Giselle Liza Anatol is an associate professor of English at the University of Kansas. There is much to admire about The Bluest Eye and Toni MorrisonвЂ™s monumental perception and talent in portraying the complicated history and framework of Black lives in America.Dr. The sticking point is the audienceвЂ™s ability to follow the narrativeвЂ™s switching gears and the actorsвЂ™ related voices. And itвЂ™s not Dawn Monique WilliamsвЂ™ able direction. ItвЂ™s not because of the acting, which is uniformly excellent. What makes MorrisonвЂ™s novel so creatively unique - its changes of narrator, viewpoint, time, and perspective - make it problematic to follow at times as an audio drama. DiamondвЂ™s adaptation of MorrisonвЂ™s 1970 novel is not among the easiest. More straightforward books and plays translate more readily into audio. Listening rather than viewing allows oneвЂ™s imagination to take wing, and eliminates the artificiality of Zoom. When asked why Aurora is creating audio rather than Zoom visual productions, Josh Costello, Aurora TheatreвЂ™s artistic director, said, вЂњвЂ¦ AuroraвЂ™s expertise is in presenting nuanced language-based drama rather than video.вЂќ And it does make sense to use audio during the COVID-19 lockdown in this world of podcasts and audiobooks. She is raped and becomes pregnant, and finally sinks into madness. When Pecola moves back in with her belligerent parents, her emotional state deteriorates further. PecolaвЂ™s only friends, nine-year-old Claudia MacTeer (JeunГ©e Simon) and her 10-year-old sister Frieda (Sam Jackson, Exit Strategy), narrate sections of this blunt, sometimes painful, but also poetic, play. Jasmine Milan Williams, who plays Pecola in вЂњThe Bluest Eye.вЂќ Photo: Courtesy of Jasmine Milan WilliamsДЄt first, Pecola temporarily lives with the MacTeer family after her house has been burned down by her alcoholic and sexually abusive father. PecolaвЂ™s mother, Polly, works for a white family in a beautifully clean home that only makes her more humiliated by her own. He was deeply humiliated by two white men, who found him having sex and forced him to continue while they watched. Cholly, abandoned by his parents, was raised by his great aunt, whose early death left him rootless. Asberry ( Exit Strategy, Satellites), and long-suffering mother, Polly (Cathleen Riddley), are explored. For example, the youthful experiences in the South of her father, Cholly (Michael J. The Bluest Eye uses a combination of narration, dialogue, and flashbacks to explore the sociological circumstances that shaped Pecola and the Breedlove family. She believes that her life would be entirely transformed. With blue eyes, she would be вЂњseen,вЂќ if not loved. Not conscious of the oppressive racism to which she and her family are subjected, PecolaвЂ™s sole wish is to have blue eyes like Shirley Temple and the blond-haired Jane of the вЂњDick and JaneвЂќ schoolbooks. Neighbors taunt her the local store owner will not look at her. And she has constant reminders of her lack of worth. Set in 1940 in MorrisonвЂ™s hometown of Lorain, Ohio, the story revolves around Pecola Breedlove (Jasmine Milan Williams, Bull in a China Shop), a heartsick, lonely, and troubled 11-year-old Black girl who is shamed by what she is told is her ugliness. DiamondвЂ™s faithful adaptation of MorrisonвЂ™s first novel retains all of its power and pathos in this audio play, as well as a good deal of its lyrical flavor. Poster for Aurora TheatreвЂ™s audio play, вЂњThe Bluest Eye.вЂќ Artwork by Elizabeth LadaД«erkeleyвЂ™s Aurora Theatre is now presenting the vivid and vital audio-drama version of The Bluest Eye, written by Nobel and Pulitzer award-winner Toni Morrison (1931вЂ“2019).

The bluest eye audio