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PRODUCTION HISTORY

"Wedding Band" was first produced in 1966 at the University of Michigan with Ruby Dee and Moses Gunn starring in the cast. It premiered in New York on November 26, 1972 under the direction of Joseph Papp and Alice Childress at the New York Shakespeare Public Theater. The following are the original New York production cast in the designated roles:

Julia Augustine -- Ruby Dee

Teeta -- Calisse Dinwiddie

Mattie -- Juanita Clark

Lula Green -- Hilda Haynes

Fanny Johnson -- Clarice Taylor

Nelson Green -- Albert Hall

Bell Man -- Brandon Maggart

Princess -- Vicky Geyer

Herman -- James Broderick

Annabelle -- Polly Holiday

Herman's Mother -- Jean David

PLAY STRUCTURE

ACT I

scene i- Saturday morning

scene ii- Later that evening

ACT II

scene i- Sunday morning

scene ii-Early afternoon the following day

SETTING

Summer 1918... Saturday morning. A city by the sea... South Carolina, U.S.A.

Three houses in a backyard. The center house is newly painted and cheery looking in contrast to the other two which are weather-beaten and shabby. Center house is gingerbready... odds and ends of "picked up" shutters, picket railing, wrought iron railing, newel posts, a Grecian pillar, odd window boxes of flowers ... everything clashes with a beautiful, subdued splendor; the old and new mingles in defiance of style and period. The playing areas of the houses are raised platforms furnished according to the taste of each tenant. Only one room of each house is visible. JULIA AUGUSTINE (tenant of the center house) has recently moved in and there is still unpackign to be done. Paths are worn from the houses to the front yard entry. The landlady's house and an outhouse are offstage. An outdoor hydrant supplies water.

EXCERPT FROM THE PLAY

This excerpt is from the end of Act One scene one. Julia has received an unwanted visit from some of her neighbors and is on the brink of confessing a terrible secret.

JULIA: I--I've been keepin' company with someone for a long time and... we're not married.

MATTIE: For how long?

LULA: (half-heartedly tries to hush MATTIE but she would also like to know) Ohhh, Mattie.

JULIA: (without shame) Ten years today, ten full, faithful years.

MATTIE: Has he got a wife?

JULIA: (very tense and uncomfortable) No.

MATTIE: Oh, a man don't wanta get married, work on him. Cut off piece-a his shirt-tail and sew it to your petticoat. It works. Get Fanny to read the tea leaves and tell you how to move. She's an old bitch but what she sees in a tea-cup is tre.

JULIA: Thank you, Mattie.

LULA: Let's pray on it, Miss Julia. Gawd bring them together, in holy matrimony.

JULIA: Miss Lula, please don't... You know it's against the law for black and white to get married, so Gawd nor the tea leaves can help us. My friend is white and that's why I try to stay to myself....

PUBLICATION HISTORY

The Wedding Band: A Love/Hate Story in Black and White. New York: French, 1973.

also in Nine Plays by Black Women.

New Women's Theatre: Ten Plays by Contemporary American Women. NY: Vintage Books, 1977.

REVIEWS AND ARTICLES ABOUT THE PLAY

"Love in Black and White: Miscegenation on the Stage." Glenda E. Gill. The Journal of American Drama and Theatre v.10 n.3, Fall 1998.

"Alice Childress's Wedding Band at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater: A Photo Essay." John Dillon. Studies in American Drama, 1945-Present. v.4, 1989.

"An Unfashionable Tragedy of American Racism: Alice Childress's Wedding Band." Rosemary Curb. Melus. v.7 n.4, 1980.