May 21st, 2019
See it if
You value aesthetic over depth. The lighting is fantastic, as is the use of negative space and shadow. The set design is very well done.
Don't see it if
You are of color. This is written by white folks exclusively for white folks. They DID NOT have to use MAMMIE, but they CHOSE TO use MAMMIE.
Also
Almost 100 years after Hattie McDaniel gave the segregated United States and its motion picture industry the pandering of a generation in her role as Scarlet O'Hara's "Mammie" in Gone With The Wind, the black women of the Inter-Bellum/Post-Bellum South still cannot catch a break. It is inexplicable that in 2019 New York City there exists a play where not only is the vast majority of an ensemble cast white, the only role available to an African American is that of the slave, and the character itself is the most damning stereotype that exists of black women. Why is it that every one of her lines is written for laughs? Why does she have to specifically carry a basket of fried chicken? This play is either attempting to go tit-for-tat with Gone With the Wind or even surpass it in its destruction of the humanity and sovereignty of the black body. Stop belittling the lives and history of our beautiful ancestors. In 2019, this should not be too much to ask. www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/mammie... Read more Read less
