Show and Tell Posting-WIne in the Wilderness by Alice Childress

The show I chose for my show and tell posting is Wine in the Wilderness by Alice Childress. This play was initially written and produced in 1969 by WGBH-TV in Boston as part of a series called “On Being Black.” It’s also been produced at ACT in Seattle, as well as Common Ground Theatre (2008) a theatre that is actually in my hometown of Durham, NC. Another major theatre to produce this show was the Creative Arts Foundation in Chicago. I found this script in the LSU library database at http://solomon.nadr.alexanderstreet.com.libezp.lib.lsu.edu/cgi-bin/asp/philo/getobject.pl?c.27:2.nadr.

Wine in the Wilderness was written during the race riots in Harlem. Bill Jameson is a painter working to complete a triptych of African-American women. So far he has completed the young girl depicting innocence, and the ideal African-American woman that he has titled “Wine in the Wilderness.” He explains this to his old friend, Oldtimer, an elder who likes his alcohol. Bill’s friends Sonny-Man and his wife Cynthia bring him a woman named Tommy to use for his third painting. This woman is supposed to represent the lost woman, a back country African-American woman who is, “…ignorant, unfeminine, coarse, rude ...vulgar...a poor, dumb chick...” While the men disappear to go get Tommy Chinese food, she has a dialogue with Cynthia about men and settling down.  Cynthia tries to discourage Tommy from hitting on Bill, because she knows the actual reason why he wants to paint her. After everyone leaves, Tommy and Bill get into a dialogue, him trying to convince her to be painted, and her resisting. When she hears him talking on the phone about “Wine in the Wilderness” she’s filled with a sense of contentment, takes off her wig, and reveals herself as strong beautiful woman, which throws Bill off guard. They end up spending the night together, but the next morning Oldtimer comes in and tells her the truth about the triptych. As a result, Bill has a revelation about African-American women, and sees that the beauty lies in the ones that have lived and struggled…the people the surround him. He’s inspired to create a new triptych, based on Oldtimer, Sonny-Man and Cynthia, with Tomorrow Marie as the true beauty.

The first dramaturgical choice I found interesting was that Childress began the play with a riot literally going on around them. She could have chosen to have it going on during the same time period without literally starting with a riot. Instead, the first thing the audience hears is sounds of rioting, and offstage voices yelling, “Off the street! Into your homes! Clear the street!” I found this noteworthy because I think it automatically sets the stakes of the play higher. These characters are literally fighting for their lives, that’s how important these themes of racial tension are. Additionally, it shows Bill’s commitment to his art and how much peace he really must find from it, considering that there are bullets being fired and he’s having a phone conversation about who will model for his paintings. The choice to set the scene during the riot immediately establishes high stakes while also giving the reader insight to what the main themes of the play are going to be.

A second dramaturgical choice that stood out to me was Childress’s decision to fully flesh out the space. The message could’ve come across with the characters and the paintings in a room or studio, but Childress goes into depth about the space and minute details, such as the print of the cloth that Tommy drapes around herself later in the plot. The space is currently in the middle of being redecorated, in the stage directions Childress describes it as, “…broken out walls and is half finished with a redecorating job…” and I think this reflects that fact that their culture is also currently in a state of disarray. Fighting to gain equality, but only part of the way there….just like the space that Bill is living in. Despite the fact that it’s halfway torn apart, it still retains strong aspects of culture with the paintings, sculptures and wall hangings that adorn the area. I think it’s really awesome the way this reflects the political themes of the production.