Snowflakes, or Rare White People

Nueva New York, 23rd Century. The dwindling white American population is protected by the federal government. Two of the last are brought to the Museum of Natural History as a living exhibit in the Hall of Caucasian Peoples, only to be freed by a sympathetic gift shop employee. Is society ready for their return?

 

Third Reading 

UMass Amherst, Amherst MA
Dec. 9, 2017

Second Reading 

A.C.T., San Francisco
May 20, 2017

First Reading 

Ma-Yi Theater, New York, NY
March 1, 2014

Directors

Gabriel Harrell 

 

 

Director

Mina Morita

 

Director

Ralph Pena

Cast

3M / 3F

 

There were several inspirations for this play. The first were the articles that declared how white Americans would no longer be the majority in the year 2042, which as comedian Hari Kondabalu pointed out only holds true if you aggregated all of today's ethnic minorities together in a single bloc.

Then there were the visits to the American Museum of Natural History, which I love for its prehistoric animals and Hall of Ocean Life but wince at its Hall of Asian Peoples. Seriously, if you wanted to find out what non-European cultures were like in the late 19th century you they were around the corner from the stuffed water buffalo. And those exhibits are still there in the 21st century.  

I would be remiss if I didn't mention how the election results of 2016 made me seriously rethink this piece, and was fortunate enough to workshop it at American Conservatory Theater's New Strands Festival