Gloria Bond Clunie Playwright’s Festival

Character Type/Restrictions:

VISITATION

SUMMARY Dawn and her husband Anthony live out their days in a cookie-cutter suburbia, aware of the fourth wall. Dawn enjoys chatting with the audience and having the stage to herself while Anthony is at work. Dawn's peace is disturbed when a new character, Joan, who is unaware of the audience, waits for the bus near the house; Dawn, both annoyed and intrigued, invites her in for coffee and remains fixated on her.

CHARACTERS
DAWN, a white woman, 30s-40s
ANTHONY, a white man, 30s-40s
JOAN, a Black woman, 30s-40s

MISS SPENCE'S PLAY

SUMMARY
Clashing egos, a secret liaison, and opposing beliefs threaten to ruin the debut of Eulalie Spence's prize-winning play, HER. Long simmering divisions emerge within the Krigwa Players Little Negro Theatre as they rehearse the play for its 1927 premiere at the height of the Harlem Renaissance in New York City. The show triumphs, but at what cost? Inspired by true events.

CHARACTERS
EULALIE SPENCE: 33 years old. Dynamic New Woman savoring her artistic and financial independence in New York City's "roaring twenties." West Indian, born on Nevis (1894-1981). Award-winning playwright, drama and elocution teacher, actor, director.
W.E.B. DUBOIS: 59 years old. Aloof, often acid. Acclaimed scholar and social justice campaigner whose notoriously short fuse and formal Victorian demeanor is out of step with 1920s New York. African-American, born in Barrington, Massachusetts (1868-1963). Founder and editor of The Crisis magazine.
JESSIE FAUSET: 45 years old. Quietly brilliant literary editor of The Crisis and novelist. Unlucky in love, daughter of a prominent minister. African American, born in Lawnside, New Jersey (1882-1961). Beloved mentor to the Harlem Renaissance's young generation of writers.

BLACK ENOUGH
SUMMARY A Black playwright has one night to write a "black enough" play for their white Boss Man. Creativity, Doubt, and Logic pop in to help. Generations of family and culture are explored in the form of vignettes and choreopoems - highlighting black men through history shaping and changing America while still living on the margins of society. Ghosts of the past reckon with their place in the still changing present and future.

CHARACTERS

Boss Man The Playwright Creativity Logic Doubt/The Child (double cast)

BOSS MAN (he/him, 56): An "experienced," white curator of a theater who selfishly wants to control everything he sees. His insecurity of not being able to write like he used to is taken out on every poor soul he encounters. Whether that's the people he employs or the unfortunate worker at the local Taco Bell.
THE PLAYWRIGHT (they/them, 27): A downtrodden creative who loves creating, but is constantly being dictated by their emotions and the industry.
CREATIVITY (they/them, 27): The high energy, excitable personified form of self expression and passion projects. A constant stream of ideas and suggestions, but very easily distracted...wait, what was I saying?
LOGIC (they/them, 27): A rigid character who focuses on the realistic aspects of life. The glass isn't half empty or half full, there is simply water in it and you're dehydrated. Perhaps you should consider remedying that.
DOUBT (they/them, 27): A deeply unpleasant character whose only purpose is to stir the pot and cause chaos and fear. Whenever they speak (unless specified otherwise), all characters go silent as they listen to the parasite in their ear that whispers poison on a silver tongue.
THE CHILD (she/her, 8): The inner child that every Black creative has. The child who was rejected, made fun of, hated because they were passionate about something. This is the child that the world tries to destroy for fear that they will create something beautiful. They're innocent, but the rejection leads to something more sinister. They grow into DOUBT.

*Note: The characters will remain unnamed for the entirety of the play. Their names are overall irrelevant and should be left up to the audience create their own interpretations of who the character represent.