by Melody Munitz. @melody_munitz.
NEW YORK, NY - From the recent surge of actions calling for racial justice within the arts, some true heroes have emerged. There is perhaps no stronger example than aspiring actress Kelly Spiver, who caught the eyes of many white allies and quickly went viral with her latest Instagram post: a before-and-after image set of her resume, highlighting the removal of her credit as Ti Moune from a 2017 summer stock production of Once on This Island, the young activist confirmed.
“I AM the Ally! 💪🏻,” began Spiver’s post. “This was not easy but the good things never are...✨. So proud to be displaying my support for BLM 💓,” continued the caption for an image that already spoke for itself.
Spiver’s post rapidly rose in popularity, getting reposted to the Instagram stories of many other white allies, who, too, were eager to bravely proclaim their own progressive views.
“Kelly is a true icon. The face of a movement,” exclaimed reposter Sarah Morley. “Actually, I just bought a shirt with her face on it. She deserves to be recognized for her outstanding work. I mean of all people doing the work right now, she is like, really doing the work.”
Spiver has inspired more than just reposts and graphic tees. Shortly after her original post, an Instagram challenge was created to urge others to center themselves in the movement by posting production photos from times they have inappropriately performed roles. The challenge, too, quickly became popular.
“I’ve only played white characters, but I obviously wasn’t gonna miss a chance to post a show pic,” explained one challenge participant, Isabella Thomas. “So I just posted a photo of me as Ariel but cropped out the tail, edited the red wig to look black, cranked up the contrast to darken my skin, and said it was a pic of me as Jasmine in Aladdin. It was a lot of work in photoshop, but it’s the least I could do to honor all the incredible work Kelly has done.”
Amidst the tremendous praise for Spiver, there have been occasional unsupportive comments, almost all of which are based in concern for Spiver’s career after her deletion of such an impressive credit. However, such haters need not fear—Spiver still has plenty of leading roles glimmering on her resume, including Nina (In the Heights), Maria (West Side Story), and Connie (A Chorus Line).
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