the colored museum, a debrief.

this academic year, i have both the pleasure and stress of leading a student group—blackc.a.s.t (black community and student theatre). we made it our express goal to do big things including moving our annual fall production into a large scale theatre. this fall, we were in the agassiz theatre in the radcliffe yard performing the colored museum by george c. wolfe. the play is sharp, witty, and important much in the vein of spike lee's do the right thing. my avid readers no that lee is one of my favorite social commentators. from caricatures of coke-snorting black bankers on wall street to josephine baker to bible-thumbing matrons, this film says something about the representation of black people in America.

what makes this play different from so many of the others at harvard is that there was not an easy rise and fall in the action. torn lovers did not fall in love come act III. a hapless son did not avenge the death of his father.

not to sound cheesy or hopelessly uncool, but i had an amazing time working with an incredible cast of characters. relational dynamics change when everyone is a performer, a natural-born star. plus, let it be known, i love black people. theatre kids most often spend rehearsal time quoting classical musical theatre. but with black people, trade classic julie andrews for the likes of motown, old school tevin campbell (if you do not know, ask somebody), and early 90s r&b.

this was a beautiful experience. thank you to all involved.