To See or Not to See: Smart People

The headlines in today’s news stories in the U.S. make Smart People a timely show for 2econd Stage Theatre Company to put on. Race is at the forefront of everything from police brutality to the Oscar Awards. Playwright Lydia Diamond masterfully brings the discussion of race to the stage in an engaging way. Using relationships—romantic relationships, friendships, work relationships—as a way to explore race, Smart People is a quick-witted and intellectual play.

The four characters in Smart People are racially diverse and all in their 20s and 30s. Valerie Johnston (Tessa Thompson) is a young African-American actress who is caught between not being “black enough” (she tells stories about her cousins in Detroit shaming her for it) and being offered roles that are stereo-typically black. Jackson Moore (Mahershala Ali) is a medical intern in Boston. He deals with being seen as the “hot-headed black man” by his white colleagues, and he’s continuously getting put on the worst midnight shifts because of it. His best friend, Brian White (Joshua Jackson) is a young, controversial Harvard professor studying his theory that white people are born racist. Finally, there is Ginny Yang (Anne Son). She is a psychologist studying Asian-American women and how society defines them because of their “Asian-ness”. Ginny also has a practice where she counsels young Asian women struggling with their identity (and how race factors into that identity).

Smart People has moments of levity while addressing and discussing a serious topic. Even though there are many serious thoughts presented by Diamond, she also inserts little moments of comedy to ease the heavy-ness of the piece, and, perhaps, to make the play even more appealing to audiences. For instance, when Brian and Ginny first meet he introduces himself by extending his hand and saying his name, “Brian White.” Ginny, her mind always on her research and on the diversity dicussion they’ve both been called on to attend by the university, immediately responds, “Ginny. Chinese-Japanese-American.”

As we watch Smart People, the cast of characters become enmeshed and interconnected. All of them are looking for success in their respective fields and making a name for themselves. Their struggle with shaping who they are and who they want the world to see them is in contrast to how the world actually sees them (a big part of which is through race; I’d say a sub-topic of this is also gender, but that is for another discussion!). This all makes the show seem like a very “thinky” play, but, by setting the play during Obama’s first election, Diamond uses that that monumental moment to bring in audiences’s (and characters’s) emotions.

All four actors do a fine job. The repartee between Jackson and Son is like watching a tennis match with their verbal back-and-forth. I found myself silently rooting for their relationship to work out in the long run. Also, each actor was quite strong in portraying how their struggle with racial identity affects each of their characters, especially Mahershala Ali. The scene where Ali hits his breaking point at the hospital is, in short, heartbreaking.

Go see Smart People. If you can’t, pick up a copy of the play to read. It’s timely, important topic is one we should all be discussing.

Photo Credit: 2econd Stage Theatre/Matthew Murphy