The first thing that grasped my attention was the setup of the stage. I was not expecting to walk into a room full of hay on the floor and to have two audience sections on either sides of the room. It created a different atmosphere than another typical stage setup with the audience on one side of the room. I believed that the room allowed the audience feel like they were part of the room and the story. It was interesting to be able to watch the performers and the audience’s reactions at the same time.
During the play, I felt slightly uncomfortable because I did not know if it was socially acceptable to laugh at certain remarks.For the majority of the play, I sat back, observed, and allowed myself to process the information. The main theme that I thought about was how the system was built against the enslaved. Even though there was a chance for the enslaved to become “free”, they were still considered slaves to society who did not have to be clothed or watched over by owners. Furthermore, they still could not vote and they did not get paid a lot. The main character had so much passion and drive to become free. However, the system and the oppressors were always obstacles and never made the process or the product of freedom easy. This translates to the present and how minorities always have to work harder to prove themselves in situations such as the workplace because society was set up to not support minorities.