Should the theater be a safe space? This question has been raised with increasing frequency in recent months.
Back in November after a member of the “Hamilton” cast directly addressed audience member Vice President Mike Pence, Donald Trump tweeted the following:
Two monthls later, on the eve of Trump’s inauguration, artists across the country gathered outside of performance venues and, with miniature ghostlights held aloft, called for theater to exist as a “brave space,” a “space where: [i]t is safe to be who you are, regardless of race, class, religion, country of origin, immigration status, (dis)ability, age, gender, identity, or sexual orientation.”
So what does it mean for theater to be “safe”? The very idea can rankle conservatives and liberals in surprisingly similar ways. From one vantage point, the call for “safe” theater has been identified as an extreme result of political correctness designed to protect socially conscious individuals, derisively referred to as “Generation Snowflake,” who allegedly are unable to cope with the divisions that have long existed within society.
From another, the call has been made to protect longtime,
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