Virtual Playhouse
The Wednesday Alternative
A Dialogue About the Purpose of the
Metropolitan Playhouse
And Its Presentation of “Forgotten”
American Plays
Featuring
ALEX ROE, LINDA KURLOFF, RACHEL LANGSTON,
MELISSA MAXWELL, & DIEGO CARBAJAL
www.metropolitanplayhose.org/virtualplayhouse
Metropolitan Playhouse at
YouTube.com
April 14, 2021
8 p.m.
Available through April 18, 2021
This Wednesday Alternative is a lively
thought-provoking view of theater. Focusing on Metropolitan Playhouse’s
specialty, producing forgotten plays written between the late 1800s and the
early 1920s, it extends way beyond that as the participants heat up. They have
opinions!
The multi-racial group are all involved in
theater, including writing, producing, directing, and legal aspects. Their
interaction brings out so many aspects that the viewer may never be conscious
of. Theater is entertainment, but the audience is thinking the whole time.
Liking or disliking a character, sympathizing with the victim, cheering for the
hero, feeling happy when the bad guy gets “his” in the end.
Now go back in history. Remember when
Native Americans were usually the ones to be hated? African American characters
were to be mocked or ignored. Women were often the joke. Dizzy blonde,
one-dimensional wife, submissive secretary. Chinese were “houseboys”. Now you
see behind the scenes. The innate bigotry and stereotypes that extended to
everything. Prominent writers were white males writing about white males.
Those old plays show that not much has
changed. Racism, Asian-bashing, and police officers strong-arming people are
nothing new. They’ve been going on for a very, very long time.
THE PAST IS PRESENT shines its spotlight on these hard truths.
Intelligent, forward-thinking people working toward change is a wonderful thing
to see.
-Karen D’Onofrio-