aka. It's Hamilton lyrics from here on out, people.
By Alisha Giampola (writer/performer)
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and a lot of New Yorkers are making the pilgrimage (haha, see what I did there?) back to the small midwestern hometowns that they moved away from to be the artists, writers, and other assorted over-employed roles this city requires of them. The holidays can be tense for a lot of people, and this year, 2016, the most ridiculous year of all time, is probably going to be an especially tough one for some. Before we go a step farther, may I recommend something that you should absolutely read in preparation for spending time with people who may not agree with you? (All credit for finding that goes to my thoughtful husband, who has been calling the SHIT out of our elected representitives this week, regarding Trump's appointment of Steve Bannon- and you can too.)
There has been a lot said since the election. A lot of noise from both sides. A lot of reminders that it's so important to fact check one's news sources. A lot has also already been said about how all this infighting by the electorate is distracting people from what is actually happening in Washington right now- or rather, a lot of it's happening right here in NYC since the president-elect has that perfectly nice tower here that he'd like to stay in. I have feelings that change every day about how much this political upheaval is affecting my life and the lives of those I care about. Some days I feel like a navel-gazing millenial who is as entitled and stuck up as the right claims the liberal elite is, and a lot of the rest of the time I am so nervous that I'm going to become one of those people who stand by and watch as totalitarianism takes over. I am afraid that one day in the next four years, I'm going to look around and not be able to tell the pigs faces from the faces of the people.
This past weekend, after the cast of Hamilton publicly spoke after their Friday evening performance that Mike Pence attended, Donald Trump wrote a series of tweets demanding that the cast apologize for addressing Pence, calling the Broadway production of Hamilton overrated, complaining that Pence was booed (by the audience, not the cast), and hilariously invoking the sentiment that theatre is a "safe space" and by respectfully addressing Pence the cast somehow broke that bond. He has since tweeted about his hate of SNL, and Alec Baldwin's impression of him, demanding "equal" time, for the "other side", whatever that means (he does know there isn't another "side" to make fun of now that he's won, right? Not to mention that some of the funniest skits this week on SNL skewered liberals).
"Thank you so much for joining us tonight. You know, we had a guest in the audience this evening. And Vice President-elect Pence, I see you're walking out but I hope you will hear us just a few more moments. There's nothing to boo here ladies and gentlemen. There's nothing to boo here, we're all here sharing a story of love.
We have a message for you, sir. We hope that you will hear us out. And I encourage everybody to pull out your phones and tweet and post because this message needs to be spread far and wide, OK?
Vice President-elect Pence, we welcome you and we truly thank you for joining us here at Hamilton: An American Musical, we really do. We, sir, we are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us — our planet, our children, our parents — or defend us and uphold our inalienable rights, sir. But we truly hope that this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and to work on behalf of all of us. All of us.
Again, we truly thank you for sharing this show. This wonderful American story told by a diverse group of men [and] women of different colors, creeds, and orientations."
- statement read by Brandon Victor Dixon (who plays Aaron Burr) after curtain call on behalf of the cast and creative team.
Pence's attendance at the show, Trump's outrage at the cast exercising their free speech, and the subsequent attention paid by the artistic community and others alike have been called a distraction by many. And there's a lot to distract from. What has actually happened in the week and a half since the election? While we are being distracted by tweets? During the internet's infighting about what constitutes peaceful protesting? SO MUCH STUFF. The president-elect's recent Trump University fraud settlement and ongoing accusations of molestation, his daughter who runs his business sitting in on a meeting with the Japanese prime minister, hiring a white supremacist as his chief strategist, his hotel in DC being a conflict of interest as foreign dignitaries are beginning to use it to garner favor (and his statement that presidents don't have to worry about conflicts of interest), the hedge fund heiress who is one of his primary backers and a powerful voice in how he runs things, Melania and Barron's decision to stay in Trump Tower and his plans to return there as frequently as possible (costing the NY taxpayers millions), his meeting with the press in which he complained about unflattering pictures used of him. By the time this post publishes he will have probably tweeted about like 50 other things.
But I disagree with some that this is merely a distraction that liberals are "falling for" and coming off as pretentious artists who are sore losers. I think it's also an indication that Trump is exactly as thin skinned as he has always seemed, so LET'S GET UNDER THAT SKIN. Sometimes things can be more than one thing at a time. We can note that he intends to distract and obfuscate real issues, that he has no intention of attempting to appear more "presidential" on twitter, while still remembering all the very real and scary things that he continues to say, do, and not stand up against. Having people continue to infight is good for the business of Trump. It's good for those he's put in power. Artists must remember their power as well. Satire, skewering, bringing things from shade to light is what artists do best, and despite what Trump may think, it's literally what theatre was created for. Props to Mike Pence for one thing (and one thing only, mind you): when he heard the booing from the audience as he walked into that theatre, he says he told his daughter "this is what freedom sounds like". Damn right, Mike Pence. Damn right.
Now is the time to focus more on him and the government that has been elected and those he appoints to surround him. We must not get wrapped up in our own internet battles about what constitutes racism and if political correctness has gone too far. Those are valuable conversations, but only if they're actual conversations. Everyone in America, left and right, is tired of the corruption in government and leadership that only serves itself and the 1%. It's time to take him seriously- he wanted us to, and a lot of us didn't. On both sides. He's an incredibly easy man to not take seriously and it is the primary mistake almost all of his opposition (average voters and the DNC like) made during the election. Let's remember --as his opposition now has over 1.5 million more votes than him (as far as the popular vote goes)-- that this is the most unpopular president-elect of all time. No one has entered the office with a lower approval rating. Like a lot of unliked bullies, Trump is jealous of those who are well-liked. He is protective of those who show any loyalty to him, regardless of their beliefs or qualifications. This is important. We must be paying attention, we must be listening. It sucks that this election has finally ended and yet we can't get on with our day, month, year, without thinking about politics again for a nice long while. But that clearly hasn't worked well for us in the past, has it? I'm talking to us, my bubble of liberal elites here in NYC. I'm talking to our families in the midwest and other assorted small towns, some of whom were vocal during the election and now have become eerily silent, or who had remained silent the whole time and are now frustrated that things aren't going "back to normal". I'm talking to the most vocal of Trump's supporters, who are thrilled and victorious and wondering how many days into his inaguration he will wait before completing that wall- a month? Two? (Spoiler alert: nope).
Despite America's long history of political satire and using comedy to make clear that our politicians are members of a democracy, rather than a dictatorship, Trump finds this element of his new leadership position distasteful. Very much like when Gob in Arrested Development temporarily becomes president of the Bluth Company, demands that his employees roast him and then fires them all when they actually take him up on it, Donald Trump would love nothing more than to only surround himself with yes-men. Let's make that hard for him. Let's inundate him with sketches, satire, political criticism, peaceful statements of protest, until he can't possibly respond to each one with a snippy short-sentenced tweet. ("Very sad." "Overrated." "WRONG.") We have a long history of placing our leaders under scrutiny through the arts. In recent years, Obama, George W, Reagan, and Bush were all recipients of memorable satire and creative critique that I remember well, and they accepted as part of their jobs. The time for quietly ignoring, passing blame, or hoping someone else will take care of things for us is over. As for us theatre kids, let's remember those freshman Theatre History classes and get excited to be the political activists that the Greek originators of the modern art form of performance intended.
ALISHA GIAMPOLA is an NYC based actor/teacher/writer who would like to use this space to wish her Dad a very very happy Turkey Day Birthday!!!
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