By Max Engel-Streich, 12th grade, Bronx Science
Charles Fuller’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, A Soldier’s Play, is, on one level, a murder mystery. Black Sergeant Vernon Waters was killed on his Louisiana military base, and everyone wonders who did it and why. It is also a piece about racism, violence, opportunity and justice. The officer sent in to head the murder investigation is black. The white captain insists to his black soldiers that they will all be treated fairly and that all possible suspects will be investigated.
“I wanted to put blacks and whites on stage as people —I didn't want to do just the usual black and white confrontation piece," notes the playwright. Its 1981 debut with the then financially struggling Negro Ensemble Company was a miracle for the company—running in New York for a year, and touring the US—and it brought Fuller into the national spotlight.
"A muder mystery...
about racism,
violence, opportunity and justice."
The original cast included then unknown actors Samuel L. Jackson and Denzel Washington. In the cast of this current production, high school students will recognize Taye Diggs from TV’s Kevin Hill, the films Chicago and How Stella Got Her Groove Back and Anthony Mackie from the films 8 Mile and Manchurian Candidate. Although Fuller initially intended to write “the first black mystery,” he ended up writing a play examining a complex set of issues. A Soldier’s Play has the elements of an extremely interesting and thought provoking play.
In the Continuum invites you into the personal journeys of Nia James, a 19-year-old from South Central LA, and Abigail Murambe, a married woman from Zimbabwe, whose hopes and aspirations are forever altered when faced with the realities of HIV/AIDS.
With two actors playing dozens of roles, In The Continuum puts a personal face on the devastating problem of AIDS among African and African-American women. Danai Gurira and Nikkole Salter, who wrote and perform the play, are recent graduates of the NYU graduate acting program, where this piece was originally developed.
Latinologues is a well-written and performed show designed to make the audience laugh and at the same time say, “That is so true!” The show is made up of short monologues by characters from Cuban, Columbian, Dominican, Mexican and Puerto Rican cultures. This show is performed by four actors—three men and a woman—each portraying many characters and races. In each monologue, a character tells a story about the struggles of Latinos and the predicaments they often are in. The comic performances use Latino stereotypes while letting the audience know that although these stereotypes may sometimes capture the truth, at other times they are misconceptions. 
Puerto Rican girl had been abandoned by the man who got her pregnant. She was afraid to admit to her father that she had had sex, so she lied and called herself the Virgin Mary and claimed she had been visited by an angel that left her impregnated. The audience was captivated and engaged with this character. A realistic and touching scene portrayed a Mexican immigrant trying to cross the border. It allowed the audience to see that Latinos face many struggles, that life can be very challenging and that they are strong people who have defied these obstacles. The message that Rick Najera, the writer, conveys is that Hispanics are hard-working people who are often stereotyped and misjudged. He expresses the struggles Latinos face, and plays with
the stereotypes in order to add humor.