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I went to watch Disgraced yesterday, which I 100% recommend everyone go see, especially my FoC in the area (friends of colour, can I make this acronym?). It's difficult to find a character to root for, but it's the first play I've seen that feels like it was written by brown people, for brown people, about brown people. (all these things are true, and I can't wait to see the other projects Ayad Akhtar is working on to complete this set)
However, I do think I would have enjoyed this production more if the audience had not been so white. I was one of maaybe 8-10 non-white people in the audience. There are beats in the play that only make sense if you're connected to a sense of PoC identity, as well as some jokes. The room felt very tepid, and no one clapped during the scene transitions, which was veery awkward. The people behind me were audibly reacting to things on stage, which is absolutely the kind of feedback you want to be hearing onstage as an actor, and they were told to be quiet.
Also, there was one part of the play where someone asks if Delhi is in Punjab, and I was the only one that laughed. I hope we all came away from this play with a better sense of the complexity of immigrant identity in America and a very valuable geography lesson.
However, I do think I would have enjoyed this production more if the audience had not been so white. I was one of maaybe 8-10 non-white people in the audience. There are beats in the play that only make sense if you're connected to a sense of PoC identity, as well as some jokes. The room felt very tepid, and no one clapped during the scene transitions, which was veery awkward. The people behind me were audibly reacting to things on stage, which is absolutely the kind of feedback you want to be hearing onstage as an actor, and they were told to be quiet.
Also, there was one part of the play where someone asks if Delhi is in Punjab, and I was the only one that laughed. I hope we all came away from this play with a better sense of the complexity of immigrant identity in America and a very valuable geography lesson.
