Dear President-elect Trump,
you will never understand theater. You will never understand who theater artists are. You will never be able to comprehend why we do what we do.
I am not surprised you want an apology from the "Hamilton" cast and producers for expressing themselves in a dignified manner:
I am not surprised that you and your supporters have a complete misunderstanding of what art and theater are meant to be:
None of this shocks me in any way. This is because you are the antithesis of theater.
Theater is admitting imperfections. You are too much of an egomaniac to ever admit you did anything wrong.
Theater is seeing the world through a different lens. Your lens is the “best lens” so why look through another one.
Theater is giving everybody a voice. Your voice is the only voice that matters.
Theater is creative. You can’t even come up with words more creative than “huge, great, or tremendous” (although, I’ll admit “bigly” was pretty inventive)
Theater is treating every human being with compassion. You actively disenfranchise anybody who does not look or think the way you do.
Theater is changing our society for the better. You only care about your own interests.
Theater is progress and innovation. You want to take our country backward.
Because I am a child of the theater, I will try to treat you like the human being I sometimes forget (and I think you sometimes forget) you are. Donald, I feel bad for you. I think you are a man who has been given everything he ever wanted and is still not satisfied. I think you need vast amounts of love and attention to drown out your own feelings of worthlessness. I think you were raised in a family that taught you to hate. I think you are incredibly sensitive and hide your insecurities with anger, denial, and machismo.
I am sorry you are the way you are, Donald. I wish I could help you but I cannot change someone who is so persistently, rigidly unmovable. I would just like to tell you one thing, Donald: theater is a safe space. It is a place where you are safe to express your own views and be who you are. You could learn a lot from theater. I wish you did. It would help you. If you were willing to accept us, we would accept you. But, since it seems that that will never happen, do not be surprised, theater people, when he says the "Hamilton" cast and producers should apologize for trying to voice their own opinions. He only likes people that smile, look pretty, and kiss his ass. Our job now is to be the exact opposite. Be controversial, be loud, be different. Donald may be unreachable, but the rest of our country is not. Let’s get to work.
