Of Equal Measure

On Tuesday 22 July 2008 I went to see Of Equal Measure at the Kirk Douglas Theater. This was a play about America during Woodrow Wilson's Presidency as seen through the eyes of an African American woman stenographer, Jade Kingston, in the White House. The play dealt with President Wilson's hypocrisy on the issue of racism. He set out to make the world safe for democracy by bringing the US into WWI, while allowing segregation of African American federal employees and imprisoning people that didn't agree with the war. Other side plots included an affair that involved Jade Kingston and her boss, the creepy White House advisor Edward Christianson, the treatment of so called "hyphonates", and Jade's brother's experience as a black man in America at that time.

This brand new play by Tanya Barfield was very very good. Most times I go to plays and I'm really bored cause there's no music. =) Sorry, I can't help that I prefer musicals... that's just me. The best thing about my experience was staying after the play to discuss it with some audience members and members of the cast.

The acting by Micheal T. Weiss (best known as Jarod on that show The Pretender) as the creepy Edward Christianson was phenomenal. Every time he opened his mouth and looked at Jade in that sexual way I got the chills. Then without skipping a beat, when another person entered the room, he was cold as ice. Most of the critics hated this play, but after seeing it I can't understand why. Why do people go to plays? To get lost in a story and to be entertained... and if its a historical fiction... the play is supposed to make you doubt the truth and question what all of history books say. This play does just that. Was I transported back in time to the early 1900s?? Yes. Was I entertained? Yes. Did it make me question what I learned in high school about Woodrow Wilson's Presidency? Yes. I actually looked up more about that time period.

I give Of Equal Measure
3 Stars. I think most people would like this play. It didn't do enough to get 4 Stars because of the subject matter. Some people might feel offended or feel that the playwright took too many liberties with Christianson's and Jade Kingston's characters. Because this is a historical fiction, some people might dislike the fact that the playwright shows a nasty side of President Wilson, when in our history books he's revered for creating the League of Nations. I would equate this historical fiction along the lines of The Da Vinci Code. If you liked that book and/or movie... you'd probably like this play. I feel that the acting in this play made it. I fear that if this play ever ran again, it might not be as good with a different cast.