Aug 11, 2006 10:07 pm US/Pacific
Web Extra: Show About Race Offers Comedic Healing
N*W*C's 2006 fall tour dates have been announced For a complete list of tour dates and venues or to buy tickets, visit N*W*C Live.
By Darleene Powells
LOS ANGELES (CBS) ―
A black man, a Filipino and an Ecuadorian step onto a stage together...
The setup sounds like it could be the beginning of a bad joke, but is instead a gut-busting challenge to stereotypes that contribute to the fallacy that "race" has to do with a person's appearance.
Los Angeles-area natives Rafael Agustin, Allan Axibal and Miles Gregley star in the controversial comedy, "N*gger Wetb*ck Ch*nk," a show that has been touring the country since 2005. The show, which enjoyed an extended run at the Los Angeles Theatre Center, comes home on May 17 and 18.
The three playwrights met as so-called "speech geeks" at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut.
"We got to know each other's humor and our writing styles," Agustin said. "Miles, Allan and myself all transferred to UCLA and once we were there, I decided to get us all together to create something. We want to create theater for our generation, not just for people of color."
The trio says the show has gotten a mixed reception throughout the country – first, confusion at the three racial slurs that comprise the show's moniker. The show's first run at UCLA even drew what was perhaps well-meaning graffiti.
"The very first time we did it was at UCLA on campus. We just put huge posters out there that said the three racial slurs of NWC," Gregley said. "We had all kinds of people come and crossing the words out and putting all kinds of explicit things on it…they would cross out the three racial slurs and put their own racial slur because they were not necessarily sure who was writing the show."
But NWC's autobiographical nature has hit home with a colorful range of audiences, possibly because the incidents that each man recounts during the show are presented in such a funny way.
"We're just trying to make light of the fact that people take these stereotypes and derogatory terms and they just lump a whole group of people together, just to put them down," Axibal said. "We're hoping people won't do that anymore."
Visit
Speak Theater Arts to learn more about NWC or go to
Where Is NWC? to purchase tickets or find out where NWC will be showing next.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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