In a new play, Adrienne Dawes delves into racial identityPosted in Articles, Arts, Identity Development/Psychology, Media Archive, Passing, United States on 2014-10-02 02:22Z by Steven |
In a new play, Adrienne Dawes delves into racial identity
Austin American-Statesman
Austin, Texas
2014-10-01
Jeanne Claire van Ryzin, Reporter/Arts Critic
Before the dialogue begins, before the first stage direction is explained, the complexities of race and racial identity percolate up from the script of “Am I White,” a new play by Austin writer Adrienne Dawes.
Take the cast list: “Wesley Connor, biracial (passes as white), member of the White Order of Thule,” “Ryan Cahill, white, member of the Aryan Brotherhood” and “Justine Ramos, biracial (could pass as black).”
Ricocheting back and forth in time, seguing into nightmarish scenes played out as a disturbing minstrel show, “Am I White” tells the story of an imprisoned neo-Nazi convicted of plotting terrorist acts who must confront his own mixed-race heritage.
Directed by Jenny Larson, “Am I White” opened Wednesday for a three-week run at Salvage Vanguard Theater.
“Am I White” is based on the true story of Leo Felton, a white supremacist who hid his own mixed-race identity as the child of a short-lived idealistic Civil Rights-era marriage between a black architect and a white former nun…
Read the entire review here.