Play tackles racial, religious intolerance

In the wake of recent nationwide protests for immigration rights, local playwright Jihad Abdulmumit last Tuesday and Thursday staged his politically timely “The More Things Change.the More They Remain the Same.” at the Grace Street Theater.

The play, which the School of World Studies and Muslim Student Association sponsored, opens with the hanging of a young Muslim woman three years into the future when the government enforces a revised Patriot Act by any means necessary. From there, the play travels back in time to the days of slavery in the United States.

In each of the three acts (each representing a different time period), a group of racial and religious minorities face governmental prosecution-and often execution-because they supposedly threaten national security.

The first act satirically observes the Homeland Security Task Force raiding an Islamic elementary school classroom because of the school’s participation in the World Peace Conference. Similarly, in the second act, FBI agents played by the same actors as the task force officials storm into a predominantly non-white classroom in 1969. The teacher is suspected of telling his students about an upcoming Malcolm X Human Rights Conference.

Thus, as Abdulmumit said, as society evolves with time, it retains much of what he called its “historical continuity.” Abdulmumit, who acted in and co-directed the play with his wife, Darcell Murray, recognized that the story portrays the government as dramatic and extreme.

“It’s only because of (concerned citizens’) love and respect for the government that we don’t want it to become a tyrant,” said the writer of more than 30 plays. The purpose, however, is not to arbitrarily criticize the government, Abdulmumit said, but to sensitize the audience to the vulnerability of civil liberties in light of such institutionalized practices as warrant-less domestic wiretapping.

Daniel Smith, the play’s lead villain and a VCU professor of religious studies, said racial and religious intolerance is at the forefront of the play’s message.

“We’ve never dealt with many of these issues (of racial and religious intolerance), and they’re coming back again,” said Smith, who was approached by a student in one of his classes about participating in the play.

Despite Smith’s enthusiasm for the project, the coarse nature of his characters’ roles proved difficult for the former community theater actor.

He plays a high-ranking intelligence official in the first two acts and a Southern plantation owner who preaches extreme racist ideology in the third.

In addition to ordering the hanging of the Muslim woman at the beginning of the play, his character Willie Lynch orders the hanging of a female slave who attempts to run away from his plantation.

“The first time I had to deliver lines, I had to go into a room alone and say the words,” Smith said to an estimated audience of 75 during a question-and-answer session after a performance. “I couldn’t say words like that in front of (the child actors) running around.”

Opposite Smith, sophomore theater major Joe Carlson served as the play’s protagonist.

In each act, Carlson’s character Johnson plays the underling of Smith’s Willie Lynn (or Willie Lynch in the third act). Instead of heeding his commands, however, Johnson debates Lynn’s hateful ideology in an effort to stand up for what he thinks is right.

“Overall, I play the conscience of America-all the people who don’t approve of the actions taken by those in power,” Carlson said.

For Carlson, the opportunity to play Johnson was a fortunate but unexpected one.

While working as a sound technician for MSA’s Coffeehouse: Islamic Expressions,

Carlson met Abdulmumit’s wife Murray. After Carlson told her he was a theater performance student, Murray offered him the role in “The More Things Change. the More They Remain the Same…” the next day over breakfast.

As one of the few actors in the 17-member cast who has formal acting education or training, Carlson said he actually enjoyed working with mostly non-actors.

“It’s great to draw people from the community and get them involved with issues that we all deal with,” he said.

Just as Carlson’s encounter was a chance one, so too was the opportunity for “The More Things Change. the More They Remain the Same.” to appear on campus. Mark Wood, coordinator and professor of religious studies, happened to attend the Feb. 25 premiere of “The More Things Change. the More They Remain the Same.” at Theatre IV. He said he liked it so much he wanted to bring it to VCU, Abdulmumit said.

After Wood expressed interest, the world studies school offered Abdulmumit and Murray’s production company, titled “For Our Children Productions,” money and resources for the play.

Since the Muslim students co-sponsored the event, several of their organization’s members helped arrange props and equipment.

“Whenever you see anything that has a lot of truth in it and is beneficial to people, you should support it,” said Omar Siddique, MSA’s vice president. “(The MSA) thought (the play) had a lot of truth and benefit.”

Malikah Abdul-Karim, a junior chemistry major, said she benefited from seeing the play.

“I got a lot out of it,” said Abdul-Karim, an MSA member. “I wasn’t really as informed about (the issues in the play) as I wish I was.”

Exposing students to new knowledge is exactly what Abdulmumit aimed to do.

“What (students) are exposed to at this level is critical,” he said. “You want to take advantage of your open-mindedness at this age before you become set in your ways.”