Freeman (Joseph) talks on the phone to his girlfriend, Angelita, whose mother strongly disapproves of their interracial relationship. Photo by Robin Wang.

“Platanos y Collard Greens” — an off-Broadway play that came to Strong Auditorium on Friday — is very nearly a modern day “Romeo and Juliet,” which to many may sound awful. “Platanos y Collard Greens” has a much better ending, however.

The play is a romantic comedy about the dissent of two parents — one Latino and the other African-American — when their children, Angelita (Karina Ortiz) and Freeman (Leon Joseph), start dating. But spoiler alert: unlike Romeo and Juliet, Angelita and Freeman end up together.

This play boils down to a discussion of racism, culture and stereotypes. It asks very difficult questions: Can love survive a mother faking a heart attack after finding out her daughter is dating someone of a different race? Could you live with yourself knowing that you caused your mother to take such extreme measures?

The play follows this young couple’s relationship, and the difficulties it creates due to race differences. Freeman, a well-read college student, is African-American. Angelita is studious, pretty, very friendly and Dominican. When Angelita’s mother — depicted as an off-stage voice — discovers Angelita’s relationship with Freeman, many obstacles arise. But let’s back up.

“Platanos y Collard Greens” opens with a poem performed by Freeman: “Platanos and collard greens go together like macaroni and chicken wings — better yet, like Zulu and Inca kings.” This poem, as well as most of the play, speaks to a hope for friendship between African-American and Hispanic communities.

The play demonstrates, however, that in reality there exists racism on each side, but on a more positive note there also exists an opportunity for changing these prejudices.

Although the subject matter is heavy, “Platanos y Collard Greens” presents it in a raucous, hilarious and interesting way. Throughout each scene, it was hard for the audience to look away from the stage because they would miss the subtlety in the body language between Freeman and Angelita, or Freeman and his best friend OK’s (Mera) wonderfully exaggerated facial expressions. Every single character entered into well-written, fast-paced and witty

discussions about race at some point in the play. Topics of these discussions ranged in topics from the reality of Angelita and Freeman’s relationship to pop culture references such as Nicki Minaj’s blonde wigs and blue-eyed contacts.

Even history was brought into the mix of conversation. Freeman’s father (Doni Comas) aided in the discussion of race by pointing out that, in order to prevent Dominican slaves from rebelling like the Haitians did, slave owners made them forget their African heritage and embrace only their Spanish origin. Eventually, rather than seeing any similarity in heritage, the two groups saw only the differences between themselves — differences that still divide both nations today.

These intense conversations were smoothly interwoven with hilarious moments, though, such as when Angelita walks in to see Freeman’s very sad attempt at salsa dancing. She tries to help him because his movements are jerky, angular and reminiscent of a marionette’s strings being pulled at random by a toddler, but Freeman quickly falls over and blames his lack of rhythm on slave owners in the South taking his ancestors’ drums away.

Although the intensity of the play’s message was balanced with comedy, the importance of the message wasn’t diminished, as there were also moments with real drama to drive the point home. As previously mentioned, Angelita’s mother fakes a heart attack to show how much stress her daughter’s relationship is causing her, and, in the wake of this event, Angelita succumbs to the racial divide between her and Freeman and tries to end the relationship. But, of course, true love knows no bounds — ultimately the couple surmounts their parents’ expectations and ends up together.

The conclusion was typical for any love story — the lovers are pulled apart by familial conflict but overcome these challenges through their own personal convictions. The way “Platanos y Collard Greens” got to this ending, however, was anything but typical. The intelligent discussion of racial stereotypes and expectations incorporated history, pop culture and an incredible amount of humor into this otherwise serious story, making the performance exceptional.

Decker is a member of the class of 2014.