Diversity, funding and the neglect of anglo companies
Diversity-conscious theatre companies question ‘systemic discrimination’
Last February, Théâtre du Nouveau Monde mounted an epic production of Brecht’s The Good Person of Szechuan featuring a cast of 18. Not one of the actors was of Asian descent.
It wasn’t quite a ring-thealarms moment like that of Théâtre Rideau Vert’s “blackface” incident at the end of 2014, but it clearly registered enough to get a mention in two recent op-eds from anglophone theatre directors, both published in the Montreal Gazette. One was from Infinithéâtre director Guy Sprung (which first appeared in Le Devoir), the other was from Teesri Duniya’s Rahul Varma.
Varma was writing about what he sees as the “systemic discrimination” that has led the Conseil des arts et du lettres du Québec (CALQ) to seriously underfund diversity-conscious companies like Teesri Duniya (which initially at least, failed to get any subsidy at all in the latest funding round). Sprung’s article was about the marginalization of anglo theatre in Quebec which, as we’ll see, is significantly linked to issues of diversity.
In my review of that TNM production, I suggested the casting decision might be justified by the fact that Brecht originally wrote the play for white German actors, his version of China being a deliberately artificial “alienation” device. Still, that’s rather beside the point, the main one being: how was it that, in a cast of 18, in 2017, there was not a single actor from any visible minority?
This was, for Varma and Sprung (as well as for francophone playwright/director Olivier Choinière, who wrote a powerful letter to Le Devoir in May), a symptom of wider problems to do with funding and representation in Quebec theatre.
CALQ’s presidente-directricegénérale Anne-Marie Jean isn’t denying these problems exist. In fact, as she points out in a telephone interview with the Montreal Gazette, CALQ has been attempting to constructively deal with them for some time.
“CALQ is conscious of the challenges we are facing in this area,” Jean says, “which is why we adopted an action plan on cultural diversity in early 2016. This was the result of consultation that started in 2013.”
The action plan includes bringing in more artists from diverse backgrounds to serve on juries and committees — a key issue brought up by Sprung and Varma. And “for very first time,” Jean adds “we’ve included a diversity criteria for the evaluation of companies.”
However, according to Varma, who spoke to the Montreal Gazette at Teesri Duniya’s office, the problem remains that “the action plan doesn’t have any enforceable guidelines that would show fairness has been implemented. If they had something applying the principle of employment equity, you could make sure of fair funding. But they just don’t have that.”
Varma also points out, action plan notwithstanding, “this is the year that most diverse companies have lost their funding across all disciplines.”
The example that smarts the most for Varma is Teesri Duniya, which was informed it wouldn’t be receiving any funding at all. As it happens, Varma recently sent me an email updating the situation: his company has just received funding through an alternative CALQ scheme.
It might be suspected that this sudden upturn in Teesri Duniya’s fortunes are a direct result of Varma and Sprung’s articles. But during my conversation with Jean, she brought up the fact that CALQ has for years had in place a safety net for companies struggling to secure funding through the usual routes.
“I won’t discuss individual companies,” Jean says. “But what I will say is that we have different programs for different kinds of companies. When a company applies for a program and does not succeed in receiving funding, we don’t let them down. We try to find a way where they can continue their development.”
On the face of it, then, the situation wouldn’t seem to be as dire as the one that first prompted Varma to put pen to paper. But there is perhaps something about this kind of solution that’s like of the sticking plaster over a gaping wound.
“Yes, there is a backup program for when a company fails to get funding,” Varma says. “But I’m not talking about one or two failures here. I’m talking about constant, repeated, year-afteryear mis-assessment.
“The reason for that is inbuilt prejudice, and I’m very clear about this: as soon as they see that the artistic director is called Rahul Varma and that the name of the company is Teesri Duniya, and that it’s dedicated to cultural diversity, there’s an antennae that goes up. There is an assumption by default that the quality of the work will be of a lower standard.”
Varma also points to the lack of artists of colour heading up francophone theatre organizations, citing just one, Théâtre de Quat’sous’s Olivier Kemeid, who is of Egyptian descent, as compared to, on the anglo side, Black Theatre Workshop’s Quincy Armorer, Geordie Productions’s Mike Payette, Quebec Theatre Federation’s Deborah Forde and himself at Teesri Duniya.
More importantly, as Varma argues, it’s not about the optics: “Diversity doesn’t exist in the display of colour. It is actually rooted in the story itself. That’s the most important part.
“Because the story is where we see the relationship across the communities. So my argument is that some of us who have made interculturalism our mandate, and the stories of the minority groups as our passion, we ought to have the same ability to express ourselves.”
Sprung’s op-ed was addressing the marginalization and neglect of anglo companies within a predominantly francophone culture.
But in a conversation with the Montreal Gazette, he insisted that diversity is very much a part of that: “It’s clear that English language theatre is already more open to diversity than our francophone counterparts,” he says. “Not that we’re where we should be yet. So when I fight for more money, in my mind I’m fighting for more diversity.”
When Sprung’s op-ed appeared in Le Devoir, there were some voices of support in the comments section. Inevitably, though, many were of the type insisting he should stop whining and try his luck in Ontario instead. Hostility aside, don’t these commentators have a point that, given the minority status of francophones in the rest of Canada, it’s inevitable that anglo theatre won’t be high on CALQ’s list of priorities?
“I think we understand that,” Sprung says. “Which is why we have been so complacent so far. But at some point, when you do the math and you add up all the money given to French theatres and compare it with English side, it triggers some kind of a lever. You can see we’ve let things go too far.”
And that’s not something CALQ necessarily disagrees with.
“Anglo companies are entitled to count on support just like any other theatre company,” Jean says. “Yes, they are a minority within the French majority, so we have to take that into consideration when we evaluate their situation and their performance. This is why we have to sit down with them to see how we can better support them.”
And sit down with them she did: at the end of last week, a meeting took place with representatives of anglo theatres, including Sprung and Varma, at CALQ’s offices.
According to Sprung, “they were very polite and receptive. They’re looking for, as they call it, La piste du solution, the road to a solution. I think the solution can be very simply put. Just up the percentage that we get. We (the anglo theatre community) get less than seven per cent of the total. That’s not acceptable. So at this meeting I was saying, come on, let’s move it up to 10 per cent. If you move the goalposts to 10 per cent, everybody in that room would breathe a substantial sigh of relief.
“The truth is, if you give TNM (who receive $1.5 million in subsidy) another $100,000 more or less, it’s not going to affect their programming. But if you give it to Teesri Duniya, that’s life changing.”
What changes might transpire from all this open dialogue we will have to wait and see. As for fighting the good fight for diversity, Sprung has this to say: “We’re not doing this to be nice. It’s not that we just want to be good people and give everybody a chance. It’s because theatre is a relationship between the stage and the audience, and that’s what we’re after. The more we reflect the streets of Montreal, the more it forces us to do better theatre.”
Infinithéâtre’s latest season got underway recently with Godot Has Come, a visiting production of Japan’s Theatre Office Natori. It plays, with English and French surtitles, to Dec. 2 at Espace Knox, 6215 Godfrey Ave. in N.D.G. At the same venue, Infinithéâtre’s Pipeline event, featuring public readings of plays that won the Write-on-Q completion, plays Dec. 8 to 10. This year’s featured playwrights are Michaela Di Cesare, Louise Arsenault, Alain Goulem and Arthur Holden. Also playing this week is a new version of the classic newsroom-based screwball comedy, His Girl Friday. Produced by Snowglobe Theatre, it plays at Mainline Theatre, 3997 St-Laurent Blvd. from Dec. 7-10.
The more we reflect the streets of Montreal, the more it forces us to do better theatre.