For Larry Parr

Dear Larry Parr,

This weekend I attended a performance of your play "His Eye is on the Sparrow" at the Armory produced by Portland Center Stage. I am a student at Stanford University and I went as school sponsored trip with my class African-American Women's Lives taught by Allyson Hobbs. Maiesha McQueen was absolutely phenomenal. Her every movement, every glance, every vibrato felt genuine and honest. Simultaneously Ethel and Maiesha. One of my classmates was huddled under her coat as it was a bit cold in the theater, and during one of her brilliant songs Maiesha noticed, made eye contact with my friend and did a little gesture acknowledging that my friend was a little chilly. It was the smallest moment but it made me realize just how much and how well Maiesha lives in her character.

You don't need me to tell you that you've written a wonderful play. However, I did have a few questions about some of your choices- particularly the ending. By positioning Billy Graham as the crux, the ending of Ethel's story, it felt as if Ethel's struggles were delegitimized in a way. It felt as if the whole point of her life, and the play, was to realize that she was being racist against white people and that was holding her back from true happiness. I recognize that this play is based on what actually happened to Ethel, and indeed maybe she even felt that she had been racist herself, but I think the way your ending is currently positioned is irresponsible. We hear so many intimate details about how Ethel has had to face racism, classism, sexism and more throughout her life. And watching the elderly white people in the audience I felt many of them were really empathizing with Ethel- that they were getting it. But the ending felt like letting them off the hook. The ending felt like you were saying racism is bad and we should all just love each other and recognize we are all god's children. While this is not untrue, it felt like a shockingly uncritical look at racism. It is the privilege of white people to be able to ascribe such an easy solution to racism because they are not faced with racism everyday. I would have loved to see a more challenging ending, an ending that implicates the audience more, that reminds us that there is still a great amount of work and healing to do.

I really did enjoy your play. Darius Smith did a wonderful job arranging and crafting the songs to fit perfectly with the scenes and Maiesha's character and voice. Thank you for writing and commitment to telling Ethel's story.

Best,
Gianna Clark