Marin Summer Theater (MST)

#SaveTheArts [photos by Jim Gratiot]

MST is on hiatus, yet it is important that we speak up up about racism in our culture and white privilege in theatre. For those of us who are white (our current board is all white), we must look directly at systemic and transgenerational racism and how we perpetuate it. While MST has had an intention to be allies to those who are BIPOC, we need to acknowledge where we have failed, and we need to be sure that we are doing all the work needed to fully grasp the extent to which... we consciously or unconsciously participate in the repression of others. For the whole of all of our lives, we have been fully submerged in a culture that exclusively favors people of whiteness, and actively suppresses people of color. It is woven into all aspects of theatrical institutions, and we have benefited from it. As caring artists as caring human beings we need to exert the effort to recognize, understand, and uproot these discriminatory patterns. While we work to see the extent of our privilege, we also must recognize the impact that it has. The BIPOC communities have been moderating their behavior for hundreds of years to make the white community feel more comfortable. It is imperative that we listen to them, and that we strive to understand their experiences, and that we give them the space to represent themselves. We need to become better in recognizing the suffering of others. We recognize we have made mistakes, most prominently in regards to white-centric show choice, and casting white actors in roles meant for BIPOC actors. We acknowledge that our mistakes perpetuated white privilege. We acknowledge that our mistakes hurt BIPOC artists. We acknowledge that our mistakes short-changed our audiences and community by under representing non-white cultures. We apologize for this disrespect and harm, and promise that we will do better. With gratitude and humility, The Marin Summer Theater Board of Directors