Moral Dilemma of Fat Theater

As I near the end of the production of the show I am currently in (A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine), I am thinking more and more about the moral dilemma of being a fat actress, and the shows I want to do, and the theaters where they are produced.

Fat Jokes/Stereotypes – I generally try to audition for roles that interest me irrespective of the accepted physical size of the character. So sometimes I get to play roles that usually go to average size people. And sometimes, I play roles that are usually played by fat people, and sometimes there is comedy based on the size of the character. And sometimes, the director adds stage business that creates comedy based on my size. And sometimes, I add stage business that creates comedy based on my size. This comedy does not bother me.

Fat people are not always nice. Some fat people are bullies and/or manipulative. Some fat people use their size to dominate or intimidate others.

However, currently, in A Night in the Ukraine, the script is pretty rife with out-and-out fat jokes. Some I find kind of positive (a character says I could be the "Belly of the Ball" – I love that!). But some are just not very nice. However, it is supposed to be a Marx Brothers movie, and the jokes are true to the humor used by the Marx Brothers in their past movies. I understand this, and use it as my justification for doing a show that contains anti-fat humor (and some pro-fat humor as well).

On the positive side, it has been clear that the audiences are very uncomfortable with, and often hostile to the anti-fat humor. While it means the Groucho character doesn't get some of the laughs, I find it heartening to see that society is becoming educated about the fact that it is not okay to make fun of fat people.

I play the Margaret Dumont-esque role. Margaret Dumont once said something to the effect that she had no trouble keeping a straight face in the Marx Brothers movies because she did not "get" the jokes. So I have been playing the role from the point of view that the fat jokes puzzle me more than offend me. I think this helps from a performance standpoint, but am I doing harm in possibly encouraging people to think that anti-fat jokes can be okay? Or do I hope that people understand that it's just a show based on the un-pc comedy of the Marx Brothers – in other words a "period" piece.

Arghhhhh.

Seating in Theaters – None of the theaters in which I perform (all community theaters) have fat-friendly seating. Usually they can accommodate my fat friends by having them sit in the aisles in armless chairs. Not the best solution, but that's how it is. The theaters, however, don't even like to make this accommodation because, obviously, they are breaking fire code laws by partially obstructing the aisles.

I want my fat friends to be able to come see me in shows (particularly when I feel the role is fat positive). And when I do fat-positive roles, I often have fat people come up to me afterwards and express their appreciation of seeing a fat person in the role, or how good I looked on stage, etc.

But am I doing a disservice to the fat community by sharing my talents with theaters where there is no fat friendly seating?

But I like doing theater. I think I do help the fat community by being "out there" performing. Every theater I perform at knows how I feel about the fat friendly seating issue. These groups rent the space, so they cannot fix the problem on their own; and even if they could they don't have the money. Most of the theaters are owned by government-entities, also short on cash these days. And I don't want to stir it up too much, because these government entities would be just as happy to kick out the theater groups.

I feel damned if I do, and damned if I don't.