An Octoroon

by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins

Winner of the 2014 OBIE Award for Best New American Play.

Judge Peyton is dead and his plantation Terrebonne is in financial ruins. Peyton’s handsome nephew George arrives as heir apparent and quickly falls in love with Zoe, a beautiful octoroon. But the evil overseer M’Closky has other plans—for both Terrebonne and Zoe. In 1859, a famous Irishman wrote this play about slavery in America. Now an American tries to write his own.

Genres: Plays, Drama, Theatre, School, Fiction, Read For School, College

64 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2015

Reviews

[Doug · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5, rounded up.

This Obie-winning play (also nominated for the Pulitzer), is both hilarious and disturbing in its deconstruction of Boucicault's original 1859 melodrama. Although much of it is brilliant, I am not quite sure how stage worthy some of the scenes would be in production... it would seem well-nigh impossible to stage some of it as written.

[Si Squires-Kasten · Rating 5 out of 5]

More than any play I've read (even Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo), An Octoroon just feels incomplete on the page, and I know that in a live performance I would find the actors playing multiple characters that occupy different levels of metatheatricality in the same scene absolutely mesmerizing. However, it's still a great read, and I appreciated Jacobs-Jenkins' sincerity - instead of simply commenting on the racism of a forgotten piece of American theater, he is interested in elevating Boucicault's play to the level of a Chekhov or an Ibsen drama, while simultaneously building a world inside the play for the characters the earlier dramatist neglected.

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember reading the play The Octoroon in college and seriously wondering why in the world we needed to read that racist outdated play. Now that I have read this modernized version, I am glad I read the original. Jacobs-Jenkins does a fantastic job of turning the original material on its ear, often using the original lines and performance standards - like black face - of the time. There is so much to unpack in this play, it is one that I will return to again because I know that that are things that I missed. While I would love to see it performed live, I'd also love to study it alongside the original play.

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm so glad I finally got a chance to read this in full. IT IS WILD.

[Courtney (courtney & books) · Rating 5 out of 5]

So I saw this production while I was in London, but my review is just going to be discussing the text and not the production ( although both are fantastic).

I can't really begin to describe this play, but just know going in that it's out there.

The play reiterates a lot of themes I've heard before, but does it in a fresh way that's both thoughtful and provoking. An Octoroon is weird in all the right ways, but it's also just so clever! This is the type of play I would love to dissect for a thesis project! It's just so good and so fascinating! I think this play is a work of genius. It's eloquent and clever. At first the ending act threw me off, but now I find it so impactful and heartbreaking.

I love this play so much. It's so intricate and erratic, but it all comes together to make something stellar.

[Rebekah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This play is a trip.

[Irma Mayorga · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read again for class-twice now. Still brilliant.

[Megan Huggins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this before Boucicault's original created a little confusion for me, but I found this new adaptation from Jacobs-Jenkins fascinating. This version is filled with gallows humor and dramatic irony, a lot of tongue-in-cheek sarcasm, and an interesting and complex exploration of race relations and identities. I will have to read this play quite a few times to fully grasp the meanings and intentions, but it is bold and innovative.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Engaging experimental drama by recent MacArthur Genius Grant recipient BJJ adapts a 19th-century melodrama about American slavery into a disturbing meta-farce that unpacks the unspoken content at the heart of historical literary genres.

[Kristen Lo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This play balances tone amazingly. It unfolds a modern audience watching historic racism, and seems to tell us how far we have come, and not come.

[Zach · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes you can get the power of a play by reading the actor's script. And sometimes you can't. Doesn't mean I didn't see the value. Just couldn't see the power.

[Jacky Chan · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5. Very interesting play that is at once metatheatrical and antitheatrical. Questions issues of verisimilitude, spectactorship, performance and performativity, as well as the body in the context of race and racial identity. I would probably have enjoyed it much more had I watched and not read it.

[McKenzie Ray · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don’t even know what to say for this, it is another book I had to read for school. It is short, and basically uncomfortable the whole time. I think you are either supposed to hate it or love it and I definitely didn’t love it.

[Berta · Rating 3 out of 5]

A modern and quite funny take on slavery in the US. But I wish I was able to watch it live-performed, as I would have enjoyed much more the switch between characters, the voices and the use of the scene. Still, a good short read.

[Aaron Piccirillo · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Yes, for I’d rather be black than ungrateful! Ah, George, my race has at least one virtue- it knows how to suffer…”

actual rating: 4.5/5

i’ve literally had this play for like 5 years and i’m so glad i finally got around to it. was such an interesting and unique take on the original material. does a great job at making fun of and having a satirical take on melodrama as well as the blatant racism in them. the show also does a great job at tackling the issues of race during this time period. i will probably have to reread this because i feel like i’m missing something but overall really great show!

[ML Character · Rating 5 out of 5]

Saw this in London in the round and it was great, and tough and divisive. So, great.

[Theo Chen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Managed to read this on subway rides. So happy I finally got the chance to read this! It’s rip roaring, very smart, and also very funny…

[Kent Bergin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Provocative, relevant, reluctantly funny, 4th-wall breaking, unlike anything I’ve ever read (for better or worse.)

[Sam Oxford · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is frighteningly funny and smart. So much intelligent portrayals and takedowns of racial stereotypes and melodramatic storytelling and the nature of how stories affect our perceptions of reality and societal constructions.

[myalianom]

I admire bjj for writing himself into this play. No idea what this was but I laughed a couple of times. Took me until the end of the play to understand the casting

[Alejandro Tellez-Cruz · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was my first introduction to bjj's genius and witty depiction of american hypocrisy. my prof was careful in the way she introduced this text to us because of how sensitive the material in this play was, and instead of inhibiting my enjoyment of the critique found in the text, i found myself thinking about the bigger questions this play asks of its audience. what makes this text so valuable is how uncomfortable it makes its audience feel when confronted with these sensitive racial issues. there's a scene in the beginning where the character of bjj (our playwright) LITERALLY putting on white-face in front of the audience for what feels like eternity. the original 1859 "octoroon" story is based on the incredibly racist and discomforting performance tradition of minstrelsy--with bjj at the reigns spinning this story on its head and framing it for a contemporary 2010 audience. with a heightened sense of self-awareness and a great knack for melodramatic form, bjj conjures up a brilliant theatrical piece that uses many unorthodox theatrical methods (umm at some points this dude literally contemplates setting the theater on fire and has a swearing shout-off with the original "octoroon" playwright). one of my favorite moments happens at the start of this play, when bjj is going on a lengthy rant regarding the many failed attempts to put this show on. allegedly, many of the white actors dropped out of the show's production days before the show's debut because of the discomfort they felt portraying white slave owners. this lets bjj confront his audience and, to a greater degree, "woke" americans who feel that they are above the cultural hegemony of blackface (the film "Get Out" particularly stayed in the back of my mind throughout this scene). one of my favorite lines from the play occurs in this same initial prologue, framing his monologue as a conversation with his therapist:

"(unpauses the music, repauses it,)
Just kidding.
I don't have a therapist.
I can't afford one. (unpauses the music, repauses it,)
You people are my therapy."

even though bjj has many frustrations with the prejudices of the modern theater, he nevertheless chooses to empower himself by subverting the feedback loop in order to "gratify" the consciousnesses of his predominantly white audience. this brilliant subversion of audience expectation reveals the genius in bjj's blunt honesty. there's a lot to dissect within the actual retelling of the "octoroon" story--of which would be impossible to squeeze into a goodreads review--but the opening structure of the play is enough to lure readers and audience members to continue through with the text and pause to think of race and the discomforts that come with confronting these blurred racial narratives, leading to more and more conversations about race which are very much needed in our current social climate.

[Pgregory · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jacobs-Jenkins revisits the classic American 19th century play by Dion Boucicault about slavery and race. As he says in the notes, no one knows how slaves spoke, but this imagining is both hilarious and seriously disturbing. I can't imagine it being performed locally. People would not know whether to walk out, riot, or fall down laughing. Some of it is probably impossible to stage. At one point, the author (who is a character in the play) suggests burning down the theater, admitting it would have to be a final performance. Other times there are notes calling for 99 performers (or using the audience as slave buyers). And by the time lynching comes into play (as it does in other Jacobs-Jenkins plays), it is jarring, to say the least. I'd love trying to direct it.

[Craig Werner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brecht meets Brer Rabbit. In the tradition of Black black comedies like Negrophia and The Colored Museum, Jacobs-Jenkins riffs on Dion Bouccicault's forgotten by everyone except American lit historians drama The Octoroon in what must be a hall of an interesting night of theater. The source is a silly melodrama with some sort of kind of progressive for the time racial politics; this one confront stereotypes of character, seeing and language. Not sure there's a major take-home beyond the fact that race/class politics were (and are) a mess, but it's a nice piece.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an A+ play that I encourage everyone to read. Actually, I'm encouraging you to grab that time machine you've been working on, set it to February 2015 and go see it on stage at Theatre For A New Audience. Oh, you actually aren't working on a time machine? Fuck, it's 2015, where the hell are our time machines?? Either way, you can't go back in time to see it, but you should read it because it's kind of a transcendent piece of theater. BJJ kills it, at writing and at life.

[Ruth Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this to prepare for a primary sources instruction session. The contrast between the original dialogue and the contemporary vernacular of Minnie, Dido and Grace was startling and effective. My biggest question is whether the author's notes about the characters and setting, in italics throughout, are for cast and crew only or meant to be shared with the audience, because they did in fact seem to be directed to the reader, who is standing in for the audience.

[Ed · Rating 5 out of 5]

A modern retelling of a popular 1850's melodrama. This was a thrilling stage production and a great read too. A black actor in whiteface, a white actor in redface and a native actor in blackface. All the thrills of a steamboat fire, a lynching and photography. Slaves discussing work/life balance. A hilarious and thoughtful look at race and theater.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

When possible, I like to see a play and then read the script. (This one required me to read Dion Boucicault's The Octaroon first.) The stage directions add quite a bit commentary to the experience in a way that's more generous than standard.

[Emma Rund · Rating 4 out of 5]

This playwright is hilarious... pay attention to stage directions. I don't quite know how to talk about this play? It comments on the racism of American theatre (**insert applause**). It makes a hilarious and disturbing impression.

[Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

I suspect this plays better than it reads. The multiple casting is hard to keep track of while reading, yet it still offers a welcome comment on the racial and gender politics of Dion Boucicault's 19th century melodrama and would be particularly useful in theatre history and theory classes.

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

hilarious!