Dominique Morisseau’s play, Skeleton Crew, draws attention to the lives of company workers who invest their time and lives to the company that easily turns its back on them. Part of the play reflects a distant past when the economy is at crisis and the government ignored the middle class Americans losing their homes, their future and their jobs. Rumors have it that the stamping plant in Detroit during the 2008 is going to be closed down soon. Morisseau presents the three plant workers and their supervisor try to handle the rumors in diverse ways. Reggie (D.B Woodside) must exercise the management role, even though he is closely bound to his workers. Shanita (Kelly McCreary) is heavily pregnant, but she is determined and begs for the fate of her future baby. Dez (Amari Cheatom) thinks of opening his own garage away from the plant. Faye (Caroline Stefanie Clay), The Union representative, who has invested in the company for 29 years feels that she holds the responsibility for her workmates. Again she cannot hide the loyalty that she has to Reggie.
One of the major concerns of the playwright is the impact of the economic decline on the working class. She outlines the harsh economic realities in the outside world in which the casualties interact and exert pressure that compels them to make own decisions to face the reality of life after losing job. Secondly, Morisseau is in a bid to illuminate the need for group work in the workplace and the issue of working class. The playwright has intentionally made the African American industrial workers. She present this class of workers as “working class warriors”, who even when they are going through hell are not downtrodden. Faye makes us to learn about the significance or workers union; that it is not only meant to protect the plights of the employees, but also to help them during economic hardship. Dez, on the other hand, has the will of an entrepreneur; he opts to save for his own garage instead of paying dues to the UAW. Lastly, Skeleton Crew’s playwright, Morisseau tries to express the need of shared humanity. She presents co-workers who live like neighbors. Reggie, who is the supervisor is torn between two lines, whether to follow his workers, whom he has made close connection over the time or to follow his managerial roles. Still Reggie and Faye reveal family relationship ship between. Faye cannot deny that she is fond and closely tied to Reggie. Shanita and Dez are more than friends to one another. In a nut shell, the playwright presents a people who are bound by shared work ethics. The playwright, Morisseau has a message to the working class that the only way to succeed is through hard work and proper planning, and that blame games is not going to take us anywhere.
The present society has to welcome the truth of living in a challenging economic environment without sensationalizing the crisis. We live in a time when those who struggle economically often blame the political leaders, when the truth is the failures could be as a result of their own creation. Through Skeleton Crew, we get to know the company employees to enjoy their work and are determined to live against all odds. The employees at the stamping plant get the rumors about the probable closure of their company, but their worry is about their future. They do not blame anybody for the deterioration of economy, but each is getting ready to know how their future will be. Moreover, Morisseau expresses the need for a team work in the work place. She brings out her characters as hardworking citizens. Therefore, perhaps this is an important concern that our society can consider. Working as a team, with shared objectives and collective responsibility for succeeding in these goals, is a common call that society has to embrace.
Dez is a seen to be a constant conflict with Reggie and the rest of the management because he is always late for work and shows some elements of insubordination. The conflict is at its climax when the company is prompted by robberies of plant material. The policy resolves that all the workers must go through a thorough search, including their belonging. Dez; however, feels that this is a form of humiliation and he thinks that it is Reggie who keeps shifting the rules. Dez laments that Reggies always treats him as a lesser employee “Always treating me like I’m up to no good,” […]“Like I ain’t got a righteous bone in my body. Won’t matter why I do what I do or what my intentions are. Won’t matter what plans I got or what I’m trying to build. You got your mind made up that I’m shit and you just waiting for proof.” (Morisseau 45)The truth is revealed when a gun is gotten from Dez’s bag.
The worse is expected that Reggie might write a letter of insubordination on Dez; he does not do this instead he says, “cool it with the backtalk, Dez” (28). The playwright intentionally does this to point out that conflict is not the best idea especially this time when the workers are facing crisis. Perhaps, according to Reggie, there have better and more issues to handle together with Dez instead of getting into a conflict. The real world of Detroit is a threat to them, hence they should face it together.
Morisseau’s play, Skeleton Crew has successfully expressed the turmoil and the challenges that these company workers undergo through various dramatic elements and theatrical element, such as dialogue,monologue, characterization, costumes, scenic design and acting design.
Firstly, we can see the rise and the fall of the play on its dialogue. Dialogues tells us who the characters are, not only through the message, but also through the choice of language, rhythms, their approach and inflections. For instance:
Reggie:
what do you want from me, Dez? Didn’t I just
say that I don’t have nothing to tell you? The company hasn’t
folded yet. You just focus on you job
and keep your stats sheet clean, and stop worrying about
things nobody can control now.()
Dez:
can’t control? Or don’t wanna deal with?
Reggie: you got something you wanna say to me directly? Or you
Gonna keep grabbing at stuff in the air without landing
On nothing. Because I already told you what to do if you
Wanna make sure you are covered. Do your job…( Morisseau 34)
Secondly, the playwright often used monologue to reveal the feelings and aspiration of some characters in the play. When Dez shows concern to Faye about how she is living, she replies in a monologue:
Faye
I know everything about this place, Dez. The walls talk to me. The dust =s on the floor writes me messages. I’m in the vent. I’m in the bulletin boards. I’m in the chipped paint. Ain’t nobody can slip through the cracks past me up in here? I can see through lockers. But I do not expose it(
Morisseau 44)
Thirdly, characterization is a significant dramatic element that Morisseau uses to past his concerns to her readers. The play reveals the struggle of each characters in their workplace and inside. The manner at which each character behaves in the breakroom hints that they go through hell at home. For example Shanita does not talk about the father of her unborn baby, which makes the audience to think that she must be having challenges in her marriage. Similarly, Dez appear to be the most disappointed with the rumors of the closure of the plant due to the manner in which he picks quarrels with Reggie, but still he remains a dedicated and valuable employee with bigger dreams of starting his garage. The present economic situation has forced Faye out of the comfort of her house to breakroom. However, she does not want to appear before her coworkers that she is going through hell. In short, the playwright has developed her characters in a way that they are thinking about the impeding situation and all of them are ready to counter it.
In addition, the playwright has used consume to embody the economic crisis that the workers go through in the stamping plant. We can see Faye wear rugged sweatshirt and worn t-shirt to work. On the other hand, Shanita and Dez want to appear like they are not suffering much. Their timberland are not as worn-out as those of Faye. Reggie, however wear nice shirts, a tie and shoes. His codes of dressing expresses his position in the company. Perhaps, Morisseau wants to show the gratification and social class in the society through the appearance of his characters. Reggie, being a holder of an important position in the company is expected to appear neater.
Conclusion
Dominique Morisseau’s play, Skeleton Crew expresses the hardship of working a declining economy. However, he reveals that in as much as there hardship and looming decline in economy, people must still work. The character in the play delve deeper into addressing the issue of declining economy. Although the paly has its setting in the Unites States of America in 2008, the issues of economy is a worldwide concern an still affect even the contemporary society.
Works Cited
Morisseau, Dominique. Skeleton Crew. , 2017. Print.
