#diep tran

The 2020 West Side Story revival sidelines Maria and the other women, in order to center the violence of the men. The men are also centered in the marketing campaign for the show as well as the images on the marquee. The women do not push back against the hate, or give a hopeful alternative to it. At the end, Maria doesn’t break away from the violence, she just stands on the stage, next to the Jets and Sharks, looking exhausted and depleted. Another Black woman whose lover was killed by gun violence (Pimentel is Afro-Latina). The revival took away what made Maria special. 

My girl Diep is Getting It Done! Anxiously awaiting this issue and to see who we’re writing off next. 

It shouldn’t be used to give problematic musicals contemporary relevance, or to sell tickets to a show, or to effectively keep women out of positions of power. This is performative wokeness: producers and directors giving lip service to the idea of diversity and equality, but doing very little to actually further the cause by, you know, hiring more women on their creative teams for shows about sexism and women, or people of color for shows about race.

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It’s not just that the hit musical doesn’t tell my family’s story. It’s that it perpetuates a narrative in which the Vietnamese are victims, not fighters.

Denis O’Hare: That's one of my favorite characters, not who represents me. I played him in readings and things but I've never actually played him. I've always wanted to play Edmund, Caliban, Iago—that whole line.

That means trying to have a rational conversation online can be about as likely as trying to catch a comet with your bare hands.