By: Theodore Do
The 2018 MHS fall play, “Rowing to America: The Immigrant Experience,” was a collection of nine one-act plays that explored the stories of the immigrant experience. The play incorporated multiple different identities, sharing the immigrant shift to the American culture.
The play was a fantastic display that showcased the struggles of different characters coming from different backgrounds. With the huge diversity in the MHS student population, it was relatable at a student perspective. Celebrating the endeavors of immigrant individuals helped illuminate the common struggle of taking the courage to challenge the unknown.
The stories ranged from the Japanese adjustment to the American culture to the forced march of African slaves. Each one demonstrated an aspect of loss and sacrifice in order to push toward the future.
The cast was exceptional at portraying their characters, fitting well into the corresponding personalities and cultures of their part. The actors were well-matched with their roles, even adding a flair of accents into several represented cultures.
The props were creative and appropriate for each play, and the smooth transition between scenes were satisfying to watch. The representation of floating newspapers in the ocean in the one-act play, “Rowing to America”, was especially clever. Rather than tossing or sliding the newspaper, the theater department chose to have an individual dressed in black carry it to the character.
However, the biggest problem for me with the play was the script itself. While the actors delivered the lines well, I felt that there were too many holes in the storylines that I wanted to find out more about. I would prefer a single fully-developed story, rather than multiple loose stories.
Because of these poorly developed plotlines, it left the audience confused. If someone were not paying close attention to the words in the conversations, they would not have understood some of the scenarios. Without knowledge of the settings from the play guide, I would not have understood what was going on.
I found that the one-act play, Slave Coffee w/ Observer was particularly difficult to understand. While I understood that the Africans were being forced to march, the voiceover in the background made it hard to understand. The matching of voices was somewhat out of place for the production because it was the only play that used re-voicing technique.
If it weren’t for the cast’s performance, the play would not have been as entertaining and interesting. While the concept of the play was thoughtful, the individual scripts themselves were disconcerting.