Definition: Given a real-life anecdote of a complex ethical situation, generate a suitable title that describes the main event/root cause of the situation. Imagine that the given text is a social media post, and you have to write the title of the post, so the users can decide to read the main text or not.
Input: Background: I take improv classes at a smaller-sized improv theater in a west coast city. Much like the surrounding community, the theater is pretty progressive, taking pride in inclusivity and remaining us that we are welcome with those little all are welcome signs. So it’s pretty cool to have a lot of different backgrounds. My class itself has about 35 participants and is pretty awesomely diverse.

Fast forward to last Saturday. We were finishing up a class when the instructor announced that an hour after the class, the POC team showcase would begin. A few times a month the theater has open showcases where students and visitors can participate in improv. There’s one for POC, women/femme, LGBT, and then the all open showcase that anyone can participate in.

Some of us were interested in attending (since participating was limited to just POC and everyone respected that) and a girl (who happened to be white) inquired about ticket prices. Our instructor seemed a bit surprised and said that the show was *only* for POC. She could visit the women’s showcase, all open showcase, or LGBTQ showcase if she fell in that category.

That struck me a bit because I couldn’t attend any of them besides the open showcase (which I’ve seen often). I get that being a straight white dude doesn’t carry leverage in the topic of discrimination, I really do. It just sucks because I wanted to support some of my classmates who were going to take part in the showcase and hear some insight from different backgrounds (and some comedy!). 

The theater’s director of diversity was there, and reiterated those points, so I assumed that the theater’s director likely also upholds those rules. What confused me even more is that they sell tickets to these showcases to the public in-house.

I guess it would be almost intrusive to view the POC showcase, but I’m also afraid to voice my grievences to my instructor; I have no idea how to approach it without being ostracized or kicked out of the classes (which I paid for).

WIBTA to write a complaint to the theater regarding their practices? The difficult thing is everything said was verbal, so there’s no record of them saying that. I really love the shows that come through there, but I’m pretty saddened and still in some disbelief they can blatantly discriminate like that. 

filing a complaint against a theater for (what I see as) discriminatory practices