Throwback Comedy by Coby Goodrich

            The Color Museum was explosive, well acted, but only funny at the beginning. With moral high, we traveled to see this performance on March 12 in Boston. The Color Museum’s goal was to showcase African-American racial stereotypes through uncomfortable comedy.  It did this with a cast of six talented members, in nine different skits. The skits ranged from casual everyday events, such as cooking and flying (on a plane), to more abstract ideas and explosive musicals.

            The acting was very good throughout the performance. Each character used lots of energy in their voice and expressive body language. One different thing about this performance is that in some scenes, the characters appeared on stage standing completely still. So still in fact, that at first they appeared to be statues. The beginning of the play was killer. It opened with a stewardess giving directions on a “slave plane.” The racial stereotypes were clear and uncomfortably funny, and the actress did a very good job delivering the scene. A cooking scene that was equally as uncomfortably funny followed this scene, and the stereotypes were still clear. After these first two scenes however, the stereotypes and jokes became vey unclear, in part because I was too young to understand the old references. As the performance progressed, the music became louder and the scenes more confusing.

            I would recommend this play if you are looking for something more on the comedy side, but be prepared to feel a little uncomfortable. I also believe that to enjoy the performance one should be older in age because the majority of the racial stereotype references are older and therefore less clear to younger viewers.