After a long debate about whether to spend the money to see this show, I decided to go. It wouldn’t have been a question had I lived in New York, but I don’t, so I had to buy two flights, one of which I missed, so I had to buy three flights and go through security twice. But I was in too deep by the time I missed the first flight, so I had to commit. The second flight got in to JFK - JFK (!!!) at 1pm, which left me one hour to catch the matinee performance (not my first choice, but again, the flights). It was also gonna take about an hour to get to John Golden Theatre from the airport. I was on top of it, but of course the train was twenty minutes behind, so I suffered on the train platform watching time slip by and debating whether I should spend $50 on an Uber that was gonna take the same amount of time. I decided to wait. THEN, I had the option of getting another train or just walking after exiting Penn Station. Rather than try to figure out one more train that was a two minute ride, I decided to run. I tied my jacket around my waist and literally ran from 31st to 45th to get to the Theatre 10 minutes late. Luckily, they were allowing late seating and after thanking everyone I had to slip past in the front row of the balcony (my favorite spot for children) I tuned in right in the middle of Kaneisha and Jim’s Antebellum Sexual Performance Therapy session.
The white male/black female couple of the three in therapy, Kenisha was there on all fours moving her ass while Jim awkwardly tried to find the language to tell her that that was what he wanted her to do. She seemed to lead the session, and he, clumsy with the whip, tried to give her what she wanted. After a few uncomfortable false starts, they finally made it to sex, then we went to the next couple, a white woman, black man combination who acted out a sort of cuck fantasy, which, it turned out was how they'd met in real life, and there was also a gay couple, always interesting because gender dynamics don’t cloud other factors.
The set was an astroturf deck surrounded by three walls made or mirrored panels and a projection of a plantation that was projected onto the mezzanine level and therefore reflected back onto the mirrors on stage and integrated into the set that way. A section of the mirrored panels would open up and a platform would slide out with a couple on it fun-house style and their scene would begin that way. It was a fun concept, except I didn't understand the choice to both front and backlight the couples.
I think that the overall point of the show was to demonstrate to white people that they’re taking up too much space. Lots of taunting white men by making Jim inconsiderate as fuck, talking out of turn, announcing himself and his thoughts and opinions aloud, commanding attention, taking over the room’s discussion. The two therapists leading the study were recent graduates from an Ivy League (Yale?) who were studying relationship dynamics in interracial relationships and the psychological effects of not having a language to describe the oppression or earsure or otherness felt by the black partners in interracial relationships. The dynamic was demonstrated in the relationship between the therapists as well when the white-passing therapist would talk over the light-skinned black therapist. This wasn’t demonstrated extremely well, because the black therapist would also talk out of turn and her character was so over the top that sometimes, her points were missed because her voice was so crazy and the words were rushed out. At one point, she had her own “moment”, which I believe was intended to be a learning moment for the audience. She cried and had a breakthrough, but I had not understood what she’d said and heard people around me going “what?”
Out of the three couples, two of them were able to have breakthroughs and finally come or have sexual satisfaction, but the third couple Kenisha and Jim, barely spoke at therapy. They were the only married couple. Jim was actually the only one to use the safe word “Starbucks” and bring all three sexual therapy sessions to an end, not enjoying the role play al all. It was surprising because it seems as though if you put a white man in a position to act out that fantasy, he’d be all over it, but it also made me think that maybe he was the only one who didn’t need it because white men still have power in the real world and for everyone else, a position of power in an escape. The other couples were having a stellar time trading places. The white woman got to dominate her partner, a black gay man got the opportunity to be in control, but Jim, the white male, sincerely did not want or need this fantasy. It was his wife, a black woman, who was pushing and pushing for him to take control of her and he reluctantly trying to explain that he didn’t want to treat her that way.
At the end of therapy, Kenisha finally speaks up and tells Jim and whole room what’s on her mind. How she thinks Jim is a virus, how she thinks “the elders” (the souls of dead slaves) are watching her and not necessarily disapproving, but wanting her to acknowledge that she is sleeping with the enemy or going against them (which they’re okay with if she does so “gracefully”). She finally has an OCD breakdown and goes back to her room. Jim meets her there and she continues to monologue to him for the longest five minutes while he sits there and listens politely. Just when you think they’re about to get a divorce, he goes fully back into his Slave Master character (great accent) and begins to dominate and tease her for a long while that finally leads to sex. She has her release and he recoils completely uncomfortable into a corner of the bed. He does not like it. She thanks him and the show ends.
The show also seemed to say, that no matter how “good” your interracial (one white partner) relationship is, there will always be underlying slavery era dynamics rooted in it. You can choose to address or unpack them or not, but they are there and if you do choose to unpack or discuss them, you’ll be doing so forever. It was exhausting. Your class or your “whiteness” will never transcend you being black and if you’re with a white person, there’s always some fetish underneath that can explain the attraction.
Lastly, there was male nudity in the show. Jim full frontal. A black dildo waved around, but no real life black d*cks were exposed. Now, I think the rule in theatre is that you don’t do nudity unless you *have* to. Why did we need to see Jim’s white penis, but not see the black men exposed in the other sex scenes?
This feels obvious.
Originally Published January 20 2020 at amiikelle.com
-Blithe