Incite/Insight Spring-Summer 2019 Incite_Insight—Spring_Summer 2019 Final | Page 20

rights to Tomás again, we would be
granted permission.
In her 2012 Howlround essay “Latina/o
Theatre Commons,” playwright
and professor Anne García-
Romero, reminds theatre artists of
the immediacy of including Latinx
plays, “U.S. culture in the twenty-first
century continues to move from a
mono-cultural to a multicultural
experience...Contemporary Latina/o
theatre updates the US narrative
through presenting diverse cultural
worlds that allow theatre audiences
to more fully understand the U.S.
experience in the twenty-first
century.” At UNC, and more broadly
in our community, our population is
becoming increasingly multicultural,
and our theatre selections need to
reflect this shift.
I was reminded of how the cycle of
unchecked privilege in the publishing
industry continues. Just yesterday, as
I was working, ironically, to finish this
very article, one of my Latinx students
came to my office to discuss his
progress on the upcoming staged
reading of Karen Zacarias’ Just Like
Us. The play is an adaptation of Helen
Thorpe’s published book of the same
title and is based a true story of four
Latinx young women and the impact
their citizenship status has their
educational journeys.
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To respond to the political upheaval
of the Deferred Action for Childhood
Arrivals (DACA) crisis in September
of 2017, Zacarias waived the rights
to any staged reading of this play. A
group of students at UNC decided to
participate in her call to action.
My student was surprised when
the publisher contacted him and
demanded money for the staged
reading and wanted to charge
a higher rate for the production
contract than was previously
negotiated with the playwright. I
wonder if there are other examples
in the theatre community of these
kinds of experiences. We are in a time
now where we can no longer be silent
when we see publishers prevent
stories of people of color from being
shared.
In 2017, the Cooperative Children’s Book
Center at the University of Wisconsin-
Madison, reported that out of the
3,500 children’s books distributed by
US publishers, only 108 were by Latinx
writers (3 percent). As TYA artists and
educators who work with youth, we
must advocate to publishers for more
inclusivity. If we stay silent, and their
practices continue to go unchecked,
the cycle continues. As Black feminist
writer Mali D. Collins reminds us:
“The consistent rejection of diversity
in publishing is a paradox. As the
industry attempts to stay current,
relevant, and malleable in an
increasingly digital age, it can no
longer afford to deny Black and
Brown authors and audiences.
Academic and university presses
must be accountable to diversity
quotas, if not because it makes them
money. More ethically, however,
publishing is a pillar of cultural and
knowledge production and must be
all-inclusive because presses have
a duty, onus, or whatever you may
call it in cultural production. Presses
have the power to orchestrate the
circulation of knowledge and without
the institutional commitment to
eradicating injustice they’re asleep at
the wheel.”
Gillian McNally is a Professor of
Theatre Education at the University
of Northern Colorado (UNC). She co-
runs a program for undergraduate
and graduate students and
produces the biannual TYA
production. McNally has published
articles in TYA Today, Youth Theatre
Journal and Incite/Insight. She
served on the TYA/USA board from
2009-2019.