Play puts racism centerstage
Venturing to Milledgeville after a decade of national recognition and eminence, Tanya Barfield, a graduate of the Juilliard School’s Playwriting Program, watched as the GCSU Creative Writing Program presented a reading of her play “Blue Door” on Sept. 25.
“Blue Door” presented a strong voice about the plague of racism and internal strife through the life of a prominent African-American mathematician named Lewis. Filled with thoughts, miseries, self-realizations, and dialect on racism, the character of Lewis was internally symbolic of the journey every person must take to embrace their own identity as he fought with the ghosts of his ancestors.
Reading the role of Lewis was Phill Harold, a MFA grad student focused on script writing. Harold’s professor, David Muschell, was the one who recommended the role for him.
“I loved the play immediately. It took me on a roller coaster ride of emotions. Sometimes I wanted to cry and other times experience anger due to the injustice portrayed in the piece,” said Harold.
Barfield spent heaps of time researching slave narratives in preparation for writing “Blue Door.” She immersed herself in the subject of racism to accurately portray the inner strife of modern day African-American men.
“I wanted to write about internalized racism because I feel that’s one of the ways in which it has stayed alive,” said Barfield.
GCSU, a southern college looking to diversify its incoming student body, was a premium audience for this play. Although 2008 is very far from the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, Barfield’s play hits home for many people.
The Theatre Department Chair, Karen Berman, thought highly of the reading of “Blue Door.”
“I thought it internalized racism and related so well to different ethnicities and races. It was deeply meaningful,” said Berman.
Harold captures a major message of “Blue Door” applying to GCSU and the world.
“The internal conflict of a black man is something we all can relate to, and you don’t need to be a person of color to relate. People struggle with identity all of the time,” said Harold. “Racism is not a black problem, it’s not a white problem – It’s a human problem. Until we face this problem together, as a single human unit, we will be forever trapped in the midst of humanity’s metamorphosis.”
However, while wrestling with serious concepts of mental bondage and internalized racism, Barfield allows some comic relief. Whiplashed between humor and horror, there is an element of surrealism for the audience.”I tried to bring in a folkloric quality to distinguish between where we are and where we have come from,” Barfield said.
Along with the constant change in perspective and character, the music produced a connectedness between ancient struggle and recent strains. Barfield explained that the music, mostly older hymns, provided relief and levity to the starkness of thought.
Overall, combined with the poignant reflections on racism, Barfield’s writing was of high literary quality and is intertwined with poetry, music and rhythm.
Freshman Sam Johnson, an honors biology student, enjoyed the reading.
“I thought it was both interesting and intriguing because it accurately depicted how a modern day man dealt with the ghosts of his past,” said Johnson.
Every semester the Creative Writing Program presents readings and presentations of influential works of visiting artists. “Blue Door” was well received by a diverse assembly of students and professors.
Barfield thinks the best part of literature and playwriting is that everyone in the audience is capable of getting something different out of the work.
“Audiences get different things out of the play. It speaks to them in different ways, and I enjoy that. I am not interested in dictating thoughts into their heads,” Barfield said.
Much like the varying voices in the play itself, every work has its own message to each reader.
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Oct 3 2008. Filed under Features.
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