One thing that was so amazing about Asuncion was that it was intriguing yet humorous, which I think is very hard to accomplish. I think that Jesse Eisenberg did a great job in writing the play and acting in it. The other actors, especially Justin Bartha, were so amazing. They became so involved in what they were doing and it made the play very believable and relatable. I really felt for Edgar when he wasn’t invited to hang out with Asuncion and Vinny, especially since he was trying so hard to prove he was fun. Overall, I loved the play because it was funny, yet it made me think about my own ignorance.

There is a significance to the play, which is not to judge people and stereotype them. This message was clear throughout the play. Edgar and Vinny are supposed to be very open-minded individuals, who are worldly and knowledgeable. These qualities are questioned during the play, and you realize that Edgar and Vinny are just ignorant. Edgar constantly boasts about visiting Cambodia and living there, and it was actually just for two days. He feels that the Philippines and Cambodia are the same place. It’s interesting because there’s a world map hanging in the back but it’s somewhat pointless for it to be hanging there when no one’s going to bother to use it. The play was very effective in conveying its message, which was to not be racist.

However, I felt like there was something more going on. The complexities of Edgar and Vinny’s relationship were not explored enough; not a lot of background information was provided. The only information the audience knew was that Vinny was Edgar’s TA three years ago. I don’t think that was enough. I felt their relationship was important and meaningful but it remained unclear. Even though the play is named Asuncion, after Stuart’s wife, the main focus for me was Vinny and Edgar’s relationship. For some reason, Edgar feels the need to please Vinny. He’s so willing to do anything and everything for him. Edgar feels the need to constantly imply how worldly and educated he is to mask his insecurities and make Vinny like him. This aspect of the play was vague but overall, the play was very effective. Jesse Eisenberg, as a playwright, was successful in expressing how stereotypes never apply to everybody and how important it is for people to not judge others.

I found the play to be so amusing and funny but there was something that was missing. I didn’t realize what it was until I began this blog and was forced to think deeper into it. It just feels incomplete because I don’t know what happens after the last scene. Does Edgar make his journey to Africa, or does he continue to live with Vinny?

To be honest, I’m actually surprised that I did not blog about this play sooner. I absolutely loved it. Not to mention, I was 20 or so feet away from Jessie Eisenberg and Justin Bartha the whole time. Even before the play started, I got a positive vibe from it, and I remember telling Ashley that I would love to have an apartment layout similar to the one on the set.

Was the play effective? As for the humor, I thought it was great. I found the crude remarks to be embarrassingly hilarious, and Edgar’s pretentiousness to be highly entertaining. I have always been drawn to characters that are unintentionally awkward, and Eisenberg has the ability to effectively portray that through the character of Edgar (possibly because he also has a sense of adorable awkwardness about him). Throughout the play, I sympathized for Edgar for being so unaware of his misplaced prejudice and for being excluded from the fun that Vinny and Asuncion seemed to be having. However, at the same time there were a few times where I wanted to chime in and declare how ignorant his perception of Asuncion is and perhaps even point out Cambodia and the Philippines on his map so he can see that they have A WHOLE SEA separating them.

Eisenberg clearly satirized the effects of  stereotypes and ignorance on relationships, however, I’m not sure whether the satire stopped at humor or whether it truly encouraged the audience to question their own prejudices. Having many Filipino friends, I was surprised that I hadn’t heard the stereotype of them being “mail order brides,” but this play did allow me to see how ridiculous the stereotype is. I also found it ironic how Vinny and Edgar are oblivious to their racism. They believe majoring in African Studies and spending two days in Cambodia makes them less judgmental than the average person. Never mind the fact that Edgar was in Cambodia by accident. Never mind the fact that Vinny is actually TERRIBLE  at composing African music. The characters, especially Edgar, are so wrapped up in their own selfish worlds, that they don’t seem to realize that these details are very much isolated from their actual lives.

All in all, I enjoyed this play very much, and even made a few friends jealous because I met Jessie Eisenberg (which I’m still very psyched about by the way).

Now that I have my critic name, pen, and hat it’s time to review the production of Ascuncion! I think it was the best piece we’ve seen this semester. Just from seeing the cover of the playbill I was thinking, “Woah, famous people! This is gonna be grrrrrreat!” Now seeing Jesse Eisenberg and Justin Bartha on the big screen and miniature screen (my TV) was one thing, but to see them on a stage really showed their amazing acting skills. And I must say Jesse Eisenberg is quite the playwright.

The play was absolutely hilarious. The combination of Bartha’s pothead, wacky acting, Eisenberg’s neuroticisms and the witty jokes resulted in several bursts of laughter. I’m also glad that I found someone else who shares my interest in palindromes. During the subway ride to the show I decided to go around and say everyone’s name backwards, it’s a big ism of mine. It came up with several interesting and entertaining results: Rimaa, Ylime, Assyla but my favorite is Natasha’s which is…Ah Satan! So you can guess my excitement when Edgar starts spitting out palindromes and one of them is Ahsatan Natasha!

Next on my review checklist: the set and music. Before Macaulay, I’ve only seen a handful of plays and honestly I never bothered paying attention to the set. It was only during the Bald Soprano where I began to see how the set is a huge part of telling the story. And I must say it really does help with the storytelling and the plot. The colors of the set, the furniture, the disorganization, etc. all reflect parts of the plot or help amplify certain elements. For instance, when Vinny found Edgar’s notebook and revealed his secret ripping out the pages and throwing the post-its all over the room, the disorganization reflected the anarchy of the scene.

As many of you know from watching my vlog, I am a firm believer of the magic of music. This play is proof of my core thesis: that music has magical abilities. You put some Ke$ha on and Ascuncion and Vinny started a crazy dance party! Another music or in this case sound effect, was when Edgar asked Ascuncion to turn the music off because he wanted to enjoy each others company and hear the sounds of nature, then you hear a motorcycle pass through, brilliant! From Vinny’s first smoke to him acting like an African tribe member, music played a huge part in this play.

Like many of my classmates I left the play laughing then ran to shake the actor’s hands, but being the inquisitive man I am I had to question what Eisenberg’s overall message was? And honestly, I didn’t find it very difficult to find. Eisenberg’s play much like the other pieces we’ve read/seen in this unit share the theme of racism and prejudice. As we found out in our show-and-tell blog, Queens is incredibly diverse, and we should be proud of that. However, unfortunately in this diversity we face racist and judgmental views. At least one character in Do the Right Thing, Yellowface, Ascuncion, Maria Full of Grace, and A View From the Bridge, face prejudice in one shape or form. Why? Ignorance, fear of the unfamiliar, human nature, etc.

Even though a woman is from the Philippines, it doesn’t mean she’s a sex slave. Even though a man is Muslim or from the Middle East, it doesn’t mean he’s a terrorist. Lets face it we all love to poke fun at the stereotypes of our ethnic groups. I know I always love to make jokes of Persian-American accents! However, there is a thin line between playful fun and hurtful racism.

Now that I can check off food for thought from my checklist, time to end on a happy note. I recommend this play for anyone and everyone, it was a great night of laughs (I was worried I might LMAO at one point!). Oh also two last tips: for any of those play noobs like me…after the first hour when the lights turns on, it’s not the end of the play, it’s an intermission! And bring some OJ with you before the play because after the play I craved OJ but lucky for me Penn Station had some. ^_^

Ebrahim’s Review Checklist:

– Make up a critic name (Check)

– Talk about the acting (Check)

– Talk about the script (Check)

– Talk about the set and music (Check)

– Give some food for thought (Check)

– Make some entertaining side notes (Check)

“Hi, my name’s Kathleen.” I held my breath as Jesse Eisenberg (!) shook my outstretched hand.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Jesse.”

…

Asdfghjkl;!!! Ch’yeah your name is Jesse, Jesse Eisenberg! Has anyone else been slipping him in casual conversations?!

So yeah, onto the actual play: I liked it, a lot. Though I thought Edgar had traits that were sort of a similar to characters Jesse’s played before, he still did a great job. Justin Bartha surprised me, though. In National Treasure and The Hangover, Bartha’s characters were sort of the underdogs, the ones left in the corner while the real action got done. But with his portrayal of Vinny, Bartha was controlling and annoying and self-indulgent. I was impressed. I sadly did not get to chance to tell Bartha this because after our picture together I quickly ran back to Jesse. Oh well, Justin said he was going somewhere anyway.

The set was pretty good. I really appreciated the color of the horribly painted walls and the beanbag chair in the middle of the living room. Or as they should call it, the multipurpose room, as it also served as the dining room and Edgar’s sleep and writing area.

I thought the relationships between the characters were so interesting (hey did Asuncíon and Vinny have sex or what?!). The most intriguing was obviously the one between Jesse and Edgar. As amusing as Edgar was, I pitied him a lot; he was needy for Vinny’s attention in a way that was super unhealthy. Vinny knew this and used any opportunity to take advantage of Edgar, whether emotionally or (almost) sexually.

I was disappointed a little at the ending too. I was hoping for a positive development of Edgar’s character. I honestly felt that catching a sickness in a third world country would have been “character building” and while Vinny appeared to accept him and need him at the end, I still felt that the two would soon fall back into their usual patterns. But I was hoping for too much I suppose, it was a comedy.

Now onto the altogether effectiveness of the play… I have to admit, when the lights went off and we left the theater I thought: “wow that play was great! … But hmm.” The playwright (Jesse Eisenberg!) was attempting to slip me something that I was just not agreeing with. Maybe I missed it somewhere between Asuncíon’s debut as a top-notch dancer and the near fellatio.

So I turned to google.

What I learned was what I got a gist of after I saw the production. Basically, there are different ways of knowing, or different kinds of knowledge. There is the kind of knowledge gained through experience, and there’s the “knowledge” gained through assumption. And the play is supposed to explore two people as what they “know” about the world is challenged by their new houseguest Asuncíon. Now, I see where Jesse (!) was going, Asuncíon definitely went against what they thought they knew about Filipina immigrants (i.e. they realized she wasn’t a sex slave) but I’m not sure if the single situation changed how they judge others, each other, and themselves. The characters basically ended up right back where they started, as Vinny still self-indulgent, and Edgar just as proud. But again, it was a comedy. And the comedy was effective, and so was the set and acting.

So yeah, thanks Jessie(!).

“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.

I think that a good place to start this post is when a good third of the class and I were standing in the rain waiting for the Q64 to finally show up.  Somebody (I think Aisha) asked what the play was even about, and nobody had a clue, so Alyssa looked it up and produced that enthralling description she mentioned in her post.  Seriously, Jesse—Asuncion needs better PR people, because while the description was mundane at best, the play was anything but.  The last time a play made me laugh so hard was when I saw Spamalot three years ago, and I would say Asuncion ranks right up there as one of my favorite plays I’ve ever seen.

I know we’ve all said it, but Jesse Eisenberg is seriously awesome.  I’ve never seen Zombieland, so I only know him as Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network.  Whereas Zuckerberg was kind of a pompous scumbag, Edgar was pretty much the opposite—an overly excited loser who is pretty delusional when it comes to his coolness.  I can’t believe that somehow, in between shooting The Social Network and then attending a bunch of awards shows, he managed to write his own play and then star in it.  Meeting Jesse, however briefly, showed me that he’s definitely more like Edgar than Zuckerberg—he thanked me for liking the play, took a picture with Kayde and me, and after a couple more pictures rode off on his bike down Diagon Alley!  How adorable!

What I really liked about Asuncion was that I thought it was so well-rounded.  I spent pretty much the whole intermission checking out the set, which had a bunch of awesome little details that really made it feel like two stoner bachelors lived there—crates for tables, sink overflowing with dishes, huge record collection, Christmas lights wrapped around a pole in May, etc.  It was a lot more intricate than, say, the Bald Soprano set, and the theater was small enough that everyone could see and appreciate the work put into it (if all of that was on a Broadway set, good luck trying to see the box of Pop-tarts from the nosebleeds).

So in addition to the side-splitting comedy and the intricate set, we also had a story going on.  While things definitely got a little crazy at times (which I think was probably intentional), I felt that it was easy to get the “message” of the play—things aren’t always what they seem to be.  I definitely think that it’s easy to get caught up in assumptions that can pretty quickly spiral out of control—I think Marcus Gee would agree with Edgar that after a while, you can convince yourself of things without actually knowing much of anything.  So while I think that Jesse (notice I’ve deluded myself into thinking we’re on a first name basis?) definitely wanted us to consider the consequences of the sweeping assumptions we make in our daily lives, I think he also probably wanted to show us that pride plays a huge role in it as well.  Edgar was too proud to admit that his assumptions about Asuncion were getting more and more farfetched by the day, because he was getting so caught up in his “research” and how it was going to benefit himself.  So with that point, I think the play was a success because it showed how pride and assumptions can totally delude a person and quickly cause a situation to get out of hand.  But I can’t stress it enough that this is in no way like my new friendship with Jesse—we have a deep bond that only two people who have met once can share, and I wouldn’t be surprised if our meeting becomes the basis for his next great play.  No delusions there, folks—just cold, hard facts.

Hola, mis amigos buenos! Today I want to utilize this auspicious opportunity to remark on the play Asuncion. Wow, what a great play! I thought as soon as the played had ended. The impeccable acting and the tremendous amount of comedy revealed in the play definitely grasped my attention for 2 whole hours. This is by far the best performance I have seen thus far. To tell you the truth, I actually felt upset when I thought the play was over, but it was actually the intermission (how naive of me to think so…)! Knowing that there was more of the play left, my morale was boosted. I strongly feel that the witty comments, music, and the characters’ wonderful acting as a whole contributed to the success of this play. I just couldn’t help but laugh every time I heard “Where’s my….OJ,” especially when Eisenberg was trying to look cool saying it. Furthermore, the scene where Eisenberg’s TA says continue cleaning the bathroom was hilarious! I almost lost my breath laughing.

Asides from the comedy incorporated into the play, I truly loved the style in which the set was designed. For instance, the arrangement of the furniture and the pillar with lights of various colors added to the creativity of the play, in my opinion. Everything seemed well organized. Also, the characters’ acting was beautifully done; it was genuinely amazing to see how each and every character got so involved in their role. Moreover, the quick pace of the play and the prodigious amount of energy involved made the play seem so much more vivacious and enabled to engage the audience thoroughly (I could tell from the several people laughing hysterically). Who knew Eisenberg stored so much energy within him, as seen from his endless movements from one place to another in the play. Another thing I would like to add is the facial expressions of the characters. All the characters displayed effective emotions and the facial expressions they made accurately matched the situations they were in. All I can say is the play was performed exceptionally well.

While the play was effective in producing much laughter, it didn’t do so well in conveying its messages, in my opinion. I understood that the message the play was trying to get across was “to not judge a book by its cover.” In other words, people make instant assumptions of an individual’s character without any concrete evidence. For example, Eisenberg’s character thought that Asuncion was a “sex slave” because it was a common practice in the Philippines. I found this to be absurd, because you can’t just judge a person from where they came from. An example that best exemplifies this concept is the 9/11 terrorist attack. Sadly and incorrectly, some people think that just because someone came from a Muslim country means they’re a terrorist. However, this is not the case. It’s a misconception several people form and they judge an entire race of people (Muslims) based upon the 9/11 tragedy. Absolutely horrible…In the play, Asuncion, comedy was more effective than the message that was conveyed because the gravity of the play was severely diminished by its hysterical remarks. Overall, if the play yielded more instances of being serious about the situation at hand, I think that this message would have been more thoroughly received by the audience.

Compared to other plays I have seen so far, Asuncion produced more good than bad, and I really enjoyed it a lot. It was definitely scintillating to meet Hollywood stars for the first time and they were friendly people, as well. I don’t think there’s anything bad I could say about the play at all, in fact. Everything appealed to me: the music, the acting, the atmosphere, the costumes, etc. After viewing this play, I can’t imagine what the next one is going to be like! All I can say is that watching all these performances have led to a new-found liking of theater for me 😀

Let’s get real here, I don’t think I (as well as everybody else) could catch my breathe while watching this play. Word after word was just hysterical. Whether it was from the lighting of Justin Bartha’s first joint to Jesse Eisenberg’s sketchy explaination of his $169 journey to Africa, I could not stop laughing. I really enjoyed Zombieland but I did not think Eisenberg had it in him to be this funny…or awkward.

I won’t lie, before I went to see the show I looked up what exactly it was supposed to be. I read something along the lines of “two room mates have their liberal views tested as they take in an immigrant…” It’s safe to say I didn’t really get what was expected based off of that review. Yes, they both obviously had liberal views, but I don’t see how they were tested. I don’t think the play really touched on the topic of immigration, per se. To me, the more prominent issue was judgement. Does that judgement come from the fact that Asuncion is an immigrant? Maaaaybe. Eisenberg judged Asuncion because she came from the Philippines. His older brother judged him because he lived with his previous TA. His TA judged him because he was writing a story about Asuncion when she didn’t even know it. The whole play came to a screeching halt when everyone came to reality with their judgements. It was no longer funny that Eisenberg was a creepy brother-in-law, or that Bartha suggested something  more  from Eisenberg. It was just awkward…which might be Eisenberg’s speciality besides comedy.

Do I think this play was effective? I guess I depends on what terms you’re asking. I agree with Eric entirely. While the play was beyond hysterical, the political messages just weren’t there. Was I supposed to be leaving the theater chasing Jesse Eisenberg to tell him he’s ridiculously amusing and can I get a picture or asking just where he stands on illegal immigration and who I should consider voting for as president? As much as I love this play and would recommend it to anybody, it would be for comical reason only not to have your political stance tested.

(Ps. Jesse Eisenberg is adorable and Justin Bartha’s butt is fiiiiine, even though he gained some weight)

No offense to Reinard! But that was one of the funniest lines of the entire play (it’s not directly quoted, but it was what I could scribble down while he babbled on).  Not that I wasn’t laughing the entire time anyway. Who knew Jesse Eisenberg could be so funny! I didn’t. I loved the entire thing, from beginning to end and thoroughly enjoyed it though I thought I wouldn’t.

Back to the quote! The reason it caught my eye (or ear, rather) was because it showed the complete clashing of cultures as well as a bit of ignorance on the part of others who feel the need to categorize everything even if the categories don’t quite fit.  This particular line combines different cultures of the world as well as our connotations of where each one comes from with such ignorance that it’s funny. It is to some extent a little true, but this mixture of cultures is in most every country. We tend to forget that cultural diffusion is a large part of the world and that we greet and interact with it all the time.

Was this play effective? Well, it was effective in entertaining me, that’s for sure.  I could also see the point Eisenberg was trying to make. We have a lot of preconceived notions of who people are based on where they are from.  Sometimes it occurs when it comes to what people look like. I am Egyptian but I may “look” something else. Where are people basing this “look” from? On a majority? Well, let me tell you, Egyptians range from the whitest of whites (my cousin) to full on black (my uncle), so skin color should not be a deciding factor. Edgar’s mistake in the play was not that he judged Asuncíon by her color, but by her origin.  He believes he knows all about her because he visited Cambodia, once, by accident.  Cambodia and the Philippines are approximately 1,000 miles apart, that’s why the joke was so funny: not just because they’re entirely different countries, but because there’s an entire sea between them, so it shouldn’t be confusing.  He thinks that because there are so many stories about immigrants coming to America because of the sex trade, Asuncíon must immediately be a part of that group.

This innocent youth, blinded by the stereotypes and prejudices of the world, wanting to be politically correct and helpful in all ways possible, doesn’t know the first thing about any of these things.  Edgar does not know how to serve without being overbearing, he does not know how to separate fact from opinion, and when he tries so hard to treat people well, he cannot help but offend, as he did to poor Asuncíon.  His goal in writing this story or article was because he genuinely wanted to help her.  He wanted the same success others got when they wrote about these types of things and be able to help others relate to her enough to get help. In the process of these supposed good intentions, he ends of offending Asuncíon, angering his brother, and frustrating his roommate.

This play as a whole brought to the surface a lot of the prejudice we can have as a people who don’t live in a country where there is unison in ethnicity.  It definitely brought out the ignorance some people can have and showed how people can be completely convinced with their opinion that they completely miss the truth, sometimes even ignoring the truth.