by Ambassador James Davis
 Hundreds of Kingsborough enthusiasts flocked into the MAC playhouse looking for their recommended serving of “Platanos and Collard Greens.” Fortunately, a local school Ambassador was there to witness this off Broadway performance.
“Platanos and Collard Greens,” written by David Lamb and directed by Summer Hill Seven, is a play which is currently shown at the Florence Gould Hall Theater, located on East 60th street in Manhattan. Luckily for us, the performance has explored the country in their national college tour.
I know, a trip from midtown Manhattan to Kingsborough is hardly a cross-country journey, but in any event, it was an honor for them to visit nonetheless.
But enough with the location, let's talk about the show!
The lights dimmed, the curtain rose, and the audience was greeted with a poetry slam-style monologue by the character named Freeman, appropriately started with the line, “Platanos and collard greens go together like fried chicken and macaroni and cheese.”
This statement alone set the tone for the whole play, two unconventional tastes on the same plate. However, not everyone may agree with the menu.
The story follows the love affair of Freeman and Angelita, an African-American man and a caliente Latin woman, respectively.
As both of these college students gradually got closer to each other, they often found themselves facing the prejudices of their friends and family.
You guessed right, it is another spin on Romeo and Juliet , where the families of the two lovers were feuding with one another.
Thankfully, Platanos does not end with the lovers committing dual suicides (which would put a big damper on this very comedic drama).
Anyway, the only other main difference these two plays have is the interracial issues that Platanos invokes on its audience. One certain scene comes to mind.
Angelita invites Freeman over to her home where they get comfortable and enjoy each other's company, in a non-sexual way if you were wondering.
Then, out of nowhere, the audience was surprised by a booming god-like voice. It was Angelita's mother, screaming at the top of her lungs, kicking Freeman out of her house. “Get that negro out of my house!” was the mother's theme.
It would have been appropriate for the mother to run after Freeman with a rolling pin or a frying pan, but she was never to be seen; it was very similar to watching Charlie Brown, where the adults are never shown but you can still hear them saying “whomp whomp whomp.”
Not completely disappointing, however, as it was one of the few very serious moments of the play.
Well, it was supposed to be one of the serious moments. The actor who plays Freeman, Phillip Smith , has a light skin color; he can easily be confused for a man with a Latin decent.
With that said, throughout the production until the mother incident, some of the audience members probably confused him as such.
After Angelita's mother shouts “Get that negro out of my house!” a young woman in the audience, in shock I'm assuming, yells “He's black?!”
The audience then laughed after the semi-serious scene, which at that moment may have lessened the impact of the scene's dramatic effect.
But there were a lot of other aspects that added to the Platanos effect. There was a wide array of music, ranging from calming and collective to hot and spicy.
Even though the melodies contrasted at times, the melodies blended very well. The lighting effects emphasized each of the emotions within a scene in a way that doesn't only support the scene, but actually works with it.
As far as acting is concerned, all of the thespians were very talented.
All of the characters were very unique from each other, to the point where you wonder why some of them are friends in the first place.
Despite that, the actors portray their characters' personalities to be both contradicting of one another, but further shows the many ways how opposites can attract.
All in all, Platanos and Collard Greens receives a rating of 3 out of 4 stars. It was original, thought provoking, and it brought up issues that should be discussed more often among the African-American and Latin communities.
It was worth the five bucks to get a full plate of Platanos and Collard Greens. |
