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When Boston-area audiences saw a pre-Broadway performance of the Alanis Morissette musical Small jagged pill in 2018, they saw actor Lauren Patten sing a powerful and gripping rendition of the hit song “You Oughta Know”, with the young performer delivering the sizzling number as a teenager in love – and gender nonconforming -.
When Broadway audiences saw the same show in 2019 – which reopens after the Covid pandemic closed on October 21 at the Broadhurst Theater – audiences again saw the Tony-nominated stage thief Patten in the role again. , but references to the character’s non-binary nature were all but gone. And on social media, Patten, a cisgender woman, had stopped referring to her Shredded character Jo as “they” or “them” to “she” or “she”.
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When discussing the matter in public, the producers insisted that the character was never written or conceived as non-binary, portraying the role more as one of a young person seeking clarity.
Well, Jo – and the Broadway audience – seem to have clarity ahead.
In a broad statement from Vivek J. Tiwary, Arvind Ethan David, and Eva Price, the musical’s three lead producers apologize for Jo’s transformation from Boston to Broadway and pledge to take action both to rewrite character and take a more inclusive approach to future castings of the role.
“In Jo, we set out to portray a character on a gender journey with no known results,” the producers write in a statement posted on the show’s social media pages (read it in full below). “Throughout the creative process, as the character evolved and changed, between Boston and Broadway, we made mistakes in the way we handled that evolution. In a process designed to clarify and rationalize, many lines that flagged Jo as gender non-conforming, and with them, something vital and integral, have been removed from Jo’s character journey.
The Producers continue: “By compounding our mistake, we then went on to state publicly and categorically that Jo was never written or conceived as non-binary. It reduced and rejected what people saw and felt in this character’s journey. We shouldn’t have done that.
The producers later write, “We should have protected and celebrated the fact that non-binary audience members saw Jo as a bold, provocative, complex and vibrant representation of their community. For all this, we are deeply sorry. Their actions, say the producers, put “our cast and our fans in a difficult position.”
In the statement, the producers describe a series of actions they have or will take to rectify the situation, which they describe as an “ongoing process”:
- The production hired a new dramaturgical team that includes non-binary, transgender, and BIPOC performance “to revisit and deepen the script. In particular, we are committed to demonstrating clarity and integrity in the telling of Jo’s story. The story of a gender nonconforming teenager who is on an open journey regarding his homosexuality and gender identity.
- Producers have instituted practices that “intentionally expand the cast of all roles to performers of all gender identities.” We already have and will continue to make it clear in all future castings that Jo’s character is on a gender journey and to prioritize auditioning for actors for the role who are on a gender journey or who personally understand this experience – including artists who are not binary, gender fluent, gender broad – or otherwise fall under the umbrella of the trans community. “
- Producers “will cultivate a more participatory, responsive, safe and fair working culture, especially for our returning and newly hired non-binary, trans, queer and BIPOC corporate members. This work includes listening and learning sessions, training on transphobia and anti-racism biases, and ongoing avenues for measurable alliance and advocacy.
- The producers recruited a People and Culture Director to be an ongoing source of support, training and advocacy for the company and the team.
- The production will partner with The Trevor Project and Trans Lifeline “to help amplify their voices and bring needed attention to the important work they do.” These relationships will develop over time – starting with an initial donation – for a wide range of fundraising initiatives and policies. “
Little jagged pill, which features songs by Morissette (co-written with Glen Ballard), directed by Diane Paulus and an original story by Diablo Cody, chronicles a year in the life of a perfect suburban family whose many problems slowly surface . The lead roles are played by Kathryn Gallagher, Celia Rose Gooding, Derek Klena, Sean Allan Krill, Lauren Patten and Elizabeth Stanley.
Little jagged pill was nominated for 15 Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Director. Among its performers, Patten, Stanley, Klena, Krill, Gallagher and Gooding will compete for the trophies next week at the awards ceremony on September 26.
The full declaration of the main producers follows:
Broadway is back. Repetitions for Small jagged pill begin and our cast, our team and our entire company are filled with excitement and anticipation.
The last year and a half has been the hardest in living memory – difficult for the whole world, and in a specific and existentially troubling way for our distribution and our business which was closed just weeks after our inception. The relief we feel knowing that we will all be together again is palpable and heartbreaking.
But before we resume, there are some things we need to say:
We want to recognize the reasonable and deeply felt upheaval around issues of transparency and accountability and Jo’s character.
We are grateful and grateful to those who have spoken out on this topic, both within our company and among our audiences. We owe you a response in word and deed. It took a while to put the actions in place, so we also apologize for the delay in these comments. We recognized the importance of the job and decided that doing it right was more important than doing it quickly.
In Jo, we set out to portray a character on a genre journey with no known outcome. Throughout the creative process, as the character evolved and changed, between Boston and Broadway, we made mistakes in the way we handled that evolution. In a process designed to clarify and rationalize, many of the lines that flagged Jo as non-gender-conforming, and with them, something vital and integral, have been removed from Jo’s character journey.
Aggravating our error, we then went on to state publicly and categorically that Jo was never written or conceived of as non-binary. It reduced and rejected what people saw and felt in this character’s journey. We shouldn’t have done this.
Rather, we should have engaged in an open discussion about nuances and the spectrum of genres.
We should have protected and celebrated the fact that non-binary audience members saw Jo as a bold, provocative, complex and vibrant representation of their community.
For all this, we are deeply sorry.
As the leaders of this very special endeavor, we should have done better and recognized our failure and its consequences. We put our cast and our fans in a difficult position. Torn between their love for the show we have created and their pain and disappointment around this issue and with our words (and then with our silence).
Jagged Little Pill covers many topics: opioid addiction, transracial adoption, sexual assault, gender identity, marital crisis, and mental health. Several times we have been told “it’s too much” – but always, encouraged by the bravery of our creative team, especially Alanis, we persevered.
We are very proud of the show we put on and its transformative power. It is precisely because we did this show on these charged and nuanced issues – a show about radical empathy and truth, protest and vulnerability – that we need to hold ourselves to a higher level. We owe it to the show we did, to the amazing people we did it with, and to you our audience, for continuing to fight our imperfection. To begin this ongoing process, we have taken the actions below:
We hired a new dramaturgical team (which includes non-binary, transgender and BIPOC representation), to revisit and deepen the script. In particular, we are committed to demonstrating clarity and integrity in the telling of Jo’s story. The story of a gender nonconforming teenager who is on an open journey regarding his homosexuality and gender identity.
We have instituted practices that intentionally expand the distribution of all roles to performers of all gender identities. We already have and will continue to make it clear in all future castings that Jo’s character is on a gender journey and to prioritize auditioning for actors for the role who are on a gender journey or who personally understand this experience – including artists who are not binary, gender fluent, gender broad – or otherwise fall under the umbrella of the trans community.
We will cultivate a more participatory, responsive, safe and fair work culture, especially for our returning and newly hired non-binary, trans, queer and BIPOC corporate members. This work includes listening and learning sessions, training on transphobia and anti-racism biases, and ongoing avenues for measurable alliance and advocacy. To support this work, we have recruited in our management team a Director of People and Culture, who will be an ongoing source of support, training and advocacy for the company and the team.
We’re partnering with The Trevor Project and Trans Lifeline to help amplify their voices and bring needed attention to the important work they do. These relationships will develop over time – starting with an initial donation – for a wide range of fundraising and policy initiatives.
We are doing these things so as not to stifle debate around these issues. We are touched and grateful for the critical conversations that continue to take place. We welcome all who would be constructive in this endeavor. Broadway has a lot of work to do. We have a lot of work to do. We can’t wait to do it together.
Vivek J. Tiwary, Arvind Ethan David, Eva Price –
Senior Producers, Jagged Little Pill
September 17, 2021
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