The Colored Museum

"The Colored Museum" is a play by the African American dramatist George C. Wolfe. It had its premiere in 1986 at The Crossroads Theatre in New Brunswick, NJ and won its author the Dramatists Guild Award in the same year.

The play features eleven vignettes that satirize elements of African American culture:
* Git on Board
* Cookin' with Aunt Ethel
* The Photo Session
* Soldier with a Secret
* The Gospel According to Miss Roj
* The Hairpiece
* The Last Mama-on-the-Couch Play
* Symbiosis
* Lala's Opening
* Permutations
* The Party

The play is a timeless play. "The Colored Museum" was written in 1985 during the post-Vietnam War era. The beginning takes place on an airplane which is ever so exactly traveling through time. The airplane visits different museum exhibits, each which displays African-American culture and history from the time they were brought to America as slaves all the way through nearly recent times. Each exhibit displays a different event or lifestyle in different parts of the country in different eras.

The Colored Museum examines the honor and desire of African-American people to escape centuries of suffering that have been a continuous source of baggage.

"Through this satirical writing and biting humor you actually learn a lot about African-American people. You have to look past it to get to that deeper meaning, which is being true to yourself, knowing your beauty and being unique," said Candace Smith, a sophomore at State College Area High School.

The play begins with "Git on Board," in which a perky stewardess welcomes and advises slaves/passengers on the Celebrity Slaveship how to effectively fasten their shackles.

"Ms. Pat gives you a preview of a lot of what you're going to see [in terms of] slavery, the result of slavery, the [black] image," Oliver said.

The most familiar of Wolfe's exhibits, "The Last Mama-On-the-Couch Play," ridicules the popular African-American plays For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuff and A Raisin in the Sun.

PHOTO: Patrick SopkoActors bring increased awareness of African-American struggles to the audience through a series of 11 live exhibits. The play uses satire and biting humor to communicate a deeper message.

Wolfe calls our attention to the stereotype of the "mama with well-worn feet," the gospel-like singing and dancing, along with a 32-year-old son "still going on and on about the man."

"I think people should learn something when they go to theater and understand how people are understood," said Ephraim Lopez, a 1998 Penn State graduate.

In "Symbiosis," the central character is forced to throw away his past, in his eyes, in order to succeed in a primarily white corporate America, Oliver said. Throwing away his old Converse shoes, Jimi Hendrix's Purple Haze and first jar of pomade in an oversized garbage bin, the character tells his past, "If I'm to become what I want to become, I have to get rid of you."

"The play is about just recognizing who you are and to be who you are," Oliver added. "Instead of adjusting for the world, let the world adjust for you."

Playing the outrageous Miss Roj in "The Gospel According to Miss Roj," Lopez has had to adjust to snakeskin high heels, makeup and a wig.

"She's very schizophrenic and she's been very hurt in this world. That's always a fun challenge because you want to do [the part] justice," Lopez said.

For Smith in "Permutations," the difficulty was in reliving the labor pains her character experiences before giving birth to a giant egg.

"The egg represents the birth of the race of African people, how it's so unique and how you've never seen [anything like] it before," Smith said.

Composed of a talented group ranging from elementary school students to professors, the cast expects the audience not only to learn from the various exhibits, but also to laugh.

"I'm really excited to hear what people have to say about it once it's done," Anderson said.

---- PHOTO: Patrick Sopko'The Colored Museum' highlights the task of African-Americans to overcome centuries of suffering and appreciate their intrinsic beauty.