Playwright Jean Tong on her fears that ‘diversity’ is ghettoising the artistic work of people of colour.
6 Sep 2019
Jean Tong
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Performing Arts
Playwright Jean Tong worrying that she is worrying too much; image supplied.
Being a POC playwright is automatically getting defensive when you receive an email out of the blue asking you to write about The Experience of Being a POC Playwright, specifically.
I considered trying to write a thoughtful, emotional piece about how by writing this piece, I would be replicating the thing I fear, which is the ghettoisation of ‘diverse’ work by major theatre companies – where the ‘diverse’ projects get advertised to ‘diverse’ audiences who are craving representation of other ‘diverse’ people.
Jean Tong is a writer, dramaturg and director, and currently the Development Assistant at Goalpost Pictures. Her plays include Hungry Ghosts, which premiered at Melbourne Theatre Company in 2018, and the musical Romeo is Not the Only Fruit, which premiered in 2017 and was remounted at Malthouse Theatre for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and Brisbane Festival in 2018. In 2019, Jean directs the premiere of new Australian work Oh No! Satan Stole my Pineal Gland! by Kirby Medway. Jean is also in development for Flat Earthers: The Musical, which was shortlisted for ATYP’s Rebel Wilson Scholarship, and accepted into Homegrown Australia’s Grassroots Initiative.
