Straight White Men Talkback

On January 27, 2018, I was invited to be on a talkback panel for the play, Straight White Men, which premiered in Seattle at 12th Avenue Arts. This play was written by Young Jean Lee, the first Asian American playwright to be on Broadway. One of the many question that this play asks the audience is, what do we do with well-intentioned, but ignorant straight white men? In my talkback, I spoke about the importance of openness to connection, compassionate, and strategic coalition work between white people and people of color.

Press description:

Straight White Men is a hyper-realistic family drama which critiques, with unrelenting wit, what lies at the heart of American theatre 'classics': white, masculine crises. The play is an unexpected, hilarious, and subversive examination of whiteness at the intersection of gender, class, and literary device. It traps you with compassionate renderings of problematic white men—men we interact with everyday, men who are capable of doing great good in the world—and men who ultimately benefit from white supremacist systems. There's also dancing. Lots of dancing.

Martina Kaufman, myself, Shelby Handler, and Erika Bleyl on the set after the show

Photo by Ryan Diaz (IG: @biareldi)