It was on a Thursday night that I saw this year’s student theater production “The Dilemma of a Ghost,” by Ghanaian playwright Ama Ata Aidoo. It was the opening night and for many of the cast members it was probably a bit nerve-wracking to perform in front of an audience for the first time. The play, directed by Prof. Martha Kemper, was being showcased in the Sutherland auditorium and was scheduled to start at 7 p.m. on April 23.                                                           

When the show began, the full cast was onstage dancing to African music. The setting begun in Africa, specifically in Ghana and then switched to the United States on a college campus where the location is not quite clear. Although there is one scene where the setting is in the United States the primary setting is in Ghana.
During the play, the audience is introduced to Ato Yawson, a Ghanaian college graduate. He left his homeland several years ago to get a college education in the United States, where he meets his American wife, Eulalie. Ato has returned home after obtaining his college degree and has brought a surprise with him — Eulalie. Ato’s family is not pleased when they discover that Ato has married and, to their dismay, someone who is not Ghanaian.

This revelation opens a floodgate of emotions and stereotypes on both sides. Ato’s family can’t believe that he has secretly married without their permission because in their culture that is highly disrespectful. What hurts them even more is that she is not Ghanaian, but rather African-American and that just cannot do because in their eyes she is a descendant of a slave.

Eulalie’s character is portrayed as very ditsy and uncaring of how the family views her, for she doesn’t particularly care for them. She thinks that they are uncivilized people and makes a comment comparing them to dinosaurs.

Ato is caught in the middle, not being able to find his own voice. He tries to make Eulalie more of a woman that his family would like, but that backfires. Eulalie is Eulalie — she smokes and drinks, something a Ghanaian woman wouldn’t dare do.

When the situation seems to be getting worse, the unthinkable happens. Tensions begin rising between Ato and Eulalie and he smacks her.

This action, strangely enough, brings Ato’s mother and Eulalie together. The play ends with Ato’s mother taking Eulalie into her arms and finally accepting her as her daughter-in- law.

I think the acting skills were very impressive. The portrayals of Janan Ashton, who played Ato’s mother, and Shade Akinmorin, who played the grandmother, were very convincing. Their accents were spot-on and it all just seemed to fall into place. I would say overall the cast did a job well done.