Playwright Alyson Mead’s “The Quality of Mercy”
THE QUALITY OF MERCY
On July 5th, I was watching the news and heard that Alton Sterling had been shot by police officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Within a few hours a friend of mine Alyson Mead, a playwright and screenwriter living in Los Angeles, posted on her Facebook page that she had a play written in response to the shooting of Michael Brown and the riots in Ferguson, Missouri, and she offered it to anyone for a reading or a performance, and, the proceeds would be donated to Alton Sterling’s family. I thought about how it totally fit with what I believe and how I live and before I could get back to her another man, Philando Castile, was killed by police in Minnesota. Both situations seemed unnecessary and unjust: People of Color targeted by police officers who then over-reacted to situations they created—it appeared to be business as usual within the racism system of policing in the United States. My conversation with Alyson quickly turned to doing a benefit reading in New York City with my Theatre Company 360repco – not just for one family but for two – the families of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. The News cycles continued to play out and with each new piece of video shown, the stories of these two shootings got worse and worse. I agreed to produce the reading followed by a moderated Talk Back to forge the much needed conversation about Race that this country seems to run away from.
Within 10 days of the first shooting, I secured a space at Judson Memorial Church, long known as a champion for Artists and Activism, and convened a group of 6 Actors (Marjorie Johnson, Toccarra Cash, Thaddeus Fitzpatrick, Matt Cohn, Ryan Holmes and Lulu Fogarty) in the principal roles and 2 more (Rachel Kang and AJ Taylor) to provide the crowd noises and extraneous noises from cops and people shouting on the street. Jazz musician Jason Prover, who is currently with the Hot Sardines, agreed to provide his amazing trumpet skills to being the sounds of rioting, tanks, gunfire, sirens and the overall mournful wail that can take place in like situations. I also secured the services of Sheila Rule, former correspondent and the first Black woman in management at The New York Times, to moderate the Talk Back. We were to spend the day together, rehearsing and sharing, all leading up to the Public Benefit Reading and Talk Back.
I knew from previous group situations that in order for us to do this work from a place of honesty, we needed to know who we were individually as means to building trust with one another in doing this difficult work. I often think back to Paulo Freire’s groundbreaking 1968 work, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, and his assessment of power structures and institutionalized colonial systems that keep us divided and maintaining the status quo by keeping the lesser peoples of society marginalized, held down and in their places—the oppressed. Freire suggests that we have to go on a journey to decolonize our ways of thinking and living and the way to do this is to work on our internalized selves—to become more open of mind and heart to ALL. Just because slavery was abolished, desegregation established and civil rights granted it does not mean that institutions established to maintain slavery, segregation and power disappear or go away. Oppression exists. It was in this vain, the need to do the arduous work of speaking up for the oppressed, that we needed to do this incendiary piece by Ms. Mead. To begin to scratch the surface of the ‘internalized self’ Freire speaks of, I used on old ‘meet and greet’ exercise, I learned and used in Communication Workshops, called Razalogia (the study of a people to understand their culture), as a means for the ten of us (eight Actors, Moderator and myself) to fast track what we know of one another and thereby create a group. We went around the table with a series of two prompts at a time: Name at Birth and Birthplace; First Language and Languages You Speak; Mother and Father’s Birthplaces; Mother and Father’s Culture/Heritage; and lastly, Religion Practiced, Rituals, or your Spirituality and Self Identification. It was agreed by all that it was amazing exercise and a way to share not just our differences but our similarities. Toccarra Cash shared that there was at least one thing she took from each participant and could agree with and to see how it impacted on her daily life as well.
We then did a ‘table read’, first reading of the play by the cast, and then discussed it afterwards. We made a few adjustments as to how we wanted to present the night’s reading. At 7pm, after Jason Prover had played his trumpet for 20 minutes as the audience filed in, we began the Reading.
Ms. Mead’s Synopsis of “The Quality of Mercy”: Athalia Johnson is a 20-something African American woman whose college education hasn’t bought her much in the way of gainful employment. As she’s tasked with taking care of her younger brother while her parents work the late shift, and finds herself drifting into an affair with a married white cop, an unarmed black teenager is shot in the neighborhood As she races against the clock, struggling to save Jonah from ruining his life, Athalia has to make some difficult decisions about own existence, and find the quality of mercy within her.”
The action of the play includes: the shooting of an unarmed Black teenager by the same cop that Athalia is having an affair with; an entanglement then includes her brother, who finds the gun used in the shooting of his friend, that was hidden by the cop’s partner on the force; and the older woman next door who plays the role of ‘Oracle’ and keeper of Black history, that sets the final devastating moments of this tragedy in motion. Ms. Mead has built into the ending of the piece a list of Black lives taken by police officers. To say it is heavy hitting, ugly, heartbreaking and maddening is no understatement. It is all these and more. And as the audience applauded—some moved to tears and some jumping to their feet to shout their appreciation to the cast and the work. We were all taken aback by just how powerful this piece became in the performing, and, the affect the collected ethos of the audience brought to the performance.
It was when Sheila Rule took the floor and opened up the conversation that we realized the power of a group taking a journey and then discussing, not just that journey, but their journey. The audience was mixed: old and young; Black, Brown, and white; gay and straight; and men and women. The first realization was that though we were all ‘on the same page’ there were numerous gradations in our similarities. This seems to come from the fact that we never get the chance to talk to and actually listen to one another unless it is in response to an opposing view. The moderated conversation was at times raucous and fiery. In some cases it was other institutions that aroused the enmity of participants—sexism, views on religion and privilege. It was agreed that all of these add to the structures that are designed to keep us divided and for some habitually oppressed. The topic of Communication came up numerous times, and with much back and forth with regard to who is doing the talking and who is doing or not doing the listening. The need for enhanced listening skills became a big take away. “We talk and talk and talk and very rarely listen to the response—so convinced our way is the right way”, one audience member shared. One young white participant reminded us all that modern policing is based on the Slave Patrols and Night Watches established in South Carolina in 1704. The events that unfold in the play shine a particularly harsh and nasty light on the Culture of Policing in America. This sparked a lively conversation—as this was the reason we were all there to begin with—the police practices that led to the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. Racism has indeed become ingrained in the fabric of all governmental systems and remains a way to marginalize People of Color. It was interesting the number of people in the room who had family members on police forces around the country and just how torn they were in light of these reckless attempts at keeping the status quo. The ‘blue code of silence’ and the ‘thin blue line’ were all discussed.
There were many ‘aha’ moments, though most were shared and positive views, a minority were met with disdain. One such moment was when an African-American woman who shared that she believed, as a Christian, “All Lives Matter”—surprisingly negative responses echoed from other Blacks in the room. I shared with the group that, in the last several weeks, I have been ‘unfriended’ by and in turn have been ‘unfriending’ numerous people on social media because of my commitment to Black Lives Matter—until Black lives truly matter, for me, then NO lives matter. I could not be more proud of my daughter, who has been arrested twice in the last year while doing civil disobedience at Black Lives Matter‘s protests. How often do you hear that sentiment? In debriefing with Sheila Rule after the event, she suggested that this “speaks to the issue of how diversity of thought fits into—or not!—the racial definitions and labels we give each other, even among our own tribes.” This reminded me Anais Nin, who stated, “We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.” We see others through our own lens of identity.
We were constrained by time to wrap up the conversation, however all agreed it was a great opportunity to listen to others and to deepen our understandings of the shades of gray that bridge the gap between issues that are never merely black and white. People spoke from the heart—often from places of deep hurt, ongoing hurt, and uncertainty as to where we are headed. People shared the need to do this more, that the very idea of engaging people in a focused event and conversation as a means to creating unity resonated with the audience and the cast.
Comments from people after the event:
“It was truly SPECIAL in every way. This is just what THEATER is suppose to do. Make people listen, hear, think, feel, react AND have a Sprited and Productive conversation. Thank you Alyson Mead for providing the tool to make this happen.” — An Actor
“I was in awe at the most awesome, moving and emotionally well written Reading Benefit on behalf the families Alton Sterling & Philando Castile. Wonderful Cast.” — A Professional
“A powerful, moving, and illuminating reading and discussion about power, race, family, and identity. Congratulations to Thom and all the artists involved!” — A Fellow Playwright
“The audience was moved to tears. And meaningful conversation. Bravo!” — A Fellow Playwright
Art has that power to engage and get people talking with each other. Through discussion of the characters and the plot we were able to talk about our lives and to share our thoughts. It was a rich opportunity for sharing and caring in an effort to not leave anyone behind as we move ever forward and become the movement for change. We are currently looking to repeat this experience in other venues and neighborhoods throughout NYC.
I will close of the oft used quote from Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
P.S.: After a lively discussion with Ronn Bunn, regarding what he perceived as an inconsistency on my part with regard to capitalizing Black and Brown but not white, I thought it wise to try to clarify my position. To me, whiteness and the privilege it affords are not constructs I need to honor in the grammatical mode by capitalization. Whereas, I strongly believe that until People of Color are accepted and truly free from the privilege and institutions of whiteness, it is incumbent upon me to show my respect and afford the honor where I deem it is due. Many people in the room that night identified as Black or Brown. It is not an adjective. It is who they are. Where some my find this provocative, I see it very clearly as a means of inclusiveness. Ronn wondered if language wasn’t a stumbling block sometimes, I wholeheartedly agreed. However, I pointed out as someone living in Germany and seeing what is playing out here, yet again in the streets as people come together to fight discrimination, he just might be seeing it through a European lens. I am living in an America that is not by any stretch the UNITED States of America, so I will continue to shed light on and help make change and push the conversation where I can. I can not thank Ronn enough for this platform.
- Playwright Alyson Mead’s “The Quality of Mercy” - 07/24/2016
What an AMAZING article.
Truly EXCELLENT. Thank you Ron
Thank you Thom. Very well stated.
Congratulations and THANK YOU for writing such a Moving and Heartfelt Article.