The Living Stage

Then

Performers like Ira Aldridge and the African Grove company were mocked, harassed, and left out of standard histories of the American and British stage.

Now

Hamilton (Broadway, 2015) cast actors of colour as the United States' founders. It was celebrated for changing who sees themselves in national history — and criticised by some historians for largely omitting the enslaved people of the founders' era.

• Hamilton and debates among historians about its portrayal of slavery
• Colour-conscious casting in Shakespeare and period drama
• Revivals of plays by early Black American dramatists

Then

Dance and gesture moved from body to body, often uncredited, across the repertoire.

Now

Viral dances spread across short-video platforms in days. In a widely reported 2020 case, the teenage choreographer Jalaiah Harmon received credit for the 'Renegade' dance only after it had spread without her name.

• Credit disputes over viral choreography
• Deleted accounts and vanished videos
• Platform algorithms deciding what remains visible

Then

Regalia, masks, and sacred objects were taken under colonial rule, including during the Canadian potlatch ban, and displayed as artefacts of 'vanishing' cultures.

Now

Repatriation laws and agreements — including the US Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (1990) and Germany's 2022 transfer of ownership of Benin Bronzes to Nigeria — return objects, and some return to ceremonial use.

• Return of confiscated potlatch regalia to Kwakwaka'wakw communities
• Benin Bronzes returned from European museums
• Community-run cultural centres and museums

Then

Historians reconstruct the past from surviving testimony, records, and fragments.

Now

Documentary and verbatim theatre turn interviews and records into performance — for example Anna Deavere Smith's Fires in the Mirror (1992) and the Tectonic Theater Project's The Laramie Project (2000).

• Anna Deavere Smith's solo documentary performances
• The Laramie Project and its follow-ups
• Tribunal plays built from public inquiry transcripts

Then

Jeliw preserved genealogies and histories through performance; clerks preserved the records their employers needed.

Now

Oral history projects such as StoryCorps (founded 2003) record everyday people's stories, and families preserve memory in recipes, songs, and stories at gatherings.

• StoryCorps interviews
• Community oral history archives at libraries and universities
• Family stories told at holidays and funerals