SEATTLE — The 5th Avenue Theatre’s production of Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” is setting a new standard to who brings a show to life on and off the stage.
It is the theater’s first production since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the first production since the implementation of its Anti-Racism Work Update.
“We are trying to evaluate and analyze the structures that exist here, and how we make theater and try to break those down and make it a more accessible and equitable environment for everyone that comes through our doors,” said Bill Berry, 5th Avenue Theatre’s producing artistic director.
That action was prompted by an open letter to theaters called, “We See You White American Theater.”
“In that document, some really shocking things were said that I think we as a primarily white institution didn't realize were happening,” added Berry.
Staff spent the past year and a half looking at its practices and outlined several steps to amplify the voices of Black and theater-makers of color in all areas of production and education.
The first bullet point is: “We will develop work by, and amplify the voices, of Black theater makers and theater makers of color in our programming onstage, backstage, and in all areas of musical theater production and education.”
“We want to be more inclusive in the totality of telling the stories in our anti-racist work. Not just the part where people see it,” said Berry. "I think that in many ways, that was one of the things that was brought up by the global majority. It was, you're not doing a bad job of getting representation onto your stage, but that's where it seems to stop.”
Berry wanted to make sure the first show back was family-friendly and represented everyone in the audience. Jay Woods, the production's director, pitched the idea of “Beauty and the Beast.”
“She talked about what a production might look like in this environment of Seattle and what would make a really beautiful community celebration,” said Berry. “Part of her vision was that it would be extremely diverse and would represent the totality of our community.”
“Beauty and the Beast” is the 5th Avenue debut for Porscha Shaw, who plays Belle, and Riley Brack, who plays Beast. Both actors faced challenges because of their race in the industry.
Growing up between Baltimore, Maryland, and Miami, Brack played the lead in community theater. When he moved to Boston for college, Brack said he realized race mattered with casting.
“I was really fortunate to have that experience growing up and getting to school and into the professional world, I'm only getting called back for certain things,” said Brack. “I sort of had a reckoning at 18, like as an adult stepping into white spaces. There have definitely been challenges there. It also cultivated an integrity I didn't know I had about being discerning about what projects I work on.”
It's something Shaw noticed during her first year of booking shows in Seattle after completing grad school at the University of Washington.
“I was only getting called for like the prostitute, or I was getting called in for like the dog, or things like that,” explained Shaw. “I played those parts, but one of the very first interviews I had during that year, I told them that ‘I wanted to be called in for the roles the white women get called in for because I am actually that skilled.’”
Shaw and Brack said working with a diverse cast and crew for “Beauty and the Beast” was magical.
“The energy in this place was so endued with gratitude, and it was never lost in me for a second that our identities were being uplifted in that space,” said Brack.
“This is a room for us. It was the first time I felt like that,” said Shaw. “Usually, they only allow us to have that space when it's like “Blue's Over Alabama Sky,” an all-Black show based in the ‘60s where somebody is going to die. That's usually the room for us, a traumatic room, where we do a traumatic play. But this is a room and a play about joy, and it was a room for us.”
After “Beauty and the Beast,” the 5th Avenue Theatre will show “Afterwords,” a new musical that Berry said celebrates how art helps heal from trauma and crisis.
Staff are planning next season and making sure to continue to live up to its objectives.
“I think one of the biggest challenges is going to be making sure that as an organization we don't just do this quick thing right now and just move on," said Berry. "This has to be something we work on to engrain and embed into our culture here at the 5th Avenue so that it's ongoing and continuous."