The Hamilton Theatre Department presents: Stephen Adly Guirgis’s Our Lady of 121st Street

by Rachel Pohl '11

Martin Luther King Junior Day serves as a reminder of sacrifice for equality, liberty and justice. This year’s M-Theatre Project play, Our Lady of 121st Street, written by Stephen Adly Guirgis and directed by Mark Cryer, kept King’s spirit alive and celebrated diversity at Hamilton College. The M-Theatre projects, short for Multi-Cultural Theatre, have been around for four years. They serve to both confirm and challenge the variety of different perspectives that exist in relation to race, religion and gender on campus.

This year’s play, Our Lady of 121st Street, combines a series of scenes told through different characters’ perspectives, all of whom are connected by their childhood memories of the late beloved community activist and nun, Sister Rose. When her body disappears from the Ortiz Funeral home, the many neighbors influenced by Sister Rose share their pain and grief. While Cryer has performed the character of Flip at the Red House Theatre in Syracuse and typically uses individual scenes from the play in his Theatre 101 class, it was the first time Our Lady of 121st Street was directed by Cryer and performed in its entirety for the MLK commemoration.

The drama was amplified by taking characters of different backgrounds and ethnicities and throwing them together on stage. Despite the disparate nature of the scenes, the actors managed to unify the play. Cryer chose Our Lady of 121st Street to fit the particular actors, allowing students to thrive in their roles and make the play their own. The group started rehearsing the third week of October, and many new faces and young actors who have never participated in main stage productions showcased their talents. Pleased with the final product, Cryer stated, “The students worked really hard and wanted to the do the best that they could. They gave me more than I ever asked for.”

The play was well received not only by the director, but also by students and faculty alike. Colin Wheeler ’11 noted, “I think the actors maintained a good banter and the comedic timing was excellent. There was an amazing energy.” More importantly, the message behind the play was not forgotten. Director Mark Cryer stated, “M-Theatre plays are always about students no matter what their ethnicity or cultural background. It is about them hearing their cultural stories told by their peers. So that’s the message. In this play, you saw African-American students and characters. You saw Latino/Hispanic characters and students, white female and male students. Everyone with the same goal told their cultural stories. They were told by their peers to an audience of peers. That has been and always will be the mission of M-Theatre.”