people were spoken of in an extremely derogatory manner and asked that they work on another scene (they had so many other scenes to choose from).
The two white students decided to ignore his request and do the scene anyway. Alan Langdon also refused to stand with his Black student and allowed the scene to go on. That student left the class as they felt it would be too traumatic for them to sit through. Little did we know, it would be the most traumatic scene we all would sit through in our two years at Circle.
The scene called for stage combat and it was evident that the actors were not utilizing the technique to slow down movements and maintain eye contact we’d been learning for the last year and a half in our stage combat class. Students watching were triggered from the actions and words spoken in the scene, and even as there were audible tears and clear distress from students, Alan Langdon allowed the scene to continue. A couple female students- trying to be polite, of course, endured the entire scene and ran out as soon as it ended. And when confronted about it, Alan Langdon stood by his decision and told the actors they must have done some really good work to bring about such a reaction.
The environment was not safe from the get-go, as a student felt compelled to leave before the scene started due to its racist nature. We were worried for the safety of the female actress in the scene, and the material’s abuse was so strong it triggered many, if not all, of the female students. All this for a scene whose subject matter was not integral to our scene study and could have easily been explored in a variety of safer M/F scenes.
Though the actors apologized for triggering students watching, they, along with Alan, did not apologize for doing the scene in the first place when a Black student told them it was offensive. When a BIPOC student speaks up about something that makes them uncomfortable, a conversation needs to be had where that BIPOC feels seen and heard and a BIPOC faculty or admin must be present to help facilitate that conversation. Alan Langdon must also be held accountable for creating a safe environment for all his students to work and explore in.
I’ve also seen students told by many different teachers that they would never play a character of color because they had an accent and the Americanized character doesn’t. I’ve seen teachers tell students that they would never work until they lost their accent and held that over their heads as a term of entry into the elusive second year. I’ve seen a teacher accuse a student of being lazy and not doing the work- even though they did more work than any of us considering English was not their first language- and this accusation was based on the fact that the student was Asian. As a class we came together to tell the teacher (who is no longer at the school) that they were wrong to assume that the student’s unpreparedness had anything to do with them being Asian. They simply had an off day- something that was constantly looked over for the white male students in our class. It was atrocious.
The most consistent display of racism of any teacher at Circle in the Square, however, comes from Beth Falcone. So many horror stories can be said of Beth, but the worst I witnessed was when she tried to teach our class to do an exercise and, in order to find the right pronunciation, we were told to do it like an Asian person would. She then proceeded to show us what she meant by doing the most offensive, stereotypical and cartoonish impersonation I’ve ever seen. She did this in front of her Asian TA and Asian students with absolutely no shame, and then went on to justify it after seeing the shocked looks on her students faces. Of course, Beth Falcone being unprofessional is something most students and alumni will tell you. I disagreed with how she was unfairly withholding opportunities from me along with other students and when I spoke out to the faculty and administration and got them to support me that she was wrong, her childish reaction led to her telling me she would blacklist me in the industry. What kind of teacher and mentor would not only keep their students from every opportunity available, but then go so low as to threaten their students which they claim to love and care so much for? Beth Falcone would.
Every year students have spoken to our Executive Director, Colin O’Leary in regard to certain staff members and classes that need to be updated. Beth’s outright unprofessionalism, our first years’ time warp of a speech class which focuses on mid-Atlantic and alienates any student with an accent, and Alexander Technique, where we leave not really knowing what we were supposed to have learned. Please take the time to acknowledge what your alumni and students are asking of you to promote a safe and competitive learning atmosphere for future students.
With Love,
Brittany Rincon
Class of 2019