Local artists grapple with an unprecedented election

While I haven’t heard any artists crying “rigged” about the results of Nov. 8^th election, the expressions of hurt, confusion and fear have been loud and frequent among local A&E practitioners on social media as it became clear that Donald Trump would be the next occupant of the Oval Office.

“Can't stop crying and asking is this really who we are?” posted actress Cindy Lucinda Phillips.

“I have not felt such despair since watching the towers fall,” wrote director Ty Stover.

Some simply replaced their profile pictures with black rectangles.

One of the biggest fears in the arts community is the loss of gains made on the LGBT front over the past few years. While sexism, racism, homophobia and more exist in the arts just as they do in the broader society, the creative world has historically been a safe(r) haven for those outside of the dominant establishment. The threat of reversing marriage equality feels, to them, like society is shifting into reverse.

“I am stunned. I am dismayed. And I am scared. Not so much for myself. I am a straight, white, male. But for my friends, I tremble,” wrote Ben Tebbe, director of theater at Marian University.

Today may be a day that many of them pull their blankets up over their collective heads.

Tomorrow…well, as has been said by armies of pundits who couldn’t see beyond their monitors, we are in uncharted territory.

 “…it's going to be dark. And loud. And probably a bit scary. We are lost together," said Q Artistry artistic director Ben Asakykwee. "Let's use the brightest light we can to get out of this darkness,”

Added actor Sam Fain: “To my artist friends, remember, they were doing Shakespeare in bombed out craters in Europe with a war raging on. No time to give up now.”

“Thank goodness we have art,” wrote Dance Kaleidoscope’s artistic director David Hochoy.