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| Jessica Hecht, Andrew Garman, and Ben Edelman Photo: Jeremy Daniel |
Admissions
By Joshua Harmon
Directed by Daniel Aukin
Lincoln Center Theater
Through May 6
By Lauren Yarger
People of Color are good. White people are bad. So goes the liberal mantra that has been ruling the Admissions process at a private school in New Hampshire for years, but when the truth of that practice hits home in a personal way, a couple is forced to do some rethinking in Joshua Harmon's thought-provoking play getting an Off-Broadway run at Lincoln Center.
Sherri Rosen Mason (a mesmerizing Jessica Hecht) has been working for decades to change things at preppy Hillcrest School, where her husband, Bill (Andrew Garman) is the headmaster. The specific change she has been working toward is to make the school look less white and she is excited to announce that enrollment of students of color now is at 20 percent. She only needs to fund one more scholarship to make it happen. So, she's not happy to see a mockup of the school's catalogue with pictures showing mostly white students. She calls administrator Roberta (an engaging Ann McDonough) on the carpet and insists that she redo the booklet using pictures with more students of color.
Roberta is perplexed. She included some students of color, including the son of the mixed marriage of Sherri's best friend, Ginnie Peters (Sally Murphy). Apparently, he isn't easily identified as black, however, setting off a series of humorous questions from Roberta about just how dark-skinned the photo subjects need to be. Sherrie bristles when Roberta points out that she rarely thinks about a student's skin color -- that it is Sherrie who is obsessed with it. Sherrie pulls rank and shrugs off Roberta's observation.
"It must be nice to be sure you're right all the time," Roberta quips.
Doubt quickly fills Sherrie's mind, however, when her son, Charlie (Ben Edelman), is waitlisted at Yale, but Ginnie's son, whose test scores and grades aren't as good, gets in. The two moms might be having a casual visit in Sherrie's warm kitchen (the comfortable home set is created by Riccardo Hernandez), but the atmosphere is chilly once that question comes up: Did he check the box (signifying his race)?
Meanwhile, a dejected Charlie realizes that as a white, privileged kid, he probably will be just as well off going to community school and rescinds his application at all of the top colleges where he had applied. And by the way -- that $60,000+ tuition at Yale? He'd like his parents to donate it and fund that last scholarship for a student of color at Hillcrest. Just how much do the Masons believe in diversity? The whole reason Sherrie and her husband have been slaving away at Hillcrest is to make sure that their son could get into the right school... how far will they go now to make sure their white son gets a slot?
Admissions is a well-written script that brings into question equal opportunity beliefs and practices without becoming preachy. Director Daniel Aukin gets top-notch performances across the boards. We feel Sherrie's instinct to protect her son and the loss of the friendship with Ginnie. We understand Roberta's frustration with unrealistic desires to be politically correct and Charlie's perception of the irony that is determining his life's path. Meanwhile, Bill's irrational hatred of his own son for not getting on board with the liberal party line and for not hating himself for being white shows just how brainwashed some people allow themselves to be. It's an unsettling hour-and-45-minute play, perfectly timed in view of today's political and racial climate.
Admissions takes us to school at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater, 150 West 65th St., NYC, extended through May 6. lct.org/shows/admissions
Additional credits:
Costumes by Toni-Leslie James, Lighting by Mark Barton, and Sound by Ryan Rumery
More information:
Through May 6
By Lauren Yarger
People of Color are good. White people are bad. So goes the liberal mantra that has been ruling the Admissions process at a private school in New Hampshire for years, but when the truth of that practice hits home in a personal way, a couple is forced to do some rethinking in Joshua Harmon's thought-provoking play getting an Off-Broadway run at Lincoln Center.
Sherri Rosen Mason (a mesmerizing Jessica Hecht) has been working for decades to change things at preppy Hillcrest School, where her husband, Bill (Andrew Garman) is the headmaster. The specific change she has been working toward is to make the school look less white and she is excited to announce that enrollment of students of color now is at 20 percent. She only needs to fund one more scholarship to make it happen. So, she's not happy to see a mockup of the school's catalogue with pictures showing mostly white students. She calls administrator Roberta (an engaging Ann McDonough) on the carpet and insists that she redo the booklet using pictures with more students of color.
Roberta is perplexed. She included some students of color, including the son of the mixed marriage of Sherri's best friend, Ginnie Peters (Sally Murphy). Apparently, he isn't easily identified as black, however, setting off a series of humorous questions from Roberta about just how dark-skinned the photo subjects need to be. Sherrie bristles when Roberta points out that she rarely thinks about a student's skin color -- that it is Sherrie who is obsessed with it. Sherrie pulls rank and shrugs off Roberta's observation.
"It must be nice to be sure you're right all the time," Roberta quips.
Doubt quickly fills Sherrie's mind, however, when her son, Charlie (Ben Edelman), is waitlisted at Yale, but Ginnie's son, whose test scores and grades aren't as good, gets in. The two moms might be having a casual visit in Sherrie's warm kitchen (the comfortable home set is created by Riccardo Hernandez), but the atmosphere is chilly once that question comes up: Did he check the box (signifying his race)?
Meanwhile, a dejected Charlie realizes that as a white, privileged kid, he probably will be just as well off going to community school and rescinds his application at all of the top colleges where he had applied. And by the way -- that $60,000+ tuition at Yale? He'd like his parents to donate it and fund that last scholarship for a student of color at Hillcrest. Just how much do the Masons believe in diversity? The whole reason Sherrie and her husband have been slaving away at Hillcrest is to make sure that their son could get into the right school... how far will they go now to make sure their white son gets a slot?
Admissions is a well-written script that brings into question equal opportunity beliefs and practices without becoming preachy. Director Daniel Aukin gets top-notch performances across the boards. We feel Sherrie's instinct to protect her son and the loss of the friendship with Ginnie. We understand Roberta's frustration with unrealistic desires to be politically correct and Charlie's perception of the irony that is determining his life's path. Meanwhile, Bill's irrational hatred of his own son for not getting on board with the liberal party line and for not hating himself for being white shows just how brainwashed some people allow themselves to be. It's an unsettling hour-and-45-minute play, perfectly timed in view of today's political and racial climate.
Admissions takes us to school at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater, 150 West 65th St., NYC, extended through May 6. lct.org/shows/admissions
Additional credits:
Costumes by Toni-Leslie James, Lighting by Mark Barton, and Sound by Ryan Rumery
More information:
http://www.lct.org/explore/
FAMILY-FRIENDLY FACTORS:
-- God's name taken in vain
-- Language
FAMILY-FRIENDLY FACTORS:
-- God's name taken in vain
-- Language
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