The Black Students Association is putting on its 18th annual Black History Month Production at 7 p.m. Friday. Far from a typical play, the performance is utilizing the skill sets of its members to tell the story of the black community.
The production will feature acting, singing, dancing, spoken word, instruments, art and more to pull people in and deliver a message.
“We wanted to highlight struggles and issues prevalent in the black community,” said BSA historian Amber Robinson, sophomore social work major from Waco. “Also, we use television shows and black film to show our reality.”
The show is split into three different chapters: racism, relationships and role models. The chapters’ titles highlight community, unity and love, said member liaison Summer Thompson, sophomore communications major from Missouri City.
BSA does not want the play to be mediocre.
“We have a certain standard of excellence that we wanted to uphold with this year’s production,” said Thompson. The group is highlighting not only issues prevalent in the ACU community revolving around minority students but also issues that are prevalent to the black community as a whole.
“The ACU community could gain a stronger understanding about why there’s still a Black History Month in America and why we celebrate it, just having information on black community in general,” said Thompson.
“I’m hoping what the ACU community will take after watching this production is kind of basically getting a better understanding of what black culture really is and what is it like to be black,” said vice president Simone Haines, sophomore social work major from Desoto. “We shed a lot of positive light on the black community, too – better in-depth understanding, not so much an entertainment viewpoint they see now through the radio and stuff on reality TV shows. What they see is not really truly black culture, and it’s only presented for entertainment.”
“The production will also shed light to the fact that the African-American community is more than just entertainment to people,” said Thompson. Entertainment is a part of their culture but not who they are.
The play is also aiming to decrease stereotypes that may have increased throughout the past couple of semesters while providing an understanding to people who are not aware of situations due to certain privileges they may hold. Everyone of every culture and community has something to learn and is encouraged to attend. The performance provides and opportunity to understand a culture that is misrepresented in society, said Thompson.
