Commentary: Inspired by “The Ally”

 

 

 

The stage is stark — skinny, long, and white with a single chair on one side and a door on the other. Looking across, I can see the other half of the audience — a white older woman with a “Free Palestine” t-shirt sits almost directly opposite me. The 2.5 hours in which my friend and I warmed our straight-backed chairs went by quickly in a deluge of unexpected information.

On-stage, Asaf (played by Sasha Andreev) is a fairly reclusive film professor who is asked by a student to sign a twenty-page manifesto. The student, Baron (played by Ndunzi Kunsunga), has a cousin who died in a strikingly similar manner as George Floyd, and had worked with a local activist group who put together the document, which includes not just condemnation of police brutality against black bodies, but also Israel’s aggression against Palestine.  

Spurred as much by ego as by a desire to do good, the unlikeable but relatable Asaf is easily convinced that he should call for police reform, even without bothering to watch the video of the atrocity. But Asaf, who is Jewish, has trouble signing a document that condemns the actions of the Israeli people. He would prefer the issues be kept separate, and cannot understand why he must align with both simultaneously. 

The play shifts away from American racism into a deep discussion of the Israeli-Palestine conflict, while various characters who each feel strongly about one side or the other toss the main character into deeper internal conflict. Though pro-Palestine, “The Ally” presents both sides in compelling ways. 

Though no clear answers are given about how to be a better ally, my friend and I found ourselves discussing how people wrestle with their own sense of self, which informs our understanding of the world. We must spend time recognizing our own biases if we want to dismantle the preconceived beliefs that exist in our own heads. Unless we do, our support will be hollow.

I saw “The Ally” the same week as the election results. Perhaps that is why I woke up the next morning thinking about the similarities and differences the play had to our current events, and how we got here. We are already hearing about individuals being targeted and liberals taking down democratic signage out of fear and personal interest, at a time when ally-ship needs to be reinforced.  

I have seen people back away from causes because they are affiliated with other ideals. But, not unlike the manifesto in “The Ally,” we have examples of how coalescence can help further ideas better than separate concepts can. The coalition of 32 right-wing think tanks who wrote the Project 2025 plan for the Republicans is an example of the work people can do when not-perfectly aligned interests still come together — even in a dystopian way. 

Large groups working together — even with different ideas about solutions, and varied causes — can adjust the dial to a greater degree than individualized silos. In the play, Asaf was hesitant to sign a comprehensive manifesto because some of it was not something he was prepared to publicly support. He did still need to do the individual work so that the support could be genuine. But perhaps when we keep to our individualized branches, we lose something powerful that comes from a large network of roots.

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