"Appropriate" by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins is a play that is exploring themes of family dysfunction and how a family must come to terms with the past of their patriarch. It's running Wednesday through Sunday at Illinois Wesleyan’s Mirza Theatre.
In the play, estranged siblings reunite after the death of their father. They, along their spouses and children, have the task of sorting through the family home they grew up in in Arkansas.
They eventually make a discovery that puts even more events in motion.
"While they are cleaning things out, some artifacts and souvenirs from previous Klan activities are discovered,” says director Ashley H. White.
As guest director of this production, White has the task of deciding how to handle this story.
“It’s a necessary piece but it’s not only about the inherent racism in the family. It’s also about the family itself and the trauma that we carry in the conversations that we refuse to have.”
With the help of the Dramaturg for the show, there has been a lot with finding the balance in this multi-themed piece.
“Humanity … and the human experience being so unique to everybody," White said of Jacobs-Jenkins' work. "And I think that’s the direct entryway to the piece.”
Appropriate is running from Wednesday through Sunday at Illinois Wesleyan’s Mirza Theatre. For more details and tickets, go to iwu.edu/theatre.
