US/THEM – biting social commentary served up with humor
by Rob Howard
Associate Editor
Think about every slur you have ever heard. No matter if it is racist, sexist, homophobic, ageist, based on body size or religion, think of it. That’s what the cast of US/THEM at Tulsa’s Echo Theatre has been doing for a few weeks.
“This started over a year ago when everything happened with Ferguson,” says Machele Dill, Echo Theatre’s director. “We heard about more racial incidents in the world. I looked around, wondering 'what can I do?' I can do theatre!”
And that was the genesis of US/THEM. “If you can get somebody to laugh at something and laugh at themselves and really think about what they are doing, you can really change things,” says Dill. “It’s sketch comedy, like Saturday Night Live. We have been working together to come up with things.”
The first thing they did was write on small sheets of paper every slur they could think of. One sheet, one slur. They threw them all in a stack, mixed it up and then each person pulled out several sheets and had to read the slurs to the others.
“US/THEM is biting social commentary, wrapped up in sketch comedy. Very fast paced,” says Dill. The point of the exercise was, if you are going to do biting social commentary, you are going to have to say the words.
A younger, white cast member drew the N-word. He didn’t want to say it. An older, black cast member said to him, “You look uncomfortable but I want you to not be. If your job is to say something racist, you have to be able to do it.”
“The only way to do it is to get people to talk about it. We have to talk about this,” Dill told The Gayly.
She offered an example of one sketch, which is called The Racial Profiling Dating Game. “Bachelor number two, you get pulled over by a policeman. What do you do?”
“I pull out my wallet, get out my insurance card and wait for the officer,” says Bachelor # 2.
“What color is Bachelor # 2?” the contestants are asked.
“White.”
Dill loves the collaboration with the cast. “Everybody is fired up and so passionate and interested in it. We have Caucasians, Native Americans, African Americans. We are Jewish, Christians, gay, straight, bisexual, old and young,” she says.
“We want the audience to participate as much as they are comfortable. There is a lot of chance for audience interaction,” says Dill. Her role? “I’m more like ringmaster. I just keep us from burning the building down. That’s my job.”
US/THEM is staged in Tulsa PAC’s Liddy Doenges Theatre, with cabaret style seating at tables and general admission. The improv/sketch comedy will be June 9 and 10 at 8 p.m. and June 11 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $20 for one table, $15 for general admission and are available online at www.tulsapac.com, by phone at (918) 596-7111 or in person at the Tulsa PAC box office, 101 E. Third Street in downtown Tulsa.
Copyright 2017 The Gayly – May 30, 2017 @ 10:45 a.m.