Theatre Review: AUM’s “Spinning the Butter” opens eyes, spurs introspection

Volume 7, Issue 3, March 2008

Theatre Review:
AUM’s “Spinning the Butter” opens eyes, spurs introspection

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Joseph O. Patton
Editor and Publisher
Capital City Free Press

Typically theatrical productions which carry a focus on race relations fall into two categories--those that simply examine historical matters and those that rely on recitations of politically-correct messages and offer only stock characters. Alabama native Rebecca Gilman‘s “Spinning the Butter” tears down that wall of predictability and the downfalls of only skirting the surface of issues involving race.

When a black student at a mostly-white New England liberal arts college receives a series of threatening notes pertaining to his race, the faculty spins into crisis mode, concerned for the student’s welfare but also alarmed at the potential damage to race relations among the student body. As they fling high-brow, politically-correct verbiage and outrage, only one individual seems to care about the victim.

The quest to unravel the mystery of the notes and the rush to quell simmering racial discord leads whom we believe to be our own level-headed, practical protagonist to question her own views on race in stark, shocking terms.

The cast works in solid unison. The chemistry between Courtney Coston as Sarah Daniels and Michael Krek as Ross Collins forms a solid core that holds the rest of the cast together. Their sometimes awkward moments as former lovers and as the only two characters who seem to be speaking from the soul, provide some of the most profound and emotionally-jarring scenes in the play. Coston’s portrayal of the self-conflicted do-gooder is poignant and moving to the extent that theatergoers question their own views on race.

Stephanie Beatrous as Catherine Kenney and David Wilson as Burton Strauss compose a pair whose pretentious, condescending demeanors effectively make your skin crawl and potently present one of the greatest problems facing race relations--treating the subject with little thought and heavy political correctness.

Frank Thomas as Mr. Meyers provides a soft-spoken streak of candor that mellows out some of the elitist views of the professors. His down-to-earth approach to the issues in play and frankness are refreshing.

Jonathan Guzman as Patrick Chibas is dead-on expressing the moral outrage of having his racial identity stripped from through something as mundane as a scholarship application. His scenes with Coston are all too real and remind us how little we tend to truly see when it comes to race.

Alex Granade as the naïve student Greg Sullivan does an admirable job of showing one student’s evolution of thought in how he sees racial differences and identity.

Mike Winkelman’s direction represents one of the finest efforts in Theatre AUM’s recent history. Juggling such sensitive subject matter and complex characters is no easy task, yet there are no lulls in action, undisciplined actors or unpolished spots.