“I’ve never been a fan of the
idea that whiteness is universal,”
said Barbot. “I’ve often been
taught in a lot of contexts that
specificity breeds universal-
ity. That is to say if I can speak
about my experience and about
what’s important to me than
audiences will identify with it
more because it is coming from
a real human place. The best
example of this in pop culture
not true of minority audiences
who are accustomed of seeing
characters who don’t look like
them.”
Two River Theater deserves
credit for believing in the works
by minority playwrights. In ad-
dition to the theater’s Crossing
Borders festival (which present-
ed a staged reading of El Coquí
Espectacular and the Bottle of
Doom in 2016), the theatre has
“I’ve never been a fan of the idea that
whiteness is universal,” said Barbot.
is My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
People identified with them not
because they were Greek, but
because of the feeling of family
they got from it. I have encoun-
tered the idea that whiteness is
universal and audiences won’t
connect with characters unless
they look like them. And I don’t
think that’s true. It’s certainly
NJ STAGE - ISSUE 42
also been one of the few in New
Jersey to present works from
August Wilson’s brilliant 10 part
series, The Pittsburgh Cycle.
With this new work by Barbot,
they are not simply taking a
chance on a Puerto Rican super-
hero, but doing so in a period
in which superheroes are still
rarely seen on stage.
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