To the editors:
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Michael P. Walsh in a letter published on June 8th, 1990, referred to the performance of the Los Angeles Poverty Department (LAPD) as exploitive. LAPD is a theater group comprised of homeless and formerly homeless individuals and directed by performance artist John Malpede. Mr. Walsh’s letter involves two different levels of misunderstanding. His letter was written in response to a review of LAPD’s performance at Randolph Street Gallery by Justin Hayford [May 25]. This review is where the misunderstanding begins. Mr. Hayford describes John Malpede as sitting in the audience and shouting out directions “incessantly.” He says, Malpede’s “authority is never challenged. . . . He seems intent on destabilizing the narrative.” Mr. Hayford’s descriptions are somewhat accurate, but his conclusion misses the point. He wrote, “I found his [Malpede’s] voice intrusive, as if the director couldn’t keep his hand out of the material.” John let us think for ourselves. We were more than just performers; we were partners in the direction of the performance. During the actual performance, John was not functioning as the director; he was playing a character. His role in the performance was that of the voice that is always questioning your actions and that paralyzes you. He was the boss at your job that is always on you and guaranteeing that you’re going to fail because you’re so uptight. He was the voice of authority that tells you how small you are. He was the voice of Mr. Walsh who simplifies the problem and KNOWS the answer.
Until we as a society really begin to look at all the different reasons why people are homeless, until we stop focusing on the fact of homelessness, until we start to look at the bigger picture and try to understand the various steps that lead up to homelessness, until we stop stereotyping homeless people and getting angry at them and blaming them for being homeless, until we do these things then we will never really stop homelessness; we will only deal with the surface of the problem and not the causes. If a person, like Mr. Walsh, were to begin to try to finish the sentence: People are homeless because . . ., then the place to begin might be because society is locking a certain number of people out. So the questions that need to be asked are why do people feel left out? Why do certain people have low self-esteem? Why do some people feel the need to abuse others? These are questions that LAPD’s performance tried to address by looking at the abusive family situation that one of LAPD’s members grew up in and showing how those elements get translated into an adult life as a homeless person. Or by considering Mark Dorsey’s employment situation in which he was fired for something he didn’t do and how his situation got translated into a bargaining chip that was relinquished in some bigger deal between his union and his employers.
Mark Dorsey
