|
|
|
|
||||||||||||
|
The featured play is representative of the writer's work. For a more complete list of the plays by the writer, click on the playwright's name.
Is this play showing anywhere near you? Check out American Theatre Web to
find out.
|
by
PRODUCTION HISTORYThe opera "Tom-Tom" premiered at the Municipal Stadium in Cleveland from June 30 to July 3, 1932. The production was directed by Ernst Lert and Laurence Higgins and featured an all-black cast of five hundred people. CHARACTERSThe actors below were in the original cast in the following roles: Voodoo Man -- Jules Bledsoe The Mother -- Charlotte Murray The Boy -- Luther King The Mammy -- Hazel Walker The Leader, The Preacher, The Captain -- Augustus Grist And Extras
PLAY STRUCTURE and SETTINGSACT I scene 1 -- Africa. scene 2 -- Outside a village. scene 3 -- A clearing in the village. scene 4 -- The riverbank beside the waterfall. scene 5 -- The sacrifice by the riverbank beside the waterfall. scene 6 -- After the sacrifice. ACT II scene 1 -- America. scene 2 -- Corner of a great plantation. scene 3 -- A glen on the plantation, that same night towards dawn. scene 4 -- Within the swamps. ACT III scene 1 -- Harlem of today. scene 2 -- Along a country road. Interlude -- Sunday evening in Harlem. scene 3 -- Church. scene 4 -- Subway station. scene 5 -- Nightclub. scene 6 -- Monday; construction of a building.
EXCERPT FROM THE PLAYACT I scene 2 (The Leader and Boy are discovered outside the village. the great clearing in the center of the village.) LEADER: Listen to the distant tom-toms, Answer quickly when they call you. Beat more loudly on your tom-tom Tell us if there's danger near. Like a panther, eyes ablazing. Guard the village.
Mighty black men, strong and war-like, Sneak upon us thorugh the darkness. Seize our women! Seize our children, Seize our young men, all our best men. Slaves they make us! Far away from home they take us.
Listen to the distant tom-toms, Answer quickly when they call you. Beat more loudly on your tom-tom Tell us if there's danger near.
(Exit. The Boy answers the signals)
PUBLICATION HISTORYOriginally published privately, 1932. Appears in the anthology The Roots of African American Drama. |
|
