What a Piece of Work Is Man!: Full-Length Plays for Leading Women

Copyright © 2016 Yvette Heyliger.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

The plays in this collection are works of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this collection are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

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Book Cover Photo and Author Photos:

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ISBN: 978-1-4917-5005-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4917-5006-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016905378

iUniverse rev. date: 01/03/2017

Contents

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Prologue

Bridge to Baraka: I Am That Bear

White House Wives: Operation Lysistrata!

Can a sex strike change the course of history? In this full-length anti-war comedy with music, First Lady Laura Bush proposes a preemptive sex strike to the wives of the architects of the impending war in Iraq. But will they enlist? Inspired by Aristophanes’s Lysistrata, the play captures his strong anti-war message, laced with the bawdy sexual humor so enjoyed by ancient, as well as present-day, audiences.

Artist’s Statement

What the Critics Had to Say

Cast of Characters

Notes from the Playwright

White House Wives: Operation Lysistrata!

ACT ONE

ACT TWO

What Would Jesus Do?

Family, church, sex… and HIV. This full-length intergenerational drama with music tells the story of a God-fearing wife and mother who is exposed to HIV by her down low husband and is inspired to take action when she asks, What would Jesus do? The surprising answer may just bring her Biblically-correct church to its knees! Music infuses this timely and (unfortunately) still-relevant play, which challenges interfaith and secular communities to do more to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic and its stigma in our homes, communities and houses of worship.

Artist’s Statement

What the Critics Had to Say

Cast of Characters

Notes from the Playwright

ACT ONE             Scene 1

Scene 2

ACT TWO             Scene 1

Scene 2

ACT THREE

Alternate Monologue

What Would Jesus Do? Theme (Lead Sheet)

Hillary And Monica: The Winter of Her Discontent

This one-act comedy explores what might have happened if the former First Lady and the infamous intern had a chance meeting before the scandal broke. Can Hillary save Monica from herself and secure a future run for President of the United States?

Artist’s Statement

What the Critics Had to Say

Cast of Characters

Timeline

ACT ONE

Father’s Day

In this full-length drama, victim becomes perpetrator when an estranged husband and father turns to his daughter for comfort. Will they seek the help they need to begin the process of healing and thwart the cycle of sexual abuse?

Artist’s Statement

Cast of Characters

Father’s Day

ACT ONE             Scene 1

Scene 2

ACT TWO             Scene 1

Scene 2

ACT TWO              Scene 3

Homegirl (Formerly Autobiography of a Homegirl)

Against the backdrop of the first black woman to win the Miss America title, this full-length drama portrays Roanetta wrestling with issues of race, color and beauty when her daughter’s absentee father shows up with his white fiancée. Edited and re-printed for this collection, the play candidly yet humorously, takes a look at the impact that playing with only white dolls has on the self-esteem of women of color.

Artist’s Statement

What the Critics Had to Say

Cast of Characters

Homegirl

ACT ONE              Scene 1

Scene 2

ACT TWO

ACT THREE

I Am Mother Africa (Lead Sheet)

Afterword, Sylvia Sprinkle Hamlin

Outro, An Open Letter to First Lady Michelle Obama

Postscript

About the Author

About the Contributor

About the Editor

CAUTION: Professionals and amateurs are hereby warned that performances of the plays contained in this collection, What a Piece of Work Is Man! Full-Length Plays for Leading Women by Yvette Heyliger, which includes Bridge to Baraka (Excerpt), White House Wives: Operation Lysistrata!, Hillary and Monica: The Winter of Her Discontent, What Would Jesus Do?, Father’s Day, and Homegirl, are all subject to a royalty. They are fully protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America and all countries covered by the International Copyright Union (including the Dominion of Canada and the rest of the British Commonwealth) and of all countries covered by the Pan-American Copyright Convention, the Universal Copyright Convention, the Berne Convention, and of all countries with which the United States has reciprocal copyright relations.

Except for brief passages quoted in newspaper, magazine, radio, or television reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form. All rights must be secured with permission, in writing, from the author, and include but are not limited to professional and amateur stage performing, video/audio recording, motion picture, recitation, lecturing, public reading, radio broadcasting, television, or any means of graphic, electronic or mechanical information storage or retrieval system now known or yet to be invented. Additionally, the rights of translation into foreign languages are also expressly reserved.

Publication of the plays within this collection does not imply availability for performance. Both amateurs and professionals considering a production are strongly advised, in their own interests, to apply to the author or her representative before starting rehearsals, advertising or booking a theatre. Please note that amateur royalty fees are set upon application in accordance with your producing circumstances. When applying for a royalty quotation and license, please give the number of performances intended, dates of production, your seating capacity, and admission fees. Royalties are payable two weeks before the opening performance of the play.

Particular emphasis is placed on the question of readings, professional and amateur performing rights, and all uses of the play or plays in this collection by educational institutions (including photocopying part of the work for classroom use), permission for which must be secured from the author. It is not permissible to reproduce, and in reproduced form, distribute any of this material. Permission is required to perform even part of any of these plays, and the owner of the copyright, the author not the producer, must decide when a studio or classroom performance or reading is deemed private.

Again, in all instances, amateur or professional producers as well as educational institutions are expressly warned that performance rights cover not only production, but also readings, and therefore they must apply for royalty quotation and license or permission for classroom or studio use from Yvette Heyliger c/o Twinbiz, 125 West 116th Street, Suite 3A, New York, NY 10026, yvette@twinbiz.com, or her representative.

Anyone receiving permission to produce one of the plays contained within this volume is required to give credit to the author of the play, Yvette Heyliger, on the title page of all programs distributed in connection with the performances of the Play and in all instances of which the title of the Play appears for the purposes of advertising, publicizing or otherwise exploiting the Play and/or a production. The name of the author must appear on a separate line in which no other name appears, immediately beneath the title, and must appear in size and type not less than fifty percent the size of the title type. No one shall commit or authorize any act or omission by which the copyright of, or the right to copyright, this play, may be impaired. No one shall make any changes in this play for the purposes of production.

Special Note on Songs and Recordings

Publication of What a Piece of Work Is Man! Full-Length Plays for Leading Women by Yvette Heyliger, does not imply permission to use the songs or recorded sound cues mentioned within the plays in this collection for productions. For use of copyrighted songs, arrangements or recordings mentioned in this collection, the permission of the copyright owner(s) should be obtained. If necessary, other songs, arrangements or recordings may be substituted, provided permission from the copyright owner(s) is also obtained. Songs, arrangements or recordings in the public domain may be substituted. In either case, please confer with author regarding substitutions.

With regard to the musical selection Women Stage the World, music and lyrics by Sheilah Rae, which appears in the play Bridge to Baraka: I Am That Bear by Yvette Heyliger (see Prologue), the composer/lyricist or her representative will advise applicants regarding use of music and royalty quotation at the time of application for license. Please direct all inquiries to Bret Adams, Ltd at 212-765-5630.

The overture, arrangements, interstitial and original music for What Would Jesus Do? was composed and arranged by Larry Farrow of Piano Man Productions and can be obtained once the rights to lease the play have been secured. The lead sheet for What Would Jesus Do? Theme has been included; however, as with the plays in this collection, its inclusion does not imply right of usage. For use, you are advised to seek permission of the copyright owners or their representatives.

Anyone receiving permission to use music associated with the production of What Would Jesus Do? is required to give credit to the playwright/lyricist, Yvette Heyliger (for What Would Jesus Do? Theme), and the composer/arranger, Larry Farrow, on the title page of all programs distributed in connection with the performances of the Play and in all instances of which the title of the Play appears for the purposes of advertising, publicizing or otherwise exploiting the Play and/or a production.

The name of the author must appear on a separate line in which no other name appears, immediately beneath the title, and must appear in size and type not less than fifty percent the size of the title type. The name of the composer/arranger should come immediately beneath the author’s.

With regard to selections of music composed or arranged by Larry Farrow which are cited in other plays in this collection, including I Am Mother Africa from the play, Homegirl, the composer or his representative will advise applicants regarding use of music and royalty quotation at the time of application for license. Please direct all inquiries to Larry Farrow, Piano Man Productions, PO Box 8566, Los Angeles, CA 90008, www.larryfarrow.com or his representative.

What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! in form and moving how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? man delights not me: no, nor woman neither, though by your smiling you seem to say so.

‒Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

Act II, Scene ii

Dedication

To my daughters, Stella and Faith, my grandson, Zelalem, and future generations: this is my legacy—not money, property or celebrity (at time of printing anyway!)—but a life dedicated to making a difference through theatre and service.

And to poet, playwright, actor, and producing artist William Shakespeare, on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of your death—I am African American, a woman, and a playwright living in a new millennium, yet I feel a connection to you across time and place. I experience your blessings in my work and am honored to have a seat at the table you have prepared for those who have been called to the noble art of playwriting. We are the beneficiaries of the precedent which you have set for our craft—a precedent which speaks to the intrinsic universality of your good works, works which you probably never imagined would transcend your very own human life and times. I thank you for this repast! And to those who would question my presence at the table, I echo joyfully the words of W.E.B. Du Bois from his book The Souls of Black Folks (1903): I sit with Shakespeare and he winces not.

Foreword

I am pleased to write the foreword to Yvette Heyliger’s new book, a collection of her plays entitled What a Piece of Work Is Man! Full-Length Plays for Leading Women. My name is Voza Rivers and I am Executive Producer and Founding Member of New York City’s oldest black not-for-profit theatre, New Heritage Theatre Group (established1964); Founding Member of the Coalition of Theatres of Color; Co-Founder of the 2008 Academy and Grammy Award-nominee, Impact Repertory Theatre; Chairman and CEO of Voz Entertainment Group; and Chairman of the Harlem Arts Alliance, a cultural service and advocacy organization of over 800 members, including not-for-profit and for-profit cultural organizations; performing, visual and literary artists; universities, churches and museums.

As a producer and friend, I have mentored Yvette over many of the years of our association. I have witnessed Yvette’s growth as both a playwright and a producing artist, both in and outside of our Harlem community. I have participated in supporting and/or producing some of the plays in this collection during their developmental stages by presenting them in readings, as a fiscal sponsor or as an associate producer with Twinbiz™, which Yvette and her producing partner and twin sister, Yvonne Farrow, founded over twenty-five years ago. Their mission is to educate, entertain and serve, and Yvette’s plays do just that. I am pleased to see her plays and artistic essays published for the enrichment and enjoyment of future generations of theatre lovers. Together they tell the story of an artist and activist working in the historically prolific and vibrant cultural community of Harlem.

Yvette and I first met in the late 1980s, when I selected an early draft of her very first play, Homegirl (entitled Barbie Dolls at the time), for a reading in the Roger Furman Theatre’s Voices of Griots Reading Series, at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem. In 1995 I presented a staged reading of the play to a packed house at B. Smith’s Rooftop Café in midtown Manhattan. That presentation was made possible with a grant Yvette had won from the Manhattan Community Arts Fund, as well as with support from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the New York State Council on the Arts and Voz Entertainment Group. A year later, the twins produced Homegirl (aka Autobiography of a Homegirl) in Los Angeles at the Hollywood Court Theatre. This would be the debut production for the twins as producing partners. Partially funded by Bill Cosby, the play was a surprise hit! It ran for three months and received great reviews, garnering Yvette a nomination as Best Playwright at the 1996 NAACP Theatre Awards.

Cast of the reading of Homegirl at B. Smith’s Rooftop Café. Standing (l to r), Harlem arts magnate Voza Rivers with André Ware, Johnnie Mae Allen, Allison Eikeren, and Lee Graham; seated (l to r), Dawn Swatchick, playwright Yvette Heyliger and Yvonne Farrow; on the floor is Melissa Nanton, and seated far right is drummer Tyrone Gilliard.

Photo: Courtesy New Heritage Theatre

Upon her return home, Yvette honed the play in a local festival—Jacqueline Wade’s Women of Color Theatre Festival—which presented Homegirl at the Henry Street Settlement, The Theatre of the Riverside Church and Black Spectrum Theatre, a member of the Coalition of Theatres of Color. The play went on to be selected for presentation in the National Black Theatre Festival 2001 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. For Yvette as a playwright and Twinbiz™ as a producing entity, this would be the first of many trips to this prestigious national festival, which celebrates the best of Black Theatre from around the country. Yvette went on to publish Autobiography of a Homegirl and was honored when Smith and Kraus chose to publish a monologue and scene for The Best Women’s Stage Monologues 2003 and The Best Stage Scenes 2003. I am very proud that New Heritage Theatre’s Roger Furman Theatre and its Voices of Griots Reading Series played a part in the development of this important and still-relevant work, which has been edited and re-printed in this collection.

In 2001 Yvette wrote a play entitled Hillary and Monica: The Winter of Her Discontent. After it was performed at the National Black Theatre Festival 2003, where it was a popular pick for audiences, Yvette and I presented the play in 2004 at The UnConvention: An American Theater Festival, a local New York festival held at the Abingdon Theatre Complex, where it was very well received. Hillary and Monica went on to be produced in a limited run by Gloucester Stage Company in Massachusetts in 2007, and again it was a favorite among audiences. Yvette continued to tweak the play and subsequently presented it in the Ninth Annual Midtown International Theatre Festival in 2008, where it received great reviews for both cast and playwright. Hillary and Monica: The Winter of Her Discontent is as clever and humorous as it is well-researched, and it is also respectful to the real-life characters who are the subjects of the play. I applaud Yvette’s tasteful and balanced handling of the subject matter.

In 2003 Yvette received a grant (her second) from the New York State Council on the Arts to write a play about family, church, sex, and HIV entitled What Would Jesus Do? The National Black Theatre, under the late Dr. Barbara Ann Teer, its Founder and Artistic Director, was the sponsoring organization for the grant, and the first draft of the play was read at National Black Theatre for National HIV/AIDS Awareness and Information Day 2004, which had been organized by the Harlem Directors Group. Yvette also received a Harlem Arts Alliance/Rockefeller Foundation re-grant in support of her work as an artist living and working in the Harlem community.

The following year I selected What Would Jesus Do? for New Heritage Theatre’s Roger Furman Reading Series. It was presented to a packed house at the Museum of the City of New York in recognition of National HIV Testing Day 2005. This event was another huge success and firmly established Yvette as a playwright who deeply cares about, and readily takes on, the challenging issues that face our community of Harlem. Following the reading, I recommended that, as she continued to work on the play, she make it something that people outside of the Harlem community would appreciate as well. She has done that and more, as you will discover from reading the play in this collection.

Yvette was not shy about handing out WWJD? condoms to audiences as they were leaving the reading. These were condoms which she designed and had made especially to promote the safer-sex message of her play. The audience also received HIV education materials provided by Harlem Congregations for Community Improvement’s Office of Health and Wellness Strategies, an office which has been created to combat health disparities and improve the holistic wellness of the Harlem community.

New Heritage Theatre served as fiscal sponsor for What Would Jesus Do? when it was presented at The Theatre of the Riverside Church in observance of World AIDS Day 2005. That production was made possible by a grant Yvette received from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Fund for Creative Communities, which required that she partner with a 501(c)(3) organization unrelated to theatre. She selected Harlem Congregations for Community Improvement, Lucille McEwen, Executive Director. Additional in-kind assistance for this production was provided by The Riverside Church HIV/AIDS Ministry, led at that time by the late Oliver Martin, and a grant was awarded by The Riverside Sharing Fund through The Riverside Mission and Social Justice Commission of The Riverside Church in the city of New York.

New Heritage Theatre also served as a fiscal sponsor for the Los Angeles world premiere of What Would Jesus Do? at the Hollywood Court Theatre in recognition of World AIDS Day. This production was selected for the 2007 National Black Theatre Festival and would make the third time one of Yvette’s plays was presented on the main stage at the National Black Theatre Festival. In 2008 the NAACP Theatre Awards bestowed Best Producer (Local) nominations on Yvonne Farrow (Twinbiz™) and her husband, Larry Farrow (Piano Man Productions), for their outstanding work producing the Los Angeles premiere of What Would Jesus Do? During the 2007 – 08 theatre season.

What Would Jesus Do? had its official New York debut at the Obie Award-winning Billie Holiday Theatre, a founding member of the Coalition of Theatres of Color. What Would Jesus Do? opened in the fall of 2009 and enjoyed a nearly sold-out run with a stellar cast led by Yvonne (who originated the role of Mrs. Wilson), and original music arranged and composed by Larry Farrow. It was an exciting evening when What Would Jesus Do? swept the 2010 Vivian Robinson AUDELCO Recognition Awards for Excellence in Black Theatre, winning seven awards, including the August Wilson Playwright Award for Yvette, the Lead Actress Award for Yvonne and Dramatic Production of the Year for producer Marjorie Moon.

2010 August Wilson Playwright Award-winner, Yvette Heyliger.

Photo: Courtesy of AUDELCO Recognition Awards for Excellence in Black Theatre.

Photographer: Hubert Williams

It should be noted that practically since its first pubic reading, excerpts of What Would Jesus Do? were being presented at colleges (Vassar College, Wesleyan University, The New School, Rutgers University and others), churches, prisons, workshops, youth and senior centers (including once, with the assistance of the Regional Resource Network’s HIV/AIDS Capacities Building Mini-Grant, in conjunction with Harlem Congregations for Community Improvement), and conferences—most notably a conference in Los Angeles in 2008 on HIV/AIDS hosted by the National Council of Negro Women, the National Coalition of 100 Black Women and the Black AIDS Institute.

True to her community roots, Yvette created the National Black HIV/AIDS (now HIV/STD) Theatre Initiative, which the twins launched on February 7, 2011 in Los Angeles. The idea for this initiative was inspired by Tunde Allen Samuel, the late Producing Artistic Director of Barbara Ann Teer’s National Black Theatre, also a member of the Coalition of Theatres of Color. Samuel expressed a wish to Yvette that black theatres do more to address the relentless HIV infection rate in our communities, and this was why she had initially written What Would Jesus Do? The mission of the National Black HIV/STD Theatre Initiative is to enlist and inspire professional and amateur playwrights, producers and presenting organizations to write, read or produce at least one theatrical work (a play, scenes, monologues, ten-minute plays, etc.) on HIV/AIDS or sexual health, to be presented in black theatres, churches, youth and senior centers, high schools, colleges, prisons, and living rooms across America during the week of National HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, until this preventable disease is eradicated.

We at the Harlem Arts Alliance are very proud that Yvette and Yvonne received a Resolution from the City of Los Angeles, signed by then Council President and now Mayor Eric Garcetti. The Resolution commemorates the launch of this life-saving initiative and also recognizes the twins’ efforts as artists to combat this disease for which African Americans account for almost half of the nation’s new infection rates. That is why, on HIV/AIDS Awareness Day 2012, at Dwyer Cultural Center, Twinbiz™—with the support of the International Communications Association—produced a marathon reading of original scenes, monologues and excerpts from plays by writers from the Harlem community on the subject of HIV/AIDS. Yvette not only gathered the writers, actors and directors together, but also provided an HIV expert, Debbie Lucy of Project Achieve, to respond to the information about HIV that was imparted in each scene, ensuring that the writers as well as the audience had the correct facts. Iris House came on board as a community partner, providing free and confidential HIV/AIDS testing and counseling administered on site by Jeffrey J. Padilla; tables with HIV information and condoms disbursed by Jerry Sheldon.

Yvette has included in this collection, Father’s Day, the play for which she received her first New York State Council on the Arts Individual Artist grant in 1989 and for which the Frank Silvera Writers’ Workshop was the umbrella organization. The Frank Silvera Writers’ Workshop, founded by the late Garland Lee Thompson, is one of the Harlem Arts Alliance’s founding member organizations. It was co-founded in 1973 by famed actor and director Morgan Freeman, director and actor Billie Allen and journalist Clayton Riley, and has been serving playwrights ever since. When Yvette completed work on Father’s Day, satisfying the requirements of the grant, Frank Silvera Writers’ Workshop gave the play a workshop production in March of 1990.

After the show closed, and thinking her work on the script was completed, Yvette then placed it in a drawer and moved on to write other plays. Fourteen years later she began the hard work of revising the script. She went back to the Frank Silvera Writers’ Workshop to ask for a reading of the new draft, and her request was granted. She continued her work on the script and followed up with another reading at Frank Silvera in 2007. After receiving valuable feedback, Yvette expanded the play into the two-act version you will have the benefit of reading in this volume. She credits the growth and development of Father’s Day to the home that was provided to her at the Frank Silvera Writers’ Workshop.

Yvette has also included in this collection White House Wives: Operation Lysistrata!, a play she began in 2008 at Hedgebrook, a women writers colony in Seattle, Washington. We at the Harlem Arts Alliance were so proud that Yvette was selected for this residency that we provided a travel stipend to cover her air fare. She also received an Urban Arts Initiative re-grant from the Buddy Fund for Justice through Rockefeller Philanthropic Advisors. Upon her return to New York, Harlem Arts Alliance members were treated to a reading of an excerpt of the play during the monthly meeting, a monologue by First Lady Laura Bush. This would make the second appearance of a First Lady at a Harlem Arts Alliance meeting via one of Yvette’s plays, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton being the first. White House Wives: Operation Lysistrata! was produced by Twinbiz™ in a local New York City festival, Planet Connections Theatre Festivity 2011, where Yvette (playwright/lyricist) and Larry Farrow (composer/arranger) won the Outstanding Book, Music & Lyrics or Play With Music Award.

In 2009 Yvette was selected for Uptown/Downtown, a performance development program offered by the Harlem Arts Alliance, The Field and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. Uptown/Downtown meets for weekly sessions, during which artists show work that is then followed by non-directorial, moderated feedback known as Fieldwork. Half of the workshops are held in Harlem and the other half in Lower Manhattan. Uptown/Downtown culminates in a showing of these works-in-progress in both an Uptown and a Downtown venue. As a result of this opportunity, Yvette, an Uptown artist, wrote and performed her first one-woman show, Bridge to Baraka, and has included an excerpt of it in this collection.

As you can see, over time I have witnessed Yvette’s growth as an artist within the Black Theatre community, where she is already well-respected as a playwright and producing theatre artist. This is evidenced by her being given the first Emerging Producer Award by the National Black Theatre Festival in 2011. Additionally, the subject matter of her plays shows a commitment to bringing about social change in our community. This combination of artist and activist is what we used to call, back in the day, an art-ivist. With the prohibitive costs associated with producing theatre, especially in New York, I am confident that the publication of this collection will give Yvette an opportunity to impact the larger theatre and literary communities.

Voza Rivers

Preface

I’m Right Here!

Where are all of the women playwrights? Julia Miles, Founder of Women’s Project and Productions and the League of Professional Theatre Women, once asked at a public event I attended many years ago. I was a budding playwright, and her question shocked me. From my seat I silently screamed, What do you mean? I’m right here, writing a few lines of dialogue in between changing diapers, cooking dinner, attending music recitals and basketball games, and making love to my husband. I’m right here! Little did I know her question had much larger implications than I was aware of at the time—namely the dearth of production opportunities nationwide for women in the American Theatre.

Julia Miles (l) with Yvette Heyliger (r) after a reading of Yvette’s play,

White House Wives: Operation Lysistrata! at Julia’s Reading Room,

a program of the League of Professional Theatre Women (LPTW).

It is no secret that less than 20 percent of women playwrights are being produced on our nation’s stages and that men continue to enjoy the lion’s share of production opportunities. Astonishingly, this figure has been as low as 7 percent for women playwrights of color, and for African American women in particular it has been as low as 1 percent. I first became aware of these statistics when I met Susan Jonas, co-author of Report on the Status of Women: A Limited Engagement?—commissioned by the New York State Council on the Arts Theatre Program. Jonas, along with Suzanne Bennett, based their report on a survey of approximately 2,000 plays produced in America’s not-for-profit 2001–02 theatre season.

In spite of these statistics, I boldly admit that my artistic vision as a playwright is to create works of lasting value for the American theatre—works primarily about women. I firmly believe that when you uplift women, you uplift humanity. In fact, the subtitle of my book, Full-Length Plays for Leading Women, makes no secret of my mission. But for yours truly and other women dramatists who have similar edicts, it is clear that continuing on this path may not assist us in securing productions for our work or in gaining greater visibility as the next hot thing, flavor of the month or theatre darling.

Our odds are even less hopeful when you consider some of these other factors: We are not men, and so it may be assumed that our plays are not ready, not good enough or too whiny and emotional. Additionally, we might not have a pedigree from a prestigious academic writing program; we might not have a literary agent; we might not stick to traditional play structure, style or content; we might not write characters within our own race, culture, class, or stereotype; because of age, we are no longer considered emerging; and finally, the most problematic—we might not have a coveted review from The New York Times (the reason I was given for being barred from joining a prestigious writers group). Any one of these circumstances increases the probability that women’s plays will remain in the slush pile on the desks of decision-makers.

So how do we improve our condition and become more viable in the marketplace? In 2009 I attended a public presentation of the findings of a controversial study conducted by Princeton University student Emily Glassberg Sands and entitled Opening the Curtain on Playwright Gender: An Integrated Economic Analysis of Discrimination in American Theatre. Sands suggested that women dramatists might consider one of the following remedies: writing under a male pen name (preferably British, I would guess!); using gender-neutral initials (lest your first name give away your sex); or, if you insist on maintaining your gender identification, writing male leading characters. To Sands’s list I have added (since it pertains to African American dramatists): writing plays with black themes and black characters only for the Black Theatre; participating in blind submissions—although this latter course of action is not foolproof, nor does it address the pesky race issue (yes, that old chestnut!)—to ensure that women-of-color dramatists get their fair share of production opportunities alongside their white sisters.

I choose to resist the aforementioned prescribed courses of action, even though employing one or all of these may mean standing a better chance of getting a traditional offer for production and the industry-approved accolades that follow. I resist because I’ve been in the theatre too long now to go a-changin’ horses midstream. I resist because my daughters are watching. I resist because I believe in the power of women playwrights to make a difference in the world through their work in the theatre. I write plays, as the Greeks put it, ut doceat, ut demonstrate, ut delectet (to teach, to show, to please). These plays are steeped in research and are wonderful representations of issues that I care about as a woman, citizen and human being; plays that are meant be of service, to do their part to help change the world one ticket buyer at a time.

John F. Kennedy said, I see little of more importance to the future of our country and our civilization than full recognition of the place of the artist. If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him. To ensure my place as a theatre artist with an opportunity to follow my vision wherever it takes me, my process and experience as a dramatist in America have, out of necessity, been shaped by wearing many hats: dramatist, producing artist, director, actor, teaching artist, and art-ivist (or activist), and, finally, author. I wear the hats I have to wear, the hats I must wear, to do my part to nourish the roots of our culture, as President Kennedy charged—roots, by the way, that are not all male or all white.

The First Hat—Dramatist

Soon after my arrival in New York City in 1979, I worked as an usher for the Negro Ensemble Company at St. Marks Playhouse in Greenwich Village. One of the shows on which I served as an usher was Home, written by Samm-Art Williams. After the show became a Broadway production in 1980, Samm-Art was nominated for a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award. I shared a poem I had written with him and he suggested that I turn it into a play. Fortunately for me, an opportunity to do so later presented itself while working on my master’s degree at New York University’s Gallatin Division (now the Gallatin School of Individualized Study). I had to present myself in a performance piece and write a thesis about it. The challenge, however, was that I was an actor—not a playwright. I had to teach myself playwriting by doing. I expanded the poem into a play, more fully exploring the themes presented in it. I did the research required by my thesis to back up the ideas presented in the play, and through this process something wonderful happened. Suddenly my play was bigger than me and my individual woes. My characters had things to say beyond my limited experiences in life and in love. I saw that my characters were players in the larger story of race and beauty in America. The play revealed (much to my own horror) a deeply entrenched belief system that has been hard for Americans, much less people around the world, to uproot. I realized that the hurt I experienced which caused me to write the poem in the first place was not unique to me or my situation. It was a product of the history of the country we live in. That play is Homegirl (formerly Autobiography of a Homegirl).

Tony Award- and Drama Desk-nominee Samm-Art Williams

with protégé, playwright Yvette Heyliger.

Gallatin’s master’s degree requirement turned out to be a blessing, because it taught me the importance and value of being a well-rounded artist and scholar. The blending of the two resulted in the discovery of my talent as a playwright and has become the cornerstone of my process as a writer. I also mentioned another requirement for master’s degree candidates: to produce ourselves in a performance piece. To this end I enrolled in a class called Arts Workshop: Production, taught by Professor Michelle Burns. This class was my first look into what it would take to produce anything—a play, a dance concert, a music recital. I have no doubt that this class planted the entrepreneurial seed which later blossomed when I decided to start my own company.

Another pivotal moment in my development as an artist occurred when I was an undergraduate at Gallatin. I took a course called Interdisciplinary Arts Seminar with Professor Laurin Raiken. We went to see Athol Fugard’s "Master Harold"… and the Boys on Broadway, starring Danny Glover and the late Zakes Mokae (who won a Tony Award for his portrayal of the African servant Sam). When the curtain came down onstage and the lights came up in the house, I was weeping uncontrollably. I was unable to move or speak for some time. An usher hovering nearby allowed me to sit, and eventually I was able to compose myself, rise from my seat and exit the empty theatre.

What happened? What made this experience in the theatre different from past experiences? I want to say that I was changed by this play about apartheid in South Africa, but actually I was awakened. I said to myself, I want to make theatre like that. From that time on, I have tried be a part of/create theatre that could leave a person awakened, changed, emboldened. I have always been public-spirited, so I was naturally drawn to writing about social issues that could use a light shined on them. Athol Fugard’s play allowed me to see that it was possible to use theatre as an agent for social change while still entertaining.

As with most writers, my first play was about subject matter that was deeply personal. But the leap from writing about my personal experiences to writing about other living beings was not as big as I had initially thought it would be. After reflecting on my work to date, it turns out that I have chosen real-life personalities and public figures who are embroiled in social subjects I care about as a woman and human being since I started writing for the theatre. In Homegirl I write about the first African American woman to win the Miss America pageant: Vanessa L. Williams. In Hillary and Monica: The Winter of Her Discontent I write about a fictional meeting between First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and the President’s mistress, White House intern Monica Lewinsky. White House Wives: Operation Lysistrata! boldly goes where no (wo)man has gone before—putting liberal, Democratic, anti-war dialogue in the mouths of conservative, staunch, Republican women: First Lady Laura Bush, Second Lady Lynne Cheney, Alma Powell, Cherie Blair, and others. Not only that, White House Wives: Operation Lysistrata! marks a departure for me stylistically. I pushed the envelope of dramatic convention and discovered it is fun writing outside the box!

Organizations and individuals who have supported me, either for a season or over time, include: photographer, Dwight Carter; Tony Award-nominee and the recipient of the 2012 Dramatists Guild Lifetime Achievement Award for theatrical writing, Micki Grant; Tony Award-winning producer Catherine Schreiber; literary agent Beth Blickers; Eleanore Speert, Drama Book Shop; Founder and Publishing Editor Beth Turner, Black Masks; Editor Joey Stocks, The Dramatist; Career Counselor Supervisor Patricia Schwadron, The Actors Fund Work Program; Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Program of AEA SAG-AFTRA; Artistic Director Lorca Peress, MultiStages; Ann Hamilton, Hamilton Dramaturgy; David Friedlander, Esquire; Associate Professor Vanita M. Vactor, Ph.D., Theatre, North Carolina A & T State University; professional freelance director, Professor Susan Einhorn, Department of Drama, Theatre & Dance, Queens College; (former) Adjunct Associate Professor, Barbara Waldinger, Department of Drama, Theatre & Dance, Queens College; Marci Goodman, Coordinator College Now Program, Queens College/CUNY; Viana Muller; Claire Pickens; Juewett Bostick; the Reverend and Mrs. Eddie Jusino; Jo Hilda DuBose Spence; the women writers retreats Hedgebrook and The Writer’s Well; the League of Professional Theatre Women, 50/50 in 2020 and the Women’s Initiative (made up of members of the Dramatists Guild); David Faux, Esquire, the Business Affairs Office of the Dramatists Guild; and granting organizations, especially the New York State Council on the Arts, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Harlem Arts Alliance (re-granting), and the Dramatists Guild Fund.

The Second Hat—Producing Artist

The true test for any play comes when it is on its feet. Many playwrights complain about the endless treadmill of readings and the lack of production opportunities. And it is no wonder; production is critical to growth! I can’t grow as a playwright, and neither can my work, if my plays are sitting around on a shelf collecting dust. So when a play that I am working on is ready (meaning it has been through the reading process and now needs to be on its feet), I do just that: I enter it in a festival or present it as a showcase.

My commencement from graduate school into the world of writing for theatre in the late 1980s went hand-in-hand with starting a production company. Although I wasn’t quite aware of all the repercussions at the time, I came to understand that government funding which had traditionally gone to black theatre companies was drying up, and larger, white theatre institutions with Black History Month slots in their seasons were receiving those much-needed dollars. This situation was forcing the curtain to come down on many black theatres. I also learned pretty early on that, just like white producers, black producers have their own tastes, likes and dislikes. Just because I was African American didn’t necessarily mean my plays would be produced by the handful of black producers (male or female) left among the surviving theatres and presenting organizations. Nor did it mean I wasn’t a good writer or that my plays were not stageworthy.

Years later I would learn that simply being a woman may be a factor in not gaining access to development or production opportunities, not only in white theatres but also in those remaining black ones, due to the good-ol’-boy network operating within the black theatre community. Given this state of affairs, I was blessed that God put the idea in my heart to start a company.

Though unsure of what the company would ultimately become, I knew it would somehow involve the arts. I tried to come up with a name for the company that would encompass the diverse interests of my twin sister and partner, Yvonne Farrow, and myself—a name that would not pin us down to one artistic discipline. I suggested Twins in the Business, but it was Yvonne who came up with Twinbiz.™ I registered the name as a DBA (Doing Business As) in New York in 1988, amending the document to include Yvonne’s name in 1989. Yvonne married composer Larry Farrow and moved to Los Angeles. She registered Twinbiz™ as a DBA there in 1990. The mission of Twinbiz™ revealed itself over time, while we evolved as artists and entrepreneurs who were writing, directing and producing original works for stage, television, and film which seek to educate, entertain, and serve using the performing arts as a tool for social change. With yours truly focusing on theatre on the East Coast, and Yvonne focusing on film and TV on the West Coast, our motto emerged: Producing Coast to Coast.

During those early years of the company, while Yvonne was producing her projects and establishing the Twinbiz™ brand in Los Angeles, I was teaching myself the craft of playwriting. In 1996 Yvonne proposed that we produce my first play, Homegirl, on the West Coast. She had some discretionary income and was eager to put up a production in Los Angeles to further introduce herself as an actor to the television and film industry, casting agents and the growing theatrical community there. I agreed. Having worked in development at Harlem’s world-famous Apollo Theatre, when it first became a not-for-profit organization, I brought my knowledge of fund raising along with some significant donations. One such donation was from comedian, actor and producer Bill Cosby. I had a recurring role on NBC-TV’s long-running hit sitcom, The Cosby Show, as his sister-in-law, Aunt Sarah. Bill’s support of the debut production of my first play meant so much to me. As important as his financial support was, even more significant was Bill’s sage business advice: Sign your own checks. He spoke about the importance of maintaining control over your intellectual property, being your own boss and finding mentors. I also learned that producing is all about relationships, creating them and maintaining them—something I continue to work at.

To our delight, Homegirl was a runaway hit, extending three times, garnering great reviews for the cast as well as the play and a nomination for the 1996 NAACP Theatre Award for Best Playwright for yours truly! And this is how it came to be that Yvonne and I—DBA Twinbiz™— made our debuts as producing partners. An extension of this success came when I published the play under the title Autobiography of a Homegirl with iUniverse in 2001. Imagine how proud I was