Editor’s note: At the beginning of the meeting described in this article, participants were asked to represent themselves as individuals, not as affiliated with organizations. For the purposes of this article, the San Antonio Report will identify participants in their professional capacities.
Theater or teatro? The question loomed large in the community room of Lerma’s during an Aug. 10 public discussion on perceived divisions between theater produced and performed by white San Antonians and theater produced and performed by people of color.
The “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in San Antonio Theatre: A BIPOC Community Discussion” was organized by a group of local theater workers following a critical essay written by Amalia Leticia Ortiz, a theater artist and theater arts director for nonprofit arts education organization SAY Sí, which she distributed through Facebook on July 25.
BIPOC, which stands for Black, Indigenous, and people of color, is a term used to refer to underrepresented communities as a group while still acknowledging the different levels of injustice experienced by different communities.
The lengthy, detailed essay, titled “Business as Usual at The Public Theater?,” focuses on a perceived lack of attention by The Public Theater of San Antonio to diversity, equity and inclusion practices in its staffing and productions, which she described as “an ongoing problem.” The critical essay was written in response to recent leadership hires by the nonprofit organization following the departure of former executive artistic director Claudia de Vasco after a 20-month tenure.
The Public Theater and The Classic Theatre of San Antonio announced a partnership on July 19, assembling an executive team of “familiar faces from the theatre community.” Jimmy Moore was hired as producing artistic director, followed by Asia Ciaravino as president and CEO, Christina Casella as managing director and Rick Sanchez as director of marketing and audience experience.
A lively discussion ensued in Facebook comments, followed by a plea by Ortiz for help in creating a forum to air the many complaints she had been receiving individually from people of color in the theater community.
Performing artists Marisela Barrera, Nicolás Valdéz, and sisters Sarah and Lilith Tijerina were among those who organized the meeting at Lerma’s, inviting additional facilitators to lead groups through mutual conversations. About 40 people attended, including Moore, Casella, Public Theater Board Chair Dawn Cole and Isabel De La Cerda, director of development for Teatro Audaz, among many others.
Among topics discussed were the lack of BIPOC representation in San Antonio theater, a need for producing non-European derived theater, marginalized communities being unable to access opportunities to develop theatrical skill sets and a perceived divide in the local theater community into “two theater worlds,” as relayed by facilitator and Conjunto Heritage Taller executive director Keli Rosa Cabunoc Romero: that of Chicano theater and white theater.
Among those at Cabunoc Romero’s table were Cole, Valdéz, Magik Theatre Artistic Director Anthony Runfola and performance artist Jacque Salame. “My concern is that people of color, no matter how talented or gifted they are, they will never be at the same standard as white theater, as white actors, because it’s not [seen as] theater. It’s Chicano theater, or Black theater,” Salame said.
After a breakout session, speakers from each table presented their results. Representing a discussion group of a dozen that included Barrera, Casella and facilitator and Esperanza Peace and Justice Center Executive Director Graciela Sanchez, performing artist Chibbi Orduña defined diversity as “who’s in the room,” and inclusion as “who’s at the table,” in a plea for more people of color on boards of directors of arts organizations.
Regarding which plays are selected for production, Orduña said, “there’s a lot of people at the top that think that there’s a certain kind of audience that will attract a certain kind of donor. And so we need to make the plays that bring the donors here, which then leads to a lack of risk-taking in the kinds of shows that are being produced, the kinds of casts that are being cast.”
De Vasco’s tenure at the Public Theater was marked by the September 2022 performances of American Mariachi by José Cruz González, the theater’s first production of a play written by a Latino playwright since the late 1960s.
Rick Sanchez said American Mariachi “did very well for the theater” with audiences at 72% capacity overall, though Footloose packed houses at 92% capacity during the same season.
After the meeting, Cole acknowledged “historical hurt” in the Public Theater’s past, and said, “whoever is leading The Public, we remain committed to ideals of making our stages better reflect San Antonio.”
Before the Public Theater announced a pause to its 2023-2024 season, the theater was to have performed A Xmas Cuento Remix by playwright Maya Malan-Gonzalez and Intimate Apparel by Lynn Nottage.
As the meeting at Lerma’s wrapped up, the room reached the consensus that more such meetings were necessary. Responding to the request, performing artist and activist Jules Vaquera started a Facebook group, BIPOC Theater United, and scheduled another public discussion for Aug. 26.
Reflecting on the meeting days later, Ortiz said it was “super satisfying” to have a diverse group come together to discuss these issues respectfully.
“I think there was some sort of catharsis in being able to say some things in public, and have non-BIPOC members of the community hear those things, and maybe challenge them to step up to be better allies. But overall, I felt like it was a beginning,” she said.
Also reflecting on the meeting, Cole said of the Public Theater leadership, “this is our space to listen in and learn from, and not try to lead that discussion but to be present to hear the input. We’re honored that the group welcomed us in to learn.”
And if the question of theater or teatro received an answer from the group, it was that the question should be moot — that in a city as diverse as San Antonio, the two terms must be considered one and the same.
“We need to be representative of BIPOC in San Antonio, even though the majority is Mexican or Mexican American, … we need to be more inclusive of other groups,” Ortiz said.
