Mulatto Math – Summing Up the Race Equation in America

Reviewed by Deborah Klugman
The Whitefire Theatre
Through May 6

Writer/performer Monique DeBose grew up in California in the ‘80s, the daughter of an African-American father from North Carolina and an Irish-American mother from New York State. Being the progeny of a biracial couple created an identity crisis that she resolved only after becoming an adult. Mulatto Math – Summing Up the Race Equation in America appears to be the fruit of this expiating process (a lengthy playwright’s note in the program references a potentially life-threatening event that also spurred the development of this project). Ably directed by Denise Dowse, the script has elements of irony and a smattering of wit; also, DeBose’s perceived experience of being lobbed between two subcultures indubitably speaks to the divisions that stubbornly permeate the American cultural landscape. At 80 minutes, however, the play is way too long, with too many anecdotes pressing home a similar point. But the more distracting problem is that DeBose as a performer has yet to develop either the stage presence or the skill of a confident storyteller.

The first few minutes had me hooked, however, as she describes her beautiful black African lover and her reluctance to part from him — although part from him she must, as (it turns out) her white British husband is winging his way to Beijing where she’s on tour as a singer. She then delineates the reasons for her choice, which come down to the fact that her lover is impoverished and has trouble with his visa, while her husband has money and makes her feel safe. “I hate myself,” she says, with a candor  not difficult to relate to.

This conundrum makes for promising theatrical fare, but then the narrative switches tracks and we’re launched into a series of flashbacks which focus on her youthful confusion over the differences between her mother’s family and her dad’s, and what that means for her own sense of self. Black uncles put down white folks, and vice versa, till they realize little Monique is within earshot. As she grows up, she’s continually in situations where she feels she must make a choice between one racial identity or the other — sit with the white kids or sit with the black. Her hair is an ongoing obsession: Not only hasn’t she straight hair like her mom, but her mom can’t fix the kind she does have the way proper black mothers can.

The humor is wry to a point, but it wears after a while. A lot of this angst seems like typical pre-teen/teenage stuff. DeBose owns up to that, but still believes her problems are more acute because of the race issue. (Maybe, but from the standpoint of another shy person who struggled through a painful adolescence, this seems more a factor than a root cause.)

A lot might be gained from pruning the script, and DeBose may grow more comfortable on stage with more experience. Designer Mylette Nora costumes her tastefully, while Rene Patrick Audain provides pleasing accompaniment to her songs on double bass.

The Whitefire Theatre, 15300 Ventura Blvd., Studio City; Sun., 7 p.m.; through May 6. www.MulattoMath.com. Running time: approximately 80 minutes without an intermission.