Is the Guthrie Theater too white?
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Director Marion McClinton
MPR's Euan Kerr has a story this evening on Pillsbury House theater's latest production "In the Red and Brown Water" which is being staged at the Guthrie.
In the course of the story, Director Marion McClinton makes a pointed comment:
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"It's hard to find a black actor on the stage. It's hard to find a black actor as an usher there. And that's sad."
Kerr contacted the Guthrie Theater press office to get their response. They point to productions like Caroline, or Change and The Scottsboro Boys, as well as their hosting of production by Penumbra Theater as proof to the contrary.
Actress Sonja Parks says this show different; she says she's tired of productions about African-Americans always being about being downtrodden.
What do you think? Does a show about "the downtrodden African-American" keeping us from truly forwarding racial equality? Could the Guthrie do a better job of presenting racial equality on its stage?