Robert Singer

Review of The Neo-Futurists

It was an unfortunate evening that ended badly. Th...

It was an unfortunate evening that ended badly. The evening was filled with skits that included audience participation. One skit was about gender identity acceptance where an actor requested that I give shim my hand where shim painted red nail polish on my fingers and gave a soliloquy on gender bias and stereo-types. I have friends who are very dear to me that have fought this struggle their whole lives so I let shim paint my nails freely. I believe in the message that you should allow everyone to self identify as they wish. At the end of the show - I asked for a way to clean the red nail polish off my hands. The actors acted as if I was asking for something that was inappropriate. I said I supported the message but not at my own cost or discomfort. They offered to give me $3 to get nail polish remover. I offered to go out and buy them some nail polish remover so no one else has to leave their premises uncomfortable. They said they would not share my gift with someone else. They said that I voluntarily submitted and I therefore I had no rights to ask for resolution. I feel I was given no real choice - either appear as a bigot and deny getting my finger nails painted in a public setting - or allow let them paint my nails only to find out later that I had no recourse. I am not a passive person. I am not someone who allow others make me feel bad about myself unwarrantedly. Yet I feel bad. I don't deserve this feeling. I can only state that I would not suggest others see this show. The lessons I learned was not one I wanted to learn: Supporting a cause that you believe in should not make you feel this bad.