Merced performance carries more meaning in Trump era, actors say

A performance featuring UC Merced students in plays written by authors of color has added significance this semester, the students say, given some of the campaign rhetoric this year of President-elect Donald Trump.

The free show from the Voices of the Revolutionary Theatre Collective is 6 p.m. Thursday at Merced Multicultural Arts Center, 645 W. Main St.

The performance explores the history of embedded racism through excerpts from the plays of Luis Valdez, Marvin X, Ben Caldwell, Ntozake Shange and other authors, according to students. Following the show is a community discussion on race, homophobia, Islamophobia and other topics.

Each segment is from plays written in the 1960s and ’70s and is five to eight minutes long, according to Shawn W. Benson, a 22-year-old psychology student. The subject matter stills rings true, he said.

Benson is featured in a play called “Militant Preacher,” a fictional account of how a timid preacher becomes militant.

“It definitely has a little more relevance with political and social uprising,” he said, noting the protests that followed the November election.

Another student in the collective said addressing race relations is important following rhetoric from the president-elect, who has proposed mass deportations and tougher immigration control.

“It’s scary how he said he’s going to build a wall and send everybody back,” said Claudia Farias, 21. “I have two-year amnesty because of (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) but my parents don’t have anything.”

Farias, a psychology major from Sonoma Valley, said she came to the U.S. from Mexico as a 4-year-old, which allows her some protections under DACA , an immigration policy started by President Barack Obama’s administration. It’s unclear if Trump will kill the policy.

Farias is in a segment of the performance called “The Hairpiece,” a study on the image of black women in society written by George C. Wolfe.

Still another performer, 21-year-old Muaz Saiyed, noted some of Trump’s rhetoric related to Muslims. An adviser has said the president-elect’s administration is considering a registry for immigrants from Muslim countries.

Saiyed, a pre-med student from Fremont, said the registry concerns him, but he ultimately has faith in Americans.

“It does, but I’m pretty sure it won’t happen,” he said. “The government won’t let it happen, and I’m pretty sure the people won’t, either.”

The discussion set to follow the performance is meant to bring people together, according to Kim McMillon, a local writer and the show’s director.

The theater can be a way to open dialogue.

“They’re subjects we could never bring up in conversation,” she said.

The show features mature subject matter and language, according to McMillon.

This story was originally published December 6, 2016 at 5:00 PM with the headline "Merced performance carries more meaning in Trump era, actors say."