Theater Department explores racial unrest in ‘Dutchman’

The play “Dutchman” premiered this week at Colorado College, written by LeRoi Jones and Amiri Baraka in 1964. Dutchman grapples with the escalating racial unrest between blacks and whites in America during the 1960s. Its CC debut is directed by Elizabeth Bonjean, a visiting lecturer in the Theatre Department, and features senior Rayna Ben-Zeev and sophomore Clay Edwards in the lead roles.

Ben-Zeev credits her personal relationship with Edwards, born out of their mutual involvement in TWIT, for truly bringing the show to its full potential. She plays Lula, a flirtatious white woman who works to tempt Clay Williams (the name of the character, not to be confused with Edwards, who plays Williams), a 22-year-old black male poet on a train car in 1964.

Despite the fact that the character Ben-Zeev portrays is manipulative and at times cruel, she says that working on the play has been an enjoyable process.

“It helps that I am already very close with the other actor, Clay,” said Ben-Zeev. “In fact, our improvisational skills have really come in handy during the process. We both continuously make an effort to try new things during each run of the show and play off of each other’s energy and movements. It would have been a lot more difficult to achieve the same intimacy and comfort onstage (especially considering the severe subject matter of the play) if Clay and I didn’t feel so comfortable on a personal level.”

Edwards became involved during Block 6, while taking in Intro to Scenic Design with Marie Davis Green.

After reading the play and getting a chance to see Davis Green’s set design, he auditioned.

“It’s oddly close to home,” says Edwards of playing his character. “The work on the show has been tough, it’s pretty heavy emotionally at times.” But, after all is said and done, including much memorization, he also credits his relationship with Ben-Zeev and the rest of the cast as bringing the show together into a polished final product.

The race relations of the 1960s in the U.S. have directly informed this production of Dutchman and were very present as the director approached the play. For Bonjean, “the most rewarding part of the experience has been working with a cast and production team who are passionate about the material and how it speaks to the world we are living in today.”

Dutchman will begin tonight at 8 p.m. and continue on Saturday, May 9 in Studio A at Cornerstone Arts Center. The Friday night performance will feature a post-performance talk-back session with Professor Claire Garcia of the English department. Tickets available at Worner desk.

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