Kingsbury Hall is hoping more students will purchase tickets to “N*gger, Wetb*ck, Ch*nk: The Race Show,” after the U’s student government refused to sponsor and help sell tickets for the event.
The show, which starts tonight, features three UCLA graduates who tour college campuses nationwide performing the show. It blends “theater, hip-hop, stand-up comedy, slam poetry and true-life stories with their own original style?performers take on racial slurs, stereotypes and the concept of race itself,” according to the show’s website.
“NWC” pokes fun at stereotypes directed at racial minorities and uses racial slurs throughout the performance. The ultimate goal is to prove that everyone comes from the same human race, the actors say.
But Dhiraj Chand, diversity director for the Associated Students of the University of Utah, saw the show last year and is concerned with the actors’ excessive use of the derogatory words and perpetuation of stereotypes on stage. When Kingsbury Hall approached ASUU for support, they declined, he said.
Others have expressed concern over the show coming to the U, including students and administrators in the Center for Student Ethnic Affairs and the Office of Diversity.
Sheri Jardine, the public relations associate for Kingsbury Hall, said around 600 tickets were available as of Thursday morning for both shows, but not many students were showing up at the ticket office to buy tickets. The theater holds more than 1,900 people.
Tickets were originally priced between $25 and $30, but Kingsbury Hall announced Monday that they would offer students tickets for $15.
“We decided to do the $15 tickets on our own, because nobody we talked to, like ASUU, came through with any funding,” Jardine said. “We had hoped ASUU would help us out, but we decided to take the hit financially on our own.”
Clem Collins, co-director of the Black Student Union, is planning to attend the show with other students from CESA Saturday night.
“I’m somewhat nervous and excited about it,” Collins said. “As a group, we’ve been worried they’re going to come here, make their money, then leave a bunch of issues unresolved.”
Collins said students in BSU and CESA may write a response or host a dialogue session after the show leaves to discuss the issues it raises.
Doug Bermingham, a doctoral student in counseling psychology, met a friend at Kingsbury Hall to buy tickets for the show Thursday.
“It is framed in a way so it’s accessible to a lot of people,” Bermingham said. “It will be entertaining, but I hope to learn something from it.”
Bermingham said he plans to use information from the show for a presentation about white privilege for his counseling skills course next week.
Jardine said although Kingsbury hall brings in a number of shows every year for entertainment value, the theater wants to bring more “intellectually challenging theater.”
Last fall, Kingsbury Hall brought in a production of “1984,” which addresses issues of government surveillance and oppression which was a huge success, Jardine said.
