I am . . . what? A woman. Filipino. Living in New York City. The product of an immigrant upbringing. Someone who prefers Macs over PCs. And what else? The labels and categories in our society (and in this city alone) are abundant. We can be defined every which way, but the first discernable box we get placed in is color. We are all people at our core, but oftentimes we have to be black, white, Asian, Latino, Native American people.
Plays and movies addressing race are hit or miss, sometimes dividing us before even being seen. Some think race is noticed and spoken about too much. Others feel it’s impossible to avoid something that so clearly and unclearly defines us, with resonating effects.
Yes We Can, a new comedic play written by Daniella Shoshan and directed by Alec Strum, is another theatrical attempt at bringing racial issues to life. Opening this past Tuesday, June 21, performances run until July 2 at Walkerspace, 46 Walker Street.
The backdrop is New York City in the year 2008, just before Obama won the presidential election. Larry sees a snotty white kid harassing his black nanny on a city bus. He turns to a stranger named LeJean to share his anger on behalf of their fellow “sister,” but LeJean denies being black at all. And then amongst a campaign that declares “Yes We Can,” the cast of characters tries to figure out exactly who “We” are.
Among them are the Latino nannies with attitude, the Chinese shop owner, the little Indian boy trying to Americanize despite traditional parents, and the flamboyant gay couple who shop organic, with a special appearance from Jesus. By reaffirming and playing around with stereotypes and accents, the play definitely garners laughs. The Jewish woman switches back and forth between the voice of Fran Dresher and that of a hood from Harlem. There’s also a black male character that imitates the accent of a Jewish rabbi with so much chutzpah that you couldn’t tell the difference with your eyes closed.
The most relatable theme of the play is the need, and sometimes desperation, to define or redefine one’s identity. Yes We Can speaks to that quality in all of us. The characters want to be seen as individuals, for their own unique personal traits, but must also give in to society’s pre-determined judgments about them. Some even go searching for it, so they’re not seen as the outsiders without a label.
I would have liked the play to get a little closer to the root of the issues, instead of briefly touching on so many of them. We’re aware by simply living in New York and keeping our eyes open. You see the privileged white children being raised by dark-skinned women, immigrants being made fun of for their accents, and the women who clutch their purses a little tighter when a black face passes them. But what I want to know is, what does this all mean beyond just what we see? Race might be on the surface, but Yes We Can could have ventured further underneath.
Yes We Can runs June 17 to July 2, Tuesday through Saturday at 8 p.m. with an additional performance on Saturday, July 2 at 3 p.m. Tickets are $18 and available at Brown Paper Tickets at 1-800-838-3006.
Yes We Can stars Duane Cooper, Makeda Declet, Judith Dry, Gina Marie Jamieson, Meera Rohit Kumbhani, Jeffrey Omura, Stephen Stout, Ronald Washington, Dax Valdes, and Jehan O. Young with sets by Tristan Jeffers, costumes by Franny Bohar, lights by Grant Wilcoxen, sound by Janie Bullard, casting by Megan Larche, C.S.A., and production stage management by Andrea Wales.
