Mohammed’s Radio

Before beginning the play, I was aware that we were going to see it read aloud. Therefore, I read the play while, in my mind, each character took on a different voice to have a better picture of what I would see in a few day’s time. I had never been to a reading of a play, and it surprised me that this play was set in a part of New York City that was very familiar to me, located only a short distance from my neighborhood. While reading the play, I was able to understand all of the jokes, comments and stereotypes described about Brooklyn. In reality, the play was unlike anything I had read before.

The play is, in a way, shocking and definitely has the ability to provoke a response. I found our discussion in class to have brought up many questions that I had previously not given a thought to, which were then answered by Stephen Garcia, the writer of the play at the end of the reading.

I had not expected the reading to be so powerful. Somehow, when I found out that we were attending a reading of the play, the word “reading” downplayed my expectations. I was pleasantly surprised. The actors’ facial expressions, emotion-filled voices, and gestures allowed the members of the audience to become immersed in the play and thoroughly forget where they were located at the time. I enjoyed following the progression of the play live more-so than I did while reading it at home, because even though there was no setting created and the actors were simply reading the play, it came alive before your very eyes. I did not, in any way, expect a grown man to portray Little Joe, an eight-year-old innocent young boy, so well. Furthermore, I didn’t expect any of the actors to depict their respectable characters so well because, once the question and answer portion of the night began, it seemed as if you were broken away from  a dream and these weren’t the characters in front of you, but simply the adults or students who had played them. You were suddenly taken out of the trance.

The plot was very unique in my eyes and the actors were able to provoke reactions from the audience that Mr. Garcia had intended while writing the play. I definitely enjoyed the reading and will definitely keep my eyes open for similar events throughout the city in the future.