The play itself might have made a stronger impact if its examples and concerns had been condensed into a compact one-act. Nonetheless, as written, its sometimes lingering scenes and character developments accumulate by the end into a litany of thought-provoking ambiguities. Is racial objectification inevitable? Do actions trump attitudes? How much should we respect/tolerate wrongheaded sensitivities if they are race-based? There is even a late-arriving plot twist concerning the off-scene African-American victim that gets us wondering about him.
An interesting quote by playwright Gilman is included in the program, referring to a racial incident that occurred at Vermont’s Middlebury College when she attended: “People I didn’t know would hear I was from Alabama and come knocking on my door and say: ‘Tell me about racism in the South.’ I’d say: ‘Tell me about racism in the North.’ It was as though they didn’t think racism was their problem.”
Gilman’s play generously proceeds to make it our problem, in case we don’t recognize that it already is.
In a previous version of this document, Allie Meek was incorrectly cited as the actress playing Sarah Daniels, Birk Wozniak was listed as playing Ross Collins, Kira Hawkridge was listed as playing Catherine Kenney, Joshua Andrews was listed as playing Burton Strauss, Benjamin Hill was listed as playing Mr. Myers, and Andrew Chaffee was listed as having played Greg Sullivan. The correct actors' names are now reflected in this updated version.
Topics:
Theater
, Theater, Theatre, racism, More 
, Theater, Theatre, racism, Middlebury College, University of Rhode Island, Rebecca Gilman, Bryna Wortman, URI Theatre, URI Theatre, Spinning Into Butter, Less 
