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It amazes me how much watching a play can really make you question the reality you live in. This is not the first time I have attended a performance by the Department of Theatre and Drama that had me leaving in deep contemplation. It’s one skill that our drama department seems to have mastered.

Admittedly the play started out rather slowly. It was hard to catch on to the comedy at first, and there did not seem to be much of a plot until 15 minutes in. However, as more characters joined in, and more jokes were told, the audience started catching on to the story. There was definitely some very dry humor that takes a certain type of person to appreciate, but if you understood what they were going for it was very comedic.

The first half of the play took place in the 50s, discussing the possibility of a black family moving into Clybourne Park. The characters argued and argued about the implications of integrating black and white families into the same neighborhood, and passion flared high. The second act picked up in 2009, with Clybourne Park now an old neighborhood that is beginning the process of gentrification. A white family was attempting to buy the house from a black family, and with their lawyers present they battled over a variety of issues, all related to the same problems that were present 50 years earlier.

The play is genius in how it integrates old and new themes of race relations into one depressing picture of how little we have truly evolved in dealing with these sensitive issues. I felt very impassioned listening to the absurd disputes on stage about how essential it is for us to learn how to love everyone, regardless of their background or identity. The play consisted of so much shouting and anger and resentment, that it reminded me how much we need to be turning away from confrontation and towards caring and communication. The very last seen touched on this same note, depicting the underlying story of how a young veteran killed himself after coming back from the Korean War. It was haunting and sad, but so important to tie the play together. Over all this yelling and hatred, it was impossible to focus on the sadness of the true issue at hand. And that is the importance of loving each other and taking time to notice each other’s troubles. Overall, this play was a perfect way to examine our world today in a comedic and entertaining way, and I hope everyone who went to see it was as moved as I was.

Thursday night, February 19th, Carrie Smith came back to campus and read from her novel, Silent City. She is a 1979 graduate of the University of Michigan and the Residential College. Her mentor from her student days, Warren, introduced her. It was actually in a writing tutorial with him that she produced a story that would not only win her a third Hopwood award but also become her first novel. This novel, called Forget Harry, was published 15 years ago.

Now, it’s 2016 and her latest book has just been published. It promises to be a truly thrilling mystery. She showed the small audience gathered in the Benzinger Lounge Thursday evening the cover for the sequel. Her publisher had just sent to her the picture that afternoon. Smith turned in the second novel to her publisher earlier in the week and expects the sequel’s release to happen next winter. Following introductions and this small talk on her future work, Smith then read the first chapter from Silent City.

The first chapter is full of wit, mystery, deep reflection, humor and intrigue. We meet our main character, Detective Claire Codella returning to the NYPD after ten months of intensive chemotherapy. Smith actually started writing this work while her partner was undergoing a similar chemo treatment to her main character. Claire Codella is described vividly and as a survivor. In addition to meeting Codella and her fellow officers, the first chapter contains the scene of the crime: a dead principal. And so the mystery begins. Interwoven through the plot setup is a glimpse at Codella’s backstory which proves to be just as mysterious as the death of the local educator. Tied into his death is an apparent reflection on the flaws in our current education system that was an element of social commentary I didn’t expect. I was pleasantly surprised.

Carrie Smith is a re-emerging writer, whose first mystery novel is sure to amaze audiences. Pick up her book at Aunt Agatha’s in Ann Arbor, various other local bookstores, and on Amazon. I know I will!

When: February 19 and 20 at 8:00 pm, 21 at 2:00 pm

Where: Arthur Miller Theatre

How Much: General Admission $18, Students $12

Why You Should Go: Fortinbras is suddenly the new ruler of Denmark, following the storyline in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The comedic Fortinbras follows the story of the new ruler having to explain what happened and why he has taken his position. This play allows the audience to get a kick out of the ridiculousness of authority following Shakespeare’s tragedy.

When: February 19 and 20 at 8:00 pm, 21 at 2:00 pm

Where: Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre

How Much: $28 and $22, Students $12

What: A comedic play by Bruce Norris

Why you should go: Clybourne Park picks up where Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun left off in describing race relations in suburban America. Fifty years after Hansberry’s 1959 work, Clybourne Park is still faced with complicated neighborhood problems. Norris explores themes of race and the development of the country in his provocative play about one house in modern America.

Tomorrow, author Angela Flournoy will read at the Helmert Stern Auditorium in UMMA at 5:30pm. The event is free and open to the public and will be followed by a signing. Angela Flournoy is the author of National Book Award Finalist, The Turner House, the story of a home and its family in Detroit. The house’s fate, after being the home to all thirteen Turner children, is being determined now that the matriarch of the family can no longer stay and with its monetary worth so much less than its mortgage.  Angela Flournoy is a graduate of the Iowa Writing Workshop and one of the National Book Foundation’s “5 Under 35.” There will also be Q&A section in the Hopwood Room in Angell Hall at 2:00pm.

Carrie Smith, Residential College and UofM alumna is returning to the campus Thursday night! She will be reading from her latest novel, Silent City, in the Benzinger Library at 7:30 pm. Silent City is Smith’s first crime book. Her protagonist, Detective Claire Codella, lands a high profile case and must fight for her life, in more ways than one.

While Smith currently is Senior Vice President, Publisher of Benchmark Education Company in New York, she grew up in Detroit.  While studying in Ann Arbor she majored in Creative Writing and Literature. It’s fitting that she will read from her most recent work in East Quad, which houses the Residential College (RC), and her former community. I myself am a proud member of the RC. As someone who hopes to work in publishing one day, I can’t wait to meet her. If you like crime fighting, come listen to Carrie Smith’s story and hear from our fellow Wolverine!