Appropriate Play Summary

The event I attended was one of the many plays that takes place on campus in the arts building. The play I specifically attended was called Appropriate, which was originally written by playwright, Branden Jacobs Jenkins. The play was approximately 3 hours in length with an intermission included into that time. Overall, the play specifically deals with family conflict and the whole idea of race itself. All of the main characters in the play are all interconnected family members that originally are from the south. The main characters included: Toni (eldest sister who recently lost her job and is divorced, Frank (youngest brother who was a past drug used and alcoholic), and Bo (eldest brother who is a wealthy businessman). The more secondary characters in the play included: Rachel (Bo's Jewish wife), Ainsley (Bo and Rachel's youngest daughter), Cassidy (Bo and Rachel's eldest daughter, River (Frank's Fiancée), and Rhys (Toni's son) Ugly family secrets are uncovered in this play, while a family sorts through the estate of their deceased father. A grueling photo album is found during the whole cleanup process and it arises a variety of conflict. The photo album contained pictures of African Americans being lynched, abused, and dehumanized. This lead to the belief that the deceased father/grandfather of the family was a racist and possibly a part of the Klu Klux Klan at some point in time in the past. All of the siblings couldn’t grasp the fact that the album actually belonged to their father and tried
It also made me realize how easy it was for a member to hide that they were part of the Klan from their own family and act like a total different person at home. The play itself made me feel slightly uncomfortable, due to it confronting a harsh topic that was a large part of American