Multicultural plays

America is a multicultural society, a feature that is best reflected in its performing arts. Three ethnic groups that have particularly strong prominence on the stage are Asian-American, African-American and Latino-American. Plays involving these cultures often deal with issues of specific relevance to that culture but that connect to all of us in a universal way.
One playwright who has contributed a mountain of work to this multicultural genre is David Hwang, who graduated from Stanford and won his first Obie Award in 1981 for his play FOB (Fresh Off the Boat). David Henry Hwang also attended Yale, during which time he worked on plays that were based on issues that immigrants face when living in a new and unfamiliar culture. A theme of assimilation combined with internal conflicts the characters experience is seen in his play Golden Child. Released in 1999, many claim that this is one of his greatest work to date. The true stories of Golden Child were told by his grandmother about the experiences of his ancestors as they underwent a life change. Moving from one way of living to another is sometimes too much for a person to handle, a universal truth that many can identify with. It can be difficult for a person who has become accustomed to a certain way of living to be asked to leave all that they have become familiar with behind for something unknown.
One can expect that their transition may not always be a smooth one, they may resist or come up against circumstances that are out of their control. Such was the case for Siu-Yong, the first wife of the master of the house, Tieng-Bin Eng. Siu-Yong was followed by two other wives, making her feel less appreciated and as if she were the old tyrant of the wives. The change is too much for her, and she begins using opium as a crutch for her loss of love, questioning if she had ever known true love in the first place. Siu-Yong kills herself by overdosing on opium, coming to the decision that it is her only way out. Converting to Christianity was an unrealistic option, she would gain something but lose everything. Siu-Yong does not want change in the only life she has known, nor does she want others to benefit by making the changes that she herself was unable to. As she says to Luan, the second wife, “Stay away from the preacher. If you try to show me up by becoming Christian, I’ll see to it that you’re demoted to a common concubine” (pg 20).
Another work that involves multicultural conflicts is “Colored Museum by George C. Wolfe. This piece presented its conflicts in a more satirical light, bringing an insightful look into the life of an African American. A quote by “Man” puts forth a suggestion of how to face the struggles that all people endure. “The climate is changing, Kid, and either you adjust or you end up extinct. …. King Kong would have made it to the top if only he had taken the elevator. Instead he brought attention to his struggle and ended up dead.” Such was the fate of Siu-Yong, unable to change with the times, she saw suicide as her only option. This advice is not specific to one culture or another, for all must adjust or become extinct with the changing times. Whether these changes are new technology, new demands, or a new population. Change must be embraced in order to be overcome.Throughout the play, the characters are losing their identities, not claiming their true selves. A passage that discusses this issue is the closing statement made by Miss Pat, “Before exiting, check the overhead as any baggage you don’t claim, we trash,” reminding audience members not to forget their true selves. If ones does not claim who he or she really is, they are nothing, trash.
In the play Zoot Suit, by Luis Valdez, a group of men known as “Zoot Suiters” are discriminated against because of their clothing. These young men are being put into the spotlight, and made to look horrible. The Zoot Suiters were used as a scapegoat during the WWII era, blamed for things they had no hand in. These Mexican American Zoot Suitors were easily recognized and could be easily found and placed in detention. Though this was a play, the real Zoot Suit riots took place in the 1943s, which during this time, many Mexican Americans arrested just for wearing the wrong form of clothing at the wrong time. This play demonstrates the discrimination in today’s and yesterday’s society, as with any culture, there are the abnormal looking people. These people cane either be seen as dangerous or, simply outcasts, and in some cases both. The Zoot Suit was an act of freedom to which they can wear what they want, no matter what the effect on them was. Which can be tied to claiming who you are, and never to lose your identity and any cost.
Lorraine Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun, follows the internal struggles of an African American family who must decide how to cope with its economic hardships. The oldest son Walter must fill the position of man of the house after their father passes away, bringing responsibilities he is not accustomed to. A life insurance check arrives in the mail, money that can provide a fresh start for the family, but at the expense of their father’s life. The mother sees that her children are still growing, and that they need room to continue doing so. More conflicts occur when the family is set to purchase a house in a white neighborhood; a representative of the neighborhood comes to visit and offers to purchase the house back from them. The neighborhood believes that if a black family moves into the neighborhood it might bring more problems for them. Walter decides to purchase the house in that neighborhood despite the confrontation and create some changes in his family’s lives.
This same theme of claiming one’s identity can be connected with what is demonstrated in The Colored Museum. The family may choose to stay in the house they currently live in, or take a risk by changing their situation. By selling the house back to the neighborhood, they would be conforming to a social pressure that is unjust and racist. Bending to the will of the neighborhood would not improve their situation, something their father would not have wanted for them. By purchasing the house and doing so without apologizing for who they are might cause problems, but the possible reward is much greater.
The Migrant Farmworker’s Son by Silvia Gonzalez involves issues of respect. The father seeks respect from his son Henry, but does so in all the wrong ways.
He feels that he deserves his son’s respect because he is a father who works hard in order to provide for his child. Henry is unable to have respect for his father after all he has had experienced, from the physical abuse of his father, to the way he sees his father work all day but for barely enough to make a living. The son has dreams of becoming something that will bring him more prosperous earnings and a better lifestyle. Behind his rough exterior, the father wrestles with his conscience over the death of his daughter, believing that he is the reason for her passing. Henry is unaware of what troubles his father, seeing only the differences that prevent them from relating to one another.
All of the joy his father once had faded away and was replaced by guilt after watching his daughter taken away by the river. He finds an escape from this guilt in drinking, going so far as nearly killing himself in the process. The father has almost completely forgotten that he has a son, but realizes that he has driven his son away, and that his daughter is gone. Gonzalez’s play can be related back to Golden Child, in that both involve a character who is set in their ways and unable to change with their surroundings. The father is from Mexico, accustomed to its traditions and not those that face him in America, a land with a different language and way of life. Similar to Siu-Yong, he turns to drugs to escape the challenges of change, rather than facing them head-on. He would rather live in Mexico, just as she would prefer to go back to being her husband’s only wife, but the decisions have been made for them.
The plays that we have read and seen in this past semester are stories of struggle, the characters trying to build better lives for themselves and their families. Simply by reading a multicultural play one can see this ongoing struggle within and between cultures. Immigrants in particular had to undergo a lot of change in order to make a home for themselves in a new environment, and while changes usually involved struggles, there were rewards to be had as well. In some cases, changes come about because of the natural state of the world, while others are brought on by our actions. The characters in these plays either overcome the struggle and keep their identity or fall pretty to the hardships of the world, demonstrate qualities and flaws that can be related to worldwide.