Jubilicious

A bit of local news

Congratulations to all the dancers and choreographers who were recognized at this year's Sage Awards! I'll admit that I know very little about dance, so I'll refer you to another section of Minnesota Playlist for more information.

Also, this just dropped last night, so I have had no time to research it (thanks a lot, the media); but the Guthrie just named its new Production Director. David Stewart has been teaching at University of Texas - Austin for the past three years and, based on his picture, looks like he could bench press me and my extended family at once. That's about all I know about him right now. Tune in later to see how the Guthrie continues to evolve under its new overlordship.

Yohbel!

We're all concerned about diversity in theater. You know this by now, right? Everybody's talking about making diversity normal instead of niche. Everybody's got their diversity initiative. Everybody's got their list of things for you to do. And cynical producers are thinking, "How can I turn this into the next Hamilton?" It seems like everyone's talking and talking and talking about diversity, but what are people actually doing about it?

Fortunately, someone on HowlRound has the answer for you. (They always do)

This weekend, a group of theater artists and administrators announced themselves as The Committee of the Jubilee and announced a far-reaching plan that they call, well, The Jubilee:

"We plan to celebrate this vision with a Jubilee year in 2020, in which every theatre in the United States of America produces only works by women, people of color, artists of varied physical and cognitive ability, and/or LGBTQA artists."

So, now, you're probably asking yourselves, "What exactly is a jubilee?"

You're going to be so sorry you asked that question, because I'm way into etymology; so, buckle up and get ready for the history lesson:

The original idea of a jubilee comes from an ancient Jewish tradition as outlined in the book of Leviticus. Now, this is the same book with all the fun prescriptions for stoning, sacrifices and slavery, but the jubilee was a remarkably merciful construct that mandated the freeing of slaves, the retiring of debts and the return of people to their own lands every 49 years (or 50, depending on which scholars you ask).

From the original Hebrew word "yobhel" (which originally meant "ram", since the jubilee was announced by blowing a ram's horn), it was transliterated into Greek as "iabelaios" and mixed up with the separate Latin word "jubilare" ("to shout with joy"; the root of our modern "jubilation"), which evolved into the old French "jubile" and which was picked up again by the Medieval church and re-rendered more or less into the spelling we know today.

In all those cultural and linguistic travels, the idea of exactly what a "jubilee" is has changed a lot. In 1300, the Roman Catholic church declared The First Jubilee, and has held them at semi-regular intervals ever since. In this understanding, a "jubilee" is a year of forgiveness of sins. In the English-speaking world (especially Britain), a "jubilee" evolved into a large celebration marking the observation of an auspicious date at 25-year intervals, like the English queen's Diamond Jubilee in 2012. Praising a monarch who has done nothing except continue a line of people who have inherited wealth and power is almost the opposite of another jubilee interpretation, the economic jubilee, which takes the "forgiveness of debts" idea and runs with it. In African American culture in the US, it's naturally the "freeing of slaves" idea that is of more interest, and so "jubilee" has popped up repeatedly under different contexts in black culture (for example, the NAACP declared the anniversary of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation as Jubilee Day). Then, of course, Marvel invented Jubilee, one of the more useless X-Men characters.

So, I'm curious to know which (if any) of these traditions the theater jubilee is coming out of, because it will set the tone for the initiative. Is it about righting historical wrongs? Atonement for current sins? Canceling of debts? Celebration of differences? The ability to generate fireworks from your fingertips? There are other more mundane questions to ask (like what is the defining factor that makes a play "by women, people of color, artists of varied physical and cognitive ability, and/or LGBTQA artists"; is it all about playwrights?; what about devised work?; does it mean that there are no straight white men anywhere near the theater at all?), but picking a word like "jubilee", with so many different historical precedents to choose from, means that critics will likewise have plenty of ways to distort the intention of the project.

After all, it only took a few hours of the announcement being up on HowlRound before the first straight, white male commented "Any theater company that openly refuses to hire or produce the work of any person based on the fact that they are a straight, white man would be breaking the law."

At any rate, people are signing up. Participants who have already signed on include Twin Cities groups 20% Theatre Company, Mixed Blood Theatre, Mu Performing Arts, Penumbra Theatre Company, Ten Thousand Things Theater and Transatlantic Love Affair, as well as Daleko Arts in New Prague.

You could be a part of that list, too, if you want. They've got a webform for that.

To sue or not to sue

Earlier this year, we talked about the fight in Los Angeles over Equity's changes to the 99-seat plan. There was a lot of anger, a little bit of picketing and a heaping helping of resentment as both sides in the debate yelled past each other with increasingly apocalyptical rhetoric, as is the custom in our country. You might have thought this controversy went away after Equity members voted in a whole new slate of union leaders, but, no, the changes in the 99-seat plan are still set to go forward.

So, the professional actors in LA who don't want their professional union to guarantee them a living wage have filled a lawsuit against Actor's Equity, claiming that the union's changes violate the 1989 settlement agreement that ended the "waiver wars" of the 80s. After all, there's nothing more American than some hardcore litigation.

Except that the plaintiffs haven't actually served the lawsuit to Equity, which means that this lawsuit is less an actual plan of action and more a dramatic gesture to gain attention.

I can't believe a bunch of actors would do such a thing.

Not to burn out

To all my compatriots in the theater world who are effectively working for less than minimum wage most of the time for less acclaim than you get at your day job: it's going to be OK. You don't have to get burnt out and quit everything in an exhausted huff. Here's how to start.