Graphite Series: A response from Wendell Etherly

On March 21 and 22nd, Mortar Theatre hosted the first reading in our Graphite Series. We had an amazing response, selling out the Monday night performance. After the two standing ovations, we definitely knew that Wendell Etherly’s MR. WELFARE had clearly struck a chord with the audience.

After each reading, Wendell came on stage to talk about life as a playwright, his work and to take some questions. Wendell has written a response below to one of the questions that we were unable to get to at the reading.

To all those that attended the reading and asked question, thank you.

—————–

In response to a patron who attended the stage reading of my play Mr. Welfare, I was asked whether I believed things had changed for the better, the worst, or perhaps hadn’t changed at all since the 1960′s. Well, I believe this is a question that would most likely result in a relative response given an assessment from a general consensus. In other words, it all depends on one’s experience, one’s walk of life, so to say. However, I can only convey through the lens of a Black experience. And I assume we are speaking ostensibly in terms of the social climate within this country, and it’s relation to the play, in addition to the characters perspectives concerning the society in which they lived.

Well, I certainly can’t speak for those who actually experienced the volatility of the 1960′s, or any era prior to it, for that matter. But I can speak as a derivative; the posterity of those generations, and in fact give a rather accurate account of how people of color felt during that time in our history. Now, being a fairly young man, I am SLIGHTLY removed from that form of societal oppression. My generation has been fortunate enough to witness the breach of many milestones within the political infrastructure of a country that once enslaved men and women of color. But based on history, and the awful habit of repeating itself, we’ve also been subject to witnessing remnants from this country’s imperialistic past, which in turn has caused many to become cynical of it’s direction. So I guess a simple answer to this question would be “I’m not sure”.

-Wendell Etherly