‘Playbill’ Logo Will Switch To Mark Gay Pride
If you’ve attended a Broadway performance sometime in the last century, you probably received a Playbill from an usher. These publications have become staples of the theater industry in New York, and soon the Playbill logo will change its design to show support for LGBT pride.
Normally, the now iconic branding features a logo with a yellow and black theme, but during the month of June, the Playbill logo will be switched out to a rainbow design. The change will almost certainly get a lot of publicity, because the magazine with the themed logo will be distributed in all Broadway and off-Broadway theaters during the entire month.
Besides the special Playbill cover, branding for the respective logo design on online and social media realms will follow suit during the last week of the month. That move will be an effort to commemorate LGBT pride weeks that occur in major cities around the world, including New York City, San Francisco and Dublin.
Also, visitors to Playbill.com. who stop by sometime in June will be treated to special LGBT-themed content, including focused articles about nonprofit organizations that are known to be fighting for equality and supporting members of the gay community.
This news about the revamped Playbill logo may have left you feeling especially hopeful about just how far LGBT rights have come. That’s understandable, especially since a lot of progress has been made in recent years. However, in a prime example of how some members of society community are still reluctant to explore themes of homosexuality, let alone promote gay pride, state legislators in South Carolina recently caused a university to cancel a theater production.
The reason? The performance, titled How to Be a Lesbian in 10 Days or Less, was spotlighted for potentially having controversial themes. It did not seem to matter to the state government that the title is meant to be ironic, as are the parts that “teach” audience members how to be gay.There’s no doubt that the new Playbill logo is a step in the right direction. The people behind that decision should certainly be praised for their support of the LGBT community.
However, a look at the other side of the spectrum shows how some communities stop short of allowing people to perform content that features lesbian themes. It’s hard to imagine those South Carolina legislators would be willing to make the sort of design change that Playbill is about to do, especially since the magazine hasn’t changed its logo throughout 130 years of existence.
Although Playbill, a very well known theater publication, is getting set to change its logo, we cannot forget how there is still much progress to be made for LGBT rights at other levels of the theater world.
[Photo Credit: Advocate.com]
