Rihanna Arrived Late and Texted During Broadway Show 'Slave Play.' Here's Why Playwright Jeremy O. Harris Is Defending Her From Critics
Slave Play playwright Jeremy O. Harris is defending music and fashion doyenne Rihanna after online critics took her to task for arriving late and texting during a preview of the Broadway show.
Harris, who interviewed Rihanna earlier this year for T Magazine, took to his Twitter to address the critiques, where he tweeted that Rihanna, “a patron saint of the play I wrote,” and her music played a key role in the play’s conception. He also noted that she was texting him during the play and he responded.
“The patron saint of the play I wrote is literally a pop star, fashion icon, and Demi-goddess named Rihanna,” Harris wrote in a quote tweet of another post that criticized special treatment of the singer. “Her words are all over it. She’s a 9th character in the play. When Dionysus is coming, you hold the curtain.”
She texted throughout the performance. Multiple “common” audience members who paid for their tickets have confirmed this. Stop applauding her behavior.
— Steven (@somedayboy) September 16, 2019
I don’t understand why you aren’t condemning that behavior :/ Lin was right to condemn Madonna. Her doing that throughout the show is incredibly disrespectful to the rest of the audience. And also to the cast....
— Steven (@somedayboy) September 15, 2019
I was there and had a HUGE problem with this...she is no more important than any of the rest of us who actually followed the damn rules.
Rihanna Sent A Text In The Middle Of A Broadway Show And The Drama That Followed Was A Lot https://t.co/lURcLAbb6f— jenn32870 (@jenn32870) September 17, 2019
Rihanna’s influence on the play, is overt and integral. Audio from her hit 2016 song “Work” opens and closes the play and plays a key role in the storyline throughout, while a lyric from the song is featured prominently as part of the set.
Two things I learned today about the Type of theatre maker I am:
When my idol texts that she’s running late. I hold the curtain for her.
When my idol texts me during a play I’ve written, I respond. pic.twitter.com/78081zXnje— Jeremy O. Harris (@jeremyoharris) September 15, 2019
To dead this weird discourse that has popped up...
The patron saint of the play I wrote is literally a pop star, fashion icon, and Demi-goddess named Rihanna. Her words are all over it. She’s a 9th character in the play.
When Dionysus is coming you hold the curtain. https://t.co/ocYxCjbIkU— Jeremy O. Harris (@jeremyoharris) September 15, 2019
Harris also used criticism of Rihanna’s attendance and behavior as a way to open up a dialogue about respectability politics inherent in traditional theater etiquette and the issue of accessibility in the theater world. Slave Play, which parses out the complexities of race, gender and sexuality in three contemporary interracial relationships, has put accessibility at the forefront of the production, offering 10,000 tickets at $39 and introducing a digital lottery and in-person rush system; at just six previews so far, the play has filled a nearly 99% capacity.
IDK. There’s no right or wrong way to watch the theatre....the form is dying so I’d rather ppl just be there then not tbqh.
— Jeremy O. Harris (@jeremyoharris) September 15, 2019
When I found out @SlavePlayBway was happening one of the first things I said was, “How will my friends afford this?” My producing team and I made accessibility a priority for ppl like me who never saw broadway shows Bc of $$, now 10,000 seats will be $39https://t.co/LFygnsuUJ7
— Jeremy O. Harris (@jeremyoharris) July 11, 2019
Harris also organized a night for a showing of Slave Play with an all-black audience, something he felt was important “after years of being the only black person in an audience of white faces…it felt like a corrective might be in order to show the potentialities of the space.”
last year when being interviewed for @i_D by @kelelam she told me that it was her great wish to be able to see @SlavePlayBway again, but with an all black audience. I told her I didn't know how that would work but I'd try to make it happen. https://t.co/4I9RSoLZ3p
— Jeremy O. Harris (@jeremyoharris) September 16, 2019
there were a lot of hard conversations about its implications but, for me, it was clear it had to happen because after years of being the only black person in an audience of white faces at play it felt like a corrective might be in order to show the potentialities of the space.
— Jeremy O. Harris (@jeremyoharris) September 16, 2019