Putting on a Table Reading During the New Normal

In anticipation of my visit to New York City, I'm preparing a play reading of my new comedy, SOCIAL CLIMBERS AND THE UNDIAGNOSED NERVOUS BREAKDOWN, at La MaMa's rehearsal studios.

Putting on an in-person table reading dares a risk-taker in any environment, but it's a new extreme in a pandemic.  First, finishing the draft, which is a beast in itself, then securing a space. There's casting- finding available actors to read around a table, preparing the draft ready for the printing, and finding compassionate spectators to provide constructive feedback. On top of all of that, there are Covid protocols required to keep everyone safe.  These necessary precautions are the new normal: proof of vaccination, masks, hand sanitizers, and social distancing.  It's not a problem dealing with a problem.  Yet, the natural being of the actors, spectators, and myself, the playwright, will be affected, and the process will look and feel different than readings I've done before the pandemic.  Now it seems best to plow through it. I've completed casting.  I'm back to script editing. 

"Dear Mr. President and Madam Vice President"

 January 2021

Dear Mr. President and Madam Vice President, 

Congratulations on winning the 2020 election and taking the high road during this tumultuous and chaotic transition.  During this saddest period in my living years, I hope and urge that the Arts will come to the forefront, make a difference, and flourish throughout your term commencing with your well-deserved entrance on January 20^th.  Your arrival provides a promise for the best and brightest minds in your new administration to bring about change. The Arts provide a vital role in bolstering the economy and elevating the soul to discern that we are all equal.   Daisaku Ikeda, the Buddhist philosopher, said it succinctly, “The power of art can break the shackles that bind and divide human beings.”   Bringing the country together is your priority.  To do that with unabashed enthusiasm, curiosity, joy, and fun - Why not have the arts as a primary instrument, and establish a Department and Secretary of Arts and Culture as part of the equation? The government must take an optimistic stand to unify, heal, and transform the lies and hate into a new paradigm that truth and empathy matter.  The Arts are the most convincing means of bringing ingenuity, honesty, understanding, and power to the people with mass appeal and massive revenue.

I am inspired to take this opportunity to be an Arts advocate and activist for Be An #ArtsHero via The Dramatists Guild of America, of which I am a proud member. The Guild provides the essentials for playwrights to pursue the art of writing truth to power to transcend audiences with a higher understanding of the human condition.   Democracy has never been tested like now for the truth to be told on the stage.  We take on the challenges of rebuilding the arts in society commencing in the villages, cities, states, and the country nationwide.  

Some examples of the economic impact of Arts & Culture by the Bureau of Economic Analysis are:

•        877 billion in value added to the U.S. Economy
•       5.1 million jobs across the U.S. are Arts & Culture jobs
•      4.5% of U.S. GDP (more than Agriculture and Mining combined, and bigger than        Transportation or Tourism
•   $1.83B: Broadway ticket sales in 2019 (more than top 10 NY/NJ sports teams combined

 As you are aware, the arts have added emotional and economic value to heal a nation during times of crisis.  A Secretary of Arts & Culture can oversee the financial power of revenue and assist workers in the arts from ever facing dire conditions due to an unforeseen calamity such as the Covid pandemic. The biggest nightmare of all to an artist is a dream slashed due to long term unemployment and the rug pulled from under them. Imagine the performers, musicians, stagehands, and the front of house workers, management who all received the big break on a Broadway musical before the shutdown, suffered the loss of work, a home, health insurance, and then had to move elsewhere to find a job to make ends meet.

The Covid crisis is a comparable shock to the economy as the Great Depression.  The New Deal’s power, the Works Progress Administration, the WPA Federal Theatre Project (1935-1939) saved New York theatre and the arts, which fostered Orson Wells of The Mercury Theatre.  The FTP also provided support for theatrical tours and brought theatre and arts education to communities.  The Works Progress Administration’s monumental effort was the stepping-stone for the Golden Age of theatre, art, music, dance of the 20^th century.  The Arts need a grand undertaking to build the arts back better not only but with more excellence and sustaining marketability.  

According to the Brookings Institution report regarding Lost Art: Measuring Covid-19’s devasting impact on America’s creative economy, “this strategy must be supported across the board and led by local public-private partnerships between municipal governments, arts and cultural organizations, economic development and community groups, philanthropy, and private sector, with support from federal and state levels of government, national philanthropy, and large corporations.” 

Our stages are dark.  The performing arts are hit the hardest, suffering losses of “1.4 million jobs and 42.5 billion in sales. These estimated losses represent 50% of all jobs in those industries and more than a quarter of all sales nationwide.”  - Brookings Institution

While we reimagine arts and education on Zoom, creative thinkers are at work bringing music, dance theatre, opera to the homes during the winter months.  The impact of arts and youth development through education in the communities is 40% are more likely to have friends from different racial groups. Four out of five are more likely to vote, a five percent drop in neighborhood crime, nine out of ten say that arts increase connection.  

There is so much more to advocate for a solid Arts & Culture plan to heal the nation’s soul in the new administration. The Arts & Culture jobs agenda coinciding with affordable healthcare and rebuilding the infrastructure is a think-tank proposal.  Keeping the faith and looking forward to the Biden-Harris creative approach to govern, heal, and unify our great diverse nation through the arts.  

Thank you for your attention! 

Yours sincerely,

Elizabeth West Versalie

Playwright, Dramatists Guild, Member

 

Tags: @BeAnArtsHero @DramatistsGuild @JoeBiden @KamalaHarris @WhiteHouse #ArtsWorkersUnite #First100Days