Response to play: The Coloured Museum - Essay Example

Response to The Coloured Museum This play is brilliantly satirical. The theme of the play is the history and identity of the African Americans. It isabout the socioeconomic pressures that the black contemporaries of the writer confront. The play is full of drama, commentary, stage movements, props, and humor. This play is indeed, a wonderful piece of art in that it preserves and reflects all the hardships and miseries the African Americans have gone through without having the audience feel bored for a single moment.

This is one of the best ways to make people really sit and see through what the African Americans have gone through. The most intriguing part of the play is when sudden flashes of thunderstorms are compared to important traumatic and tragic events in the history of the US like the World War I, the World War II, and the Civil War. Audiences are introduced to the back story with the help of flashing images accompanied by drum. At the same time, it is also suggestive of the fact that the Americans are superficially familiar with the black history.

This educational aspect of the Museum is juxtaposed with a vacation cruise’s friendly atmosphere in the scene “Git on Board” as the attendant briefs the passengers about the safety guidelines. Images from the everyday life of the African Americans that are reflected as the briefing goes on are too overwhelming and emotionally disturbing from the standpoint of a vacation experience. As the play goes on, it reveals the identity of the African Americans in all aspects ranging from humor, violence, fashion, and corporate success, to poetry.

“Made up of 11 “exhibitions,” the play takes aim at stereotypes, self-loathing and assimilation within the African American community. While some plays don’t age well, Wolfe’s themes still resonate” (Kelley). The audience clearly gets how the African Americans have to struggle with the need to preserve their own heritage while trying to integrate into a dominating majority at the same time. The words chosen by Wolfe for the commentary throughout the script reflects his critique of the racial discourse and help the audience understand his themes more deeply.

The play caters for the interest of a broad range of audiences from the students of black history to the actors and humorists. It is a source of inspiration for the writers who want to convey bold messages over critically sensitive topics within the constraints of time and budget. “Theres no better way of calling our attention to the arrival of Black History Month than the performance of the 1986 off-Broadway hit, “The Colored Museum”” (Voorhees). Today, when the African Americans have been granted the rights they always deserved and when their socioeconomic conditions have undergone a revolutionary change for the better, this is indeed, the best way to preserve the black history so that the technology savvy audience of the contemporary age gains important information in ways that it is accustomed to.

This play is of immense significance in the study of black history. Works Cited:Kelley, Collin. “Theatre Review: ‘The Colored Museum’ at True Colors.” Atlanta In Town. 28 Mar. 2011. Web. 1 May 2013. . Voorhees, John. “`The Colored Museum Is Packed With Insight And Humor.” The Seattle Times. 31 Jan. 1991. Web. 1 May 2013. .