By Melody Cooper (Chosen as part of an International Playwriting Competition)
Directed by Tony Caselli (Artistic Director, Williamston Theatre)
International plays dealing with themes of global inclusion/exclusion have been solicited from around the globe. This new play will be chosen by MSU students to showcase issues of empowerment surrounding the theme of “The Changing Face of Global Culture in the 21st Century.”
*Sponsored in part by Undergraduate Education, Office of the Provost and the Office for Inclusion and Intercultural Initiatives.
SWEET MERCY by Melody Cooper examines the troubled relationship between Africans and African-Americans through the characters Carl and Rachel, both traumatized by their experiences during the Rwandan massacre. Both of these groups that Carl and Rachel represent have their own torturous history of slavery, genocide, and oppression. The play challenges the assumption that black culture in North America is monolithic; Carl, a West Indian/Canadian, is ostracized and Otherized by Rachel’s U.S. military family. Through Sweet Mercy, our American audience will hopefully be challenged to think through the relationship that all Americans, black or white, have to politics in Africa. By calling attention to an earth-shattering and catastrophic event that received relatively little publicity in the U.S., this play challenges an American audience to think about what the role of the U.S. should be when faced with genocide.
THE AUDITORIUM ARENA THEATRE
*Director Pre-Show Discussion Sunday, March 24, 2013 @ 1:15 PM
**Post-Show Discussion on Thursday, March 21, 2013 . (Following the performance)
