Last Saturday I went to the Atlantic Theatre Company to see the play Offices, written by Ethan Coen – without his brother. I’m still not sure if I liked it. I thoroughly enjoyed Burn after reading by both Coen Brothers, which was wonderfully ridiculous and the 2nd part of the play was pretty close to that. I have no idea what the point of the play was besides 120 minutes of sheer fun of watching amazing actors rendering witty dialogues. So I walked out there rather satisfied, without being able to see a meaning and with no clear idea about the message of the play. It took me a while to understand: The medium meaninglessness is the message!

Then, a bit later I realized something else: When comparing the play to American TV shows or movies, I realized that one thing was different. The entire cast of the theare play was white. The boss was white, the homeland security officers were white, the secretary: white, the wife: white – the ones who hired, those who got fired: all white. The bum was white. Every single person was white! What a contrast to something like LOST, which is more diverse than Noah’s ark… They even have an Iraqi, even better, an Ex-Republican Guard – and the 1st season is from 2004! Now that’s diversity!