Straight White Men is a play that is written and directed by Young Jean Lee. This play consists of only four characters. Austin Pendelton plays Ed, the father. James Stanley plays Matt, the oldest child. Gary Wilmes plays Jake, the middle child. Pete Simpson plays Drew, the youngest child. This play was presented by the Public Theater, which can be found at 425 Lafayette Street.
The play addresses the issue of privilege and how privilege is actually problematic in society. Having such an interesting idea at hand, our group (Chris Pun, Elyssa Sur, and Tony Chu) wanted to go see what this was all about.
We were shocked when we walked into the auditorium to be seated. We weren’t surprised by how the theater looked. Instead we were amazed at the vulgar music that was playing. Considering how majority of the audience consisted of elderly Caucasian men and women, it was hard to understand why rap music was being played. The music did play a part as it set the stage for the amount of vulgar language that was used in the play.
The former half of the play was not as serious as we would expect it. The brothers were fooling around with each other. Jokes were made left and right. There was even some childish dancing that made everyone in the audience chortle. The latter half of the play became serious really quickly. Soon Matt was questioned about his employment status and why he was in the situation he was in. Jake starts to explain that there are many privileges that being a straight white man that homosexual people, colored people, and women don’t have. Jake then explains that Matt chooses to not utilize the privileges because he is being the noble sacrifice since not every Caucasian can use their privilege. Ed and Drew question Matt to see if Jake’s theory is correct. Matt however disagrees and displays how he feels like he needs to earn his way up in this world. In the end of it all, the family is torn apart over this issue of privilege.
We found the play to be quite powerful and a lot to take in considering how most of the issues unraveled themselves in the latter half of the play. Although we don’t have our own take on the idea of white privilege, we have come up with some thoughts on the play itself. Ed seemed to acknowledge and respect the fact that he has white privilege and uses it accordingly. Drew, like his father, acknowledges his privilege and feels indifferent to it. Jake abuses the privilege he has and it shows throughout the whole play. Matt despises the fact that he has privilege and rejects it. Matt feels that everything should be earned and because of this his family turned their backs on him.
This play as a whole was well written and almost perfectly executed. Our only criticisms would be that the crude waiting music should be changed along with the fact that the actors shouldn’t over-emphasize certain phrases. We would definitely go see another play by Young Jean Lee.
– Tony with Pun and Elyssa
