THE ANTIOCH RECORD

Thursday February 16 2006 Vol 61 Issue 25

Horror, heartbreak, and deep reflection: a review of Lynch PLAY

by Viktor Maco

This past Saturday Antioch was privileged enough to have Firebrand Theory perform Lynch PLAY at Antioch Theater. This was a result of our own Jamila Hunter, having seen and enjoyed the play in New York, collaborating with Louise Smith and our theater department to bring the production here to Antioch.

Lynch PLAY originally ran in New York in April of 2005. Its director, Jaime Robert Carrillo, author, Michael Scott-Price, are co-artistic directors for New York City’s Firebrand Theory Theater Company, a non-profit group who specialize in a unique, and thought provoking subversive approach to theater. As in mentioned in the program the show originally ran using segregated seating to simulate the disturbing historical reality of the United States. It is a depiction of the racism and ignorance that was custom throughout the history of the United States as well as an illuminating look into the troubling ideologies of America’s forefathers.

The story is told by Willie D, a minstrel in blackface who embodies many stereotypes without any subtlety and embraces a crude but amusing perspective to communicate the themes and internalized conflicts created by race struggles in America. The cast, made up of three black men, two white men, and one white woman, shift frequently between gender and race. Horrifying and heart breaking scenes are depicted by the characters only to be interrupted by Willie D’s relentless commentary. Deep reflection is interrupted by surreal moments where characters embody historical figures such as past presidents, former slaves, and revolutionaries reading their actual accounts of America during these periods in history.

To summarize the scenes and structure is extremely difficult. It is hard to say whether there is an evident rising action, climax, resolution being offered. The first scene finds Scott-Price in the utterly shocking persona of the black face minstrel. No sooner does the audience begin to recover from the heavily charged reaction to one racist effigy, then the following scene has the minstrel being shooed off stage by a character in full white Ku Klux Klan garb. Soon followed by the rape of a slave by a slave owner, both characters having switched roles during the scene. The pace is utterly relentless and the material never becomes easy to deal with. It is even more difficult to explain how it ends or what conclusions can be drawn.

Yet as novel, tragic, and humorous as it is structured, Lynch PLAY is ultimately disturbing at its core and this is immediately evident to its audience. The play does not at tempt to help recovery from slavery nor does it offer to cure America of white guilt, it instead focuses on raising questions in the audience that are left for the most part unanswered. Consequently the members of the company held a much needed talk back session after the show, where problematic themes were addressed to varying degrees.

The actors returned to the stage having removed their costumes and makeup. Among the most startling to see was Michael Scott-Price himself, without the exaggerated minstrel persona. Most apparent was the distance between himself and the almost cartoon like character that had been portrayed only minutes before. He seemed to almost embrace being out of the spotlight. The cast members were asked about what it was like to play each role as well as what it was like to switch back and forth between races.

Liz Lord said, “It was very emotional. It’s so difficult to put yourself in these kinds of places but you learn a lot from doing it.” One of the actors that played the character of Thomas Jefferson (the actor playing the role switched during the production) commented on how “it can actually be very difficult to do this, you have to take away your awareness of external realities because at times it can be very painful.”

After taking going down the line and answering similar “what was it like?” questions it became apparent that Scott-Price had, for the moment, let his cast mates take most of the questions. I wondered if the script was perhaps too personal for him to feel comfortable discussing so in depth. It was a relief then when, after being asked, he began to discuss some of what he had hoped to accomplish or change by writing this particular script and what playing the minstrel character was like for him.

“Actually I didn’t write this script to try and change anything. I only wanted to tell this story and have people question history. Have people question what I wrote as well and find out that much of it is true,” said Scott-Price.

“The first time I did it (wore blackface) was a year ago. At first I was almost scared to put it on. I wasn’t sure if I could do it. I wondered if people would understand that I do not want to perpetuate stereotypes, but then I decided that I knew why I was doing it. Another thing I discovered was that if someone called me a nigger, I would not be hurt. This play has made me feel powerful in that way. Why should I be hurt by a word, I should not be ashamed, the people that use that word to hurt people should be ashamed,” he said, in response to a question about the implications of wearing blackface.

One interesting thing Willie D’s character mentions during the play is that there are no good racial slurs for white people. The character suggests “chalkies”. Food for thought.

A student then asked about the legacy of minstrelsy and what has become of the archetype. Michael responded “it has had a long history and over time I have realized that the minstrel still exists and is still very common in what we see in the media today. You still have the clown, the buffoon that we play up to in the movies, only without makeup. Yet it’s the same fool, the same bug-eyed man, only without the mask.”

The questions then shifted towards even more difficult topics. One student asked whether it was absolutely necessary to include the rape scene depicted during the beginning of the play, particularly given the reversal of roles and the fact that black men are often stereotyped as rapists. To this the director Jaime Carrillo answered, “I did consider these things very particularly. I chose to include many things that were ultimately very questionable, but I believe they are valuable as well. This is a disturbing play. It is not easy to understand but the obvious doesn’t appeal to me. There are many sides to human behavior, especially when it comes to race, and some of these things are very dark.” On the particular subject of the role reversal, Carrillo said “I had to turn it around. I had to switch everything because any one of us could be the person terrorized.”