bob jolly reading draft 7 - apollinairetheatre.com · a play by miranda adekoje bob jolly reading...
TRANSCRIPT
1
36 DAYS
A play by Miranda Adekoje
BOB JOLLY READING DRAFT 7
Miranda Adekoje
16 Seaver Street #8
857.345.0110
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
2
MAIN PLAYERS:
Mariella Jones (14)
George - Mariella’s Grandfather (70)
Sadie Jones – Mariella’s Mother (42)
Dante Jones - Mariella’s Brother (21)
Selah Leavy – Howard’s Wife (mid 20s)
Howard Leavy (20-30s)
The COMPANY* – 8-20 Actors, different races (actual ethnicity
unimportant, but complexion very important) These actors play
all voices/men/women apart from the main characters:
Tired Teacher - White, 20s
Sarah - Black, 30s
Jamaal Jones - Black, 40s
Gang of White boys - White, teens
*unless otherwise directed, the COMPANY’s lines are split
racially based on what is being said.
SETTING:
Ocean-Hill Brownsville section of Brooklyn, New York
TIME:
1968
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
3
ACT I
SCENE 1 – The Ruckus
(A raucous classroom. Students are
talking, laughing, and rough housing as
there is no teacher in the room.
MARIELLA is nearest to the front,
writing in a notebook. A WHITE, FEMALE
teacher enters.)
TEACHER
Everyone sit down please. Quiet down…
(Nobody listens)
TEACHER (cont’d)
I said will you PLEASE quiet down!!
(A few listen)
TEACHER (cont’d)
Class! CLASS!
MARIELLA
Will ya’ll shut it. Class is starting.
(Students pipe down, take a seat)
TEACHER
I didn’t ask you to do that, Mari.
MARIELLA
You needed the help, Miss.
TEACHER
Excuse me?
MARIELLA
With all due respect you needed the help. Class
officially started at 7:35. (Points to the clock) You
got here 3 minutes ago and we’ve been waiting. It
doesn’t make sense for you to spend another 5 trying
to get everyone to calm down.
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
4
(CLASS ‘Ooooohs’ and ‘She told yous’)
TEACHER
You can march that smart mouth of yours down to the
principal’s office.
MARIELLA
For what?
TEACHER
For being disrespectful.
MARIELLA
By trying to help get class started?
TEACHER
By speaking out of turn.
(MARIELLA gets up to go, turns)
MARIELLA
You know I ain’t done nothing wrong by you, Miss. You
know that.
TEACHER
Yea well you ‘ain’t’ done nothing right, either.
MARIELLA
You mocking me?
TEACHER
I said to the principal.
MARIELLA
You mocking me now?
TEACHER
I’m not gonna tell you again/
MARIELLA
I ain’t going anywhere until you answer me.
TEACHER
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
5
I don’t have to answer you, Ink spot. I said to the
principal.
MARIELLA
What did you call me?
TEACHER
You heard me.
MARIELLA
Yea I heard you…
(The BLACK STUDENTS stand between MARI and the
TEACHER. SADIE enters, calms the students, keeps
MARIELLA by her side. (The WHITE and BLACK
companies flood the stage)
BOTH COMPANIES
This is the tale of two cities! (As the dialogue goes on, the set
changes to a classroom. The dialogue is
racially assigned. The ‘sides’ remain
segregated)
COMPANY 1 (Black)
This is the tale of two cities.
COMPANY 2 (White)
This is. This is the tale of a great city.
COMPANY 1
Two. This is the tale of two cities.
COMPANY 2
(these lines split amongst members of
COMPANY 2)
Two cities? This is the tale of the great city of New York. This is the tale of our new city!
Once known for industrialism and blue-collar work, we
now celebrate the rise of an illustrious middle class!
A humble, hard working, white-collared / middle class.
COMPANY 1-SHANELLE
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
6
(‘side comment’ that is audible)
White-collared? I think you mean White colored! (COMPANY 1 laughs)
COMPANY 2 (continued)KALEE built on the realization of education and the
all-American dream.
Study hard, work hard, succeed and realize your
potential!
Be responsible. Respect your neighbors. Take a
deserved, delicious bite into the American / pie!
COMPANY 1 SHANELLE And what happens when that great American pie bites you right back?
Oh yea, it’s mighty tasty with teeth as sharp as they
are tart!
This was a blue-collared city and when it got bleached white what was left behind but us?
Our trades and tough-handed jobs taken right from out
fingers and replaced with what?
With what?
With whom?
With what white /
COMPANY 2 SEAN Not White.
COMPANY 1 MALIK with what?
COMPANY 2 SEAN Education!
COMPANY 1 MALIK Education?
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
7
COMPANY 2 KALEE Yes! An equal opportunity system structured /
COMPANY 1 SHANELLE Segregated!
COMPANY 2 SEAN A system structured by testing and tried achievement /
COMPANY 1 SHANELLE A system that uses integration as a way to set a white
standard under which black children are measured.
COMPANY 2 KALEE We tried to integrate but you wouldn’t have it.
COMPANY 1 MALIK We tried to integrate and y’all wouldn’t have it. Didn’t want your children having to board a bus and
travel to the black side of town/
COMPANY 2 SEAN That’s not how it happened.
COMPANY 1 SHANELLE Didn’t want your darlings in overcrowded classrooms.
Wouldn’t want your wonderfuls decelerating to keep up
with the teachers you send us.
Teachers that use our schools as a stepping stone to
better students, bigger accolades and the great white
hope of equal opportunity education.
COMPANY 2 SEAN This is ridiculous, see?
This is why…
COMPANY 1 MALIK What?
This is why what?
COMPANY 2 SEAN
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
8
Did you ever stop to think/
Think about why/
COMPANY 1 MALIK Think about why what?
COMPANY 2 SEAN AND KALEE (Internally, to each other)
You can’t say that. K
Why not? It’s true. S
But you can’t actually say it. K
They have to know. There’s no way they don’t know/ S
COMPANY 1 SHANELLE Yall got something to say?
C’mon. Don’t be shy. Say it to our face.
COMPANY 2 KALEE YOUR KIDS CAN’T BE TAUGHT!
(Silence. The entire COMPANY 1 takes a
shocked step back)
Yea, we said it. Your children cannot be taught.
COMPANY 1
[ ]
COMPANY 2 SEAN Why do you think the system seems to work for everyone
but you?
Could it have anything to do / with
KALEE
Could it have anything to do with the fact/
Do you s’pose it has anything to do with the fact that
your children are poisoned by a company of parents
passing the ills of segregation-speak and crippling
the potential of your very own spawn?
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
9
ALL
The Board of Education tried/
COMPANY 1 ALL Oh yea. Sure they did/
COMPANY 2 KALEE Yes they did. The Board of Education tried to offer
an alternative to what you had. Smaller classrooms.
Extended hours.
SEAN
There’s nothing anyone can do to fit/ ALL
You won’t let anyone fit you /
COMPANY 1 MALIK Into a mold that isn’t shaped for us? Certainly not!
SHANELLE
Fit my child into a system designed to produce yours?
Certainly won’t.
ALL
We want our own.
We want our own!
COMPANY 2 WC But this is ridiculous!
This is New York.
This is New York City.
COMPANY 1 BC This is now your City
We want our part!
COMPANY 2 WC Education made that possible.
COMPANY 1 BC To educate our children in this system is impossible.
COMPANY 2 WC But this is New York…
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
10
COMPANY 1 BC We want our own.
COMPANY 2 WC This was a great tale/
A tale of a great city!
COMPANY 1 BC We’re taking back the New York school system
We’re taking it back for our children.
This will be a great tale.
COMPANY 2 WC This was/
COMPANY 1 BC This is/
COMPANY 2 WC The tale of a/
COMPANY 1 BC The tale of two cities!
SHANELLE SCENE 2 – Ready to Boil
(HOWARD, a dark-skinned black man,
enters his home. He hangs up his coat
and hat. The house is lightly clothed
and there are still boxes around. He
watches SELAH, his ethnically ambiguous
wife, silently, as she dusts various
things and puts them on the mantle.
sneaks up behind her and grabs her
sides.)
SELAH
Oh!
HOWARD
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
11
Gotcha!
(SELAH hits him playfully.)
SELAH
You’re a menace! I didn’t hear you come in…
(HOWARD puts his arms around her)
Mmmmn…how was the school board meeting?
(HOWARD looks for a specific box. He
finds one marked ‘books’ and opens it.
Kneels and starts pulling books out.)
HOWARD
Fantastic. There’s enough emotion swashing around
this place to get us all the way to DC and back again.
Larry was there -- he’s the chair of the board who
asked me to come-- He said the community is at boiling
point and he wasn’t kidding.
SELAH
It’s such a shame. All those children right in the
middle of it…
HOWARD
It’ll all work to our benefit. All those years I spent
studying education and school administration. I tried
to teach black teachers the method and they called me
an ‘Uncle Tom’. It wasn’t all a waste. The teacher’s
union in New York is mostly white and they want to know how to teach black students. Hell, they’re
desperate now. They’ll listen in a way the negro
teachers wouldn’t...or couldn’t.
SELAH
And how’s that going to benefit us?
HOWARD
I’m going to turn my findings into a book...a guide
for white teachers on the art of teaching black
students. I’ll push it to the board. If it becomes
required reading for all union teachers…
SELAH (greedy, excited)
That’s thousands…?
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
12
HOWARD
Tens of thousands of teachers reading my book. Practicing my method.
SELAH
Oh Howard!
HOWARD
I know. Finally. The opportunity to prove that color
doesn’t have to matter…I mean if everyone who looked
like me thought like me I wouldn’t be here…on my knees…searching for this blasted… Here it is!
SELAH
What?
HOWARD
My papers…from college. I’ll be needing them when I
start writing this thing out. This is the perfect
moment for a book like this. A teacher’s guide to the
Negro perspective that whites won’t be scared of and
blacks can get behind. And New York City right now
is the perfect place for its debut…
SELAH
I’m so glad we moved here.
HOWARD
And I’m so glad you’re happy with our first real home…
SELAH
Almost. If there’s actually a home underneath all
these empty boxes and clutter…
HOWARD
I’ll do all the heavy lifting. Promise. I just have
to find this one thing…
SELAH
Diving in so quickly? Come on…let’s christen the
house…
Howard
(Unpacking his typewriter)
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
13
Woman you’ll make a mess of me! How am I gonna write
this book with you sashaying like that?
SELAH
The book’s going to be a success whether I sashay or
not. You’re an amazing writer, Howard…the world hasn’t
heard a voice like yours yet.
HOWARD
I always thought I’d be a teacher myself…
SELAH
You never told me that…
HOWARD
Sure. A colored man training the youth of the next
generation? Shoot, I thought it was the only way to
go! But now…well I’m glad I chose this route. If this
situation proves anything, it’s that kids aren’t the
ones who need the education…it’s their parents. I’m
going to need to hire someone to transcribe all this.
SELAH
I’m sure there are plenty of students that could use
the money. Well, I’m colder than an ice cube now…
HOWARD
Good! I can get some work done.
SELAH
I think we should advertise a nice, fat wage for this
lucky student. That way you’ll get the best.
HOWARD
Yes. Two dollars an hour to transcribe for an
award-winning book.
SELAH
(Walking towards him, slowly.)
Two dollars an hour to transcribe an award winning…?
HOWARD
History Changing/
SELAH
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
14
World Famous...
(Kisses him.)
HOWARD
(Kisses her back.)
My beautiful wife. Alright, alright. You got me…
SELAH
Maybe four dollars an hour?
(HOWARD stands, takes her in his arms.
They exit.)
SCENE 3- In My Day
MALIK read SD, except when BC reads in unison
(SADIE enters her home with MARIELLA. It is
warm, cramped and decorated with pro black
memorabilia and photos. Her grandfather,
GEORGE, is sat in his special chair. SARAH,
Sadie’s friend, is on the couch with a
magazine. SARAH’s hair is out.
BC: Members of the BLACK COMPANY enter with them. They make themselves comfortable…
perhaps the men are playing cards or
dominoes and the women reading magazines,
washing dishes in the kitchen or sewing.
They act in silence unless otherwise
scripted.)
MARIELLA
Hi Pop-Pop…
GEORGE
Hi Sugar.
SADIE
Hey Dad. Hey girl…sorry I’m so late.
SARAH
It’s no thing. I didn’t have a chance to take all of
them out before I got here… just finished.
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
15
SADIE
(SADIE sits and begins to comb SARAH’s
hair with her fingers.)
You’ve got a lot of new growth! You going with the
same color?
SARAH
Sure am. I want to keep it in braids until I have
enough for a fro.
SADIE
Best thing for it. Go and make us some sandwiches,
would you, baby?
(MARIELLA goes to the kitchen. The
COMPANY women help her to make
sandwiches)
GEORGE
Where you been, Sadie?
SADIE
Mari’s school. They tried to suspend her.
GEORGE
What?! That true, Mari?
MARIELLA
Uh-huh.
GEORGE
Why would they try and suspend my sugar?
SADIE
Said she got too much mouth.
GEORGE
You got too much mouth, Mari?
MARIELLA
No, Pop… I was just defending myself.
GEORGE
Against who?
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
16
SADIE
A racist teacher.
SARAH
What?
SADIE
Yeah girl. Called my baby ‘Ink Spot’
SARAH
No sir!
SADIE
Yea. I spent 4 hours with the principal explaining
why Mari was justified in cursing that teacher the
hell out.
GEORGE
You cursed your teacher out, Mari?
MARIELLA
Nah, Pop-pop. I didn’t/
SADIE
She had every right to. They wanna say the teacher
won’t be held accountable until the issue goes ‘before
the board’. Well, I ain’t waiting that long. I’m
joining that community controlled black school
committee. My mind is made up.
GEORGE
What kind of thing is that to say to a child?
SADIE
Shoot, these days our kids gotta act like adults and
defend themselves at school. This is exactly what the committee is talking about. If the folks responsible
for teaching our kids are calling them out on skin tone how you expect any of them to learn?
MARIELLA
I’ve always got the highest grades in that class. I
don’t understand why she had an attitude with me/
SADIE
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
17
Cuz she white.
GEORGE sucks his teeth, SARAH laughs.
SADIE (cont’d)
I’m dead serious. We gotta watch out for our kids.
They don’t need to spend 8 hours in the hands of white
folks like that. Our schools should reflect our neighborhood. They don’t want nothing to do with us
otherwise, so get the hell out of our schools.
SARAH
There ain’t no way those white teachers can look at
our babies’ black faces and not judge them/
MARIELLA
They don’t have the easiest time in the classroom…
shoot with 30 kids to a class who would? But she was
wrong for coming out of her face like that at me.
GEORGE
You didn’t say that to her, did you?
MARIELLA
Not like that but pretty close.
GEORGE slumps and mutters something under
his breath.
MARIELLA (cont’d)
I’ve got the highest grades in that class.
SADIE
Tryna say my baby ain’t smart. Whose baby are you?
MARIELLA
Yours…
SADIE
And who you gonna thank when you go up and get your
Nobel Peace Prize.
MARIELLA
God. My Family. And especially my Mama.
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
18
GEORGE
I’ll never forget the day I had to pick her up from
her high school cuz she refused to move until her math
teacher called her by her “new” name…
MARIELLA
What name?
SADIE
Dad/
GEORGE
Her Highness Sabiha Raina Rahima Malcolmita Shabazz X
SADIE
That was not it!
GEORGE
It was something like that. By the time I got to the
school the principal was sitting out front looking
hungry and annoyed and Miss Revolution was inside,
laughing it up with the janitor
SADIE
They didn’t make that mistake again!
MARIELLA
No one’s ever called me out of my name before/
GEORGE
That’s cuz your name is simple and straightforward.
SADIE
I named you. Heard it in a song. If your father had
had his way you’d have a traditional name.
MARIELLA
Like what?
GEORGE
Like something nobody can pronounce.
SADIE
A name that’d remind you of where you come from.
Africa.
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
19
MARIELLA
(laughing) I don’t come from Africa!
SADIE (to SARAH)
See that right there? Now that’s the result of these
schools.
MARIELLA
No it ain’t. That’s a result of me growing up in
America and never setting one toe in ‘Africahhh”
MARIELLA and GEORGE bust a gut.
SADIE
Why you say it like that?
MARIELLA
Cuz that’s how you treat it. Like it’s some special
holy land… “Africahhh”
SADIE
That’s cuz it is!
GEORGE
I’ve seen pictures...ain’t nothing holy about black
folks walking around like that
SADIE
Good God in heaven give me strength! (To GEORGE) You
do realize that’s where we were before our peoples landed in the south?
GEORGE
And this where we are now. You asking me to imagine
myself somewhere I’ve never been ain’t gonna make it
familiar.
MARIELLA (hugging SADIE’s neck)
I love you Mama but sometimes I think you fightin’ for
something that’s bigger than I’ll ever be.
SADIE
I’m fighting for your remembrance. How you gonna know
where to go if you don’t know where you came from?
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
20
You know why we so close as a community? That village
mentality is in our DNA.
GEORGE
And what’s that got to do with Mari’s schooling?
SADIE
I can’t claim success if my baby graduates and Sarah’s
don’t. That’s the problem with white folks. They
live by the ‘as long as I make it’ mindset. We ain’t like that.
SARAH
Never have been.
SADIE
You ain’t either. Remember when Ralph was little and
he stayed with us?
MARIELLA
Yea.
SADIE
Ya’ll shared a room for a whole year and you treated
him like he was your little brother.
MARIELLA
I had someone to boss around like Dante bossed me.
SADIE
Yup. Wasn’t no difference between you and that’s how
it should be.
MARIELLA
We have had about the whole neighborhood come through
this apartment…Ms. Tracey taught me how to sew, Mr.
Phil how to fix a clock...Felicia showed me how to
corn row…
GEORGE
This place’s like a community center.
SARAH
Sho nuff!
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
21
MARIELLA
I like that…
SADIE
You can do things for yourself which is a lot more
than most!(Suffocating Mari in her bosom) I remember
when you were little. I used to have to take Dante to
the bus stop on roller skates cuz we didn’t have time
or bus money and I’d strap you to my front and you’d
just smile and smile. Just happy to be skating along
with your mama. I wish you could remember that!
GEORGE
(To MARIELLA.)
Now I’m a firm believer in children honouring their
parents …but with this one, I’m not so sure! She’d
make a battle out of a bunt hit.
SADIE
There ain’t no battle here, Dad. This has been a war
for decades…you know…you were raised in the thick of
it.
GEORGE
I know. That’s why we moved up here in the first
place. But you folks got it all mixed up.
(MARI and a COMPANY member approach him. The COMPANY
member has a warm plate of food and offers it with a
smile. GEORGE smiles at it. MARI places the plate
with a sandwich on it in his lap. He frowns.)
In my day we dealt with this mess with a sense of
dignity and quiet. There wasn’t all of this noise and
young folks organizing reckless groups just so they
could get their hands on a little bit of power.
(Holding up the sandwich MARI prepared for
him)
And after all that dignified opposition I came home to
a nice hot dinner that your Grandma had prepared.
SADIE
Don’t have that kinda time, Dad.
GEORGE
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
22
Too busy shouting down Mari’s teachers?
SADIE
Someone’s gotta advocate for our kids. They don’t all
have parents who can be down at the school at a
moment’s notice to keep an eye on what’s going on.
Folks here got jobs to keep.
SARAH
Sho nuff!
GEORGE
Parents? Like two you mean? Yea that’s what I thought. …Well back then men didn’t let ‘the cause’
get in the way of them protecting and providing for
their families either.
BC(Silence. All movement by COMPANY stops. For the first time, the COMPANY
is paying attention to what is being
said. SADIE Stops braiding.)
GEORGE (cont’d)
…if it came down to his family or fighting he would
pick his family every time. Keeping a family together was the hardest thing a black man could do,
and I’d be damned if I left mine vulnerable to any
kind of harm to fight some ‘cause’.
SADIE
It ain’t like that/
GEORGE
Then where he at?
(Silence.)
SADIE
Ghana. He’s in Ghana.
GEORGE
Protecting? Providing? Parenting?!!
MARIELLA
(Whispering.)
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
23
Pup-pup.
SADIE
Don’t you yell in my house, Dad. Don’t you be
disrespecting our house.
GEORGE
And why not? My check helps pay the bills. He don’t
do more than I do/
SADIE
(Getting up.)
You don’t know that. You don’t know what he does.
GEORGE
I know he sends a letter every month getting you
excited about all the new things he’s doing for those people while you here working three jobs. Where he
now? Girl, you heard me. Where he at?
(MARIELLA and a COMPANY member clean up
the sandwich GEORGE threw down. The
COMPANY member goes to the kitchen and
makes another)
SADIE
Ghana/
GEORGE
…and where the hell is that!? He ain’t here. In all
my days he ain’t never been here.
MARIELLA
Sit down, Grandpa.
(The COMPANY member hands her a new
sandwich)
Here. I made you a different sandwich
GEORGE
(Seeing he’s hurt SADIE, sits.)
Thank you, Sugar.
(He eats.)
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
24
SADIE
What kind of wife would I be if I let you talk about
my husband like this in our home?
GEORGE
What kind of husband’s he if he ain’t here to defend
himself/
SADIE
That’s enough! You don’t talk like that about my
husband. Dad?
GEORGE
(Chews.)
SADIE
Dad?
GEORGE
(Chews, nods slowly.)
SADIE
Mari, you got homework?
MARIELLA
Mmn Hmmn. I’m going…
SARAH
I’d best be going too. It’s getting late...
(SARAH packs her things)
Ok to finish tomorrow? Goodnight. Everyone.
(SARAH exits. SADIE starts cleaning
up. DANTE enters with bags)(SHANELLE reads SD from here.
MARIELLA
Dante!?!?
DANTE
Hey sis!
SADIE
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
25
(Gives him a big hug.BC The COMPANY is happy to see him, pats him on the back,
takes his bags etc.)
What are you doing here?
DANTE
They let us out a little early…hey Pops
GEORGE
(Nods, still quiet.)
DANTE
I finished my finals early anyway and didn’t feel like
hanging around
SADIE
How’d you afford to get here from California?
DANTE
Ma I got means…I got a job. What’s it matter
anyway…I’m home ain’t I?
MARIELLA
(Hugs him again.)
What can I carry?
DANTE
(Looks at his things. Considers. Hands her
a pillow.)
C’mon. Help me unpack.
(MARIELLA, DANTE and some COMPANY MEMBERS exit through to DANTE’S room.
SADIE and GEORGE remain where they are.
GEORGE is still chewing, staring
forward. SADIE Exits, slamming the
door.)
DANTE
(Giving MARIELLA a small bag.)
Here. Unpack this
MARIELLA
(Starts unpacking. COMPANY members
help)
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
26
How’s it feel to almost be finished?
DANTE
Good, Mari. Real good. Feels like I’ve accomplished
something. Something big.
MARIELLA
That’s cuz you have. Shoot, I can’t wait to go to
college
DANTE
What’s going on with the school?
MARIELLA
We got a new school board. Mama’s on it
DANTE
I bet!
MARIELLA
We got a few new teachers too…black ones! We’re
learning about tribes in Africa and all this history
stuff I never knew about
DANTE
Ah I dig it! Sounds like the school I never got to go
to!
MARIELLA
Yea…I can’t wait to go to college though…
(Pulls a photo out of Dante’s bag. Makes
a face. BC The COMPANY looks at the photo) Who’s this?
DANTE
(Snatches the photo from her)
Uh…um…no one
MARIELLA
Look who’s gone and got himself a girl! She’s pretty
I guess…big teeth
DANTE
Aww you shut up
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
27
MARIELLA
so…you in loooove with her?
DANTE
I dunno. She’s smart. Shows me new things all the
time and digs the cause…
MARIELLA
Don’t tell Pup-pup that! He ain’t so keen on ‘the
cause’ tonight…just before you came he and Mama were
sparring bout Dad
DANTE
Awww Lord
MARIELLA
I swear folks love making fusses nowadays. It’s like
all I do is go from one fuss to the next.
DANTE
Lotsa passion splashing around…we’re all starting to
get each other wet. You wait. One day it’ll splash
your way and something in you will change
MARIELLA
No suh. I’m taking all my notes right now.
DANTE
Well good luck with them notes Miss Mariella America.
MARIELLA
Don’t need it! Good luck with your new girl…and those big ole teeth!
DANTE
Awww scram!
(Lights up on SADIE, who enters the living
room in a robe. It’s late and she stands in
silence for a bit, ensuring everyone is
asleep. She sits on the couch. Silence.
The phone rings, loudly)
SADIE
Jamaal?
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
28
JAMAAL- TRINIDAD (An audible voice.)
Hey baby
SADIE
Hey…
JAMAAL
We opened a school today in a village by Vume. You
remember where we bought all those ceramic pots?
There was some land nearby and they let us use it for
a make shift school! You should have seen it, Sadie.
You should have seen the faces of the children when
they/ opened.
SADIE
Mari almost got suspended today. It was bad.
JAMAAL
Mari?
SADIE
She misses you, baby.
MALIK read
(A male COMPANY member enters with a
cup of tea. He sits on the couch next
to SADIE and places the teacup on the
table before leaning back and into her.
He is everything she’s missing)
JAMAAL
Should I talk to her? Is she awake?
SADIE
No. No she’s not. She needs more than a damn penpal,
Jamaal. She needs her father.
JAMAAL
[ ]
SADIE
I don’t want to do it this way anymore, you hear me?
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
29
(Silence.)
SADIE
Jamaal? I want you to come home
JAMAAL
You are the reason why I can be so far away and not
worry about our children.
MALIK
Another MALE COMPANY MEMBER emerges. He
massages her shoulders. She resists for as
long as she can
SADIE
…this isn’t about me. It’s Mari…and Dante. A teacher
called Mari out of her name today. Dante’s at school
all the way in California most the time and I don’t
knwo what he’s up against. I can’t protect him from
over here…
BC
(The rest of the COMPANY emerges. They slow
dance together. An imagined representation
of black love)
JAMAAL
Dante’s a grown man, Sadie. He’s gonna learn.
SADIE
I can’t do this alone. I. I’m drowning/
MALIK
(The COMPANY member puts his arms
around her waist. Lays in her lap.)
JAMAAL
You’re not alone.
SADIE
I’m not with you.
JAMAAL
Everything I’m doing here is to get back to you. You
gotta know that. We knew this was going to be hard.
We agreed on it.
SADIE
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
30
How much longer?
JAMAAL
How long do you think?
SADIE
Maybe we should come to you…?
JAMAAL
We’ve been saving/
SADIE
Never seems like enough. Something always comes up.
Some emergency and it’s all gone.
JAMAAL
We’ve gotta keep at it. We’ll get there.
SADIE
You feel so far from me.
JAMAAL
I should feel as near as our dreams coming true.
SADIE
(After a moment) Call’s costing. I—I have to go…
JAMAAL
Goodnight. I love you
SADIE
Goodnight.
SCENE 4 – A Whole New Way
KALEE
(HOWARD and SELAH’S home. It’s decorated
and the boxes are gone. HOWARD and MARIELLA
enter the front room from the kitchen)
HOWARD
You’ll be using this typewriter here. You’re welcome
to anything in the kitchen. Selah bakes all the time
and would love a critic…do you eat everything?
MARIELLA
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
31
(Shakes her head.)
HOWARD
Good!
(SELAH enters.)
HOWARD
And this is my wife, Selah. This is the student I was
telling you about, Mariella.
SELAH
How do you do, Mariella.
MARIELLA
Nice to meet you, Mrs. Leavy. And it’s Mari for
short/
SELAH
And you can call us “Selah” and “Howard”, no ‘Ma’am’s
and ‘Mister’s here, please. It ages us. And would
you mind taking your shoes off inside? This carpet is
a nightmare to clean!
HOWARD
Yes, we’re socks people, as you can see…
MARIELLA
(shaking her head as she remove them) With respect
Mrs. Leavy…you don’t know my Mama. I wouldn’t even
want her overhearing me call two grown folks by their
first names in her sleep. Mrs. Selah and Mr. Howard
an ok compromise?
HOWARD
I’m ok with that. Mrs. Selah?
(The oven clock ‘dings’.)
SELAH
That’s my lemon cake cooled. Can you stay for a bit,
Mari?
MARIELLA
I was actually hoping to start work if that’s ok…
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
32
HOWARD
That’d be fine. I’ll get you set up.
(SELAH exits. HOWARD invites MARI to sit
at his desk.)
HOWARD
The work will be mainly in two parts. You will be
listening to a series of audiotapes that I want
transcribed for my records.
(Digs through his shelves.)
Have you ever used one of these?
(He shows her a compact cassette
player.)
It’s the newest model. You’ll be listening to these
and typing what you hear.
(He hands her the cassette player.)
MARIELLA
I’ve only seen these in magazines…
HOWARD
Pretty neat, huh?
MARIELLA
(Shakes her head.)
HOWARD
I find that using the headphones really blocks the
world out
(He puts them in her ears and turns it on.
He looks at her to make sure it’s ok.
(MARIELLA is visually moved by hearing a
voice directly in her ears.)
MARIELLA
(Shouting.)
THIS IS REALLY…DIFFERENT!
(HOWARD smiles, gives her the ‘thumbs up’.
SELAH pops her head out of the kitchen and
waves HOWARD in. HOWARD exits)
WC
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
33
(As the recording plays, members of the
WHITE COMPANY emerge. The men are in work
clothing and the women are in aprons. The
men read the paper, and unpack books. The
women dust, arrange photos and serve some
men coffee, etc. MARI does not notice them,
and they do not notice her)
(HOWARD re-enters, stops the tape)
HOWARD
Everything ok?...You weren’t typing…
MARIELLA
(Taking them off.)
Oh. Sorry. Just getting used to them…
HOWARD
They’ll change your life, just you wait. You’ll
listen in a totally new way! I’ll show you how to
work the cassette player so you can rewind anything
you miss. The rest of the time you’ll be directly
typing what I say. I’ll be reading from my own work.
MARIELLA
What is your work about?
(Pause…thoughtful. The COMPANY look at each
other, smiling.)
HOWARD
A guide designed to help white teachers understand the
structural conditions that make it difficult to teach
black students.
MARIELLA
Huh.
HOWARD
That recording is pretty intense, hey?
MARIELLA
Uh…yea if that’s what you want to call it. Where’s it
from?
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
34
HOWARD
It’s recorded from a policy paper by Daniel Patrick
Moynihan called “The Negro Family: The Case for
National Action”. I’m ‘feasting with mine enemy’.
MARIELLA
And you sure are proud of it.
HOWARD
Not proud. Fearless. How many Negroes do you know
that would sit through that and listen to it?
MARIELLA
Well put it this way. I sure wouldn’t if you weren’t
paying me to.
HOWARD
Exactly/
(SELAH enters with tea and slices of
cake on a tray. The COMPANY jumps to
help her)
SELAH
Pull the table out would you darling?
(Male COMPANY members move to do so.)
Mari, would you like to take your coat off?
MARIELLA
Yes, please. Where can I hang it up?
SELAH
I’ll take it.
HOWARD
I’ll tell you what. I’ll pay you an extra dollar an
hour if you hear anything in that recording that is
not true. Moynihan’s work founded mine. It’s harsh
facts like those that we as a community must face head
on.
MARIELLA
Thank you, Miss. Selah.
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
35
SELAH
Of course.
HOWARD
So how is school these days, Mariel- Mari?
MARIELLA
It’s great. The new community school board is
teaching us all kinds of things.
HOWARD
Like what?
WC
(The COMPANY is interested. They react
to each thing she says.)
MARIELLA
Like about African tribes. And different black
leaders. And African dance…
WC
(The COMPANY is very confused)
HOWARD
I see. Do you think those things will be helpful when
it comes to you getting a job?
MARIELLA
Well...no. But it feels like I’m learning something.
HOWARD
Because?
MARIELLA
Because I can relate to who I’m learning it from.
HOWARD
Can you tell me what you mean by ‘relate’?
MARIELLA
I understand the black teachers Most of the white
teachers don’t get us.
HOWARD
So they…?
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
36
MARIELLA
They’re just. Just. Stiff.
HOWARD
Stiff?
WC
The WHITE company is flabbergasted.
MARIELLA
Yea. And dry.
WC The WHITE company is confused.
HOWARD
Dry.
MARIELLA
Yea. Like I wouldn’t know what their personalities
are outside the classroom.
HOWARD
You know, these teachers take their job very
seriously. It’s not easy to get certified here. In
fact, entrance into the Teacher’s Union requires
taking an exam that could easily keep Negroes out of
the classroom.
MARIELLA
How?
HOWARD
It’s a difficult examination…especially if you don’t
come from a certain pedigree. The oral component of
the exam is where most of the Negro teachers that pass
the written test are disqualified.
MARIELLA
Why?
HOWARD
Because of the way they speak.
MARIELLA
You serious? Well that’s messed up.
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
37
HOWARD
Why?
MARIELLA
How you gonna disqualify people cuz of the way they
talk? What does that have to do with whether or not
they can teach?
HOWARD
A lot in the eyes of the New York City School Board.
They figure if a teacher can’t speak correctly, they
can’t teach students to speak correctly.
MARI
That’s nonsense. If anything it’d make us more
comfortable…they’d sound like the folks we live
around.
HOWARD
Why should they make you feel comfortable?
MARIELLA
Because we’re the students!
HOWARD
But it’s not their job to make you comfortable. It’s
their job to prepare you for the world.
MARIELLA
Well they’re failing at it.
HOWARD
Not true. Some students do perfectly well.
MARIElLA
White students.
HOWARD
Precisely.
MARIELLA
Well I ain’t white.
HOWARD
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
38
No, you’re not. And you are smart. So why not play
the game?
MARIELLA
I gotta go to school, keep my homework up, and play
some ‘game’?
HOWARD
If that’s what it takes.
MARIELLA
Why we the ones that always gotta do extra?
HOWARD
It’s a small sacrifice. I’m sure a student like
you will succeed no matter what.
MARIELLA
Oh most definitely. (She takes a bite and chuckles)
Well, that is, if I don’t get suspended first…
HOWARD
Bottom line is we, as a people, need to be smarter. We
play by their rules until we can make our own.
MARIELLA
And when will that be?
HOWARD
When we’re equals. And we get equal through economic
power. And we get economic power by getting good jobs.
And we get those jobs…?
MARIELLA (mouth full)
By doing good in school. Mr. Howard you got white in
you?
HOWARD
What? No. Why?
MARIELLA
Cuz you think like a white man/
HOWARD
Not so, Mari. I think like a free man. There’s a
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
39
difference. (He goes to his books). Here. Read
that. There.
MARIELLA
“A little less complaint and whining, and a little
more dogged work and manly striving, would do us more
credit than a thousand civil rights bills”
The entire WHITE COMPANY stands at attention
and in agreement with this quote
HOWARD
You know who said that?
MARIELLA
No idea.
HOWARD
W.E.B. Dubois. A black man.
MARIELLA
See, maybe I would have known that if we studied him at school.
HOWARD
Touche. Excellent point. Have you ever been on a
farm, Mari?
MARIELLA
Nope.
HOWARD
That’s where I was raised. On a farm. And every year
my grandfather would plant his seeds. He and my
mother would give each seedling its due space and tend
to them and water them and make sure they had the
space to grow until the young plants were strong
enough to thrive on their own. When the time was
right, they’d reap the harvest they’d so carefully
sown. Now I went to University and have studied the
great Negro thinkers and their ideas on how to save
the Negro race in America. But everything I needed to
know I learned on that farm. Our children are like
those seedlings. We have to take care of them and
nurture them like my parents did those seeds. Our
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
40
success as a race starts in the home.
MARIELLA
You sound like my Grandpa.
SELAH
Does your grandpa live with you, too?
MARIELLA
Yes Ma’am. My father lives in Africa.
HOWARD
Really? How long has he been there?
MARIELLA
Since I can remember. I mean, he writes letters and
calls but I’ve never lived with him at home.
SELAH
I didn’t grow up with my father either.
MARIELLA
You didn’t?
SELAH
No.
HOWARD
Now imagine if those seedlings were watered with acid
and planted in cement? They’d die in the ground.
That’s where we’ve gone wrong as a race. We’re
spreading too many ills to our future generation and
they’re so focused on the oppression they can’t see
the opportunities. We need to be sure we are giving
black children the best possible chance at achieving.
Water, tend, and providing space to grow… “Now is the
accepted time, not tomorrow, not some more convenient
season… tomorrow comes the harvest and the playtime.”
MARIELLA
With all respect Mr. Leavy, not everybody’s gonna have
that kind of upbringing.
HOWARD
That’s the beauty of it! It’s not only about how
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
41
you’re raised. Success ultimately becomes about how
you think. If you think free, you are. No questions
about it.
MARIELLA
I have to say. I ain’t never heard Negroes talk like
you two do
HOWARD
…Thank you?
MARIELLA
Thank you for the job.
SELAH
The pleasure is ours. It’s so wonderful to meet you,
Mari.
HOWARD
Here’s to… ‘listening in a whole new way!’
SELAH
Here, here.
(They toast)
SCENE 5 – Black In America
SHANELLE
(SADIE enters her home quickly and very
disheveled. She takes her coat off, and
starts unpacking the groceries. BC MARIELLA enters with The Black COMPANY. They make
themselves comfortable. Some help SADIE
unpack. )
MARIELLA
Hey Mama.
SADIE
Where you been?
MARIELLA
I told you I had my job after school today. You never
remember.
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
42
SADIE
Got a head full of appointments Baby, just forgot.
MARIELLA
Mama… I gotta ask you something…
SADIE
I gotta make dinner, sweetie. Can you talk and chop?
(COMPANY member hands her knife and
chair)
MARIELLA
Yea. One second...
(MARI hands the knife back. She
removes her shoes and lines them
neatly by the door. BC The COMPANY look at each other, puzzled)
SADIE
Why’d you do that?
MARIELLA
What?
SADIE
Take your shoes off
MARIELLA
Helps keep the carpet clean…
SADIE
Girl, you see this carpet? You spilled juice on it 10
years ago and the stain’s still there! Now get over
here and help me with this food. Can you reach up and
get the season salt for me, Baby?
MARIELLA (she does so)
How. How did you know. Did you know you were gonna
marry my Fa- Daddy?
SADIE (stops chopping)
Did I know?
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
43
MARIELLA
When did you know you were going to marry/
SADIE
Your father?
MARIELLA
Mmmn hmmn.
SADIE
July 8th , 1944. I was at Slade’s Juke joint and the waiter came over and said a young man had bought me a
drink.
BC(As she remembers, members of the BLACK company do something together…
maybe the men take the women and dance
or wash their feet or something…)
At first I refused, but the waiter said the young
man told him to stay until I accepted his drink, and
that he’d pay him two dollars a minute for the hassle!
So the waiter and I struck a deal and, after 10
minutes, I accepted the drink and turned to look at
Jamaal for the first time. 6 months later we were
married.
MARIELLA
…and now he’s gone.
SADIE
Gone?
MARIELLA
I mean. He ain’t here…
SADIE
Since when do you think he’s gone?
MARIELLA
I’m just saying. Would you have married him then if
you knew you’d be alone now?
SADIE
I’m not alone. And yes, I would have married him.
Marriage ain’t about knowing what’s around the corner.
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
44
It’s about finding a person who will take the corner
with you.
MARIELLA
But Daddy isn’t really with you.
SADIE
What you gettin’ at girl?
MARIELLA
I’m just saying if I liked a fella/
BC(The COMPANY stops what they are doing and gives MARIELLA a look)
I don’t like anyone now I’m just sayin! Geesh. So if
I liked someone and we wanted to get married but he
said to me he was gonna go away I’d think twice about
marrying him. I mean, what’s the point if you’re
pretty much doing it on your own anyway. I could stay
single and do what you’re doing.
SADIE
Oh really?
MARIELLA
Yea. I mean what’s the point?
SADIE
Next time you have a headache you gonna chop off that
head of yours? Nope. You gonna turn the lights out,
lay down and shut your eyes till it passes. That’s
all this is. A moment and it’s gonna pass.
MARIELLA
But by the time it passes I’m gonna be grown and he
won’t even know who I am.
SADIE
How you figure that when what’s coming outta your
mouth right now is your father himself? He challenged
everything and you do too.
MARIELLA
I don’t really know him, though.
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
45
SADIE
He’s in your blood. That’s all you’ve got to know.
You’ll see. He’s building a life for us.
MARIELLA
Well who said I wanna live over there?
SADIE
Who says you won’t be forced to?
MARIELLA
What do you mean?
SADIE
Do you know what being here can do to a black person?
MARIELLA
Here? New York?
SADIE
Here. America.
MARIELLA
But this is where we are.
SADIE
This is where we were brought.
MARIELLA
So we’re always supposed to see ourselves as…
kidnapped?
SADIE
Absolutely.
MARIELLA
We might as well leave if that is the case.
SADIE
Girl, I’ve been telling you that!
MARIELLA
Oh, Mama you know we ain’t leaving. Anytime soon.
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
46
SADIE
I know, I know. But I like the sound of it coming
from your mouth.
MARIELLA
So what we s’posed to do?
SADIE
Remind them of who we are and what they did.
MARIELLA
All the time?!
SADIE
Put that knife down and sit with me. (SADIE walks
MARIELLA to the couch). One summer night your daddy
took me out for ice cream.
(She sits on the couch. A male member of the
COMPANY sits on chair in front of her
creating a makeshift car. She holds an
imaginary Dante)
The house was so hot Dante’d been crying for hours.
(A COMPANY member flicks on a fan on the
side table. It acts as a window rolled down)
I put all the windows down so the air would cool him
off as he drove. So there we are, driving and
cooling. Your father put in his Otis Redding tape
(Otis Redding “Lover’s Prayer” Plays in the background) and Dante started cooing and cackling. He loved Otis Redding like he was grown!
We were about a block from the ice cream parlor
when a young man ran in front of the car.
TRINIDAD
(A male member of the COMPANY emerges in a
stark spotlight. His face is bloody and he
is shaking, terrified)
BC(The following is acted out by the COMPANY. Go abstract and unpredictable. The
male members playing out this story should
interchange)
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
47
Your father got out to see if he was ok and just as he
was about to speak I heard sirens from behind us. The
boy ran away as fast as he’d come and four white
policemen ran past our car.
SHANELLE AND MALIK
(Two black company members (police) grab Jamaal’s
shirt so tight it comes untucked. He keeps his hands
in the air)
TRINIDAD COMPANY MEMBER as JAMAAL “I didn’t do nothing, officer. The boy ran out in
front of my car and I stopped to see if he was ok”.
SADIE
One officer came and shone his flashlight right in
your brother’s face. (A COMPANY MEMBER does this). He
started crying again.
MALIK COMPANY MEMBER as POLICEMAN
“Shut him up, or I’ll pull both of you outta the car”
TRINIDAD (The COMPANY member playing Jamaal runs
toward Sadie. The “Officer” takes a baton
to his stomach)
SADIE
I saw him go down and tried to get out but the officer
told me to stay put.
(Once they’ve given Jamaal a good beating,
they throw him back onto his seat)
SADIE (cont’d)
I was too afraid to touch him, or ask if he was alive.
I just rocked Dante and cried and prayed to Otis that
he was still alive.
TRINIDAD
(After some time, a bloodied JAMAAL turns
the car on)
We drove right past the ice cream parlor and back
here. We never talked about what happened but most
nights after that your father would cry in bed and I’d
stroke his back and hold him close so he couldn’t see
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
48
me crying too. It wasn’t too long after that we
decided we’d go to Africa.
BC(The scene dissolves. The COMPANY goes back to preparing dinner, soberly)
We spent three years there together but then your
grandmother died… and someone had to look out for
Grandpa. Getting him to move up to New York was hard
enough, never mind Africa. I fell pregnant with you
on one of your father’s visits back and now here we
are…
I remember that night every time they do something to
remind us that we ain’t equal. We ain’t the same as
them and our fight ain’t theirs. Civil rights are
nice and all but don’t mean anything if we have to
wait on white people to grow a conscience and decide they want to give them to us. That’s a hand out. We
need our own. Our own teachers. Our own businesses.
Our own police…until we got that we’ll always be at
their mercy.
MARIELLA
So you left Daddy…for Grandpa?
SADIE
As much as your grandfather goes on about Jamaal not
being here he never thinks about the fact that I’m not
with my husband because I chose to take care of him.
MARIELLA
Why don’t you say something?
SADIE
Sacrifice, Baby. It’s just a sacrifice. You never
stop making them in this life. Especially if you
black. Especially if you’re a woman. We know from
the tears that fall when we first have our hair done
that life just ain’t gonna be fair. But men. A Black
man shouldn’t have to be helpless like that at the
hands of another man. And sometimes they gotta leave
in order to stay…
(DANTE enters with GEORGE. He has him by the
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
49
arm)
DANTE
You gotta be careful, Pops.
SADIE
What happened?
DANTE
Nearly fell going up the stairs.
GEORGE
Them kids. That woman upstairs? Her kids flew right
down and took the wind out from under me.
DANTE
Rest yourself, old man.
GEORGE
Old and proud, son. Old and proud. You go down to
the job center like I told you today?
DANTE
Yea I checked it out. But I don’t know if I’m staying
here.
GEORGE
What’s California got to offer you that New York
don’t?
MARIELLA
Some girl!
DANTE
Whatever. It’s just different. I met some guys out
there and started working for them. They have a
children’s center that runs a breakfast program.
That’s where I met Cora…
SADIE
Like an elementary school?
DANTE
More like an after school program.
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
50
SADIE
But you said they serve breakfast/
DANTE
I know. It’s in the morning but it’s like an after
school program.
SADIE
But it’s during school?
DANTE
Nah it’s nothing just a program. Offered me a job
when I graduate.
GEORGE
So what is this organization, Dante?
DANTE
Just a group of guys…
SADIE
Men runnin’a children’s after school program that
serves breakfast during school hours?
DANTE
Nah they don’t serve/ it’s not them exactly it’s the organization.
GEORGE
Well what’s the place called?
MARIELLA
You’re not in some commune are you? Or a cult!
DANTE
Will you just shut up?
SADIE
Don’t talk to your sister like that. If you just told
us the name we wouldn’t/ be
DANTE
The Black Panthers.
BC(A few members of the BLACK COMPANY
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
51
stand up.)
GEORGE
Who in the hell are they? They like the ‘Bad news
bears’? The “Black Panthers”.
DANTE
Met some guys on campus and started going to meetings.
I like what they do for the community. They know the
law better than some police do.
SADIE
And how do you know that?
GEORGE
What the law got to do with it? You runnin around with
some trouble makers? Who are the Black Panthers?
DANTE
We fight against police brutality.
BC(some male COMPANY members start cleaning guns…perhaps under the table
until a reveal is necessary.
SADIE
We?
DANTE
Yea. I joined before I came home.
(A few of the men in the COMPANY gather
around DANTE.)
And I’ll be working with them to protect our
neighborhoods and people when I graduate .
GEORGE
Those them fellas with the black jackets and little
hats I seen?
MARIELLA
Berets, Pup pup.
GEORGE
The ones that be carrying guns?
DANTE
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
52
They’re within their rights to do so.
GEORGE
What your rights got to do with it?
DANTE
Everything, Pops.
GEORGE
(To SADIE)
You see? You see what I told you?
DANTE
No. He got nothing to do with it. The Panthers ain’t
about leaving and starting something new in Africa.
We are about staying here and protecting what we got./
SADIE
Dante…
DANTE
Yea?
SADIE
I. I don’t.
DANTE
You don’t have a choice, Ma. It’s not your choice.
(DANTE exits to his room. MARIELLA
looks back at SADIE. She sees her, for
the first time, terrified.)
KALEE
(Members of the WHITE COMPANY enter a different
part of the stage. They are the Union Teachers. They
are lit in different spots that represent their homes.
They begin to reading from a letter they’ve all
received)
WHITE COMPANY MEMBERS (WCM)
“Dear Sir,
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
53
The Governing Board of the Ocean Hill-Brownsville
Demonstration School District”
The governing
The board of the Ocean Hill-Brownsville Demonstration
The Brown Demo
This newly appointed Ocean Hill-Brownsville school
board has voted to end your employment
Voted to end our employment?
Vetoed the possibility of us working in the Schools of
the District!
“This termination of employment is to take effect
immediately.”
An immediate ousting
Immediately ousting due process/
Labor rights/
The right to work.
“You are required to report to the personnel
department at the New York City Board of Education
offices for your impending reassignment.”
Required to reassign and denied our rights to work
But this is New York/
This is the new New York /City
Not what we’ve worked for
Not without a fight
Someone has to put up a fight for labor rights
This isn’t about race/
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
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No, not about race/
But due process protections for teachers
For all teachers
Any race
We will strike
We will strike!
”We will strike to protect black teachers against
white racists in white communities
And we are striking to protect white teachers against
black racists in black communities
Not about black or white
This is not about black or white
These are our labor rights
“Yours Sincerely, Rhody McCoy. Ocean Hill-Brownsville
Unit Administrator”
Oh, Mr. McCoy, we do accept your sincerity
We accept your deep sincerity and the alacrity with
which you presumed to pluck us from our positions
But we will lay down arms no quicker than your beloved
board
We pick the picket lines over the obvious injustice
that lay beneath your cry for racial solidarity
We pick a fight!
We pick a fight for our labor rights and guess what?
Guess who?
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
55
Guess how many we’ve got?
We’ve got 57,000
That’s right.
57,000 New York City teachers choose to strike.
Yours Sincerely
The United Federation of Teachers
SCENE 6 – A Woman’s Charms
(A Recording in Darkness)
“There is considerable evidence that the Negro
community is in fact dividing between a stable
middle-class group that is steadily growing stronger
and more successful, and an increasingly disorganized
and disadvantaged lower-class group.”
KALEE(Lights up on MARIELLA at her workstation with the headphones on,
typing.
(Female members of the WHITE COMPANY
emerge one by one from different parts
of the house. They are dressed in the
same manner as Selah, very ‘Stepford
Wife’ like. They start dusting,
tidying and hanging things in the
house. This time, they each smile at
MARIELLA before beginning their work.)
Nearly a Quarter of Urban Negro Marriages are
Dissolved.
WC
(The COMPANY ‘tutts’ their teeth and
shakes their heads as they go about
their actions)
“Nearly a quarter of Negro women living in cities who
have ever married are divorced, separated, or are
living apart from their husbands.”
WC
(The COMPANY approaches MARIELLA)
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
56
“The rates are highest in the urban Northeast where 26
percent of Negro women ever married are either
divorced, separated, or have their husbands absent.”
WC
(The COMPANY shows MARIELLA acts of
pity. Back rubbing, hand on shoulder,
etc.)
“On the urban frontier, the proportion of husbands
absent is even higher. In New York City in 1960, it
was 30.2 percent, not including / divorces.”
(SELAH enters and gets her
attention.)
SELAH
How is it going, Mari?
MARIELLA
Fine Mrs. Leav-Mrs. Selah. I’m fine
SELAH
It is so nice to have someone to share the house with…
MARIELLA
Watch what you wish for. Company can end up cramping.
SELAH
Oh you must have a lot of siblings…?
MARIELLA
Just an older brother. He doesn’t live with
us…anymore
SELAH
Oh. Did something…happen to him?
MARIELLA
Nah. Just decided he was going to stay in California.
That’s where he went to college…
SELAH
Oh! Well nothing wrong with that is there? So who is
left in the house?
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DRAFT 7
57
MARIELLA
Me, my grandpa and my mother. And whoever happens to
need a place to stay at any given time.
SELAH
That must be exciting.
MARIELLA
Sometimes… but sometimes it’s suffocating. I like
coming here. Nothing like my place.
SELAH
What’s your house like?
MARIELLA
(Exploring the room and looking at
photos.)
Cramped. Lots of junk from when my Mama was growing
up. Photos and things from her travels…is that your
wedding photo?
SELAH
Yes.
MARIELLA
What are you?
WC (The COMPANY stops everything)
I mean what…race are you…? You’re so light-skinned at
first I thought you were Spanish or mixed or something
but in this photo…I don’t know…like you could be/
SELAH
You guessed it right. I’m half Portuguese…
MARIELLA
That’s it?
SELAH
I don’t know what else. I never really knew my
father.
WC (The COMPANY relaxes)
JUNE 2020
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58
MARIELLA
You’re different from any of the women I see. You
stay at home and make cakes and have dinner ready by 5
every evening.
SELAH
What does your mother do?
MARIELLA
She’s on the new black school committee. By day she’s
a daycare teacher and she does hair sometimes…
SELAH
Can’t a woman do both? I mean ‘fight’ and keep a home?
MARIELLA
If she can I sure haven’t seen it.
SELAH
“A mother is her daughter’s best ally.” My mother
said that. She never said friend. She always said
‘ally’.
MARIELLA
Were you close with her?
SELAH
Not at all. When I was seven, my father left us. She
went loopy after that. She made dinner the day he left
and, when she realized he wasn’t coming back weeks
later, forced me to eat it. I was sick twice before I
cleared my plate. They say you shouldn’t hate a person
but I’ve never understood why. I hated her and
putting that feeling into words was the only relief I
got until I ran away at 15. Every girl needs a get
out plan and I spent eight years planning mine.
MARIELLA
A “get out” plan?
SELAH
It was the only way I could have the life I wanted…the
life I’m living right now. I had to get out and go
after it.
JUNE 2020
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59
MARIELLA
And how’d you do that?
SELAH
I had a little money and a few clothes…but I knew my
charms. (Teasing) You know yours?
MARIELLA
(shrugs)
SELAH
Oh come on Mari…every woman’s gotta know her charms.
Alright now don’t go getting bashful. Watch this...
(SELAH takes her apron off and
hands it to a COMPANY member. The
COMPANY member giggles and hands
SELAH her dusting wand. SELAH
takes it, and makes sure MARIELLA
is paying attention. She bends
over slowly, to dust the bottom of
the fireplace. MARIELLA blushes
and giggles. SELAH giggles too
but then feigns complete
seriousness. She stretches as
high as she can to dust nothing in
particular. All her curves are on
show)
SELAH (cont’d)
See? Easy as that! Now. Your turn…
MARIELLA
(Shakes her head, terrified)
SELAH
Oh come on, don’t be shy. We ladies have to share our
secrets. How else we gonna learn them?
MARIELLA
Pause. I was walking to school yesterday and I heard someone shout ‘nigger scab!’ … I know it was at me.
SELAH
I’m so sorry that happened to you, Mari. Really I am.
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
60
MARIELLA
(Shrugs.)
SELAH
That is a terrible word for anyone to have to hear…
(The COMPANY surrounds MARIELLA in
support.)
You know I have some dresses that I don’t wear
anymore. With a little bit of tailoring they’d fit you
fine. Would you like to try them on? You stay put.
I’m going to go have a look.
(HOWARD enters with the male members of
the WHITE COMPANY)
SELAH
Hello Darling. Back in a minute.
HOWARD
I have some exciting news!
MARIELLA
What?
HOWARD
I’ve been invited to speak to the school board.
MARIELLA
Which one?
HOWARD
The first one...the ‘white’ one.
MARIELLA
About what?
HOWARD
My work and everything we’ve been doing.
(MARIELLA slumps. The WHITE COMPANY
take notice.)
HOWARD
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61
What? What’s wrong?
MARIELLA
This stuff don’t sit right. With me.
HOWARD
What do you mean?
MARIELLA
You telling all black folks’ business.
HOWARD
Facts are facts.
MARIELLA
Yea but there’s reasons things are the way they are.
HOWARD
You think the upwardly mobile give a toss about those
reasons? The train is moving and I’m trying to get us
on it.
MARIELLA
...by throwing our dirty laundry on it first? How you
know they even gonna listen.
HOWARD
Because they need to do something. There will always
be white teachers in black neighborhoods. The things
on that recording are exactly what’s whispered in
union meetings and behind closed doors. Putting it
out there in print and acknowledging the unique
barriers to learning will put them at ease and open
their ears.
MARIELLA
I agree that things need to change/
HOWARD
Especially considering the opportunity that’s
available at this very moment.
MARIELLA
I’m not so sure telling people who have been dragged
through the mud to shake the dust off and tap dance
JUNE 2020
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62
for Whitey is the way to do it.
HOWARD
I wouldn’t be so blithe but a lot is at stake here.
MARIELLA
I was just telling Mrs. Selah someone behind the
picket lines called me “nigger scab” as I was walking
to school.
HOWARD
That’s reprehensible.
MARIELLA
You really think you gonna change the mind of someone
like that?
HOWARD
That’s ignorance.
MARIELLA
That’s anger. That could be a teacher at some school
with students that look just like me. We’ll never
know.
HOWARD
The New York City board of education allowed the
parents to create a community-controlled board...they
were actually fully in support of it. And then the
parents fired all them teachers without solid grounds
to do so/
MARIELLA
They reassigned them. They weren’t fired from
teaching. They were just fired from our school/
HOWARD
Doesn’t matter. It’s a violation of their labor
rights.
MARIELLA
Oh yea? Well then where does ‘nigger scab’ come from?
That don’t have nothing to do with no labor rights.
HOWARD
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63
Sticks and stones. His ignorance is not your problem.
MARIELLA
You don’t get it. It’s like you ain’t black.
HOWARD
I’m redefining what ‘black’ means. We’ve gotta get
out from under these stale ‘types’ placed upon us.
MARIELLA
By making nice with the same folks who came up with
them?
HOWARD
Who is ‘making nice’? I’m using factual evidence to
explain our differences in order to help them help us.
MARIELLA
What makes you think they care about helping us?
HOWARD
What makes you think they don’t?
MARIELLA
My mama says no white person can care about us like
our own. I believe her.
HOWARD
That can’t be the end of the conversation.
MARIELLA
Why not?
HOWARD
Because we have to coexist. We are all here.
Together. Let me ask you a question. Do you want to
be like your mother when you grow up?
SEAN (The MALE members of The COMPANY leans
in)
MARIELLA
My mama wants the best for me...
HOWARD
JUNE 2020
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64
Of course she does. But do you want to be like her?
MARIELLA
No…I guess I don’t. I want… more than that.
HOWARD
And I’m sure she wants you to have more.
Someone has to lay down arms.
MARIELLA
But why it always gotta be the black folks?
HOWARD
Cuz we’ve got more to lose…
SEAN (The MALE company takes a collective
breath. They nudge Howard. He’s
confused. They point to Mariella
excitedly)
HOWARD
Wait a minute….
MARIELLA
What?
SEAN (There is a delay in reaction as the Male
COMPANY members wait for the penny to drop.
One member motions to Howard’s manuscript.
Howard pulls out a page. He’s starting to
see…
HOWARD (Piecing it together as he
speaks)
I think you’re the person who needs to address the
school board. Not me. You’re the student. You’re
the one who wants to succeed. You know what you want
and who you have to go to to get it.
KALEE (SELAH enters with a tea tray.
The female members of the COMPANY serve
everyone)
MARIELLA
But my mother…
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
65
HOWARD
You just said your mother wants the best for you.
WC (The COMPANY thrusts Howard’s paperwork
in her face)
HOWARD (cont’d)
This is what’s best for you. For all of us. It’s
time. And we have the New York City school board
waiting and ready to listen.
(SELAH Enters.)
SELAH
I’m just going to steal her for one moment, darling.
(A warm moment between MARIELLA and the
WHITE COMPANY. MARIELLA follows SELAH
into a back room.)
(SADIE and female members of the BLACK
COMPANY enter with picket signs. The
male members of the BLACK COMPANY are
dressed as black panthers. The WHITE
COMPANY emerges with picket signs. As
they gather, a recording of children
sing the following “BLACK PANTHER
SONG”)
We’re sick of pigs lyin’ (Oh Yea)
And we’re sick of brothers dyin’ (Oh Yea)
So come on People (Oh Yea)
Join in the Struggle (Oh Yea)
Fight for liberation (Oh yea)
Each and every generation (Oh Yea)
(The BLACK Company joins)
I said guns, pick up the guns,
pick up the guns and put the pigs on the ground
pick up the guns (one mo’ time)
guns, pick up the guns,
pick up the guns and put the pigs on the ground
pick up the guns!
JUNE 2020
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66
(MARI enters in SELAH’s dress. It’s
too big for her, but she feels
beautiful. She does a twirl for
HOWARD, who admires her. The companies
face off.)
White COMPANY
IT’S NOT ABOUT BLACK, IT’S
NOT ABOUT WHITE WE MUST
PROTECT OUR LABOR RIGHTS!
CAN’T GIVE A NIGGER ANY
SLACK, THEY PUSHED US SO WE
PUSH RIGHT BACK!
Black COMPANY
JUST CUZ YOU WHITE DON’T MAKE
YOU RIGHT! THIS OUR
NEIGHBORHOOD THIS AIN’T YOUR
FIGHT!
OUR KIDS AIN’T DUMB OUR KIDS
CAN SPEAK YOU SPOSED TO BE A
TEACHER, WHY DON’T YOU TEACH?
(Four nearly deafening shots
ring out. Both COMPANIES
look up. MARI covers her
ears. Black out)
JUNE 2020
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67
ACT II
SCENE 1 - The Human Condition SHANELLE (Lights struggle up.SADIE sits by the
phone. Female members of the BLACK
COMPANY sit with her, making tea,
stroking her back -- shrouding her in
sistership. GEORGE enters)
GEORGE
You hear anything yet?
SADIE shakes her head
GEORGE
They gonna call?
SADIE shrugs her shoulders
GEORGE
Maybe you should call down the hospital to see/
A female member of the BLACK COMPANY
quiets GEORGE with her gentleness. He
sits in his chair. MARI enters. Her
eyes are swollen as she’s been crying.
She wears Dante’s oversized cardigan
wrapped tightly around her. She sits
next to her mother.
The phone rings. It startles the
scene.
SADIE
Yes, I’m his mother/ I’m Mrs. Jones.
We know that. We wanna know how he’s doing.
Ok.
When?
And did he…?
Oh thank God. Thank you, Lord.
Tell him I’ll be there. I’ll be there as soon as/
What?
What you mean?
I’m coming to see my son/
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
68
Malik and Trinidad
The male members of the BLACK company,
donned in Panther gear enter another
part of the stage. Male members of the
WHITE company dressed as cops greet
them.
SADIE (cont’d)
I don’t care about your damn protocol I’m coming to
see my son!
She slams the phone down. She slams it
down again.
MARIELLA
What is it, Mama?
SADIE
The police ain’t letting no one that’s not a patient
into the hospital
GEORGE/MARIELLA
Can they do that/ Why?
SADIE
Cuz the panthers showed up to guard Dante/
GEORGE
I knew it! I knew them boys was gonna be trouble for
him/
SADIE
Whoever shot him got away.
GEORGE
Dante alright?
SADIE
He survived the surgery.
GEORGE
How many times they shoot him?
SADIE gets up and disappears into a
JUNE 2020
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69
packed closet. She throws a suitcase
from inside.
GEORGE (cont’d)
Where you going?
SADIE
Where do you think? I’m going to see my son.
GEORGE
With what car? With what money?
SADIE
I’ll borrow a car.
GEORGE
Sadie. Honey. Just wait. By the time you get to the
other side of the country he could be on his way back
here. Stay here. Mari needs you.
SADIE
I gotta be with my baby.
GEORGE
Your baby’s a man who chose to pick up a gun/
SADIE
That don’t mean he deserves to be shot down like some
animal!
GEORGE
I didn’t say that. Sadie? I’m saying Dante is a man
now. No need you diving into the fray.
SADIE
I couldn’t protect him/
GEORGE hugs his daughter. In his arms she
becomes a child.
GEORGE
It’s alright. It will be alright. He’s ok. We just
have to wait. He’ll call us when he can.
SADIE
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70
I can’t get to him. I’m his mother.
GEORGE
He knows. He knows.
MARIELLA stands. She throws off the
cardigan and marches into her room.
She returns with her coat on.
The Female members of the BLACK company
block her from leaving.)
SADIE
Where you going?
MARIELLA
To work.
SADIE
No. Not this week. I want you close.
MARIELLA
Howard has a deadline.
SADIE
Howard?
MARIELLA
….Mr. Leavy…
SADIE
Your brother just got shot/
MARIELLA
And you don’t even have the money to go see him.
SADIE
What did you say to me?
MARIELLA
I gotta go. I’m going to work. Howard needs me.
SADIE
I don’t like you calling this grown man by his name
and I don’t like the way you’re speaking to me. I
said no.
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
71
MARIELLA
I don’t care what you have to say!
BC (The COMPANY freezes, shocked)
MARIELLA (cont’d)
You let Dad and Dante go. What’s it matter if I go to
my damn job?
SADIE
You watch your mouth Mariella Marie. I want you
close. If anything happened to you/ I’d die.
MARIELLA
Dante was about to graduate but he took up your fight
and look what happened. This is your fault. You don’t
know what’s happening to me. You don’t know what I
walk through every day to get to school. What those
picket lines shout at me when I try and get in the
building.
SADIE
What is the matter with you? Your brother’s been shot
and all you care about is some words being thrown
around?
MARIELLA
They hurt me! You don’t know anything/
SADIE
What do you mean?
MARIELLA
You’ve watched every man in your life…in my life walk out on me but when I wanna go you pin me here under
your thumb like I’m some little girl. I’m not some
little girl, Mama. I seen things and been called
things that took the little girl right out of me and
you ain’t even been here to talk to about it. You’re
at the school board meeting or taking care of
someone’s mess but you are never here for me.
SADIE
Mari, I didn’t know/
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
72
MARIELLA
Well I’m telling you now. I’m telling you now so you
understand why I’m going to go to Mr. Leavy’s whether
you like to or not.
SADIE
I don’t like your attitude, Mariella, and I don’t know
what that man’s been teaching you, but you know better
than to raise your voice at me and speak like you were
raised in some street.
MARIELLA
He’s taught me how not to end up like Dante. He’s
taught me that I’m worth so much more than what you’re
giving me/
(SADIE slaps MARI across the face. MARI
continues to stare SADIE down. MARI goes
into her room. She paces. She pulls out the
recording equipment she’s been transcribing
with. She puts on the headphones. She
listens.)
RECORDING
As a direct result of this high rate of divorce,
separation, and desertion, a very large percent of
Negro families are headed by females. While the
percentage of such families among whites has been
dropping since 1940, it has been rising among Negroes.
The percent of nonwhite families headed by a female is
more than double the percent for whites.
It has been estimated that only a minority of Negro
children reach the age of 18 having lived all their
lives with both of their parents.
Once again, this measure of family disorganization is
found to be diminishing among white families and
increasing among Negro families…
BC
(As she listens, the BLACK Company
enters her room. They can hear the
recording. They attempt to take the
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
73
headphones off of her. She fights them.
They attempt to stop the recording.
She holds it close to her and hops into
bed, hugging the recorder. The BLACK
company gives up. She tucks into
herself in the bed, facing the
audience. The COMPANY leaves her. The
last one turns out the light.)
SCENE 2 – A little Attention KALEE
(In SELAH and HOWARD’S home the next
morning. SELAH tiptoes around HOWARD.
She offers him food, he waves it away.
She tries to sit next to him but he
can’t stay still)
HOWARD
I hope she’s alright. It’s not like her to miss our
sessions.
SELAH
Maybe she’s busy.
HOWARD
She’s barely a teenager. What could she be that busy
with? No. Something is not right. She wouldn’t miss
this. Our presentation for the New York City School
board is tonight/
SELAH
Our?
HOWARD
Mari is speaking as well.
SELAH
You didn’t tell me that.
HOWARD
I didn’t think it was necessary. As a 271 student her
input is vital. There’s a lot riding on this
presentation. We succeed, the book is mandatory for
all teachers next year. Shoot we could end the whole
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
74
strike/
SELAH
And Mari can help with that?
HOWARD
Absolutely. She’s smart, sharp and well spoken/
SELAH
She’s always here. Is it really necessary for her to
be here all the time?
HOWARD
She’s not here all the time.
SELAH
But she is, darling. She was coming here an extra 3
days a week and I don’t think she picked up the
headphones once/
HOWARD
We were discussing ideas/
SELAH
And sometimes she’d show up and you weren’t here but
she stayed anyway…
HOWARD
Maybe she likes you. Geesh. I didn’t know she was
such a problem.
SELAH
It’s not a problem…it’s just that we need our time too.
HOWARD
Noted. (He laughs to himself) You just can’t go a day
without a little attention, huh?
SELAH
On the contrary. If you’d have been paying any
attention at all you’d see that/
HOWARD
(Checking his watch) I have to go! I’m going to be
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
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late.
SELAH
This early? When will you be back?
HOWARD
Don’t know. Could go late. Don’t wait up…
SCENE 3 – The Dreamers and the Waiters
(Lights up on an empty classroom. MARI
sits, waiting)
HOWARD
You’re here! I’m so glad/
MARIELLA
You’re late.
HOWARD
Uh...I am. I’m sorry. It’s getting worse out there.
MARIELLA
I tried to get here early.
HOWARD
I’m just glad you are ok. I was really worried.
MARIELLA
You were?
HOWARD
Of course I was! I don’t want anything happening to
you.
MARIELLA
Geez. That’s really nice. Nice of you to say. I’ve
had a lot of time to think about everything we’ve
done. Our work. What it means. And we do have to
sacrifice
HOWARD
What?
MARIELLA
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
76
All those things we’ve let define us.
HOWARD
And why?
MARIELLA
Because they’ve turned into the things that enslave
us. I get it…
HOWARD
(Sits)
MARIELLA
So… what do you think?
HOWARD
I think. Have you thought about what you want to do
after school, Mari?
MARIELLA
(Shakes her head) Not really. I know I want to go to
college… maybe City University/
HOWARD
What about D.C.?
MARIELLA
You mean Washington D.C.?
HOWARD
Exactly.
MARIELLA
Nah I never thought of that. You really…you really
have to be someone to go there/
HOWARD
(Waving her off) And YOU, my dear, are somebody! You
can do it, Mari. You put your mind to it and you can
go anywhere… do anything.
MARIELLA
You…for real?
HOWARD
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I swear on my wife and all that I love.
MARIELLA
Really?
HOWARD
Really. You are special, Mari. One of a kind.
MARIELLA
I’m not as pretty as Mrs. Selah… Pretty, smells nice,
dresses good and can cook and clean like nobody’s
business.
HOWARD
All that wears off eventually…believe me. I don’t
talk to her like this. She can’t understand the
sacrifices folks like us have to make because she’s
too busy dressing everything up to look nice. But you
and me…we know how ugly things can get, don’t we?
MARIELLA
I never thought of it… DC…
HOWARD
Sho nuff. (He looks at his watch) It’s time. You
ready?
(MARIELLA shakes her head)
SCENE 4 – Before the Board
BC and WC (The two COMPANIES stand shoulder to
shoulder on either side of MARI, facing
each other)
MARIELLA
Ladies and Gentlemen of the board and members of the
United Federation of Teachers Union, first I’d like to
thank you for the opportunity to speak today. My name
is Mariella Marie Jones and I am a student at 271. As
a student in the Ocean Hill Brownsville system, I have
heard my classmates called ‘impossible’, ‘unteachable’
and ‘incapable’ of learning. I have been a body in
the overcrowded classrooms and tried to study from
tattered books. Just last month a white teacher
called me out of my name and I was threatened with
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suspension. I do not, however, stand before you as a
victim of the New York City Public school system. I
stand before you as its survivor.
I know the black school committee reassigned your
teachers and changed your curriculum. I know the
strike is a direct result of that. But I have to say,
I’m glad for it. I’m glad for it because it created
this moment. This very moment where a black girl from a single parent home, whose very mother is on the
school committee has a chance to speak and be heard.
We need black teachers in our classrooms. Not to
further segregate ‘us’ from ‘yall’, but because it
wouldn’t be appropriate for anyone else to hold up
society’s mirror in front of us and show how few
opportunities we actually have. I think only a black
person can really show us how to climb the
mountaintops of our own potential. With respect,
there isn’t a white person among you that can share
the expanse of those views because being white in
America is like starting on a hillside. You can’t see
how dark the view is from down here. You can’t
understand what it’s like to walk in the shadow of
doubt. You don’t know what the battle is like to be
us. And you never can because you’re existence is
defined by the privilege of being born as you.
We need black teachers who will train us to want
more. To expect more for ourselves and our
communities. As a single parent, my mother was able
to raise me to do just that, but it wasn’t easy.
Every struggle came with sacrifice and even though
she’s too proud to say it, I know she wants more than
that for me.
We’re not forcing y’all to step out. We’re
asking y’all to step back. Give us a chance to sit at
the table and share the slice. Our parents may have
fought too hard, waited too long and been beaten too
low to be able to ask politely.
The question, ladies and gentlemen, is whether or
not you have the confidence in yourselves…in
America…to step to the side and give us a spot as
spacious as yours. A corner, even, as cushy as those
designated for your own children. You know as well as
I do that some of us can only get that opportunity in
the classroom because the hard palm of poverty has
robbed it from our homes. Thus far, that hand has been
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continually used against us. If you want to change
anything in the schools, in this city and even in your
own lives you will take this moment and give us the
chance we never had. The choice, and hopefully for
the last time in my lifetime, is entirely up to you.
Thank you very much.
SCENE 5 – The Woman of the House KALEE
(SADIE comes out of the kitchen with
two plates of food.)
SADIE
Mariella! Dinner!
(She waits. No response)
SADIE
Mari, I want to talk to you…
(SADIE pokes her head into MARIELLA’s
room. We hear her say her name a few
times. She emerges from MARIELLA’s
room with the tape recorder in her
arms. She shuts MARIELLA’s door, moves
her plate of food and puts the recorder
on the table. She inspects it for a
bit, puts the headphones on and presses
‘play’.
As she listens, we see the color drain
from her face. After about a minute
she rips the headphones off.)
(Lights up on SELAH. She is dusting,
humming, smiling when there is a knock
at the door. She opens it eagerly)
SADIE
You Mrs…Leavy?
SELAH
Yes…yes I am. Do I know you?
SADIE
No. I’m Mariella’s mother
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SELAH
Oh! How nice to meet/ you
SADIE
Have you seen my daughter?
SELAH
No…she hasn’t been here today…
SADIE
I need to speak with your husband
SELAH
I’m afraid he’s not here. Would you like to come in…?
(SADIE enters)
I can take your coat…
(SADIE inspects SELAH closely. SELAH
can feel it)
SADIE
I want you to know I have a real problem with what
y’all are feeding my daughter…
SELAH
Oh I’m sorry…she said she eats ‘everything’/
SADIE
No … I mean feeding her mind
SELAH
Oh
SADIE
I listened to some of the tapes you gave her
SELAH
My husband
SADIE
Your husband?
SELAH
That’s my husband’s work. He’s using those tapes /
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for
SADIE
I don’t care what he’s using them for. I don’t want
my daughter exposed to that kind of doctrine
SELAH
I’m sorry. What ‘doctrine’ do you mean?
SADIE
Doctrine that says black folks ain’t as good as
whites.
SELAH
Is that what it says?!
SADIE
Girl, you ain’t never listened to them yourself?
SELAH
No. That’s Howard’s stuff. He’s tried to explain it
to me but I don’t want anything to do with talk that
makes people so upset. I’d rather not entertain it.
(SADIE stands, looks around)
SADIE
Mari likes being over here…
SELAH
Yes. Yes she does. She said it ‘isn’t like her
place’.
SADIE
Oh really? And what does that mean?
SELAH
She just said there were more people coming through
and less/
SADIE
Less what?
SELAH
Less…order, I guess.
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SADIE
Is that so?
SELAH
That’s what she said. But she did tell me about your
exciting / travels.
SADIE
You got kids?
SELAH
No. Not yet.
SADIE
You work?
SELAH
I really don’t see why that’s any of your concern.
SADIE
You dress her up, fill her belly and stuff her head
with all kinds of nonsense and you think that’s not my
concern?
SELAH
I was being hospitable. I gave attention to a little
girl who craves it. Believe me. Perhaps if she got a
little more at home she wouldn’t be / here all the
time.
SADIE
Look I don’t know who you think you are.
SELAH
I am the woman of this house.
SADIE
And you best believe I am the woman in mine. I want
you and your husband to stay away from my daughter.
SELAH
Gladly. I was just telling Howard today that Mari is
over here far too much. To speak frankly, I’d prefer
if she didn’t come around so much. Unannounced
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sometimes. She and my husband seem to have a liking
for each other. It’s silly really. They talk as if
they are going to change the world. Your daughter is
our hired help. That’s where our relationship with
her begins and ends.
SADIE
You know, you ain’t so cute that you can’t be slapped
in your own home.
SELAH
You put one finger on me and I’ll have the police here
before you reach the street.
SADIE
You think they’d come? You live on the black side of town, sweetie. No amount of apron wearing or dusting
change that. I’ll let myself out. (She grabs her
coat, turns to leave).
SELAH
You know, Mariella told me she had nothing in common
with her mother.
(SADIE turns)
SELAH (cont’d)
I see now that wasn’t exactly the truth.
SADIE
You stay away from my baby girl.
(SADIE exits. SELAH locks the door
behind her)
SCENE 6– Mari’s Get out KALEE
(HOWARD and MARIELLA enter. They are
incredulous. All at once HOWARD takes
MARI in his arms)
HOWARD
We did it. Mari you were…magnificent!
MARIELLA
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Thank you Mr. Howard!
HOWARD
When you didn’t say what we’d practiced I have to
admit I got worried. But you made the argument for
black teachers so elegantly,so clear…how could they
say ‘no’? Really. I couldn’t have gotten this far
without you.
MARIELLA
Oh, Mr. Howard, I’m so, so glad you said that. Cuz I
have an idea. I was thinking. I was thinking I could
maybe live with you and Ms. Selah…? I’ll help around
the house… earn my keep. The thing is it’s like you
said. My mind needs to be tended to… so it doesn’t…
just dry out and die in the ground. And if I live
with you and go to school and we keep working like this there’s no way that could happen.
HOWARD
Live with us?
MARIELLA
Mmmmmn hmmn.
HOWARD
Mari. What about your mother?
MARIELLA
Oh, she won’t care. She doesn’t get it. She’s the
least free of them all. She believes that you stick
to your own and you ‘fight the man’ and that’s the end
of it. I’ll never get anywhere living with her/
HOWARD
But Mari… It’s not that simple. Selah/
MARIELLA
Ms. Selah gave me the idea! She said every girl has to
have a get out plan. She got out from under her
mother to make a life for herself. I have to do the
same thing if I’m ever going to make anything of
myself… or go to D.C./
HOWARD
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You already are so much. You’ve already ‘made
something’. Why would you think living with us would
change that?
MARIELLA
Working with you started it. And look how far we’ve
come …I have to stay here to / survive.
HOWARD
Mari/
MARIELLA
Please think about it. Please. Will you at least
think about it…?
HOWARD
Mari…
MARIELLA
(gathering her things)
I have to go. You don’t have to say anything right
now. Just think about it. Please. For me.
MARIELLA exits.
SCENE 7 – The Recorder SHANELLE
(MARIELLA sneaks into her home. She goes in her
room looking for the recorder. The COMPANY
huddles around her recorder in the living room,
passing the headphones between each other.
MARIELLA comes out of her room and sees that they
have the recorder. She busts through them,
angry, and grabs it. She stuffs it in her
backpack and leaves, slamming the door)
SCENE 8 – The Seed KALEE
(SELAH tidies up, nervously. She keeps an
eye on the door. HOWARD enters)
SELAH
How did it go?
HOWARD
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Amazing.
SELAH
ReallY?!
HOWARD
They want a copy of the manuscript when it’s finished.
SELAH
Oh Howard!
HOWARD
Mari blew them away. She was…well she was something
special. She knocked it out of the park! The board
wants to read the manuscript when it’s finished and
meet with me over the summer about how to implement
the ideas in the 5 poorest schools in the system. She
won it for us, honey. She really did./
SELAH
Mari’s mother came here looking for her.
HOWARD
For Mari?
SELAH
Yes.
HOWARD
I’m surprised. I would have thought Mari would have
told her she was speaking to the school board.
SELAH
Well she didn’t. She doesn’t agree with what she’s
learning here and wants us nowhere near her daughter.
HOWARD
What are you talking about?
SELAH
Mari can’t come over here anymore.
HOWARD
(Getting his coat on) I have to go over there and
introduce myself…tell her what Mari did today and how
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much I need her.
SELAH
That’s not going to work. She left quite upset.
HOWARD
What? Why? What did you do?
SELAH
I didn’t do anything. I simply explained what our relationship with Mari is… we hired her to complete a
job. And she’s completed it as far as I can see.
HOWARD
You really are something else, you know that?
SELAH
There is no problem here, Howard. We got what we
needed from her, and now she’s free to go.
HOWARD
But the work… the book is half hers. If we hadn’t
spent all that time talking…if she hadn’t presented it
like she did… She deserves this just as much as we do.
I’m going over there.
SELAH
Howard…
HOWARD
Do we have her number?
SELAH
Howard now it’s my turn to share some news…
HOWARD
I think she gave it to us…
SELAH
Howard I’m pregnant.
(HOWARD sits)
SELAH (cont’d)
Aren’t you happy…?
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HOWARD
I don’t know.
SELAH
What do you mean ‘You don’t know’? I’m pregnant and
you’ve nearly sold the book. This is our chance to
put every page of it to the test. It’s how we raise
our own that will make the difference, right? And now
we’ll really have the means to raise a family like we
should.
HOWARD
But Mari…she’s…she’s
SELAH
She is not part of this family./
HOWARD
I owe her.
SELAH
Look at me. Howard? You look at me. You don’t owe
her a thing. You paid her for her work and now it’s
time to move on and focus on our family.
HOWARD
But she wants to…she wants to.
SELAH
Howard, I’ve played my part and now you need to be the
man you say you are and play yours. Seems to me a
black man spends his whole damn life making every
excuse for his dreams and we spend our entire lives
making excuses for y’all. Your dream has been
realized, Howard. You’ve got a wife and a child on
the way. You got a book that’s gonna ensure this
child grows up with the means neither of us had.
That’s the real difference between white folks and Negros. Always has been. White folks know when to
cash in and get out. Negroes wanna sit around and
wait for the entire race to get on board.
Don’t you look at me like I’m some kind of
monster. You chose me because you knew good and well
what having a woman that looks like me means. Now I
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choose you because I know you will do right by this
child. It’s everything you’ve worked for. Now you go
on and say it. Go on and say that our family begins
right now.
SCENE 9 MARIELLA walks to HOWARD’s home in the night.
WHITE BOYS SEAN / KALEE SPLIT K Say girlie, what are you doing out this time of night?
S Not so safe to be waking the streets this late…
Unless walking the streets is what you do!
K What’s that you’re holding so tight?
Let us see…
(They try to take MARIELLA’S recorder.
She holds tight)
K You’d better let go before we have to force it from you
LET GO!! (They pull so hard she falls forward,
scraping her knee)
S Well. Isn’t this nice?
I’ll say. This is one nice piece of equipment.
K So nice it makes me wonder/
S Makes me wonder too.
Makes us wonder where in the world some little negro
street walker got such a fiiiine piece of equipment
MARIELLA
Please. Give me my recorder back. It’s for my job/
WHITE MALE
K Well I’ll be! She’s got a job!
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A true American, aren’t you?
Work your way up. Earn your keep.
S Getting started a little early, wouldn’t you say? Say, how much you make at this job?
You make more than me?
K Maybe she makes more than my Daddy.
S Surely that can’t be!
K Yea. She makes more than my Daddy. You know how I know?
S How do you know?
K Cuz my Daddy used to be a teacher at her school. My daddy used to teach before all those Niggers went and
kicked him out.
S You don’t say! So now your Daddy/
Don’t make a cent. Not one dime cuz someone decided
he wasn’t good enough… nigger enough to teach anymore
K I wonder who woulda said that? Do you know who coulda said something like that?
(MARIELLA moves to go)
WHITE MALES (cont’d)
S Hold on there girlie. Now we suppose if you can afford such a fine piece of equipment you must make
more than poor Frank’s daddy. And from the looks of
that dress…
K That sure is some dress.
Frilly and fine just like what my sister wears. What
you doing wearing a dress like that?
MARIELLA
Please…
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WHITES
S Please who?
MARIELLA
Please. Sir. I just wanna…
WHITES
K We’ll let you go. See. We don’t want a thing to do with you. Except…
S Except…
K Well now that my Daddy is out of a job he can’t afford fine dresses like that for my sweet little
sister.
S His little Sister is soooooo Sa-weet!
…and she’d be tickled silly to have a dress like that.
K So we’re thinking we let you go.
S You’re free to go your merry way.
K Once you take that dress off and give it to me so I can bring it home to my sweet little sister.
MARIELLA
Please/
WHITES SEAN And thank you. Go Ahead. Unzip
(MARIELLA unzips Selah’s dress dress
and slides it off. She wears just a
slip, socks and shoes. She is freezing)
WHITES (cont’d)
K Well thank you. Thank you very much. We’ll be on our way…
SCENE 10 – Four Dollars Difference KALEE
(HOWARD is sitting in a chair facing
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the mantle. MARIELLA enters, quietly.
She takes her shoes off and places them
carefully by the side of the door.
MARIELLA
Howard…?
HOWARD
Mari?! It’s late…what are you doing here? What
happened to you!? Mari? Tell me! What happened / to
you
MARIELLA
They…They…
(HOWARD grabs something to put around her)
HOWARD
Are you hurt?
(MARIELLA shakes her head)
MARIELLA
Did you ask for me?
HOWARD
(shakes his head.)
MARIELLA
Is Mrs. Selah here? Did you ask for me?
HOWARD
I can’t ask her. You can’t live here, Mari.
MARIELLA
Why not? Don’t you care about me?
HOWARD
I do…
MARIELLA
Show me. Show me that / you care.
HOWARD
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I can’t/
MARIELLA
Let me live here. Please. Take me with you. You are
my way out. I can’t go back home… I need a get out.
(SELAH watches, undetected from the top of
the stairs. Female members of the White
Company descend the stairs. They encroach
upon MARIELLA…)
HOWARD
You can’t live here, Mari. We can’t accommodate you./
MARIELLA
Yes, yes you can. You won’t.
HOWARD
Do you understand what you are asking of me?
MARIELLA
I do.
HOWARD
I / can’t.
MARIELLA
I don’t care about anyone but you. You are the only
person who cares about me and you won’t take me in!?
HOWARD
It doesn’t work like that, Mari. I have a family. I
have to take care of them first. I have to…
MARIELLA
Why? You don’t got no kids! Mrs. Selah loves the
company and I’d help you finish writing our book…
organize your papers… realize our dreams. I can do
that. You said it yourself… you need me. You need a
brain like mine and together we’ll make a book the
likes of which no one has ever seen – black or white.
We can do that you just gotta help me first./
HOWARD
No, Mari.
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WC (The WHITE COMPANY restrains her as she
tries to approach him)
MARIELLA
Wh---why?
HOWARD
Because I just can’t.
MARIELLA
Did I… did I do something wrong?
HOWARD
Of course not./
MARIELLA
Then why? Unless you can’t…you can’t tend to someone
else’s seed? Is that it?
KALEE (The WOMEN stand between them. The male
members of the WHITE Company stand
behind them.)
Oh. I see. My house ain’t like this. My Mama work.
My Daddy ain’t around. So I ain’t got it. I got the
smarts to speak to the school board and even get to DC
but I don’t have the credentials to live here.
HOWARD
That’s not it, Mari. You’re not mine. Not my…
responsibility. I appreciate everything you’ve
done...really I do.
(MARIELLA breaks through and tries to
get up the stairs. The WOMEN block
her)
MARIELLA
Mrs. Selah?!! You here?!
HOWARD
She won’t./
MARIELLA
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Mrs. Selah?! It’s me/
HOWARD
Don’t shout for her like that! She’s resting.
MARIELLA
You ain’t telling me the truth. I can tell. I wanna
say goodbye.
HOWARD
You already have. Now I want… I want you to have this
SEAN (A male COMPANY member hands HOWARD a check. MARIELLA takes it in
her hands and stares at it.)
You’ve got so much potential, Mari. Don’t let
anything stop you from fulfilling it.
KALEE(MARIELLA crumples the check in her palm. She lets it drop to the
ground. She looks around at the cold
eyes of the White COMPANY. She retreats
to the door and lines her shoes
carefully in front of her. She slips
her feet in them, facing the door.
After a moment, she turns around)
MARIELLA
Your book ain’t gonna win you a penny, Mr. Leavy. I
can guarantee you that. It has numbers that make
white people feel good and maybe a few of ‘em will
read it but it won’t convince nobody one way or
another and you know why? Cuz I did that. I made them listen and whatever you try to give them after me
is gonna fall as flat and empty as those dumb
statistics you started with cuz it ain’t got no soul
or voice or hope to it… I brought that. And you can
go ‘head and tell Mrs. Leavy I got my get out.
WC
(MARIELLA exits. The White COMPANY
shuts the door behind her, their eyes
stay glued on the door. SELAH’s eyes
are on HOWARD and HOWARD’S stay on the
floor)
SCENE 11 – The Warriors SHANELLE
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(SADIE sits on the couch looking
straight ahead. GEORGE enters)
SADIE
You seen Mari?
GEORGE
No. She alright?
SADIE
(Shrugs)
GEORGE
You want me to go and look for her?
SADIE
(Shrugs again)
She’ll be back.
GEORGE
Sweetheart.
SADIE
Probably told me where she’d be. I just forgot.
GEORGE
I’m just gonna go get some milk. You need anything?
SADIE
No. I’m fine. Don’t lock the door behind you. I
don’t know if Mari has her keys.
(MARIELLA enters. She has a backpack,
and is wearing whatever HOWARD put on
her. Her knee bleeds badly. The
COMPANY takes HOWARD’s things off of
her and clothes her, gently. They take
her backpack)
GEORGE
Mari?! What happened to you?
MARIELLA
I’m ok.
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SADIE
Baby? Come here.
GEORGE
Who did this?
MARIELLA
Some white boys. I don’t know. I don’t know who they
were. They took my recorder. And pushed me down.
GEORGE
They pushed you?
MARIELLA
(crying into her Mother’s arm)
They took my dress too.
GEORGE can’t take another word. He
gets his hat and coat on.
SADIE
Dad? Where are you going?
GEORGE
I’m going to find those hoodlums! What kind of person
attacks a young girl? I’m going to find them and I’m
going to /
SADIE
To do what?
GEORGE
I’m going to. I’m going to /
SHANELLE AND MALIK (The women of the BLACK COMPANY stop
him. They take off his coat. The men
lead him by the arm. GEORGE fights them
with all he can at his age. We see his
rage for the first time.)
GEORGE (cont’d)
They can’t just do that. It’s not right. You’re a
good girl, Mari. I know you didn’t do anything wrong.
You don’t deserve that.
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SADIE
Nobody deserves it, Dad.
GEORGE is visibly upset. MARIELLA goes
to him and hugs him long.
MARIELLA
I’m ok, Grandpa. I’m ok. They didn’t break anything.
GEORGE
(Holding her so tight)
You promise, Sugar?
MARIELLA
Yes. I’ll be ok.
MALIK (Male members of the company give him
the time to believe her. They walk him
to his room, heavily supporting him.
Female members of the company give
SADIE hot water and a kitchen towel.
She wipes the blood from MARIELLA’S
knee.)
MARIELLA
Mama./
SADIE
I don’t expect you to tell me what happened. /
MARIELLA
That is what happened. Honest. /
SADIE
I’m sorry I haven’t been there for you. Paid more of
my attention /
MARIELLA
Don’t apologize, Mama. Please? I shouldn’t have been
out. You told me not to go out.
SADIE
You’d never leave me, Baby. Would you? I swear it
feels sometimes like everyone is leaving me. I didn’t
do that bad a job, did I?
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MARIELLA
No, Mama… you did the best job./
SADIE
Cuz you can’t keep someone here if they drowning, you
know? You just can’t. It ain’t right…
(MARI puts SADIE’s arm around her)
MARIELLA
Where am I gonna go?
BC (The COMPANY watches over them as they
sit on the couch. They take the blood
stained towel and paint warrior
markings on their faces.)
SADIE
Strike is over.
MARIELLA
I know.
SADIE
All we wanted was our own. What kinda ‘own’ is it if
you gotta ask for it and then hope they in the mood to
give it to you?
MARIELLA
We lost this one.
SADIE
(Leans into her daughter.)
Yea.
MARIELLA
Just this one. Mama…?
SHANELLE AND MALIK (The female company members keep
watchful eye over MARIELLA and
SADIE. The men turn their backs
and face outside the protective
circle, keeping watch and standing
guard)
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7
100
SADIE
Yes, Baby?
MARIELLA
What we gonna do now?
SADIE
What we’ve always done. We keep fighting, together.
It keeps us here. It’s what we’ve always done…
LIGHTS
END OF PLAY.
JUNE 2020
DRAFT 7