One of most incredible, astounding, indescribable shows I've ever scene. The Submission was a theatre experience that I had never had before. It's beyond anything that I can describe, but I'll try to do so anyway.
Unfortunately, this show closed a while back so none of you will have the chance to see it for a while, so hopefully none of you will be upset at my complete spoilers.
Before I tell you all what this was about, I sorta just wanted to state the obvious. The whole cast was absolutely phenomenal. Jonathan Groff was in this show. The sweetest Broadway actor I've ever met. Honestly. He was swarmed by fans after this draining performance and still posed for a picture and the end of it all. :)
My friend Vera, Jonathan Groff and Me |
Fan girl moment over. Time to get serious.
This play was about a "very white" and "very gay" playwright who submits a play to a festival and gets chosen. The problem is, he submitted it as a black woman because of the sensitive subject matter of the play and didn't want to be accused of being racist. To avoid any issues of this kind, the playwright hires an actress to play the "playwright". With his ultimate intention of getting his play produced, the playwright completely disregards the feelings of the woman he hired, his boyfriend and his best friend. His play is found out to be about a black family in the projects filled with racial stereotypes, and when asked by the woman to take the N word out of one scene in which it is said 37 times, he blatantly refuses. His argument is that his being gay and discriminated against is the same as racism and that he can say what he wants in his play because he knows how it feels. The two decide that at opening night of the play at which the playwright is asked to say a few words, the woman he hired will reveal to the audience that he was the true playwright. When things don't go according to plan and she does not reveal to the audience that he was the true playwright, he loses it and fights with her. After yelling about all the unresolved issues that the two had between them over the course of the show, she screams, "F****t!" and he retaliates, "N****r!"
The play ends with the playwright sitting in Starbucks a few weeks later. He gets a phone call, assumed to be someone asking him out on a date. He's asked about what type food he wants for that night. The call ends with him saying, "Ew, no. Isn't that Pakistani? Let's go somewhere normal."
Until that last line you side with him. You pity him, until you realize that he's just another ignoramus.
I'm still trying to gather my thoughts on this play, thinking about it too much keeps my head spinning.
It was an incredible reminder of what each and every one of us is capable of as well was how powerfully something can be expressed through art.