Malaina Moore's Exhaustively Concise 'White Privilege'

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In recent years, the topic of white privilege has been analyzed in so many ways from so many different angles that it seems like sheer folly to try to center an entire theatrical production on the topic. This past weekend, Marquette University presented a work by student Malaina Moore which valiantly addresses the daunting topic and even manages an insightful look at race relations in a dramatic package that somehow feels every bit as exhaustive as it is concise.

Moore’s White Privilege is a series of vignettes hosted by a group of black students which explore a wide range of different issues within a couple of brief acts separated by an intermission. From cultural appropriation to violence to education in and out of the classroom to historical matters, the show glides along with genuine passion guiding a very active and engaged ensemble of white and black students.

With White Privilege, Moore endeavors to dramatize the black experience. She does so in a variety of different forms from life as an undergraduate to dealing with white peers to fear of accidental death by police officer. Though there is a great deal of complexity in Moore’s white characters, their general obliviousness to black issues does feel a bit amplified at times. But even where it feels a bit exaggerated, Moore’s White Privilege succeeds. The tragic interaction between a black male student and his somewhat impractical white female therapist feels warped from reality to the point of strangely symbolic allegory. (When asked about anxiety over getting shot by police, she suggests he wear a cardigan.) Such apparent amplifications speak to larger issues of race relations in the U.S. in a way that straightforward realism couldn’t manage.

Marquette University Theatre’s White Privilege ran for one-weekend only. For more information on upcoming shows at the Helfaer Theatre, visit showclix.com/events/marquettetheatre.