“RACE,” originally by playwright David Mamet, comes to the stage at Fresno State under the direction of Thomas Whit-Ellis. Its opening will take place at the Woods Theatre in Speech Arts Building on Oct. 3 at 8 p.m., and the show will run until Oct. 11.
The chair of the theater arts department, Melissa Gibson, said it is a small, intimate play with only four cast members.
The Woods Theatre is a good place for it to be shown because Mamet is an intense playwright and that intensity will translate to the audience which will have close proximity to the actors on stage in the venue, Gibson said.
“RACE” first premiered on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theater in 2009 and has since been produced nationally. It was also produced in 2013 at London’s Hampstead Theater.
“RACE” focuses on sex, gender, power and race. Whit-Ellis said violence against women is a hot subject in the media right now with NFL players like Ray Rice making headlines for committing acts of domestic violence.
“That is one of the reasons why this show is so important: because the news is right smashed out of the headlines of any newspapers,” Ellis said.
In the play, the defendant is a wealthy white man being accused of raping an African-American woman. His strategy is to hire a legal team that is 60 percent African- American in hopes of catching a break.
“RACE” re-examines how America has dealt with acts of violence toward women presented in the media and courtrooms, as well as how corporations handle it.
The play is not only about violence against women; it also touches on our criminal justice system, Ellis said.
The play helps shed light on what can be called criminal justice’s double standards.
“Basically, if you have money and you can afford a legal defense, you are probably going to get a lesser punishment,” Ellis said.
That doesn’t mean the guilty go free, Ellis said. It means that some people can be accused when innocent, but because they don’t have a sufficient legal defense, they are found guilty.
Ellis said it’s a great play for actors, and that audience members can expect a great performance.
“It’s written by one of the top American playwrights of our era right now, David Mamet,” said Ellis.
