THE STORY: A liberal white couple, entertain a sophisticated black couple in their rather strange, sheet-shrouded living room. The whites, filled with hypocrisy, and the blacks, concealing their contempt, put on a show of super-cordiality and friendship. But the false brightness soon palls, and the host and hostess become rattled at the simplest request from their guests. Then the black couple leave and the white couple gleefully tear away the sheets—revealing a horrendous array of plaster “pickaninnies” and other racist artifacts, while “Old Black Joe” blasts forth on the hi-fi.
Produced by the Negro Ensemble Company (with a revival of
Day of Absence), this chilling sketch exposes the secret enmity smoldering beneath the surface cordiality of black and white friends.
“It is a mysterious, funny, terrifying play.” —The New York Times.
“Mr. Ward is incapable of putting together a bad line” —The New Yorker.
