The Past is the Past & Gettin' it Together

The Past is the Past ~ The scene is a pool hall, where Earl Davis, a man in his mid-forties, plays a solitary game. He is joined by Eddie Green, a young college student, who watches the older man in silence, and then challenges him to a game

Their conversation, casual at first, soon makes it clear that these two men, who have never met before, do, in fact recognize each other; are, in truth, father and son

In the end this truth is conceded - but so is the fact that the years of neglect which separate them are too great a gulf to be bridged, and the past must, indeed, remain the past (M2)

An immensely moving but subtly written study of a first encounter between a young black man and the father who deserted him years before

Gettin' it Together ~ The action begins in a Newark park, where Nate and Coretta, the mother of his child, have been picnicking. A mood of bitterness has been generated by Coretta's suspicion that Nate has been seeing another woman, a mood which is not dispelled when, later at her apartment, she tries to entice Nate into staying the night

She is convinced he no longer loves her, while Nate, who wants security and some measure of success before committing himself to marriage, tries to make her understand his position

In the end a kind of truce is reached, but one as uncertain, and conditional, as the life which circumstance has forced on them (M1,F1)

Described by the author as a "steady rap," this often funny, but ultimately affecting, short play captures the frustration of a young black man who wants a better life for himself and the women he loves, but who, far too often, can relate to her only with scorn and mockery