An Octoroon

Bizarre but intense, "An Octoroon" delivers a powerful reinterpretation of Dion Boucicault's "The Octoroon," which premiered in 1859.

This version has quite a bit of vulgarity as it tells a dramatic story of a love between a white man and a woman who is one-eighth Black set in the pre-Civil War Deep South where such love is illegal. Told from the perspective of the onstage playwright BJJ (Brandon Jacob Jenkins), a Princeton grad from D.C., his nonchalance towards race relations in America is displayed as more of a nuisance in contemporary everyday life more than the horror it once was for Black American ancestors.

If the point of the production is to get you to feel something in a world gone numb, it does just that. If the point is to reach even deeper and explore how theater uses techniques capable of manipulating our feelings then the next question is, "Well, what about the evening news?"

Are we just puppets being pulled by our heart strings? Whether we are too numb to feel anything or easily jerked to tears, "An Octoroon" will provide food for thought, if nothing else. Although we can't go back and right the wrongs of slavery, "An Octoroon" helps us ponder how our lives today are marred by a history none of us asked to be born into. We can consider effective ways to cope with our deep distrust towards one another.

At the very least, we can figure out how one can ever write a simple play about a folktale without there being racial connotations attached simply because the playwright is Black. For a change, we can try to feel each other's pain and come to the realization that there is no winner in a history of oppression. The oppressed dies of deprivation, the oppressor dies of shame/denial and the future generations are left to deal with the karma and express their feelings in plays like this.

Is it a bit melodramatic? Yes. But it was also very funny -- hilarious, actually -- and has a band that makes up for anything the script lacked. ILL DOOTS, a Philadelphia-based band, made a fan out of me. Their music alone is worth the price of admission.

Besides the band, my favorite parts of the play center around the cast of female slaves; particularly Taysha Canales as Dido and Jaylene Clark Owens as Minnie. Their sharp-witted dialogue is sure to remind you that slaves are individual human beings with hopes and fears and longings, just like you and I.

"An Octoroon" is provocative and forces you to deal with the ridiculousness of racism in a way that doesn't cause a riot. It opens the doors of dialogue, which will hopefully lead to empathy, compassion and mutual understanding.

"An Octoroon" runs through April 10 at the Wilma Theatre, 237 South Broad Street in Philadelphia. For tickets or information, call 215-893-9456 or visit wilmatheater.org.