Robert DuSold

THEATER IS CHANGING, A PLAY

ACT ONE
It’s clear that theater is being reshaped by a 🦠. Like so much else it seems, it’s sorta being torn down and will emerge, in every way, different.
The financial structure of theater, particularly regional theater, relies on foundations and grants to pay the bills.
I hope that sees some changes.
There’s a regional theater in the Midwest, in a town where I was born, that’s being funded by one of the most notorious homophobic, racist, conservatively political dynasties in this country.
The Uihleins.
If you live near where I grew up in Milwaukee you know about them.
They are heirs to the Schlitz Brewing Company(my Dad was a brewmaster) and here’s a sample of the stuff I’ve researched from an article in the Times titled “The Most Powerful Conservative Couple You’ve Never Heard Of”:

“Opposing gay and transgender rights was frequently a focus of his efforts.”

“As Mrs. Uihlein ruffled feathers in rural Wisconsin, her husband immersed himself in hyperlocal politics touching on race and social issues. In affluent Lake Forest, Ill., where 90 percent of students are white, he backed a school board slate led by the chief critic of Lake Forest High School’s first black principal, who had criticized honors classes for tracking black students into lower classes.”

“Mr. Uihlein (pronounced YOU-line), a scion of one of the founders of Schlitz beer, underwrites firebrand anti-establishment candidates who typically defend broad access to assault weapons and assail transgender rights. He has also bankrolled partisan newspapers and backed Roy Moore in Alabama even after he was accused of sexual misconduct with underage girls.”

Now, one of the 4 “Luminary” donors to this theater … giving in excess of $100,000 .. is David Uihlein. He’s part of this family, although those quotes are attributed to another member.

Here’s David Uihlein’s credentials:

“An architect, he is the President of Uihlein-Wilson Architects, a real estate company. He has served as Vice Chairman of the conservative Bradley Foundation since November 2006.
Organizations awarded grants by the Foundation have included FreedomWorks,Americans for Prosperity,The Heritage Foundation.
A 2013 Smithsonian Magazine article listed the Foundation as among the largest contributors to the climate change denial movement from 2003 to 2010.”

Those groups that are awarded grants by Mr.
Uihlein are the most profound, conservative, Tea Party organizations in this country that target minorities of every variety.
Koch brothers stuff… like really them.

ACT TWO

The Artistic Director of this theater in my hometown made $260,425 last year per tax returns released by ProPublica… my fave news source of late.
His wife is a sitting councilor in Actors Equity, running for election this year to a higher position in the union.
She’s an advocate of a slate that’s running.
She’s publicly expressed she’s running a “clean campaign”.
She’s advocated for several other candidates in the race to drop out due to her perception that they have supported a candidate…who has been deemed a racist… by commenting on a generic Facebook thread in support of him that contained no mention of some controversial, inappropriate tweets of his that were unearthed later.
Full disclosure… I commented on that thread as well without having any knowledge whatsoever of any previous tweets.

THE TALKBACK

I have so many questions, not the least of which is how can this theater in good conscience take money from someone who actively suppresses minorities in this country?
If there’s hope that rises from the ashes of theater as we knew it, a good place to start is to rethink accepting capital from organizations whose mission is to crush diversity.
How can a councilor of Actors Equity be married to an artistic director of a multimillion dollar regional theater and maintain objectivity?
That’s a tough one.
Because she’s an advocate of a slate that proclaims they are all like minded, do they support this?
Most importantly, how can someone be an arbiter of racial justice, or champion diversity when the food on her table is being put there by organizations that crush minorities?
Is she a racist by association? Should she drop out of the race?
Is she a homophobe by association?
Has she called out a primary donor to the theater where her husband is a six figure Artistic Director for their very public, funded, political branded machine of discrimination?
I haven’t heard.
Personally, my brain does not even go there to assume she is a racist by association, in these perilous, fraught times.
I have no idea if she is.
No one should, however, make assumptions… and use that as weapon.
No one.
It is incredibly damaging.
And it does nothing but perpetuate the very prejudice that so many are trying to eradicate.

I’m hoping for a better world to emerge. And a better theater.

Curtain