“Hey dude, why do you think Jesse Eisenberg produced a Spanish play?”
“I have no idea man. Asunción does mean assumption in English. Maybe it’s about a Spanish Jew who’s misunderstood?”
This conversation actually took place between a friend and I. We had no idea what the play was about, and so we used what we knew about the Spanish word “asunción” and Jesse Eisenberg being a white Jew. We’ve all been there, making judgements based on race and first impressions. In one way or another we’re all racist, whether it be subtle or apparent. We’re aware of many stereotypes and we all play on them. This is what Jesse Eisenberg wanted to show us when, in “Asunción,” Edgar, a rather submissive, ethnocentric man, has to house his brother’s fiance, a Filipino woman whom he knows nothing about, for a week.
The entire plot of Asunción made it the most hilarious play I’ve ever seen. Jesse had the crowd roaring with laughter every other minute, from the African bongo jam in the intro to the almost hard to watch, “near fellatio,” scene. What made the play so enjoyable to watch was the fact that it felt real. The dialogue was believable, as well the whole situation. Yet much of this real feeling came from the stage, which was very nicely set up. The stage was an apartment space that looked like it housed two not so well off individuals. Dirty dishes were piled up in the sink, the walls had funny color designs as well as a sort of worn look to it. All of those stage aspects meshed very well with the personalities of the play’s amusing duo, Edgar and Vinny.
Despite the large comedic atmosphere the play had, there were moments where the dialogue had the crowd in complete silence. Jesse Eisenberg was able to place dramatic moments in between the laughter to make us stop and think about what he was really trying to tell us. These scenes were key to helping us piece together everything that Jesse was showing us. This is what made Asunción an effective play. Like many satires, this one was basically Jesse holding up a mirror to society. He was able to show us society’s subtle racial profiling as well as the issue of ethnocentrism that is present here in America. For the most part, Edgar played the mirror that reflected our racism. He was a self-centered person who thought he knew everything and that he was superior to everyone including his very successful brother (Although Vinny comes up a plausible exception). In reality he had nothing and essentially blew up his very small experiences, going to Cambodia for two days (by accident!), and having a small part of his blog published. This kind of person was the perfect choice to portray Jesse’s message because Edgar is the kind of guy people want to punch in the face sometimes (or maybe a lot of the time). Showing Edgar combined with us not liking him (personality-wise, otherwise his scenes were hilarious), is a perfect point to make. It shows that we are blind to our racism, and that we should be more conscious of it so we don’t make the same horrible mistakes as Edgar.
Overall, the play was fantastic. The stage was great, the plot was well written, the jokes hit the right notes, and the actors were phenomenal, and not to mention quite famous! I believe Jesse Eisenberg made a success with Asunción. Despite the hilarity his message was clear, and that makes me appreciate his whole production so much more.
