Theater: The Whipping Man: at what point does slavery end?

Recently my cold, snow-filled Winter was melted by the Manhattan Theater Club’s production of The Whipping Man, a new play by a new playwright, Matthew Lopez.

Mr. Lopez, a New Yorker is the son of a Puerto Rican father and a Polish-Russian mother. His unusual theme about a Jewish Confederate soldier and the slaves who were raised as Jews is a gripping historic profile of possibilities. He raised the parallel between the Jewish and African slavery experience and shone a light on the Jewish presence in this country during the time of the Civil War. The notion of being a slave one day and free the next is an interesting concept to explore. When do loyalties end when slavery suddenly ceases to exist?

As stated in The New York Times, Mr. Lopez’ research revealed that April 1865 was an interesting month: The Civil War ended, Lincoln was assassinated, and Passover began the day after Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox. Click here for another review.
As the war ends and the wine is poured for a sedar–by a former slave, family secrets unfold between former slaves and the son of their former owner. The interconnections that are revealed are astonishing but not all that surprising; slave owner, slave; we are more alike than we realize.