I've been out of the loop with theater in NYC for a lot of complex reasons which I may
write about one day... but I feel compelled to write about Delta
Airlines and Bank of America withdrawing sponsorship from the Public
Theater for their production of JULIUS CAESAR.
For my
friends in Europe, you might not know that the Public Theater is where
HAIR, A CHORUS LINE, and HAMILTON premiered. (No, Broadway is NOT where
plays premiere; it’s where plays go to cash in on their success.) If
you've ever enjoyed the songs "Tits & Ass" or "Age of Aquarius"
you owe something to the Public. In fact, if you've enjoy any American
theater in past 50 years, you owe something to the Public. It's one of
the theaters that birthed the American nonprofit theater system
for better or for worse. It’s where Meryl Streep got her start. It’s
where New Yorkers have seen Shakespeare with stars like Streep (and Al
Pacino and James Earl Jones and John Lithgow, etc. etc.) for FREE every
summer for nearly 60 years.
Like any great theater, the Public would naturally mine JULIUS CAESAR for what the play has to say
about the world today. Thank GOD the Public has a freaking perspective
on the play instead of just tossing together another dusty old toga
party. That’s what art is supposed to do, for chrissakes – give us
perspective, context, a lens through which we can see the world from an
angle we hadn’t considered. If it’s safe and reassuring, then it ain’t
art.
I’m posting this because the theater community is
teensy and we’re always preaching to the converted. But I’m in Europe
where no one knows what the Public Theater is. I haven’t heard people
here talking about boycotting Delta. (Bank of America doesn’t exist, so
they can’t boycott it here...)
It's a slippery slope.
Theater doesn't have enough funding as it is and corporate sponsorships
is one of the hardest money to come by. The Public is probably doing
okay with HAMILTON raking it in on Broadway but the summer Shakespeare productions are free to the public. Entirely kostenlos except for like 50 seats that
are impossible to come by. And we all know that a company of 10+ union actors and stagehands, not to mention sets, lights, and costumes ain't cheap. So the entire summer season needs to be
subsidized somehow.
Delta and Bank of America pulling out absolutely
bites. If they're being swayed by Fox & Breitbart, then people
who give a shit about art should give them a piece of their mind.
-- Here is an article about the debacle in The NewYork Times,
which repeats incendiary quotes by Fox News and Breitbart, but gives
the reader very little idea about the actual Public Theater production.
-- In contrast, here is what a smart friend of a friend says, who has actually seen the play. He makes
the very good point, “If there ever were an ANTI-assassination
play, this is it.”
