On Monday, April 17, the Lively Arts will host an outreach discussion with David Wannen, Executive Director of the nationally know New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players. It will be held at 4:00 p.m. in the HSS building, Room B11.
The session will be a case-study on the company’s 2016 nationally-exposed controversy of producing a new production of The Mikado, and being accused of stereotyping the Japanese culture through design, style, and casting. Many of you may remember this from last year. The discussion will center on how that challenged the company to address issues of cultural diversity and awareness, and handle some very difficult public relations.
As the NYGSP’s Executive Director, Mr. Wannen was extremely active and involved in this national controversy, appearing on MSNBC, and has a great deal of knowledge on approaching this type of issue, how the NYGSP addressed it, and how they emerged a better and stronger organization.