Satire? More like saTIRING by Anna Duffy

            “I do not know half these references”, I thought to myself during the performance. I attended The Colored Museum at the Huntington Theater in Boston, Massachusetts on Thursday March 12, 2015. The Colored Museum is a satirical play cut into 11 “exhibits” showing identities of African-American culture, using an all black cast. George C. Wolfe wrote this play, while Billy Porter directed it.

            The Colored Museum made references that I did understand which made watching the show less enjoyable. One “exhibit” in the play was a woman playing a pop star named “Lala”. The presentation started out with the actress coming on stage in a long pink sparkly dress, pretending that she was doing a show and we were the audience of the show. She started talking and singing, and while she was talking, she made references to people and events that I was not familiar with. This made me confused, and the show less enjoyable. These references were supposed to be humorous, and people in the audience did laugh, but I did not find it funny because I did not understand what she was talking about. Also, this particular “exhibit” was very long, and the continuous unknown references made me very bored. The same thing happened within other “exhibits” throughout the show.

            The Colored Museum made references to people and events that I did not know, which made the play not as fun to witness. “Lala” and other “exhibits” in the production had what seemed like countless unfamiliar references going on for a long period of time which made me uninterested and tired. I recommend not going to see this play for the humor, unless you really have your African-American stereotyping and indications down.