Chicago Reader's Deanna Isaacs Writes A Defense Of Hedy Weiss

A petition urging Chicago theater companies to stop inviting Weiss to productions was posted on Change.org on June 13th by the Chicago Theater Accountability Coalition. As of this writing, the petition has received more than 3,500 signatures.

BroadwayWorld previously reported that Chicago Tribune critic Chris Jones responded to BroadwayWorld's request for comment on the story. The statement echoes similar remarks Jones posted to his Facebook page.

Now The Chicago Reader's Deanna Isaacs has written an editorial in defense of Heddy Weiss. She writes:

As far as I know, Weiss has never bothered with political correctness. If a chorus line breaks with tradition by incorporating a variety of body types, she notices-as does everyone in the audience. If a play for young audiences glorifies vandalism in the form of graffiti, she objects. I'd argue that's her greatest strength as a critic: she's taking on the subject matter of the work, as any critic worth his or her salt should, and she's not afraid to go out on a limb. You might not share her perspective, and that can make her a lightning rod, but it doesn't automatically make her a bigot.

Ironically, the bigotry that's evident in all this has been piling on in Facebook discussions and other Internet comments (where the worst of her attackers have taken her past words out of context and maliciously distorted their meaning). The Tribune's Chris Jones, the critic at the Sun-Times's rival paper and one of the first people speaking up on her behalf, has written that he has "been truly appalled by the ageism, cruelty, personal vitriol and nasty threats" online.

Check out the full article here.