Hey, I’m not digging down into the entire netherworld of black theater. That’s a dive for mightier men than me. Just going-to-a go-go from my little corner of the world. Recently, within the last several years, there have been a couple plays that advertise performance dates that are “black only,” or “black out” .

The Playwrights are concerned about creating spaces for black people to be free from the shackles of the dreaded “white gaze”. Lemme tell ya, after many years of trying to get people in the seats for my plays, and coming up short on more than one occasion — I’ve (unfortunately) managed to avoid the “white gaze” “the black gaze,” and pretty much all the other potential gazes that’re available.

Maybe it’s me, but I don’t see the point. There have been so many famous and outstanding black playwrights who were willing to expose their work to any audience willing to walk through the door. What makes “today” such a special moment that you need to jerry-rig your production for what’s essentially a “member’s only” audience. Why is there a need to shelter for safety? I never thought theatre was about that. At all.

BUT……

I’ve also been around long enough to understand some hard truths about what a white audience brings to the experience of watching a play produced by a black playwright. Here ya go: a white audience will not laugh out loud unless they see or hear black people laughing out loud. A white audience will not take the journey into the world of your play unless they’ve previously been told that’s it’s an “important work”. And white audience will think that important works by black playwrights are defined by their proximity to social injustice, social causes and social inequality. In other words, if it’s been already stamped as “deserving of our gaze,” because of the parameters that were created — then gaze they will. If the aforementioned points are in place it will surely make a white audience experience a more rewarding evening of theater.

If a black writer is lucky enough to present a fully realized character or play that explores a kind of blackness (not talking sanctimonious blackness, just everyday 🙂 that a white audience hasn’t experienced in their everyday life, then it makes it easier to keep an arm’s distance from the work presented. If you’ve never really known any black people in your own life — then I think you only realize people of color for the causes they represent, or the suffering their ancestors must have endured.

For me, an example of this was played out for broadway and off-broadway audiences in the 60’s who were exposed to various protest dramas. I think when Broadway received first-hand knowledge about the struggles of black folks they were happy to receive the info. But over time, who wants to spend an evening exploring some kinda “angry urban drama” that probably felt so real it hurt?

As always this is just my two cents.

I’ve been writing since forever and I honestly feel as though most of what I’m commenting on is the result of one group of people having little to no exposure to another group of people in their daily lives.