Robert DuSold

Jane Fonda, wholooksamazing, gave a rousing speech at the SAG Awards last night that defined actors and show biz..and SAG.. as creating empathy for change in this perilous time.

WE are the beacons of hope to win this war.

“Woke just means you give a damn about other people.”

Empathy is the key.

Empathy is the key to understanding other human beings ..the tool that actors and artists must use to create and inspire… to act.

To be someone we’re not to arrive at a better understanding for humanity.

Actors are uniquely qualified.

That’s the new call to arms all over the sosh tonight.

The joke is on us people.

The joke is on us.

In our rebellious bubble on the Left, we do not create or exist in empathy now.

We exist in a similar identity bubble that the Right does, but we just play it differently.

The last self tape audition I did, and it will be my last for theater , requested that I “identify as Jewish” to portray a Jewish man for an understudy on Broadway.

And that was because this track was the “first cover”.. meaning the first to go on in that role if the actor playing it was out of the show.

I suppose that means the second cover could just act Jewish and not be Jewish.

But, the first cover must be Jewish to play a Jewish man.

The joke is on us.

As part of the self tape instructions.. in capital letters…I was told to give my NAME, HEIGHT and PRONOUNS.

I’ve been an actor for over 40 years, and I’m assuming that anyone in a room..if I ever got in one.. would address me as Robert or ask me what my name was.

Do you prefer “Bob”?or “Bobby”? would be the way to go I think.

And, my body of work certainly indicates my identity.

And, I know at least some of the casting directors know me.

I don’t think they would address me in the third person.

To my face.

Demanding my pronouns on a tape is not about respect for me.

Nor is it part of getting to know me.

If it was, the current powers that be would simply ask if I’d like to share that part of my identity, not expect me to throw that in with my height.

Demanding pronouns is not about me… it’s about them.

I would be the first person to volunteer that information had I had any sort of gender or identity reassignment.

If it came up.

If my PRONOUNS just happened to blithely come up in an audition room I would find it weird.

It’s a power play.

It’s also baked in virtue signaling at this point.

My identity is my business..

I’m just here to act and use my empathy to portray a character.

That’s it.

That is why I’m here.

For a gig.

The joke is on me.

Over the last few years I have seen so many threats and admonitions from numerous self righteous, self obsessed groups that instruct actors and artists who they can play, and what they can write.

And what they can’t.

“There will never be another cisgender actor playing a trans character ever again. Full stop.”

“We see you gay white man… we see you white woman.. you are responsible for our oppression and exploitation.”… from a manifesto signed by mostly famous, wealthy people in the arts.

Yada yada.

I’ve seen scores of articles in major newspapers and theater rags that center on grievance, outrage, hubris, noise and entitlement.

It’s a Pity Olympics where the Bronze goes to who you can blame for your show closing.

The joke is on us.

Writing and creating art at this point in the war is so constrained, confused and stunted by the lack of artistic freedom that the soul is often times missing.

The empathy.

Submitting a play or a musical for consideration to be even glanced at now has so many identity boxes that 23 and Me would short circuit.

There is absolutely no doubt that censorship is taking center stage now with Putin’s puppetbitch wreaking havoc at the Kennedy Center and elsewhere.

The results will be, and are, devastating.

Freedom to create is being devastated.

Devastated.

But, we better look at our own part in that.

Cuz, we’ve fucked it up too.

I think Jane Fonda is amazing and courageous and much of what she said last night resonated with me.

However, we will never win the war with defining or redefining the word “woke”.

We will have a fighting chance if we look in the mirror.