“Edgar, you are so racist and ignorant! Just because she came from the Philippines and she is pretty does not mean she is a prostitute!” This was my first reaction after watching “Asuncion”. Perhaps I am being overly sensitive on the subject of biases, I simply think that any form of discrimination is an act of ignorance. When Stuart said to Edgar “You have been to Cambodia for two days by accident,” I felt Edgar was so silly. How can you not laugh at a boy who kept bragging about how much he knew about Cambodia while he couldn’t distinguish it from the Philippines? Despite my aversion towards Edgar, “Asuncion” was a successful play in conveying the theme of racism and stereotypes. It brought up a hidden aspect of racism that people might experience daily but always deny its existence. “Asuncion” was indeed a brave innovation in portraying the existence of this discrimination.
Besides the overall theme and content of the play, the actors’ performance and scenic design also contributed to the success of the play. As in acting, every actor has made his or her role very clear and distinctive. The actor of Stuart was very natural and realistic throughout the play. This has helped his character to bring up all the morals objectively at the end. The actress of Asuncion was adorable and charming. Her Americanized appearance and behavior helped to convince the audience how stereotypical Edgar was, because she was an American just like Edgar. The actors of Vinny and Edgar were a little dramatic. Nevertheless, their acting was effective, especially the actor of Edgar. He has achieved the goal of making his character into a narrow-minded and stereotype young adult.
The scenic design also revolved the theme of racism. The most obvious designs were the African American posters on the wall and the world map hanging in front of the window. They gave me the feeling that Edgar was trying to cover their racist thoughts. First, when Edgar couldn’t find his cell phone, he thought that the teenagers who injured him stole it because they were African Americans. Second, Edgar and Vinny kept boasting about how much they knew about African Americans. However, simply because they thought they knew a lot about African Americans did not mean they were not racist. They still had many stereotypes towards other races and ethnicities. The posters and world map were ironic in that Edgar was never willing to give up his stereotype and accept other people’s culture. The posters and map were meaningless to Edgar.
Personally, I do not consider “Asuncion” as a comedy. Although it had made its audience laugh from time to time, it didn’t have a happy ending. In my opinion, the ending was quite tragic but enlightening. It was sad to learn how wrong Edgar was, but the morals from his stereotypical thoughts and behavior were conveyed very clearly. Even though there were some scenes that were really unnecessary in “Asuncion”, it was relatively effective in carrying out the theme of racism and stereotypes. Sometimes I think that if we truly understand the morals behind “Asuncion”, maybe we wouldn’t laugh at all during the play.
