On Saturday, September 20^th 2014, I got off the subway at 7pm, without a clue where the INTAR Theater was. I walked alone, with my phone in my hand opened to the map application, to make sure I was walking in the right direction. After this long walk, I finally stopped in front of this regular, run-down looking building, which I would have walked right by if I did not notice the “INTAR Theater” sign in front of it.  So I walked inside, and entered this creepy and very cramped elevator until I arrived at the 4^th floor, and met with my fellow peers in this shady waiting room. At 8pm, we were escorted to the theater and as we walked in, I couldn’t help but notice the strange and repetitive French music playing in the background and this man dressed as a woman, lounging around in the neon-colored, jungle-gym set design. As I stared at the set, the man, and listened to the irritating music, I could not help but think to myself: What kind of play is this going to be?

Although the play surprised me by how bizarre and absurd it was, I thought Teach, Teacher, Teachest was a hilarious and very interesting play, filled with fantastic and fearless actors, a wonderful set, unique costumes, and intriguing underlying meanings. As the actors jumped around set and did random dance numbers and acrobatics, it was hard to understand the point of the entire piece as a whole. However, after taking much thought, I realized the purpose of the play was to shed light on how horrible today’s education system is, and how many people are condemned if they do not believe in the big business, and corrupt government of today.

This main idea was especially shown to me when the professor (Daniel Irizarry) was trying to convince the student (Laura Rivera) that the rich are “job creators” while the poor immigrants are the “takers.” This outrageous concept, which the professor highly believes in, was incorporated in the play to show the audience the dangerous ideas in today’s society, where the rich are defended and have all the power in the world while the poor/immigrants are neglected and are only looked at as the “bad guys.”   This is also shown when the professor states, “Do you think Thomas Jefferson wanted open borders? He didn’t.” When the student asks what the historical American said about them, the professor proudly states, “Absolutely nothing. So one can only assume he was dead against them.” This ignorant statement alone supports the main idea that many Americans look down upon immigrants and poor people, without having proper justification. They are just brain washed by the big businesses and government to believe in these outrageous assumptions, which are spreading fast to the minds of our youth.

In the end of the play, the student ends up getting killed because of how she questions the professor’s beliefs. The death of the student symbolizes the condemnation of the people who are against the big businesses, and the corrupt government—showing the audience how difficult it is getting to fight against the toxic ideas of today.

If I could see this play one more time, I definitely would. However, I would pay less attention to the dancing and hilarity of it, and would be more attentive to the underlying meanings so that I can get a better idea of what the writer was trying to accomplish.

There is no denying how obvious the social class differences are in New York City. In almost any given area in Manhattan, one can spot a wealthy businessman, an everyday middle class family, and a homeless person all on the same block. However, oftentimes, us New Yorkers tend to disregard these class differences and not take time to think about what each class goes through. Art plays a huge role in breaking down the class divide, by reinforcing how stringent the social class structure is in American society and how much the middle and lower classes go through in comparison to the more wealthy.

In the movie Taxi Driver by Martin Scorsese, the protagonist, Travis, is a regular lower-class man, working as a taxi driver to make a living. He often works the night shift and drives through the shady parts of the boroughs, witnessing what most wealthy and middle class people in NYC barely ever see: crime.   On a daily basis, Travis sees prostitution, robberies, drug use, and more criminal activity, to the point where what he is surrounded by basically separates him from other people in different classes. One of which is the woman he has feelings for named Betsy. This upper-class woman is so sheltered by her wealth to the point where she cannot relate to Travis and only gets offended when he takes her out to see the only kind of entertainment he knows. It seems like Betsy walks out on him because of his lifestyle, leaving Travis lonely and showing how difficult it is for the lower and upper classes to mend and understand each other.

As Travis continues his life without Betsy, Scorsese shows even more intense scenes of what Travis has to see everyday. And eventually, instead of continuing to stand by and watch the crimes, Travis decides to take action by purchasing a grand array of guns. He becomes a part of the violence, which most people in the lower class often have no choice but to do. Travis gets himself involved in the life of a teenage prostitute and in the end saves her by slaughtering those who keep her captive and force her to sell her body.   However, despite saving her life, Travis still cannot escape life as a part of the lower class, and continues to work as a taxi driver, dealing with the parts of New York City all the other classes barely know.

Scorsese’s film, and many other films based on the class divide, successfully convey the lives of those in the different classes. They show what the middle and lower classes often suffer through and sometimes, like in Taxi Driver, show that it is almost impossible to make it up the social ladder because of how stringent the class divide is in America today.