NOTES FROM THE DIRECTOR
A young black girl is killed by the authorities. The community around her mourns. Justice is demanded. Lines are drawn and sides are chosen. You’d be forgiven if you thought I was describing the tragic events surrounding Breonna Taylor, when in fact, I’m discussing the oddly prescient catalyst for the climax of Ahrens & Flaherty’s Ragtime. I like to think that a test of good art is that it serves as a mirror to its audience and Ragtime certainly passes that test.
The beauty of Ragtime is that it’s story really is timeless. The danger of it is that you stop at the surface and think of it as an ode to a bygone era, a period in our history that we’ve overcome. Ragtime is a story that continues to unfold time and time again BECAUSE we have yet to truly reflect on our history. We have yet to reach the magical day sung about in the Act 1 finale; but I’m an optimist and I believe that dream is in reach if we’re willing to do the work.
In her book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent, author Isabel Wilkerson describes a phenomenon that occurred simultaneously with the events leading up to and including fateful election of 2016. Across the world, in the Siberian tundra, as temperatures continued to rise from global warming, the indigenous herding population of the area had been exposed to anthrax that had been dormant for decades beneath the icy tundras. The anthrax was a remnant of WWII attacks and at the time, burying them underground seemed like the best option to get rid of them once they had exceeded their usefulness. However once exposed, the anthrax proved to be just as potent as it had been in the past, if not more so. Officials were now tasked with figuring out a way to get rid of the problem in a manner that actually solved it, vs. just keeping it out of sight. With the knowledge that burying it didn’t work, they were forced to seek out other solutions.
I promise there’s a point to me sharing this story.
The events of 2020 have been like the uncharacteristically warm summer that brought that anthrax to the surface four years ago; we’ve known that racism, sexism, bigotry, ableism and a myriad of other social ills were plaguing us. But we convinced ourselves that we had buried them deep enough. They were lying dormant beneath the surface, no longer a threat to the idealized version of our society that we fought to believe as truth day in and day out. But the truth is, it never went away. It was always there, just waiting for an opportunity to contaminate the masses.
As I sit down to write this message, we are four days out from election day. This production will be streaming the weekend after we find out the fate of our country not just for the next four years, but in my opinion, the foreseeable future. So, I’m not writing this as a call to arms or a plea to make the right choice. I’m writing this as an invitation to reflect on the choices that have gotten us to this point. Enjoy the show for sure; the performances are wonderful and the energy that went into creating this on all sides is truly inspiring. But don’t fall prey to disease of reminiscing. We are not presenting a story cemented in the annals of history. “Listen to that Ragtime”…..and recognize that we are still in the midst of it.
-Jailyn Sherell Harris
