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Von Washington is an award winning playwright. Among his creations are several plays that have been produced by WPI and other organizations. Looking for a Good Thing, (now titled "Dancing with Yesterday) had its World Premier in Chicago. Rosa Parks, received it's world premier in 2001. Remnants from Senegal, premiered in 2006, was recently produced at
the National Black Theatre Festival in Winston-Salem North Carolina and Fighting Fires was produced at the the American Theatre for Actors at 95th and Broadway in New York City. Von is presently working on Conspiracy, which is scheduled for a reading in the Shenandoah International Playwrights Festival and a workshop performance by the Whole Art Theatre of Kalamazoo in the spring. If your organization is interested in obtaining a copy of one of the plays listed below , please contact WPI.
Available Stage Scripts
Conspiracy--Frank Deb`waa, a popular university professor, prepares final notes for a keynote address at a topnotch educational symposium. Frank is the first African American scholar to present at this distinguished gathering and his chosen topic is Socrates, the great Greek Sophist. As Frank works on his presentation, he is asked to mentor Arleta Storie, an African American graduate student, who implores him to take a closer look at historical documents that links Socrates to African antiquity, in a less than favorable light. Arleta is convinced that these documents reveal information that played a part in her son’s violent and untimely death. At the same time, Frank is trying very hard to please the recently appointed president of the university, who was instrumental in selecting him to deliver the keynote address. As the three parties come together, a rift develops that reaches back to the age of antiquity; a rift that threatens to destroy his academic credibility, sabotage the symposium, discredit the university, and disrupt the lives of everyone around them.
Remnants from Senegal--3 black males, 4 black women. Members of the Michigan arm of the Jenkins family have been charged with preparing a historical program for a family reunion near Charleston South Carolina. As the family members show up for their rehearsal, an unexpected cousin arrives and desires to be a part of the program. She is told that this may not be possible because the order of the program is set but she insists on staying anyway. As a special addition to this occasion, a member of the family brings several cloth remnants that have been passed down in the family from generation to generation and are said to have come to America braided in the hair of Fatimata, a descendent who was brought to the area as a slave. As the rehearsal unfolds, the remnants are used to force family members to deal with story lines that were supposed to be off limits, storylines that cause conflict between family members and nearly destroys the entire project.
Fighting Fires--On the eve of his eighteenth birthday, Shareem, acting on the advice of neighborhood friends, kidnaps his absentee father, takes him to an isolated room, and demands the attention he believes was owed to him during his developmental years. Also invited to the meeting, but not aware of its purpose, are his mother, Sylvia, and Nikki, the girl he hopes to be the mother of his children. Shareem is convinced that he has the right to fatherly advice and he is prepared to do whatever it takes to get it, even if it means physically assaulting his father. All goes as planned until Shareem is faced with new information about his father’s absence, which turns his attention to his mother and eventually to himself.
Brain Storming (a.k.a. The Black American Dream). Comedy-Drama. 2 acts. 2 m., 2 f. Unit set. Kubia calls her acting company together when the local Arts council promises a development grant, if they can write a play that explores the dreams and aspirations of Black Americans. The group come together at a local school house to begin what seems like an easy task but, as the evening unfolds, problems about philosophy and life style crop up, threatening to destroy the project, their friendships, and the very space they work in. “Imagine a play that tackles the subjects of black unemployment, education, slavery, job training, welfare, single black mothers, absentee black fathers, civil rights and the high rate of suicide and imprisonment among black males. As strange as it seems, those subjects are addressed in slightly less than two hours--and rather emotionally --in . . .The Black American Dream, and it is a surprisingly penetrating treatment of a complex experience that has spanned several hundred years.--The Detroit News.
Rosa Parks: More Than a Bus Story--With one actress as Rosa a choir and several other performers to play multiple roles, this play reveals the life of the Mrs. Rosa Parks prior to her quiet protest that changed a nation. Through original music and text, this play uncovers the reasons why she did not move from her seat on the bus in 1955 and why she left Montgomery, Alabama, the city she loved. It examines her role in the nation’s history and as a catalyst in the events of the Civil Rights Movement. Rosa Parks: More Than a Bus Story had its world premiere in January 2001 with family and friends of Mrs. Parks in attendance. It then toured the USA under the National Touring arm of the New Federal Theatre of New York City and Washington Productions, Inc.
Kentucky at Sunrise--Drama. 6 b. m., 3 w. m, 6 b. f., 2 w. f.. and other supernumeraries. Double casting suggested. This story is based on the activities of the famous Michigan slave raid of 1847. In August of that year, Kentucky slave catchers came into the state to capture fugitives (runaway slaves) and return them to bondage. The story covers events that involved friends of the Underground Railroad, as the workers were called, across six different Michigan Counties.The story begins when Erastus Hussey, the famous Battle Creek conductor of the Underground Railroad, receives a letter from friends in the state of Indiana telling him that Kentucky slave catchers, disguised as abolitionist sympathizers, are presently in the Battle Creek area to capture fugitives before they can escape. However, before the action is complete, a group of distrusting and disgruntled, ex-slaves threaten to break the code of nonviolen and attack the slave catchers. It is believed by many historians, that the results of this August raid contributed to the rift between the North and South which led to the signing of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, and eventually the American Civil War.
Seven Stops to Freedom-- (Juneenth Award Winner, University of Louisville) Drama. (2-5 storytellers, m. & f) On a cool September evening, in the state of Mississippi, years before the civil war, Josh Acres, a slave since childhood, sets out alone to escape from slavery on the Underground Railroad. His plans will take him through the state of Kentucky where he will join with his wife Anna and son Malik. They will travel north through Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan until they reach Canada, the “promised land” and freedom.
Dancing with Yesterday. Drama with humor. 2 acts. 2 m.,4 w. Unit set. George Long has been without his wife of 25 years for more than a year now. Her unexpected death left him lonely and perplexed. At the age of 45 he is finding it difficult to date and the new sexual morality a little difficult to deal with. He sets an appointment with a adjustment counselor to help him get his life together. The counselor arrives thinking George is in need of a job but when she discovers this is not the case and before she leaves, she finds herself involved with George in ways she never intended. “In writing his latest play, Von Washington says he wanted to tell a story about our changing values. There is an apparent shortage of eligible black males in our country. This results in heightened competition among black women for male companionship. The clash between these two women underscores a larger problem in the black community.”-- The Kalamazoo Gazette.
The Operation. (Drama) 1 act. 1 bm. 1 w m. 1 bf. 1 wf. After being arrested for assault, Willie Jones sits alone in a psychiatric waiting room anxious to find out his fate. While waiting, he mulls over the activities of his life that have cause him to fall so far from grace. Willie has been diagnosed as angry, frustrated, depressed, shiftless, lazy, incorrigible, untrustworthy, unreliable, conically unemployed, volatile, and cynical. He is an American Black male and considered an “endangered species.” The scientific consulting team has been brought in to make a determination as whether to relieve him of his pain by making him dysfunctional and thus making him less of a threat and a burden to society. Willie feels that his operation is a conspiracy against him and he only has a few minutes to prove his point or face virtual extinction. “This play by Von Washington. . . is a very purposeful analysis of the problems facing the black male in American society. In the course of an hour and a quarter, reference is made to racial violence, discriminatory law, the differences in general attitude between black men and women, and the subtle but injurious methods of self-proclaiming white liberals. “ --The Scotsman, Edinburgh, Scotland.
Inside Tracks. . . is composed of the two one act plays:
Let The Brotha Talk. (Drama) 1 m, 1 f. Unit set. An African American male agrees to be a guest on a radio talk show hosted by the very popular and controversial African American female radio personality, Jeannie Jeane. Although he knows that people are often made to look like fools when being interviewed on her show, Mr. Blackman, as he is called for reasons of anonymity, decides that he must answer her challenge to clear up the picture of what is going on with African American males. The interview goes according to plans until a disagreement surfaces and Mr. Blackman’s name is mistakenly given out over the air prompting a call from a family member.
Looking for Talika. Drama with humor. 1 m., 1 f. Unit Set. After 28 years of marriage, a nagging problem surfaces between a loving husband and wife creating the possibility of separation and divorce. The problem is Talika and her identity and whereabouts are demanded immediately or nothing will ever be the same. “Blessed with 25 years of relatively happy marriage, Don and Dee decide to spend their anniversary reminiscing over the stage of their life together: i.e. young lust, mutual dependence, marriage, the realities of domestic co-existence, parenthood, near-divorce and stoic endurance, etc. They are the product of a tremendous love built on faith, respect and many years of painful learning experience. Food for thought for anyone who has been in a relationship, Talika rings with a charm, hilarity and wisdom that completes only another phase of the lives of Don and Dee, and is as Don so wonderfully put it, “unfinished -- like you, like me, like a work of art.” -- The Kalamazoo Gazette.