Jonathan Dewberry (Jimmy) & Jordan J. Adams (David)
When I lived on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in the 1980s I was quite near the club where David Baldwin worked. Being a James Baldwin fan I, of course, had to frequent the bar to catch a glimpse of the brother of my iconic hero. And I thought if I were lucky maybe even JB himself would stop in. (Never happened for me!) But David was always charming even though he probably recognize me of one of the JB groupies. It was gratifying to think of him and JB growing up together.
Years later, working on "Waiting for Giovanni" I really enjoyed writing about a relationship I imagined between the brothers (based somewhat on research at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture https://www.nypl.org/locations/schomburg). It was satisfying to write about two African American men, raised in tight economic circumstances in 1930s Harlem, and living under the erratic reign of a difficult father making a haven within each other. The smile that David had for his friends and customers was inside my head as I wrote every line.
In this production Jonathan Dewberry as Jimmy is joined by Jordan J. Adams as his brother, David. Jordan is nimble with a solid resonance on stage. And he's able to deliver that million dollar smile just as I remember David's from back in the day! In this scene Jimmy, as a child preacher, prepares a sermon under the shadow of his father's disapproval. His younger brother, David, is his reality check here and just as he is later in life when they are adults.
ACT I Scene 1
Jimmy (as a boy) is seated at the typewriter
then on the stoop; it is 1938. Using a pencil he pulls from behind his ear
Jimmy works on his sermon. Rehearsing it in his head before reading/preaching
out loud, he begins at a hesitant, halting pace making notes, disturbed by the shadow of the Father; then he builds to fullness and confidence. When David enters he wears a big apple/newsboy
cap and knickers.
JIMMY
In the beginning was the word. It says right there, brothers and
sisters:
in
the beginning was the word. The word was
with God. And how do we
make a word?
(in shadow, Bible in
hand)
You have to be accountable for your words and your deeds!
JIMMY
And how do we make a word?
We take in a breath and as we
speak the breath shapes a sound. What then is the word, my
brothers
and sisters, but the breath of life?
FATHER’S VOICE
FATHER’S VOICE
We can’t make a life here!
JIMMY
(trying to ignore the voice)
A breath of life so deep and so…so……something… (makes note
w/pencil and moves away from the typewriter)…it sweeps us up.
It sweeps us up into the air toward the righteousness that is God.
It is with our very breath that we speak God’s word. Think!
Think about that breath of God that keeps us all alive.
Think about that breath of God that keeps us all alive.
FATHER’S VOICE
Anger
and fear choke out our breath every day!
JIMMY
JIMMY
Can we imagine God’s merciful word without that breath? I say ‘no!’ We
cannot. Ummmm…(picking up pace getting the spirit)....the word made holy...
FATHER'S VOICE
You are an unholy thing! Black noise of Lucifer!
JIMMY
...the word that must be
spoken as long as we draw
breath, brothers and sisters.
DAVID
(interrupts laughing)
It’s a heap more than just one word with you,
Jimmy.
JIMMY
Come on David, I need to get this right for Sunday.
DAVID
You already know what you doin'.
Come on go down the corner
with me and the fellas. I
got a cigarette.
JIMMY
You
know Daddy don’t want us hanging out on Lenox Avenue.
DAVID
He don’t want you going downtown to them plays and all
that theatre
damnation either.
JIMMY
That’s not the same thing.
DAVID
Jimmy, I keep tellin’ you: don’t pay no attention to him.
JIMMY
I just want to get this right, David.
DAVID
You got to cut our daddy loose.
What goes on his head…
JIMMY
There’s nothing wrong with his head!
DAVID
I’m only saying his head and your head is two different things.(silence)
You can’t do nothing to suit him so why don’t you just drop this…
Look around you, Jimmy, look at the stoops.
JIMMY
I see them.
DAVID
You know your stuff, Jimmy.
But Daddy…he don’t see nothin’…not God,
not the folks sitting out fanning they selves, not you either.
JIMMY
David…
DAVID
Ain’t you never gonna see past his shadow. Daddy jus’ a man!
JIMMY
You’re the one with too many words.
DAVID
If you can’t take people into account, them words are all
crazy.
JIMMY
Why is madness all of a sudden the main attraction on this stoop?
DAVID
Shit!
JIMMY
That type of language is unattractive in a young man
DAVID
You got to let go of this thing with Daddy, sometime, you know?
JIMMY
David, weren’t you on your way somewhere?
DAVID
That’s what I’m saying: where you going with all these words?
JIMMY
My realm is the spiritual world.
DAVID
We black, Jimmy. It is all
the spiritual world.
***
See you July 12-August 4 http://www.tososnyc.org/ http://theflea.org/
***
See you July 12-August 4 http://www.tososnyc.org/ http://theflea.org/
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