In this play, a
black man, a grief-stricken widower, comes North to
New York from
rural Florida with his half-grown daughters after their mother dies. He is entranced with the teachings of Father Divine, a preacher from Philadelphia (at this time, the early 1950s). His children are less so. His former sister-in-law, Lily, comes to stay with them; she had promised her dead sister that she would help with the girls if anything happened. But Sister Lily is as different from him as it is possible to be in terms of values, ideas, ideals, way of life and character. She is outspoken, a communist, a drinker and smoker, and very seductive (it is hinted that they were once lovers, or almost so). There is little or no compatibility between them.
On the way to a meeting at the Peace Mission of Father Divine, he meets a German refugee (a
white lady) -- they fall in love and marry. This induces tremendous tension in the family; eventually Lily leaves. When Ernestine, the older daughter, graduates from high school, she goes to Harlem to find Lily. She doesn't, but she is directed by one of Lily's friends to
City College instead. She gives the epilogue's final speech, telling what will happen to them all -- some good, some bad, none indifferent.
This
play turns very deeply on religious and social issues -- black versus white, religious and devout versus atheistic and dissolute, communism and change versus status quo and getting by, American versus German (just after WWII), young versus old, social (on several levels) versus the spiritual (on several levels), city versus country, new ways versus tradition, and more. It shows the abandonment of sincere religious questing in favor of the social and family ties to those who do not share sincerely in one's convictions. It is, however, primarily the story of the displaced (spiritually, physically, culturally, socially and otherwise) finding a new place (or not,in Lily's case), and all the pain that comes with that. It is a tragedy that hardly anyone realizes is such -- and THAT makes the tragedy all the greater and more horrifying once one realizes its meaning. His
interracial marriage for love and his defense of his new wife, and she of him, is a great and bright spot in the play. His family's reaction is NOT. The abandonment of the deep and spiritual quest and life for the trivial and everyday is tragedy itself, although it is treated in the course of the play as a positive, or as just the way it is.
The presentation of the play itself is very surrealistic -- an experimental form that seems would also make a great movie. There are no curtains or blackouts between scenes, and several sets are on stage simultaneously. There are several wish-it-were scenes, followed by the truth of what happened. Music is very important, and underscores many of the changes and themes that occur in this play.
This particular version is in acting form. It has notes at the beginning telling where and when it was first produced, and by whom. It then lists the cast of characters, followed by the text of the play itself. It lists at the end all the props that are necessary and finally the sound effects.
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