Play inspires campus race forum

The Greenfield Intercultural Center and the Graduate Students Associations Council will host an open-microphone discussion about race relations on campus at the Annenberg Center on March 23. The event will take place following the Philadelphia Drama Guild production of the Pulitzer-prize winning play about African Americans, Two Trains Running, Annenberg Center Director of Education Thea Diamond said yesterday. A limited number of tickets for the March 23 performance of the play have been made available to students for $3 each. The regular price of a ticket to a Drama Guild performance is $33. Along with GSAC and GIC, the President's Office, Residential Living and GSAC have allocated funds to reduce the price of the tickets to make them more accessible to students, Diamond said. "These are incredibly subsidized tickets," she added. Written by the African American playwright August Wilson, Two Trains Running tells the story of seven characters living in a "Black section of Pittsburgh" in 1969, Diamond said. Although the play runs for three hours, Diamond said, "it is a very gripping three hours." "There's a love story, a lot of humor, a lot of pathos, a lot of sweet stuff," she added. Members of the Black Student League, the Onyx Society, GSAC, GIC, the African American Arts Alliance and other organizations met yesterday at the Greenfield Cultural Center to decide who would moderate the discussion. Diamond proposed that History Professor Michael Zuckerman lead the after-theater talk, because "there are few people as familiar with the workings of the Penn Campus, the Drama Guild, and the era [in which the play takes place.]" Coordinator of Student Performing Arts Kathryn Helene suggested that the moderator start the discussion by asking students how they felt about the play in order "to create a sense of unity among audience members." "Then go into a more intellectual discussion [of racial relations,]" she said. But African American Resource Center Counselor Isabel Sampson-Mapp did not think that is a good idea. "The students are so bright I think we're going to be able to cut to the chase," she said. "I just don't want it to turn into an English class or a psychology class."