The March People’s Choice Award goes to…

CHARACTERS

EVE: 30’s African American female. Sister to SAMSON. 

SAMSON: 30’s African American Gay male.  

MOMMA ROSE: Late 50’s, early 60’s African American female.  

SETTING

A row house in Philadelphia. Momma’s living room, one year after her death. The room is filled with storage boxes and loose papers.  

TIME

1976 -The year of the Philadelphia Bicentennial celebration.

AT RISE: MOMMA is walking around her living room. She looks fondly upon the belongings that are now semi-packed for Goodwill. She kneels and runs her hands across an unopened box that holds her secrets. MOMMA is unseen and unheard by her children. EVE and SAMSON enter with more boxes. They are in mid-conversation. 

SAMSON
Eve, all I’m saying is your brain holds some really random information.

EVE
You’re proving my point, Sansome. It shouldn’t be random information. Everyone should
know that the original Lassie, in Lassie Come Home, was a female. They replaced her
with a male dog just because she was shedding too much during shooting. Nine different male dogs played Lassie after that, and hardly anyone knew. It was like this big secret.

SAMSON
So what you’re telling me is Lassie was the first Drag Queen dog.

EVE
Ugh! I can’t talk to you.

(They laugh and then look around the room at all the boxes and papers. They begin sifting through things)

EVE
Momma would’ve loved to know you came all the way to Philly from San Francisco to
help me sort her things.

SAMSON
You think so? She was always so hard to read. I never knew what she was thinking from
day to day. She was kinda opaque that way.

EVE
Yea. Momma was a mystery wrapped in an enigma. There are three things about Momma
I knew for sure. One, she loved us. Two, she loved church. And three, she loved going to Atlantic City with Aunt Esther to play the nickel slots.

SAMSON
I can’t believe how long they did it. They went to Atlantic City once a month for years.From the time we were little, right up till Aunt Esther began to get sick. And then when Auntie died, Momma died soon after.

EVE
A year! It’s been a whole year without her.

(They go back to sorting through papers)

EVE
Maybe, when we’re done, we can go check out the Bicentennial Parade. President Ford is going to be there, and I heard the Queen was coming.

SAMSON
Which queen?

EVE
The Queen of England, you dork!

SAMSON
Ohhhh, that Queen…cause I heard Elton John was going to be there and he was going to sing Philadelphia Freedom in front of the Liberty Bell.

EVE
Wait. What are you saying? Elton John is Gay?

SAMSON
As Gay as springtime. You couldn’t tell with all those feathers and all that glitter?

EVE
Wow! I guess not. I just thought he was a good showman. Shows how much I know.

(MOMMA touches the unopened box in hopes that she can energetically get them to notice it, and they do)

SAMSON
We haven’t opened this box yet. (he opens it, pulls out a bible and hands it to EVE)
It’s Mom’s bible.