Shunned at Shen Yun at the Granada

by Pat Fish

On Sunday March 24, I attended the afternoon Shen Yun performance at the Granada Theatre in Santa Barbara.

The weekend before there had been bomb threats called in to the theatre in Costa Mesa where they were performing, so every attendee at the Granada was checked with a wand and pockets emptied, a TSA style search. The performing arts company is largely made up of people who have fled communist China, along with adherents of the Falun Gong religion. The CCP actively works to discredit them, but their productions are a huge success worldwide and they have expanded to eight touring companies that produce entirely new shows every year.

In one of the segments, the show dared to tackle the horror of vivisection. In mime and dance it told a tale of a brother and sister whose lives take a turn when he joins the police, and she is given a book and guided to the practice of Falun Gong. Later, when the police act to beat up the religious practitioners the brother tries to intervene and is beaten himself.

The sister is dragged away, and then to the horror of their mother a white organ transfer box is carried back onstage, with the side stenciled with a realistic drawing of a human heart. All that is left of the daughter. I do not know how many of the audience made the connection between this dance story and the truth of the horror that is currently going on in China. But this group of artists are very brave indeed to bring it to Western audiences and educate them.

I am somewhat disabled and have a trained service dog who helps me walk. Creeping through the security line was unexpected, and we were pushed and shoved as people made their way inside. 

I had splurged and bought a front row seat for $181 and was greatly looking forward to seeing the show, which had been heavily advertised. I was looking forward to being inspired to work harder to overcome my limitations in walking. And the dancers were indeed like ethereal beings who can defy gravity. The rigors of their physical training result in gymnastic and balletic grace that seems beyond human.

Moved to the “Handicapped” Zone

Just before the show began, I was confronted by the Granada house manager and forced to leave my seat and made to move to a far side seat in a designated “handicapped area” from which I could not see the entire stage.

She said it was a fire code not to have service dogs anywhere other than the handicapped seats, even though there was plenty of room for my dog to lie at my feet in front of the orchestra wall. When I purchased my ticket, I had looked on the theatre website and saw no mention of service animals, no restrictions.

It made me very sad that I could not see the show well, and I asked for $100 refund because I was placed in the equivalent of the cheapest $80 seat. The front of house manager told me my issue was with the box office, “Which we have nothing to do with,” and which would close half an hour after the performance started. Obviously, I did not want to miss the show, to argue about money with the touring company who did not cause me to move, so I stayed put. 

ADA National Network Backs Pat’s Position

I wrote to the theatre after I got home and requested that they state their policy on service animals on their website (which they currently do not) and to also render me a refund, since it was their employee who made the decision to make me move. The next day the Ticketing Services Assistant Manager of the Granada wrote back to say they will refund nothing, and it was my problem because I did not buy a handicapped area ticket in the first place. But I had thought that those tickets would be for people in wheelchairs, not someone with a service dog trained to lie at my feet.

I consulted the ADA National Network, and they said that a person with a service animal by law is allowed access in any theatre. They said she should have been allowed to remain at my feet.

Paying $181 was a lot for me to have spent, and I enjoyed the performance as much as I could after this embarrassing episode. I literally could not see the far-left side of the stage, as I was on the aisle all the way to that side. And one of my companions in the disability row seemed to have dementia and sang along with gusto to some of the Chinese classical music, good times.

I wrote to both the theatre and the performing company, asking if they might refund part of my ticket, since my front row seat went empty as a result of this action by the manager.  No dice. 

Service Animals are Well-Behaved and Needed

And in retrospect I have been thinking about how the row they stuck me in was filled with people who were off-loaded out of their wheelchairs. I only noticed that when at intermission the parade of wheelchairs were brought in so they could be loaded into them one by one to take a break. If the theatre was so concerned about fire hazards it seems to me having those people stuck in theatre seats would mean they'd have slim chance of being able to be wheeled out in an emergency if their chairs had to be brought in from an outside storage room against a panicked tide of people rushing out.

I have attended concerts and events with disabled friends, and the handicapped person zone is usually a roped off area and the people using mobility devices remain sitting in them in that special area. 

In any case, this was the first time I have been told that my service dog was not welcome in a situation where I presumed she should have been accepted. I would like to see them clearly state their exclusionary policy on their website and I do feel it only fair that they refund a portion of the ticket I bought.

Escalation Was Probably Unwise

At the risk of outing myself to be a chronic complainer, I give this public airing because I see all around us government and institutions finding small ways to repress human rights and dignity. They got good practice with the lockdowns, seeing how far they could go. With the CCP as the model, those in authority chip away at the lives of citizens. And as we see them taxing the workers more, inflating prices and making up new rules to be obeyed, we see that the infiltrating immigrant hordes are not held to the same standards. The very word “citizen,” so precious, is starting to feel like being a patsy, paying for endless wars and sanctuary for ingrates.

As Ayn Rand said, “Evil requires the sanction of the victim.” I could have refused to move, and in front of a full house they could I suppose have dragged me out of my seat. Escalating to that level might then have inspired my otherwise quite personable dog to defend me and bite someone, horrors. Instead, they quoted an unwritten policy and what’s a girl to do? I and everyone else in the room was eager to see the show.

Pat Fish

Santa Barbara

(Editor’s note: Ordinarily, SBCurrent would not run a letter singling out an employee, nor would we run a letter lambasting a business or company. However, your complaint seems reasonable and justified. Good luck with getting your money back, and I do hope your missive serves to notify Granada management that it needs to state its service-animal policy more clearly.)

LAST MINUTE UPDATE

The Granada has already come through and re-imbursed Ms. Fish. Here is her report:

“Speaking with the local Independent Living resource Center I was told that they would be speaking with the Granada, as they had been contacted by others who had experienced accessibility issues there.

“Today, a check has come to me from the Granada, refunding my ticket purchase price in full. They do not however promise to make clear on their website their policy about limiting where service animals may accompany their humans. She says they will “evaluate” whether they might add such language to their website. 

“I’d like to think this is a case of a reasonable response to a polite inquiry, and if you will publish this, I’d like this positive outcome to be a coda at the end. It is a step in the right direction.” – (All’s well that ends well, so, here’s your coda! – Jim Buckley)