A couple of weeks ago, vice-president elect Mike Pence attended a performance of the hit show "Hamilton" on Broadway.

After the performance, one of the actors delivered a short appeal to Pence.

"We, sir – we – are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us, our planet, our children, our parents, or defend us and uphold our inalienable rights," he said. "We truly hope that this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and to work on behalf of all of us."

The crowd cheered, many people booed Pence and Donald Trump tweeted that he thought the cast should apologize (literally, "Apologize!"). 

The debate over whether the cast should have delivered that speech spilled over into the Milwaukee theater community last week after Jim Pickering, one of the best actors this state has ever seen, made the following Facebook post.

"I loathe Donald Trump, and I think Mike Pence is a disaster and worthy of being lectured to. Nonetheless, what the 'Hamilton' cast did the other night was unprofessional."

Well, the door was swung wide open and the theater community responded on Facebook, over and over and over. What they said offered an interesting insight into how the professional theater community feels about fighting for social change. It also relates to other performers – singers and dancers and artists of all kinds – and whether it’s proper for them to use their professional platform to preach a political ideology.

Angela Iannone, actor: "I couldn't disagree with you more on this. The cast of Hamilton was spot on."

John Kishline, actor: "If You see Mussolini sitting out there and he's called for your head, I think it's fine to ask him to think it over one more time."

Matt Zambrano, actor: "Consider that one of the principal messages of the show is to speak up against tyranny and injustice. Hamilton is the hero precisely because he did not take the Burr approach to "talk less, smile more." As Hamilton says, "if you stand for nothing what will you fall for." So, if Theater can indeed be impactful and transformational (and having seen it I know that this show is), what a glorious way for the actors to practice what they preach. A way to say "yes this is entertainment and at the end of the night we're actors on a stage, but this story is bigger than that."

Jim Farrell, playwright: "So many people wrote about this election being about more than just politics. It was about something much more basic. It was a conflict between our decency as people, our evolving goodness, and a fear-based ideology that would have us separated and co-habitating a world where our differences define us. I think the cast speech at 'Hamilton' was also transcendent and beyond what constitutes professional and unprofessional. I don’t really know (or care) about the argument of whether they acted professionally or not. But I know they acted rightly."

Matt Loney, actor: "Why boo him? He already knows all that liberals feel about him and his ideas – so booing is meaningless. Why was he there in the first place? Not a place you'd expect to find someone on his wavelength. No, I agree wholeheartedly with Pick, he should be welcomed to the theater, and he should be allowed to have the enormous message contained in 'Hamilton' to work its magic on him, however it may. Who knows, maybe he was affected by the Lin Manuel's mastery, maybe a new perspective was planted, maybe it opened his heart a tiny bit - but if it did, being lectured to by actors afterward wipes all that out instantly and just reaffirms his bias. Everything that actor said to Pence was already said with much more power and grace in 'Hamilton'."

Jonathan West, actor: "I wouldn't necessarily call it unprofessional, but I actually think that the direct message given by the cast and the creators diluted what was actually happening in the theater that night. There is so much less reporting about the fact that there was a standing ovation in the middle of the show when the line, "Immigrants ... we get the job done," was uttered. There is such less mention that the show literally stopped because of applause when the actor playing King George sang about what the real crushing challenge is – not getting the power, but getting to rule. I wholeheartedly agree with every word that the beautiful and gracious actors at the Richard Rodgers theater delivered on Friday night crafted from the large hearts and generous minds of the show's creators, but I sincerely wish that a different approach had been taken. I believe it would have been something powerful for the company of 'Hamilton' and the show's creators to take to Twitter and invite all of New York to the front doors of the theater to deliver a powerful message to Mr. Pence as he left the show on Friday night."

Kelley Faulkner, actor: "The oppressed should not and cannot be silent anymore. The company addressed a HUGE elephant in the room, and did it with great dignity. I do think this is an important conversation to be had. Well done, all, for keeping it classy."

Mark Weinberg, director: "The curtain call had been taken on a performance of a play that asks an audience to reevaluate received history and the ideologies by which it is informed. The event was over and the group of artists who did their work in a place that, when it functions well, always demands thoughtful consideration, commented on their society and their place in it. Rather than unprofessional and inappropriate, I think their statement and their mode of making it reflects and honors the core values of theater-making and the place of artists in questioning and resisting all challenges to the human rights and to the dignity of the human spirit."

For the record, there are indications on Facebook that Pickering may well have changed his mind on this issue. Also for the record, I have also changed mine and believe it was a righteous thing for the cast to do.