SFist Reviews: Angry Black White Boy
By Tiffany Maleshefski
Everyone is kind of a racist.
Not that everyone intentionally sets out to be a racist, but even those with the most pluralist intentions have had those awful thoughts creep into their heads. You know the ones I’m talking about, the ones you’d never dare repeat because they feed into every ugly stereotypes you’ve ever struggled to forget.
Lest my point be misunderstood, the above in no way condones these thoughts. It’s more of a painful truth I (and I am sure many others) couldn’t escape while watching Dan Wolf’s new play, Angry Black White Boy, which opened this week at Intersection for the Arts.
It starts out kind of like this: Examples are tossed out illustrating the stupidity and the overall square personalities of white people. Funny stuff. Everyone can laugh at himself or herself a little bit, right? Then it starts to go too far and you’re sitting in your chair saying, “Now wait a minute, I’m not racist, but ok maybe I do cross the street when I see a black man and I’m alone, but I live in a neighborhood with a lot of questionable folks…and then two black dudes attempt to mug Detornay in one scene and all your ifs, ands, or buts, are confirmed.
And then you feel totally terrible and guilty for having your preconceived notions confirmed.
Adapted from Adam Mansbach’s hip-lit novel of the same title, the stage version doesn’t dilute the potent conversation about race, racism, and identity. In fact, I’d venture to say witnessing the Mansbach’s deeply complicated subject matter as live dialog is possibly more powerful. Featuring members of the hip-hop collective Felonious (Myers Clark, Keith Pinto and Tommy Shepherd), it’s also very lyrical in its execution, featuring and ballet-influenced choreography and stage blocking from Keith Pinto (who plays “that guy” for lack of a better term).
It’s a tricky show to summarize, but here goes.
Macon Detornay (played by Wolf) is a white Jewish kid who lived what seems to be your typical suburban life. He comes from a two-parent home, was endowed with a very flush college fund that paid for his tuition at the redonkulously expensive Columbia University. All in all, Detornay seems to have grown up a regular kid, yet no sooner does he finish up college orientation week, he’s holding up white dudes at gunpoint and taking their wallets and neckties.
Why? Because he’s an angry black white boy. What the hell does that mean? Well, to oversimplify a bit, it seems to me that Detornay’s rage stems from a couple of things. First, he shares the rage of African Americans who’ve had to combat endless, institutionalized racism. Secondly, he hates that it’s white people who have made this so.
As with many incidents of widespread violence, Detornay’s rage started in high school. He liked to hang out with black kids and listen to hip-hop, something that raised the ire of his white classmates. They wanted to beat him up for being a wigger. And so now, when he’s driving his cab (part-time college job) along the streets of Manhattan he robs annoying white guys who stand up to every cliché bred in places like the Marina.
Storyline B is Detornay’s roommate situation at the prestigious Columbia University. He personally requested to room with Andre (Clark) the great-great grandson of Moses “Fleet” Walker, an African American, major league baseball player who endures a legendary baseball game, where he’s not only the only black player, he’s the only black dude in the whole damn stadium. In between getting hit by pitches intentionally directed at his body, he’s got to contend with the effing Ku Klux Klan in the stands who plan on lynching his ass once the bottom of the 9th is over.
Cap Anson was in turn Detornay’s great-great grandfather, who fought vehemently to have African American players like Fleet Walker removed from the major leagues. As a way to reprehend the damage of his ancestors, Detornay’s request to room with Andre is because he wants to apologize personally for all his family’s bullshit, which you have to admit is a move that is equal parts balls and audacity.
From there, Andre introduces Detornay to his pal Nique (Shepherd—who is also the show’s composer), wind up working together after Detornay’s armed robbery stunts land him national media notoriety. Soon their promoting a national day of apology where all the white folks of the country will apologize to the black folks.
And as you can imagine, a lot goes right and wrong in between.
Now before it starts to sound like this play is one giant cliché, let’s be very clear: this is a thoughtfully complicated production. The issues are muddy, the resolutions are unclear, and the show on the whole has a great sense of humor.
Wolf’s play is an amazing and consistently challenging journey through one’s psyche. And it’s also so insanely complicated that even the audience plays into the production’s overall dynamics. On opening night it was entirely white (save for two black women I counted), adding one more dynamic to an already extremely nuanced play.
It’s not a criticism against Intersection. The audience itself was just one more stereotype to consider throughout the two-hour (and then some) show.
What: Angry Black White Boy
Where: Intersection for the Arts,
When: October 23 - November 16, 2008
Time: 8 p.m., Thursdays - Sundays
Tickets: $15-$25/sliding scale (Thursdays are pay-what-you-can)
(Photo: Jeff Fohl)