Alpha Week play looks at problems of blacks in U.S.

Over 100 students packed the Underground Cafe last night to watch the Adelphia Repertory Touring Company's passionate performance of Black Man/Black Woman and to discuss the problems that still face blacks in America. The event was part of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity's Alpha Week celebration that coincides with the Martin Luther King holiday and the fraternity's own 72nd anniversary. The play, written by its actors, Maurice Henderson and Crystal Brinson and directed by Henderson, portrayed a multitude of negative black stereotypes. In addition, the 90-minute production dramatized the black experience in America and the severe hardships that blacks have faced in their struggle for equality. One scene portrayed a young child witnessing the gruesome death of his parents at the hands of the Ku Klux Klan. "The images of the play are a reflection of the perceptions of a white America," Henderson said. "Racism is what has taught the black people to feel inferior and hate themselves." According to Henderson, the purpose of the show is to illustrate the various problems facing the black community and to stimulate the audience's minds to find solutions to these problems. "Amongst all our successes, we've still have a lot of problems," Henderson said after the show. "We've got a lot of work to do to solve these problems." But white audience members said afterwards that the play had a message for them as well. Some felt that the show sensitized them to their previously unchallenged stereotypes of black people. "The show spent a good deal of time making fun of black stereotypes and it helped me better understand how ridiculous these stereotypes can be," College freshman Sam Scheid said. A brief question and answer period followed the performance during which audience members discussed the play's content with the actors and offered advice and critiques as to what could be done to improve the impact and message of the play. Wharton junior Kysha Harris, while saying that she enjoyed the production, questioned Henderson and Brinson about the overwhelming negativity about blacks portrayed in the show. She felt that a little more positive portrayal of blacks would allow the audience to come away with the message that the blacks are a "beautiful" people with problems to solve rather than just a people with unsolvable problems. "We have to celebrate the black people as well," Harris said. "We are a beautiful people and while exposing the negative images and exploring how to solve them is important, it is equally as important to depict the black people as the beautiful people that we are." Henderson, who was a graduate student at the University, was quick to note that the play is still a "work in progress," and will continue to be changed and revised so that it is ready for a scheduled off-Broadway opening this fall. "We still have a lot of work to do on the show," he said. "And we appreciate the input of the students about what they think should be done." Alpha Week continues tonight with a charity basketball game and a party at the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity and Saturday night with a Cabaret featuring a fashion show and live music.

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