Plumes & Florence

If you are looking for a piercing drama about family, poverty, and access to healthcare redolent of “August: Osage County”… consider this raw, tender one-act. In Georgia Douglas Johnson’s Plumes, mother Charity grapples with whether she can afford medical treatment for her ailing daughter. Unsure if the treatment will be successful, Charity must decide whether it would be better to honor her daughter’s life by way of an extravagant funeral instead. This play is a moving exploration of grace and dignity under the obscene circumstances of poverty and inadequate access to healthcare.

If you’re looking for an elegant, subtle, and subversive blend of heart and politics… Alice Childress works her magic again with Florence. Set in a train station in the Jim Crow south, Mama waits to board to New York City, planning to bring her daughter Florence home from trying to “make it” as a stage actress. A jaded white actress awaits the same train, and though first seeming to help, it becomes clear she thinks nothing of Florence’s prospects –– and Mama has to decide if she'll support or deny her daughter's dreams. This sinuous story holds the tension of rebellion and heartbreak, painting a vivid picture of the so-called white northern ally erasure of Black joy, worth, and humanity. 

Hosted by Triza Cox and Emily Lyon.