DIALOGUE

SHELDON EPPS

Pasadena Playhouse Artistic Director Emeritus

Renowned director Sheldon Epps champions diversity both on and off stage, including through his new memoir, My Own Directions: A Black Man’s Journey in the American Theatre. Under his leadership, from 1997–2017, Pasadena Playhouse once again established a reputation for outstanding productions with artistic excellence and theatrical diversity. During his tenure, Epps received the NAACP Community Service Award and the prestigious James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award, among many other honors. Here, Epps continues the conversation of the still-existing issues within the industry and beyond. —SARA SMOLA

What led you to the Pasadena Playhouse?

› I actually saw my fi rst professional production there when I was around 10 years old, so I think I’ve been tied to that theater since my youth. I also felt it was in the center of a great theater community in greater Los Angeles and I thought we could make great things happen.

What was one of your proudest achievements as artistic director?

› When I arrived in 1997, it was unapologetically a white theater. I was frequently the only person of color and only person under 60 going to see a production. So, I was genuinely bringing diversity to the Playhouse onstage and o , with the artists involved, with the programming, and bringing more people of color to the theater, and also a younger audience.

What has your experience been like as a Black man in theater— as “one of the few” or “the only”?

› Sometimes when people look at a career that has a great deal of success, which I’ve been blessed with, they think it was easy. But I have faced racial challenges, people telling me what I can or can’t do, that I should only be doing plays of a certain kind, that I had no right be the artistic leader of a major theater. The book is about my choosing to be defi ned by my own standards, not those imposed on me as a Black man in America.

What do you hope will be the impact of your memoir?

› Racism in the American theater has been a dark little secret, so I wanted to bring that out into the open because you can’t eradicate a problem until you face it openly and honestly. But, even greater than that, for young people I wanted to write hopefully to inspire them to believe that race and restrictions toward people of color should not be something to defeat you, but you should follow your own direction and defi ne your own possibilities and be unlimited in your choices and desires.

What does “chased by race” mean?

› There are instances that occur on almost a daily basis that remind you that you’re being chased by race, whether that is people choosing to believe there are things you can’t do or opportunities that you don’t get unless you fi ght for them, places you can’t go—still. Even though there’s no legal segregation, there’s a sort of assumed segregation in our country that still exists. And then there’s the smaller things like looks that you get when you walk into certain venues, or the look of slight fear in a person’s eyes if you get into an elevator with them and they’re uncomfortable being alone with you because you’re Black. You’re never allowed to forget for very long that you’re a person of color.

How can industry leaders and patrons promote diversity within the arts?

› As people here in Pasadena did during my time with the Playhouse, support arts organizations that put a focus on diversity by going to those institutions. Artistic leaders have to keep an awareness of the challenges that race still presents and have an openness to participation by people of all colors based on their talent, not based on their race, and realize that diversity helps us all to live in a better and more exciting world.