Departments pool funds for unprecedented free production

Updated: Feb. 24, 10:49 p.m.

When Nancy Fox, Ph.D., met with Renee Dobson, artistic director of Bluett Theater, regarding the winter play, faculty diversity workshops were still fresh in her mind. Advice from Ann Green, Ph.D., and Robert Moore, Ph.D., on how to discuss race in the classroom spurred an unprecedented proposal from various departments.

Together with Dean William Madges, Ph.D., and the Cap and Bells student group, a joint decision was reached within the span of three business days: “White People” would be free for the student body.

“It was the quickest thing I ever did,” said Fox. “The discussion took place on Thursday [Feb.4]; Monday we were done.”

Fox, who is the associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS), said that she had spoken with Laura Pattillo, Ph.D., a director of Bluett Theater, when the decision was made to bring the controversial play to St. Joe’s. The play, which uses the lives of three racially biased characters as a means of illuminating the issues of unconscious racism and white privilege, was written by J.T. Rogers and premiered in Philadelphia in 2000.

Last year’s incident in McShain Hall in which an unidentified person vandalized a classroom, drawing racist images on a white board, was one of the reasons that prompted the selection, according to Fox.

“I don’t know that we’ve had another one [incident of racism] this year, but last year was difficult,” said Fox. “So I thought, ‘Wow, this is great. I hope our students go to see this,’ and thought, ‘Well, I’m an economist, I know how to do this: we just let them go for free.’”

In order for the plan to work, Cap and Bells would need assistance to defray the cost of production—a requirement made feasible through the contributions of the offices of Institutional Diversity, Mission and Identity, Residence Life, Student Life, and the deans of CAS and the Haub School of Business. At the conclusion of the last showing on Feb. 28, the student tickets will be marked and tallied before being sent to Fox’s office to be split among the contributing departments.

Fox stressed that the decision does not bring the promise of further departmental funding for future productions.    

“It’s unprecedented and not precedent setting, we’re doing it because of the topic of the play,” she said. “I can’t speak for Cap and Bells but I would like to think that if they do something that’s comparably topically important, that we might consider doing it again, but that’s not my decision.”

Many student attendees welcomed the decision and took advantage of the free admission in the production’s three showings to date. According to Pattillo, approximately 300 students have attended so far, and have responded each night with a standing ovation.

Pattillo, who organized faculty panel discussions after each performance, reported positive reactions from students involved in the discussions. According to Pattillo, questions are read off index cards in addition to providing an open mic to the audience after each performance.

“We’ve been staying for an hour after every performance, and we address every comment and every question that is put to us,” Pattillo said. “And of course, putting it on the card prevents people from getting up and saying something really ugly and creating a problem.”   

So far, Pattillo said that a level of appropriateness has been successfully maintained during each of the discussions, but that some students have walked away feeling uncomfortable.     

“There are comments where people seem not to understand certain things about the play,” she said. “I know that there have been one or two students that I have spoken to who left feeling upset by the play, but I think what they’re upset with is the reality that the play is exposing. The play didn’t create that reality. I would say it’s better not to be silent on these issues. If you don’t speak about these things, that is a tacit endorsement of these things.”

Pattillo’s program notes warn the audience that the play is uncomfortable, but necessarily so. The purpose, as Pattillo states, is to “force white people to deal with white privilege.”
Pattillo, who has been in contact with Shoshanna Edwards-Alexander, Ph.D., director of multi-cultural life, said that the office has been “completely supportive.” Pattillo also said that the faculty involved in the production was in agreement that the panel leading the discussions should not include people of color.

“That is a white people problem, not a people of color problem,” she said. “The panel that was set up based on advice from Dr. Logue, from other people who are experienced with this kind of issue, and other faculty of color. They were all invited if they wanted to be on the panel but everyone was convinced that it was not appropriate for people of color to be on the panel because it then makes the discussion about that person and that person’s identity.”

While last year’s incident in McShain made the topic a campus-wide discussion at St. Joe’s, Fox said that issue alone did not decide the play’s selection.

“Certainly the topic of race was an important issue on this campus before that, and certainly there have been incidents before that, and even without the incidents it’s an important question,” she said. “It’s a topic that people have a lot of trouble talking about, they really do. And I guess my thought it, theater is such an accessible medium, and it’s right here on campus. It seemed to me that it would be a missed opportunity.”

Fox said that the opportunity could offer students a common reference point in the event that another event occurs on campus or in the news and facilitate discussions concerning race.

“The problem still exists,” said Dandrige Worthington, ’12, “racial issues are still everywhere.” Although Worthington did not participate in the proceeding discussion, he said there was good feedback from the audience. “Not as many people would have went if it wasn’t free,” said Dandrige of the free admission, “but I think because it was free it emphasized the importance of the show.”

Reactions such as Worthington’s were expected by Pattillo who said that the play was not expected to fix the problems of racism, but to push them into a public spectrum and make them a topic of conversation.

“What the play does is, it doesn’t slap a band-aid on it and say everything is fine, it rips the band-aid off and says, ‘Look at this wound,’” she said.

Clarification: Laura Pattillo, Ph.D., is co-artistic director of Cap & Bells and did not participate in the decision to make performances of "White People" free to all students.