The Colored Museum

A benefit of taking a few weeks away from being online I found the time and the will to attend the theater: you know, live action? I admit it's been a long time since I went to the theater. I saw a revival of a 20 year old play titled The Colored Museum with an all Black cast at a little theater in LA called Company of Angels. The play is an exuberant comedy with a ton of laughs, and a serious subtext: African Americans can profitably expand their freedom by living in the 'now' and not as if they were imprisoned in a cultural "Museum." I assume the playwright is well-known, and Black, and allowed to give such a lecture. As an old White guy I thought the play admirable in every respect.

Attending live theater, as opposed to say watching TV or even going out to a movie, has the distinction of making one a part of the event. We feel forms of embarrassment we don't feel when it is not 'live.' We wonder, 'Do the actors know I'm laughing?' or, 'Crying or hollering or remaining silent?'  Is it me they are looking at during the curtain call? What does a nearly all black audience think when an old white guy let's out a whoop of pleasure at the performance? Is it appreciated or resented? At the performance I watched in a little theater in LA on Feb 5, 2005, the audience seemed older than any audience for a movie. Better educated too, is my guess. When one gets older I think it might be common to enjoy live drama rather than movies. In any case they make movies, for the most part, for children. 

I think I'll be going to the theater again more often. Maybe I'll write a play, as well as a novel.

Barry

P.S. (Later) Google half says the play premiered at the Joe Papp Public Theater in NY. (Long before there was a Public Theater I worked for Joe Papp and his NY Central Park Shakespeare company, Shakespeare In The Park.)