Last Tuesday, I got the opportunity to witness a dramatic reading of three of Branden Jacob-Jenkins plays: Gloria, Gurls, and Slaves. Because this is the season of midterms, I, like many of my peers are dealing with multiple stresses simultaneously whether it be in the form of essays, presentations, or worst of all midterm exams. For that reason, it was a very relieving and nice change of pace to just sit down and watch a few dramatic readings of excerpts from interesting plays written by a famous and talented playwriter. However, that is not to take away from the fact that the plays each carry a deep meaning behind them, whether it was veiled behind a comedic manifest appearance as it was in Gurls or if it was the discernable central theme of the plot as in the case of Gloria. Although all three of the plays were very interesting and engaging, if I were to pick a favorite, I would have to choose Gloria as my favorite for numerous reasons.

Although Gloria may seem to be a comedy set in an office setting at first, a misleading theme that is shown in the first chapter (one that was unfortunately not in the dramatic reading last tuesday). But even though the first chapter is comedic in nature for the most part, even it has a very deep underlying message. In the first chapter of this story, it shows three people working in cublicles in an office, three people who are not satisfied with their current way of life although some were more vocal about it than others, a setting that is seen in big cities across the country and even the world. However, it is revealed in the dramatic reading, that Gloria, one of the three aforementioned unsatisfied office workers, shot up the office where she worked killing multiple people and then herself. The dramatic reading depicted the later chapter of the play in which it shows the toll the traumatic event had on Gloria’s coworkers, one of which who was not in the building when it happened and the other who was. However, what struck me as the most powerful and important aspect of the scene was the fact that these two people who are linked by the same traumatic experience, yet insist on trying to make themselves famous and see the event as an opportunity for fame rather than the travesty that it was. These people who were fortunate enough to survive fighting each other for the chance to grasp the chance to take advantage of the people who were killed rather than live with the knowledge of how fortunate they were to survive.