This piece was not written to discuss what happened in Crown Heights. If that was the point, the playwright could have simply written the events into play form or simply re-capped the news. This piece is about identity, how we express it, and how identities can clash with others. Most importantly, it is about the disastrous results when people who share in an "identity" conflict with another group of similar people.
Without the first chunk of monologues in the piece, Smith accomplishes nothing more than a news report. These monologues not only frame the events surrounding the riot, they make the events RELEVANT. The playwright here is more interested in what these events say about us as individuals, not the effect these riots had on a nation. One of the reasons that there are so many of these "introductory" monologues is to establish a point. People of different ages and backgrounds can share in an aspect of life that binds them together in a single identity. This could be a race, a religion, or even hair texture. Smith is interested in what connects these people before she explores what happens when conflicts arise between them.
So, by cutting them out, what would we lose? We would lose the part of Smith's work that is art. We would lose what distinguishes her from a newscaster or a novelist. Smith's craft is to take events and make us examine them in a way that we may not have before.
I agree on what you said about the identity being the overall important aspect of the play. However, when i was reading the play i didn't think as deeply as you did about who/whom this play concerned. I thought it was focusing on mainly Crown Height, but i guessed i missed the overal picture. Nice thinking! :)
ReplyDeleteWow, I did not get all of that the first time I read this play. The theme of identity definitely is strong in this play, and one of the ways I think that Smith chose to show this was in her writing style. The choice to write in the format of monologues is deliberate and gives each character their own voice. The interview style also in the opening of the play set the tempo for the rest of the show. I like your point that the event brings everyone together regardless of their specs.
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