To the editors:
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First of all, Helbig indicates that the playwrights barely relate the ethnicity of the play’s characters, and infers that African American artists (and I can only assume all artists of color) should only produce work that powerfully communicates our unique attitudes, fears and opinions. His presumption in telling us what African American theater needs to be–issue-oriented, down-trodden and of the “we’ve been done wrong” genre–is limiting, insulting and patronizing. Wrestlers was written by “single, urban, upwardly aspiring African American women.” Is Mr. Helbig better suited to relay that experience than the playwrights?
Secondly, the fact that women of color are playing major roles in a physical-style comedy, that they are candidly, openly and lightheartedly talking about sex, and that audiences, no matter what color, gender or sexual orientation, have identified with these women, more than justifies and advances Chameleon’s mission.
Chameleon Productions
