NCCU to host satirical play on COVID-19’s impact on marginalized communities
N.C. Central University is hosting a play Saturday that seeks to create understanding of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on communities of color.
“My approach was to bring integrity and attention to COVID and issues that we, as a community, are dealing with, particularly marginalized communities,” Stephanie Asabi M. Howard, the play’s director, said in an interview.
The play, “A Crisis in Moments” by Dasan Ahanu, will consist of seven vignettes that are meant to convey health messages related to the pandemic through theatrical performance.
Undi Hoffler, director of Research Compliance and Technology Transfer at NCCU, helped organize the play through NCCU’s Advanced Center for COVID-19 Related Disparities, or ACCORD.
She said the purpose of the play is to let the audience relate to the characters and to adjust their own behaviors surrounding COVID-19 instead of simply listening to facts about the pandemic.
“People take it in differently,” Hoffler said in an interview. “People see themselves in the characters, and then that’s how that information is actually able to, in some ways, make an even greater impact than just listening to a lecture.”
Both NCCU and the Duke Clinical and Translational Science Institute are sponsoring the play, and ACCORD funded it.
Hofflersaid the center and its messaging development core, which analyzes disinformation surrounding COVID-19, was established on NCCU’s campus as a result of money from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act.
“What we want people to take away from their experience is that they received health information, accurate health information,” Hoffler said.
“What we want to do is to be able to provide them or empower them with information that enables them to make sound health decisions for themselves.”
After the play, there will be a live panel discussion with health professionals and epidemiologists from the Triangle.
The audience will also be able to participate in a research survey to assess their knowledge, attitudes and health-related behavior regarding COVID-19.
The play is one and a half hours long and will post to Vimeo on Saturday at 3 p.m. It can be watched free of charge at vimeo.com/event/553790.
Basis for the script
Hoffler described the play as an ethnodrama, one that takes scientifically gathered information and turns it into a theatrical performance. Ethnodramas, she said, can convey health messages through live theater.
To create authentic characters for the health messages, Hoffler said the play’s creators looked to the community when developing the script.
“We had discussions with front-line workers, those that are working in grocery stores as well as our physicians and nurses that are working in hospitals,” she said.
Hoffler said they went back to those workers to vet the finished script to ensure it was accurate and reflective of the workers’ experience.
“Community was at the forefront of this production,” she said.
A satirical approach
To communicate such a serious topic to the audience, Howard said she and the rest of the production team decided to take a satirical approach with the play.
“It almost takes the approach of a Saturday Night Live feel,” Howard said. “With that type of satire, it’s always the subtext and the very serious message underneath, but it’s something that people can chuckle at and still get the message.”
When the play first started production, Howard said she was going through a stressful time as she followed updates on the pandemic through the news.
“I was kind of glued to the TV,” she said. “I was trying to get all different types of perspectives and professional opinions, but I was overwhelmed with it, and I became a worrywart as many of us did.”
She said that in the making of the play, she realized that satire was the best option to communicate the severity of the pandemic instead of framing it through a completely negative lens.
“We do understand the gravity of it, and the heaviness of it, and all the bad things that have happened,” Howard said.
At the same time, she said, the play will invite the audience to laugh.
“They are getting this information,” Howard said. “At the same time, they may find themselves laughing. What a better way to do that at this point in time with all that we’ve gone though.”
This story was originally published December 18, 2020 at 2:00 PM.