At a most basic level, I define myself as white, Jewish, female; these three words and the stereotypes they invoke have a large impact on how other people see me. At Brandeis especially, there are many variations on these three words, each carrying a different connotation within our community. In her Senior Thesis Festival creation, Alia Goldfarb '13 explores themes of diversity at Brandeis, the social injustices that follow and whether there really is an open dialogue about these issues here.

Staged in the intimate setting of Merrick Theater in the Spingold Theater Center, Diversity was incredibly well done and thought provoking, followed by a talkback with the cast. Though the performance was Goldfarb's senior thesis, the performance was largely a compilation of the thoughts and writing of both Goldfarb and the eight performers. They explained that the show started as Goldfarb's idea and grew out of the conversations the group had about diversity and social justice on campus. Because of this organic start, the performance did a great job at depicting the issues most central to the entire Brandeis community.

The first two scenes dealt with the stereotypes about Jews and Jewish life that are propagated around campus. Rozi Levi '13 dominated the stage during the next scene, about being a girl with multiple identities of defining herself. In her monologue, Levi talked about what it meant to be a Turkish Jew at Brandeis and finding where she belonged. I really enjoyed her scene, because it is relevant to many different types of people who all try to define themselves within categories or labels. College is an incredibly impressionable time when you learn who you are and where you belong, so Levi's summation of her struggles with labels and diversity is widely accessible. The next scene featured all eight cast members standing across the stage, naming a specific academic scholarship, like Posse or National Merit. The point was to demonstrate that your race, religion or any other label does not define you or place you in a certain social or economic category.

Charlie Madison '15 performed next, as a student auditioning for the play Grease. Madison was entertaining and captivating while addressing the issue of stereotyped casting; for him, it meant not being able to play the "manly man," like Danny Zuko, because of what our largely gender-binary conforming society defines as masculine or feminine. Iyvon Edebiri '13 and Rasheik Trammell '13 were up next and performed a comedic, casual conversation between two friends that had crossed into Asian stereotypes, like thick accents or perfect grades, but an Asian student (Wei Ying Lim '16) sat unseen near them and overheard it all. I thought this was a creative way of showing that the stereotypes casually brought up in innocent conversations can really hurt people, even if they are not spoken maliciously.

Next, Trammell and Madison satirized the infamous "Brandeis Goggles" complex, and although I did not see this idea as fitting in with the diversity theme, it was still an interesting depiction of relationships on campus. After this, Bront? Velez '16 performed a passionate and thought-provoking spoken word piece that dealt with racial stereotypes. Velez's piece was a response to comments about the play The Colored Museum that stated it was inaccessible to white audience members; she progressed into talking about how people compare the Holocaust to slavery in the South, yet fail to acknowledge slavery as equally traumatic. She went on saying that generations after still have not risen from the chains of slavery, referencing Maya Angelou and the caged bird-her point being that you cannot forget how to fly despite what happened in the past.

The next sketch centered around Edebiri eating an Oreo cookie, this simple food becoming a battle between black and white. Two groups stood, one on either side of her, saying she should like either the cookie or cream-and that she could not possibly like both. I think this skit addressed the tension between racial stereotypes well, especially for individuals who are of mixed race. The last scene was possibly the most provocative in that there was no dialogue and it was very open to interpretation by each individual. All the cast members took off a layer of clothes, revealing black-colored attire, and proceeded, one by one, to dress Edebiri in their own colorful garments that were scattered around the floor. As Edebiri sat motionless, it was interesting to think about how this relates to the labels and stereotypes we let people assign to us and how our surroundings can influence us. Trammell played the violin beautifully throughout this entire skit.

The last part of the performance didn't quite make sense to me until the delivery of its ending line: "What a beautiful community." One after another, the performers came to center stage and each started cyclically performing a rhythmic action, like clapping a beat or repeating a single word. At first, it seemed completely random and I didn't understand the correlations between each actor; but that turned out to be exactly the point. The distinctiveness of each action was a reminder that a community is not a homogenous clump-it is a mixture of various, different people who bring together a diverse array of lives.

Diversity illuminated social injustices that Brandeisians face by drawing on the cast's personal experiences. Personally, I think that there is often is a lack of dialogue about the topic, and that my status as a non-minority disqualifies me from having a voice. But Diversity raised important points that encourage students to think about our vision of social justice.