This past weekend, The Fairy Princess was flown to Washington, D.C., to work on a journalism piece about the rise of Hate Crimes since the 2016 Election.
Whist TFP was in D.C., VP Elect, Mike Pence was in New York City going to see…
where the audience responded with some applause but also,
See for yourself…
This is not an unusual situation for VP Elect to find himself in – after all, he has been booed at baseball games and quite a few other places.
VP Elect Mike Pence has been booed for defending Military Moms, for complimenting the Governor of Ohio… heck those last two he was being booed by ‘his own people’ – he is a man that knows how to handle it.
People, not just New Yorkers, do not like him.
At the conclusion of the show, the actor who plays Aaron Burr, Brandon Victor Dixon read a statement directly addressing VP Elect Pence, which was written by the show’s creator, Lin Manuel Miranda, the show’s Producer, Jeffrey Seller, and the show’s Director, Tommy Kail.
The rest of the Cast bore witness.
There was booing from the audience, the Cast urged them to be quiet, so the statement could be read.
The Cast did not boo.
Now, aside from the Orange Hate Pumpkin that is our President Elect who decided to tweet bad things about the show and demand an apology which is not warranted...
there are many, on both sides of this issue taking issue with the treatment of Mike Pence, saying the actors overstepped, that the show should be boycotted..
Like they could even get a TICKET?
Like, you just casually turn down tickets to HAMILTON?
People who say that speaking truth to power is not the place of the theater – to them, TFP says – please brush up on your theatrical history – you are absolutely and categorically wrong.
What the Cast and Crew did was follow a long standing Irish tradition called “The Noble Call’.
Here is an actual Irish person from Ireland to explain it to you:
A Noble Call occurs after the show – an actor in the show, or an invited guest, is invited to address the crowd on matters of the day.
It is considered, in Irish storytelling and theater, that everyone has a song to sing or a tale to tell in a unique way, and it is one’s duty to share it, by the sharing of it – using it to ‘call’ to others there, that it is Noble.
This is a tradition that is ingrained in the Irish storytelling tradition.
TFP knows this because…wait for it, she is Irish.
Ireland has, as do most other countries in the world, a much longer history than the United States.
As in, here is a ditty that is so old…they don’t even know how old it really is…but Ed Sheeran is singing it now – low those hundreds of years later – that is what is so very awesome about Irish music and theatrical tradition.
(Yes, Ed Sheeran who wrote that Justin Bieber song)
Ireland has been an invaded country and a politically divided country since almost the beginning- but the plays and songs and stories and artists and actors and dancers from Ireland, or with Irish roots – have given us all hopes and dreams in some of the most brilliant words and music and performances of all time.
Since wandering players were brought before the Kings and Queens of Ancient Ireland, artists and musicians, fools and artisans, have been speaking truth on the matters of the day.
You may recall the absolutely captivating Noble Call done at The Abbey Theater by Drag Queen, Panti Bliss, on the oppression that LGBTQ people can be exposed on a daily basis by ‘nice’ people, the sort of people you would feel comfortable leaving your children with.
Panti Bliss’s Nobel Call was filmed in 2014.
In 2015, Ireland legalized marriage equality.
Theater can make a difference.
In fact, theater has always intended to make a difference, and it has always been used to speak truth to power – what is The Crucible if not an indictment of McCarthyism and it’s trials of Artists in America?
What is Angels in America if not a call to arms for LGBTQ activism?
Wise words by Playwright, John Patrick Shanley are assure us that it is right to ask the questions, it is just to find things immoral, it is powerful to look for honesty.
The Cast and Crew of Hamilton did what they were supposed to do, by long standing theatrical tradition.
The cast of Hamilton is inclusive – it has people of various backgrounds, various sexes, and sexual orientations.
The policies that Mike Pence has backed in his work – are not inclusive, we of the theater, and we of the world, should not forget this.
We cannot forget what Mike Pence has stood for.
We cannot forget the positions Mike Pence has taken towards our people.
Now, whilst the Orange Hate Pumpkin was dodging and tweeting about a Broadway show he has not seen , trying to take the spotlight off the fact that he admitted he was wrong and paid $25 Million in damages in the lawsuit filed by former students of Trump University -(and as a lawyer’s kid, may TFP just add) he does not want you to remember that people do not ‘settle’ because they are nice folks.
People settle because if they go to trial and get a judgement against them, it is likely to be much larger than what they were willing to pay. They settle and get the other side to sign something saying they will not reveal what was revealed, or they will not write a check, and then they walk away shouting that there were never any judgements against them.
So while that smoke and mirrors thing was happening – Mike Pence was being ‘the cool guy’ and announcing that what happened at HAMILTON did not offend him at all.
He liked the show, and that, since he is a ‘big history buff’- he had a great time and that he will encourage representation of all Americans when he sits at the hand of the Father.
This almost makes him appealing.
But we cannot forget what Mike Pence is.
The actor playing Hamilton is an Openly Gay, HIV Positive, Cancer Survivor who took care of both of his Parents when they were stricken with cancer.
VP Mike Pence would approve of electrocuting him to attempt to ‘make him straight’ – because that is a part of ‘conversion therapy‘, and Mike Pence is for conversion therapy.
Mike Pence is also for denying services – like baking a cake – to someone if they are perceived to be Gay or if they state they are Gay.
His is also, obviously, against marriage equality.
There are women in the cast.
Women whom Mike Pence would deny access to health care, deny contraception, deny basic control over their own bodies.
There are People of Color in the cast. People whose lives matter – and the policies that Mike Pence has backed, marginalize those people.
Policies that the Orange Hate Pumpkin has thought of as a good idea – such as stop and frisk, and torture – endanger us.
The GOP announced plans to de-fund Medicare and Social Security.
Mike Pence is anti-union.
The people in that Cast are members of Actor’s Equity – which just won a decisive battle for them in the Off Broadway contracts.
The people in that cast are under attack from the GOP in a way that has not been seen in this country in a very long time.
This Country is under attack from the GOP in a way that has not been seen in a long time.
Mike Pence is a step behind the man who has a short temper, a large business empire that he does not seem to be stepping away from, the man who has appointed hatemongers to positions of privilege – that man will make mistakes.
One or ten of them may become impeachable. (Conservatively)
Then we will be stuck with Mike Pence – and that is actually scarier.
The Orange Hate Pumpkin won because he was a ‘maverick’ and an ‘outsider’ – honestly, we do not know his record, because he does not have one.
Mike Pence is on record denying rights. Mike Pence is on record trying to control women’s bodies. Mike Pence is on record trying to bust up unions and saying that torture is within the realm of possibility.
TFP was just in Washington, D.C. this weekend, and it was tense. She talked to ordinary, non-show folk people, and people are scared of this new team coming in.
HAMILTON‘s Noble Call – it was warranted.
It was in the very best theatrical tradition.
It spoke truth to power.
TFP commends the Cast on their composure.
They have a great deal to risk – they are comprised of marginalized groups – many may not acknowledge their claim on American rights, many may not choose to hear their plea for representation.
Mike Pence is pretending to, and that is not comforting at all.
His record shows he cares very little for representing all the people, his record shows he only represents people who look like him, who think like him, who worship as he worships.
They have the Presidency, they have the House, they have the Senate.
We have the Theater. We have the Artists. We have the freedom to speak truth to power – until they take it away.
The Cast of HAMILTON spoke for all of us – even if you think they did not speak for you, they did.
TFP thanks them.
She thanks them as a minority, and she thanks them as a person whose Irish Grandparents came over on a boat, escaping oppression, because of their religion.
She knows her Grandparents would not even be able to comprehend what a ‘blog’ is – but she knows that they would definitely understand a “Noble Call’.
See you all at #BroadwayCon
fairyprincessdiaries 
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