Arts & Life

Review: ‘N*gger W*tback Ch*nk’

Picture this: a stage with an African-American, a Latino and an Asian character appearing from behind the minimalistic setting of columns with over-the-top stereotypic clothing, chanting slurs over and over toward the audience without hesitation.

“N*gger… W*tback… Ch*nk,” they repeated.

Nervous laughter was heard scattered throughout the seats as audience members looked from side to side at their neighbors, wondering if it was acceptable to laugh louder. Eventually the audience was put at ease.

“N*gger, W*tback, Ch*nk,” an edgy, two-hour standup comedy, created a safe zone in the Carpenter Center last Thursday.

By repeating the slurs throughout the play— slurs that often follow minorities through their lives—the actors succeeded in taking away the power of the words.

Actors Jackson McQueen, Rafael Agustin and Dionysio Basco delivered lines conversationally and as if they were recounting a memory, which made them easy to relate to during each character’s flashbacks.
According to Agustin, “You have to write yourself into existence.” Everyday people deal with these issues but often time these stories go untold.

The play was split into three parts: The actors realizing they were a minority, purposely falling into their own stereotype to fit in and finally finding the beauty in each other’s “stereotype.”

After the show there was a Q-and-A with the actors, and audience members were given the chance to ask in questions regarding racism and its many forms.

There were some heartbreaking scenes that conveyed the right twist of emotions, leaving audience members laughing one second and deep in thought the next.

This play was brilliant for not being too extreme since it could have easily strayed into the distasteful, but didn’t. There wasn’t any bashing of other cultures, or cultures made out to be superior.

The standing ovation at the end proved that the play succeeded in engaging the audience and a sign that the issues the play deals will not be so easily forgotten and will be a discussed around the dinner table.

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