'The Colored Museum' Is Worth The Time

George C. Wolfe's "The Colored Museum" is a play that captures the revolving cycle of black disposition. Wolfe's approach toward this vibrant, yet immaculate play, shows the everyday events that target not only blacks but whites too.

The play is currently being staged by the theater department here at Bethune-Cookman University in the Black Box Theatre. The small, yet comfy theatre, housed on the old Richard V. Moore Community Center, made the actors become more intimate and personal with the audience. Many of the actors paraded through the crowd, danced on audience members and more.

Meanwhile, each "exhibit" in the museum expresses a different problem faced by many and also how those problems make people feel. Exhibit 4, "Soldier with a Secret," played by theatre major Kenan Ash, cried out for the African -American men who put their lives on the line for a country that continuously chewed them up and spits them back out.

Many soldiers suffered traumatizing events and permanent Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) that left them hopeless and searching for an answer. For many soldiers, the only answer was death.

Exhibit 6, "The Hairpiece," featuring Ashlyn Denson brought forth a more humorous side of the play. Mainstream America has normalized straight hair and has put black women and their hair into a tight unbalanced category. Denson's character is blown away by her wig mannequins talking and even bickering on who she would wear that night and why their hair would be best.

"The Colored Museum" indirectly makes many copes with and understand the constant battle fought by many of us every day.

The play, which opened with two shows in March, is slated to be staged again on April 14 and 21. Tickets are $2 for students with identification and $5 general admission. The play is directed by professor Julius John and choreography by professor Carla Lester.