Waiting for Lefty Scene rewrite: “Dr. Benjamin and Dr. Barnes”
Our Class’ Project
As part of our class’ exploration of artistic protest and resistance, we
studied the creative movements that flourished during the turbulent years of
the 1930s, including the Mexican muralists, the music and poetry of the Harlem
Renaissance, and the role of Jewish theater in New York City. Among other
works, we read Waiting for Lefty by Clifford Odets, and produced by New York
City’s Group Theater, which aimed to support new plays that took on issues
of political and social significance. Waiting for Lefty focuses on New York
City cab drivers preparing to go on strike during the Great Depression and
delivers a scathing indictment of capitalism. For this project, students
selected scenes from Odets’s play and rewrote them to reflect modern social
and economic struggles. Many of the student rewrites focus on the challenges
and hardships posed by the Covid19 pandemic.
Our Scene: “Dr. Benjamin and Dr. Barnes”
This scene highlights a discussion between Dr. Barnes and Dr. Benjamin, where Benjamin is replaced by an unqualified doctor because Dr. Benjamin is Jewish. The first scene revision, written by Timothy, is set in an office where Benjamin and Barnes are airline pilots, and the second scene revision, written by Cornelia, is set in an office where Aaliyah and Mr.Smith are in a modeling agency. Our scene revisions modernize the original play by reinforcing the idea of nepotism in the workplace while also discussing differences in political affiliation and the struggle of black models in the fashion industry.
Our Scene Rewrites: Cornelia Murja and Timothy Wtorkowski
