Legit issue, or PC run amok?

I've been following this since it first popped up locally a few weeks ago. The conciliatory tone of this story does not necessarily jive with the previous accounts. Here, the theater is apologetic that they "...didn’t do enough to reach out to the d/Deaf community about auditions and finding d/Deaf talent."

In previous articles, which I do not have a link for unfortunately, they were quite adamant that they were very pro-active in seeking a deaf actor first, including contacting deaf organizations, and not a single deaf actor offered to audition. Hence, with regret they said, they made a hard choice and went forward anyway.

Now, the tone has changed. So, legit issue, or PC run amok?

Theatre Cedar Rapids to postpone production of 'Tribes'

Theatre Cedar Rapids to postpone production of 'Tribes' | KGAN

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radcen said:

I've been following this since it first popped up locally a few weeks ago. The conciliatory tone of this story does not necessarily jive with the previous accounts. Here, the theater is apologetic that they "...didn’t do enough to reach out to the d/Deaf community about auditions and finding d/Deaf talent."

In previous articles, which I do not have a link for unfortunately, they were quite adamant that they were very pro-active in seeking a deaf actor first, including contacting deaf organizations, and not a single deaf actor offered to audition. Hence, with regret they said, they made a hard choice and went forward anyway.

Now, the tone has changed. So, legit issue, or PC run amok?

Click to expand...

IMHO, it depends on what they want their target audience to be, and how they define success.

If their target audience is only the hearing impaired, and their measurement of success is simply to put forward a cadre of deaf actors to demonstrate their capabilities versus the non-hearing impaired, then it would make perfect sense to cast deaf actors to sign any potential dialogue.

However, if their target audience is the general public, and their measure of success is to make a positive impact on as many people within the general public as possible, or God forbid - a profit - then it would appear to me for this to just be a bunch of silly PC crap that will harm them in the long run and prevent them from both reaching their target audience as well as failing to be successful.

But hey, I'm not one to ever be accused of being PC about much of anything, so what the hell do I know?

radcen said:

I've been following this since it first popped up locally a few weeks ago. The conciliatory tone of this story does not necessarily jive with the previous accounts. Here, the theater is apologetic that they "...didn’t do enough to reach out to the d/Deaf community about auditions and finding d/Deaf talent."

In previous articles, which I do not have a link for unfortunately, they were quite adamant that they were very pro-active in seeking a deaf actor first, including contacting deaf organizations, and not a single deaf actor offered to audition. Hence, with regret they said, they made a hard choice and went forward anyway.

Now, the tone has changed. So, legit issue, or PC run amok?

Click to expand...

PC run amok as always.

I could see a deaf actor for specific roles, but that is about it.

radcen said:

I've been following this since it first popped up locally a few weeks ago. The conciliatory tone of this story does not necessarily jive with the previous accounts. Here, the theater is apologetic that they "...didn’t do enough to reach out to the d/Deaf community about auditions and finding d/Deaf talent."

In previous articles, which I do not have a link for unfortunately, they were quite adamant that they were very pro-active in seeking a deaf actor first, including contacting deaf organizations, and not a single deaf actor offered to audition. Hence, with regret they said, they made a hard choice and went forward anyway.

Now, the tone has changed. So, legit issue, or PC run amok?

Click to expand...

Reading some of the articles, it seems the theater specifically chose the play to work with the local deaf community. They apparently didn't do much outreach -- they basically talked to one local activist group.

They are just a small community theater group, with limited resources. No one should expect them to be experts in working with the deaf community. At the same time, it does seem a little odd to claim to want to do something for the deaf community, but not really talk to any local organizations about it.

I don't think they were acting in a discriminatory manner, but it seems like the way they went about it was unintentionally patronizing. I think they just didn't realize that their original efforts were insufficient, or if you want to do something for a community you might want to talk to members of that community first.

I don't know what kind of comments were directed at the company; I assume it was pretty vicious. As we all know, it is both easy and common for anyone who perceives any slight these days to react hyperbolically via the Internet, and hurl vitriol by the bucketfull. However, that's not a "PC" thing, it's not a left or right thing, it's an Internet thing.

As such, I don't think this is "PC run amok." It's a slightly clueless local theater that got caught in the buzzsaw of Internet anonymity, and is apparently trying to work things out.

Why don't we see more quadriplegic action heroes?

God help us the next time a community theater wants to stage a production of The Miracle Worker.

Well, there WAS obviously a casting call for this production.

They just didn't hear about it.