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On 4 January 2021, while COVID-19 continued to cause global devastation and keep many people in lockdown, I facilitated via Zoom a conversation between Ayanna Thompson—Director of the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies (ACMRS) and Regents Professor of English at Arizona State University—and Farah Karim-Cooper—Professor of Shakespeare Studies, King’s College London, and Co-Director, Education at Shakespeare’s Globe. In bringing together two of the most prominent scholar-activists in Shakespeare Performance Studies—a Black woman (Thompson) and a woman of South Asian descent (Karim-Cooper)—this interview enables them to compare and contrast their US and UK perspectives to offer a broader interrogation of some of this special issue’s pressing concerns. In a provocative conversation about race, education, performance, social justice, gender, and more, Thompson and Karim-Cooper think through some of the urgent questions confronting the worlds of the academy and the theater, and they also reflect on their respective professional experiences. Moreover, as scholars who maintain regular involvement with theaters and theater practitioners, they offer their perspectives on the changes that need to be made in order for theaters, on both sides of the Pond, to become equitable, anti-racist spaces that include, and provide equal support for, all artists, not just those who are white (and male). The title of this interview alludes to Thompson’s bold claim about what it would take at this moment for women of color to get some of the opportunities that (white) men get—sometimes without those men having to put in much effort. The magical nature of “unicorns and fairy dust” speaks to just how much work remains to eradicate the (anti-Black) racism, sexism, and other barriers that Thompson and Karim-Cooper agree are holding back so many talented Black people, Indigenous people, and people of color.
The transcript of this conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
David Sterling Brown:
I’d like to begin by thanking you both, on behalf of the editors, contributors, and readers, for agreeing to have this conversation. Because of the work that you two have been doing, we are excited to get your perspectives on where things are right now, because so much has changed and so quickly, even within the last year. Sandra Young and I are interested particularly in your thoughts, respectively, as...