Davis lays down burdens

\"Ruby and I are here to lay our burden down."\nOssie Davis ended his speech with a reference to a traditional black spiritual. The occasion was the dedication of the Theatre/Neal-Marshall Education Center. The actor and civil rights activist brought audience members to their feet, and more importantly put all of us to shame.\nDavis spoke of the potential of a university such as this one to respond to the social needs of a country in which the differences between the privileged and underprivileged are stark. He reminded us that it is not only the job of our academic community to study things as they are, but also to respond with a vision for what they might be. Not only should we dream up a new vision; it is also our responsibility to realize actively that vision. \nAnd yet, two days after celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., how much further down the path have we carried Mr. Davis's burden? For he did not lay it down as an admission of defeat or a concession to exhaustion. Rather, he offered his burden to us, that we might pick it up. \nAnd with our Department of Theatre and Drama and our Black Culture Center under one roof, what better place to pick it up than at the intersection of the University's most vibrant centers of creation? Now that the African American Arts Institute and the nationally renowned drama program share a home, can't they share the stage?\nThis semester's production of the musical "Parade," in which a mixed-race cast tells the story of a young Jewish man's death by lynching, might be a beginning. Why couldn't this be the first in a long line of plays that put students of various colors on stage together? Of plays exploring the American divides that all too often run along barriers of black and white? Of multi-cultural stagings of the classics illuminating old texts with new understandings. We'll have to wait and see what next season holds. I challenge the Department of Theatre and Drama work with the Black Culture Center to select at least one work that reflects the new housing situation.\nOf more importance than the composition of the theater season is the composition of the Department of Theatre and Drama faculty. With a team of full-time professors that consists entirely of men, all but one of them white, the departmental make-up is a throw-back to the very injustices against which Dr. King fought. It is a disservice to budding actresses, young black directors and all theater students who cannot find mentors who offer experience-based advice on the very real race and gender troubles in the career world. Furthermore, the situation limits creativity and productivity. \nThe recruitment of ethnic minority and women members for the full-time faculty must become a priority for the Department of Theatre and Drama. This is the kind of action that Ossie Davis was asking us to take when he laid his burden at our feet. The same kind of changes waiting to be made under the roof of IU's newest building are probably begging to be made all across the campus.\nThe time for building with bricks, mortar and good intentions is over. We must break ground on real institutional adjustments that will advance the cause of civil rights. There is no better place to start than in the theater, where we create would-be, could-be realities.