Written by Melanie Coretti |
Photos by Melanie Coretti and Julia Hornyak |

On Tuesday November 17th, 2015, Barbara Sonenstein visited The Morgan School to talk to the juniors in Mr. Bergman’s class about the play Disgraced by Ayad Akhtar.  Sonenstein is an actress from the play. Most of the juniors in Mr. Bergman’s class went on a field trip to see the play Disgraced. The play is a provocative play that focuses on modern day issues such as racism, stereotyping, and discrimination. 

The play was anything but a musical. It did not include singing and dancing. This play focused more on issues that most people don’t feel comfortable talking about. The basic story line of the play is about a foreign man who comes to America and hopes to be successful. In other peoples eyes, he is a very successful man, but in his eyes, he isn’t. He hoped to be accepted in America, but he feels his ideas will never be accepted because of his race. The play also focuses on how people that are not American are judged more on their looks and race rather than their beliefs and ideas.

In Bergman’s class, Sonenstein had the students get on their feet and play a game. This game focused on the conditioning the actors and actresses had to go through so they could get ready for their part. The game had to do with connecting the  mind to the body. Sonenstein would say one thing and the students would have to do another. For many students, the activity was challenging.

Watching this play allowed the students to see the American culture and the problems in the world a little better. The play posed many different questions and different thoughts on how Americans view other cultures and races.