Seattle Rep Employee Speaks Out On Stagehand Using N-Word On The Job

As reported last week by BroadwayWorld, the Seattle Repertory Theatre's (SRT) recent production of Kimber Lee's BROWNSVILLE SONG (B-SIDE FOR TRAY), was the subject of controversy when cast members heard a stagehand using the n-word over an intercom.

The incident occurred during a student matinee performance. The play about a young black man from Brooklyn named Tray whose life is violently cut short opens with a speech directed to the audience by the character's grandmother.

She says, "Same Old Story so you gon feel bad and move on/ Cuz he just another/ Ain't he/ To you."

That incomplete sentence, "Cuz he just another," prompted a white stagehand, who spoke with The Stranger under the condition of anonymity, to question if that's the way the play was scripted or if the actor was leaving out a word because of the young people in attendance.

The stagehand claims to have said, "She's not-saying [n-word] right? That's the word she's not saying?"

At first, no staff members were willing to speak on record when the incident was first reported. Since then, The Stranger has been in communication with Simone Hamilton, the Rep's artistic engagement coordinator. She confirmed that the initial response by the Rep's human resources department was to facilitate a meeting between the stagehand and the cast members, at which the stagehand would apologize. The stagehand's apology did not satisfy the actors, so they asked the theater to report the incident to the whole staff.

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Seattle Repertory Theatre's production of Lorraine Hansberry's classic, ARAISIN IN THE SUN runs September 30th through October 30th.

African American Lena Younger lives with her extended family in a cramped apartment on Chicago's South Side. On their unknowing behalf, she places a down payment on a home in Clybourne Park-an affordable white neighborhood. Racial intolerance attempts to derail the family's dreams in this 1959 masterpiece, which "changed American theater forever" (New York Times) and continues to resonate with generation after generation. Visit seattlerep.org.