Word: clays
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...play's plot is not complicated, involving a conversation between a somewhat disturbed thirty-year old woman Lulu (Jessie Cohen) and a middle-class younger Black man Clay (Michael McNeal) in a New York City subway car. Lulu's accusation of "Uncle Tom" provokes Clay to an angry and bitter tirade which forms the climax of the one-act play. The climax is, however, not followed by an expected resolution: Lulu stabs Clay to death...
...bitterness would seem plausible, Cohen comes off as a virginal 17-year-old who cannot hold her end of the powerful dialogue. She is unconvincing when delivering brutal lines like "You middle-class Black bastard. Forget your social-working mother for a few seconds and let's knock stomachs. Clay, you liver-lipped white...
...plausible amount of skepticism and reserve at the beginning, but waits too long to reveal hint of his inner rage. This results in some difficulties mustering up the emotional heat for his long monologue. Director Charles Guerrero has taken a different and interesting interpretation of Baraka's Clay: this Clay is pin-stripe suited, slightly effeminate, and it is hard to consider him physically threatening...
...other passengers' unwillingness to be involved seems largely realistic. At certain points, however, they seem too pointedly ignoring the crisis. When Lulu orders them to remove Clay's body, it is unclear whether they are frightened, apathetic, or collaborating with...
Geography kicks into the equation as well. Bush hails from Texas, Clinton from Arkansas. The last time two Southerners squared off in a presidential race was in 1844, when James Polk, a Democrat from Tennessee, defeated Henry Clay, a Whig from Kentucky. In 1832, Andrew Jackson, another Tennessee Democrat, also defeated Clay...