The Bay Area is hosting many events this year commemorating the 50th anniversary of “The Summer of Love.” But 1967 was more than “sex, drugs, and rock and roll.” There was a dark side. This well-written, gripping play covers one of them; the fight against racial discrimination. It is told from the POV of those living the inequity. Set in a family-owned bar in Oakland, we meet a woman from Louisiana uncomfortable with the anger she sees arising from those fighting the bigotry in the Bay Area; a young man who chooses UC Berkeley over Morehouse, hoping to work the system from the inside; a family grieving the loss of a black son fighting what they believe to be a white man’s war; a man running a business and providing jobs in an oasis of normality; two young women coping with loss and looking for their place in a time of race wars and a nation involved in a foreign war; a young man trying to find himself after his best friend dies in the foreign war that he first talked about joining, then didn’t; and Huey Newton. The program had no information about the actors; therefore, my next task is to research them online to find out where we can see them next. They are all SO good at their craft. “This Land Was Made” runs through 6 August 2017 at Brooklyn Preserve, 1433 12th Ave.Oakland, CA (street parking). It is the fourth in Ubuntu’s five-play season. I have 108 theater tickets so far this season; I regret that it took me so long to discover Ubuntu. We wanted to stay around to tell the cast and crew how much they impressed us but we needed to get to Berkeley to another play. We will be back to support Ubuntu in future projects.
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Baby Boomers
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