Nobody’s a saint, all of the major players have a secret and almost everyone involved is willing to bend the truth to advance their agenda — in Gene Ruffini’s anything-but-black-and-white courtroom drama, “Color.” It’s the latest socially conscious production from director Elizabeth Ruf Maldonado, whose last production at Theater for the New City (“The Iron Heel”) gave an operatic treatment to Jack London’s dystopian novel.
This time around, Ruf Maldonado turns her attention to the ease with which racial attitudes can become entangled with politics and gender issues. In “Color,” an African-American seeking the Democratic Party presidential nomination has a profile that reads like a Republican operative’s dream. He’s got darker skin and far more progressive politics than Obama, he’s in a biracial relationship and he’s a Hollywood actor. After being accused of rape by a seemingly respectable white girl (who worked as an extra on one of his films), the ensuing trial seems to be all his enemies need to derail those White House ambitions. Ambition, it turns out, is behind every twist and turn in what Ruf Maldonado calls a “wake-up call to Americans who have been seduced by the corporate media to focus on the titillating and the superficial rather than issues of real import.”
Jan. 16-Feb 9. Thurs.-Sat. at 8pm and Sun. at 3pm. At Theater For The New City (155 First Ave., btw. 9th &-10th Sts.). For tickets ($15, $10 for students and seniors), call 212-254-1109 or visit theaterforthenewcity.net
By Scott Stiffler