3/Fifths

“This relentlessly provocative, intricately imagined satire does offer plenty to shock and horrify, and at least as much to make you think…Visually and conceptually, ‘3/Fifths’ is extraordinary…But it is dramaturgically overloaded, crammed with so many urgent elements that the whole becomes amorphous and a little exhausting…‘3/Fifths’ asks a lot of its black actors…That the show falls short in its storytelling seems not quite fair to them. Yet the production does have its potency.” Full Review

"As assaultive as all this is, I admired the sheer nerve and invention of The Atrocity Carnival, its willingness to make us face the thousand and one ways in which racial prejudice is embedded in American culture. It is, of course, a profoundly uncomfortable experience...Obviously, the writer and the directors have put an enormous amount of thought and creativity into this project...Nevertheless, '3/Fifths' is a nearly unendurable experience...The only possible response is numbness." Full Review

"The insidious brilliance of SupremacyLand lies in the way that Scruggs, along with directors Woodard and Fahmy, co-opt the conventions of immersive theater to deliver a powerful message...Whereas the interactive portion trusts the audience to reach its own conclusions, the presentational part delivers the same messages in a much clunkier way...Still, '3/Fifths's' shocking first half and moving conclusion make it an unforgettable experience." Full Review

"Based on a woman of color who was sobbing uncontrollably...this experience is not for everyone...'3/Fifths' is meticulously researched and crafted...There is a lot happening in this evening. Each moment is filled with more thought and research than an entire semester of work from a single undergraduate student. That can start to feel oppressive, for the wrong reasons. I ran from the theater upon the play’s ending...It’s not an experience designed to be liked; running from it marks success." Full Review

"After a simulation of what it must’ve felt like to travel in a slave ship, we are guided to a room full of light. I feel like my soul has left my body. If the show ended here, it would be absolutely transcendental...The cabaret part of the experience...is like a prequel of sorts, which robs the first half of some of its power...The central message of the experience is spelled out once more. We get it, do we? Was it necessary to hammer it into our heads in such a dramaturgically clunky way?" Full Review

“‘3/Fifths,’ while perhaps suffering from a lack of streamlining, is a rare theatrical contribution to the ranks of contemporary artworks probing the seedy underbelly of our flagging nation…‘3/Fifths’ makes critical and compelling art from American racial injustice…‘3/Fifths’ is a gigantic undertaking...Currently, some performance elements are messy…However, one can imagine future iterations of the show that are more elegantly executed.” Full Review

"Makes the corrosive effects of racism relentlessly felt through a variety of storytelling vehicles, the most painful being humor...I was so uncomfortable I started planning to leave. I had only been there for 20 minutes...There was a section that seemed to go on forever...It came close to being unbearable...In a way, it worked...The ambitions of '3/Fifths' are worthwhile, but leaving the theater, I didn’t feel cured. Would anyone be?" Full Review