The stellar work - written with great precision and powerful storytelling by Alice Childress - gives an emotional portrayal of a relationship between a Black seamstress, Julia, and a white baker, Herman, in the shadow of the First World War and the 1918 flu epidemic in Charleston, South Carolina. The couple's deep love and commitment faces the cruel racism of the Deep South in this revealing portrayal of interracial love, forced to navigate the societal racism of laws and culture, along with heartbreaking judgment from their own families and communities. Written during the Civil Rights era, the play resonates in our modern times of racial reckoning with movements such as Black Lives Matter, across North America, and at a time when a new pandemic is tragically altering lives.
Setting: South Carolina, 1918.