By Kayla Cheung
Photos by Kevin Perez
On Wednesday, February 25th, actors from “Miami New Drama” performed The Caucasian Chalk Circle at Miami Lakes Educational Center’s (MLEC) auditorium.
The play is originally a work of German playwright Bertolt Brecht, but it was adapted by Peter Romano, who directs this play for Miami New Drama, to make it more relatable to modern audiences—and with lighthearted humor, the play does just that. It is a play that speaks perfectly to a teen audience while touching on two contemporary social issues: corruption and injustice.
Despite the fact that most of the people sitting in MLEC’s audience can’t vote and aren’t governors, peasants, or princes, the class struggle and main conflict exhibited in the play hits close to home for many students—as children of immigrants, they relate to the protagonist’s journey.
The main character of The Caucasian Chalk Circle is “Grusha,” a maiden who goes on a perilous journey that includes hiking mountains and crossing bridges while avoiding persecution—and it was all for the sake of humanity and inner consciousness: saving a baby.
But beyond Grusha’s pure sentiments, the rest of the characters in the play, who ironically held noble titles, are much less noble than what their titles would suggest. Instead, they were characters who, on top of being misogynistic and blatantly classist, used bribery and pillaging to obtain the child that Grusha was trying to save.
But at the end, as Singer, the play’s narrator said, “terrible is the seductive power of goodness.”
The story’s main conflict—the belief that the power of good, represented by Grusha and her struggle with the child, is stronger than the force of corruption—was resolved in a way that pleased everyone. The story didn’t end in tragedy and disappointment: it culminated in a positive note for humanity.
And this, of course, was well received with its audience.
“[I think] the story was very engaging and entertaining,” said sophomore Engineer Giovanni Piard, who liked the play for what he described were the actors “subtle jokes and professionalism” on stage.
“I actually really enjoyed it,” he continued.
Jaguars at MLEC agreed with what the play was trying to convey, and although many are not familiar with Bertolt Brecht’s original play, they found Peter Romano’s adaptation one that was worth paying attention to—a play made relatable to young spectators.
With “The Caucasian Chalk Circle,” Miami New Drama simply displayed an intentional message from Brecht: people who are willing to make sacrifices will be rewarded for their actions.
Jaguars sure enjoyed witnessing Grusha’s journey.
