Essay Questions

There are several topics that "both sides" talk about referring to their "own culture." Find something that "both sides" talk about and tell me how you see similarities and differences.

From the beginning of the play to about the end of it, there seem to be many differences present, both between the communities and what they talk about. For example, when the discussion of hair came up, it immediately was something that was tailored to show the struggle of many black people when it comes to their hair. The mention of James Brown and his hairstyle choices, including stops to the barbershop was something that a few of the black people talked about whereas most Jewish people did not talk about nor did they have a concern about that area of themselves. On the other hand, when it came to discussing identity, numerous members of both the Jewish and black community, stated that feeling like they were fitting in their community contributed to their identity and how they viewed it from a self-perspective.

This play is meant to be performed by a single person playing every role. How does that affect the audience's perception of the topic?

Though it would be difficult for a single person to perform all these roles, due to the fact that there are more than two roles to play and every role is very different in its own way, there is an effective reason to depict the play in such a way. The effective reason is that the audience’s perspective is pushed to be less biased because they have one person displaying all these diverse points of view. Since the audience will get used to seeing one actor/actress, they’ll be able to focus more on the story told than the person who is acting it out.

If this play is a play advocating for social change, what do you think the message for change is?

One aspect of this play that was admirable was the amount of and types of messages being sent. Through the lens of social change, this play is fought to build more open race relations or at least highlight the discrimination and violence present in communities such as the one in the play. During the introduction of the play, Smith states,"in the gaps between the places, and in our struggle to be together in our differences”, which meant that despite the Jewish and black community being in one place seemingly together, they were divided in their perceptions and actions towards each other. This point of view is one that Smith pointed out as a mode for advocating social change.