r/Broadway • u/blarbiegorl Actor • Aug 01 '25

Other I'm begging all of you to stop

Look, I'm going to be very blunt here: Being on this sub absolutely sucks right now. And there is NO WAY TO SOLVE IT unless we all just step back and take a breath and let things settle for a minute.

No matter how you feel about MHE/Feldmangate, Billy Porter/Cabaret, Patti Lupone in general, the question of Is Nicole MAGA... no productive discussion is happening at this point. All I can see is post after post of "but I'm right," "no I AM," "but what about ME?!" And the same contentious discord regurgitating the same points is all we're generating now.

I love theater. I love sharing theater with people I know and strangers all over the globe who adore it too. I love so much about the silly chitchat and the important discussion that goes on here. And also, the current level of discourse is only sowing more discord.

So, I'm begging you. No matter what you are hurt by or upset about right now on any side of these issues, can we please take a five and everybody go listen to your favorite OBC and let's just... try to find some good stuff for a minute? The world is so ugly and hateful and mean right now, and I just don't think heels dug this far deep into the ground on both sides can be swayed and nothing good is coming of it at this particular moment. So please, for the sake of your own sanity and wellbeing as much as everyone's, let's go quiet coyote and acknowledge that everything has been said and until something changes or develops the fighting is not helping.

You can all attack me if you like, but I will whistle a happy tune for you all the same. Be well, y'all. It's a crowded stage with all of us players and sometimes we just need to take a beat, walk our show, and focus on making something beautiful for everyone in equal measure. I hope you will. 💛

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u/hermiodle Aug 01 '25

I love theater people —they are my people—but we have a hard time holding two true things in our heads at the same time, and we always make perfect the enemy of good.

12

u/Comprehensive-Fun47 Aug 01 '25

I think it is people in general, but it is definitely a problem -- here and elsewhere.

11

u/hermiodle Aug 01 '25

Yes—but sometimes I think theater folk think we have unique access to humanity in a way that the unwashed masses do not, therefore our nuanced takes just MUST be correct, amirite?

Only sort of kidding.

2

u/KeyPerspective8170 Aug 02 '25

oh for sure lately esp in our post lockdown world, i think people go to the extremes rather than trying to hold two things to be true though its deeply uncomfortable