I had the good fortune to see the cartoonist Alison Bechdel give a talk at the Rochester Institute of Technology in 2010. Mostly, she talked about the process of creating a comic strip or graphic novel, but one thing she said stood out to me, and made me think of musicals. Unfortunately, that talk was not recorded and put online, but it must have been similar to this part of a talk she gave at Cornell a year or so earlier, which was put on YouTube: “I had the somewhat unusual experience of being raised by parents who loved music and books and art and who really wanted me to become an artist or a writer…It’s a double edged sword because you still have to rebel against it. So I think I came up with a pretty good way of rebelling: instead of becoming an artist or writer, like they wanted me to, I became both at once.”

For many high school students all over the world, induction into the International Thespian Society is viewed as a crowning achievement. It certainly was for me. 

But after almost 90 years and multiple generational attitude shifts, does being a member of such an organization still matter the way it might've used to? Yes, but it all depends on how you and your school values it. 

I love the internet. The amount of material you can find out there in endless. I also love how many people proudly post pictures and videos of past theatre productions. It's a great way to etch those moments in eternity. 

But every now and then they expose gross errors in judgment when it comes to theatre. Take for instance the article we published earlier this week about an Indonesian college(I mistakingly called them a high school first) who performed Hamilton with asking permission to do so. 

That article opened up the floodgates in my inbox of other theatres who have done the same. While some were more egregious than others, the Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro, better known as UNIRIO, took it to another level with an unauthorized production of The Book of Mormon. Beyond the copyright infringement, the show also featured many of the African characters performed in blackface. 

Not a single person is so talented that they and their abusive, inexcusable behavior cannot be replaced by someone equally talented, creative, capable and qualified--if not more--. No art is so good that it is worth the expense of someone else. No one is so talented that their abuse of others can be excused. No one is so talented that terrible behavior can be excused.  

Last, but not least: No one is so talented that it makes their insufferable attitude “worth it.” Regardless of their “talents,” we have to stop rewarding people who do bad things. I am talking about how we as a society let “talented” people get away with just about anything because they’re “talented.”  I am also talking about “talent” used as an excuse for bad attitudes or actions.

I’m tired, y’all.

Productions that call attention to mental illness like Next to Normal are widely popular right now with high schools. The same goes for Ragtime which includes themes of racism and xenophobia. And The Laramie Project has become a force for change when it comes to the LGBTQ issues. 

Another play that I feel can have the same impact is 26 Pebbles by Eric Ulloa. The play deals directly with the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting where 26 children and adults were gunned down. These 26 deaths, described by one local resident as "pebbles thrown into a pond", created ripples that captured the attention of the entire nation.