![\"](\"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/BiAS-Jerry-Weil-Aziz-Tazi-e1764290541232.jpeg\")
<\/a>Jerry Weil and Aziz Tazi. Photo by Aziz Tazi, (although I don’t know how because it’s not a selfie!)<\/p><\/div>\n
The tagline for Bias<\/em> is \u201cThe Professor accused the student of cheating. The student accused the Professor of discrimination.\u201d And that\u2019s basically all you need to know. It\u2019s definitely interesting to see what goes on behind the scenes of schooling. The situation is so relevant today, not just in the world of academia, but everywhere<\/em>, because it appears that everyone<\/em> now accuses anyone<\/em> of everything<\/em> they can think of!<\/p>\n As the child of educators, (and, actually, having been one myself right out of college,) I can attest to how real this new play is. It\u2019s based on a true incident, and I\u2019m just about positive that there are many more like it in real life, judging from my family\u2019s experiences alone.<\/p>\n For me, the best thing about Bias<\/em> is that I\u2019m sure it will remind a lot of people about something similar in their lives, so the show will mean something a bit different to each audience member. For example, I was thinking of a controversy that my teacher mother had to go through, (I\u2019ll explain it after the info at the end of this review,) and my friend, Nina2, told me afterwards of her own difficult situation with the world of education. I\u2019m sure that everyone who sees this play will have similar experiences.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s one thing Bias<\/em> reminded me<\/em> of, due to part of the reason the professor is sort-of down on the student in question. And that is that the guy rarely shows up to class. So that situation made me think of how I was graded in my Set Design class as a Theatre Major in my first (of four) colleges, Brooklyn College, (which playwright Art Shulman also attended!) I didn\u2019t attend class very often, and did the bare minimum of work. (I had a very busy social life; some things never change.) And then the Prof had us hand in cards with the grade that we thought we deserved. I decided to be positive, and wrote an \u201cA,\u201d half as a joke. (I probably deserved a D!) And I received\u2026an A! I wound-up dating him the next semester, (when he wasn\u2019t my professor anymore,) and asked him why he gave me an A, assuming the answer was because he had that crush on me. But he answered, \u201cIt\u2019s what you told me you deserved, right? You<\/em> know what you did better than I<\/em> do!\u201d That was insane, of course, to trust us students with giving ourselves a grade. (Thank goodness I decided to not be humble that one time.) I thank Bias<\/em> for providing that fun memory for me.<\/p>\n Sammie Wayne IV and Aziz Tazi, who also took the photo. (Note the M&Ms dispenser on the left.)<\/p><\/div>\n As far as the actual production<\/em> goes, the entire seven-person cast is good. Nina2 especially liked Jerry Weil, who plays the Professor and is a doppelg\u00e4nger for Paul Reiser, while\u00a0my<\/em> fave was Sammie Wayne IV, as the arbiter of the controversy, who\u2019s a late arrival to the story. He\u2019s the most natural, and reminded me of the real-life judge who amusedly dismissed me from Jury Duty some years ago, adding that I should say hello to my mother, boyfriend, and all my friends for him! (No lie.)<\/p>\n But there are a few issues with the show. First and foremost, the presentation would benefit from being about ten to fifteen minutes shorter. While the scenario is somewhat interesting, some of the script becomes repetitive.<\/p>\n And there are two bits of \u201cbusiness\u201d that drove my friend and me a tad crazy, although one finally does<\/em> pay off at the very end. The first one is that the two offices where most of the action takes place feature\u2026colorful M&Ms dispensers! There\u2019s absolutely no purpose for them, and they\u2019re very distracting, especially when they spill out by accident, and the actors don\u2019t acknowledge that little snafu. And every time the scene changes, they have to remember to change them out. Part of the usage is to show us whose office the characters are in each time, but there are other indicators, so no one could mistake it. And one of the dispensers is decorated for Christmas, so Nina2 thought it was to demonstrate passage of time, which I<\/em> did, as well, the first time it appeared. But when I realized something they said made it known that the setting is now at least a\u00a0month later<\/em>, the holiday garb on the giant M&M became simply confusing. And, perhaps worse, some of us just craved the little buggers the entire time! [Spoiler Alert: This is the one that pays off because after the curtain call, the cast hands-out little bags of M&Ms!]<\/p>\n<\/a>