SCHUMACHER Playwrights’ Center
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In the remainder of this 40-minute one-act, Schumacher is undone by his own technique. The seminar, the introduction to Schumacher–the man and his philosophy–remains my favorite part of the play. I particularly like Schumacher’s closing directive to bring something to sell to the next seminar. Not that I didn’t enjoy the rest of the play. It’s also funny, and slightly horrifying, but it becomes progressively obscure in a symbolic way.
What’s immediately evident is that Vera, whom Schumacher hires as his secretary, knows how to sell herself. She has the secretarial skills Schumacher requires and the body to seduce him, which she does. And then, in a coup as old as corporate structure (and then some), Vera becomes so efficient at her job that Schumacher is rendered expendable.
First of all, you can have a good time–I did, anyway–even when the play is symbolically opaque. Playwright-director Dexter Bullard’s cynical, incisive sense of humor is enough to carry the play. Still, it’s more edifying if you apprehend the microbiological viewpoint, which illuminates a sale as a process of infection, parasitism, and rapacious exploitation. It gives me the queasy suspicion that there’s an unconscious sale involved in most human relations, a messy business unhindered by the membrane of even the best intentions. Remember, “There’s a hole in every man the size of your product.” And, next time, bring something to sell. It makes me wonder who’s selling, who’s buying, what’s the product, and where’s the hole?
