Since The Submission was finished in 2011, the focus is all on Danny pretending to be black. Today, the biggest controversy in theatre regarding discrimination vs. tokenism is about women, but Emilia doesn’t talk about gender as much. For dramatic tension, Talbott made both characters bigots, leaving a discussion of the issue entirely on its merits up to the audience. The show is about issues habitual theatre-goers have wanted to see addressed for some time. The character Pete brings up the question of what all this looks like to outsiders. I’m really not sure what someone outside our community would make of this story, but I suspect similar discussions are happening elsewhere. The play is called The Submission, but I doubt anyone will surrender.

Greenberg’s script cuts right to the heart of anxiety over gay men in sports by including lots of showering and changing scenes. Eight actors are fully naked at least once onstage. It’s necessary for an honest examination of the issue, but requires a lot of courage from the cast. For that alone, I commend them all, but they also give strong performances besides that.

The first thing to about Durenmatt’s Romulus is that he called it a history play with no historical basis. Several different people from the period in the fifth century arbitrarily labeled “the fall of the Western Roman Empire” are conglomerated here, and their relationships are redefined for dramatic effect. But that’s alright, because this story, presented now by the capable team at Oracle, is more engaging and thought-provoking than a treatment of the actual events would likely be.