Mojo & String

by Alice Childress

MOJO. Paying a surprise visit to her former husband, Irene, aware that she is ill with cancer, reveals that she must shortly go back into the hospital but wanted to see Teddy just once more first. From their random conversation it is evident that a warm bond still exists between the two. They talk of the hard times they once had to endure, of how Irene set up Teddy in the numbers business, of the white girl he has become involved with and, finally, Irene confesses that she bore Teddy's child, a daughter, after their divorce-and gave the child up to another couple so that it might have a better chance in life. Sometimes brightly humorous, sometimes achingly sad, yet always unstintingly honest, the play illuminates the true character of two very real and vital people, and underscores their need to fathom and comprehend their Blackness and to find in it a strength and dignity so long denied. (1 man, 1 woman.) STRING. The scene is the annual picnic of the neighborhood block association; and some of the most fastidious ladies are incensed by the presence of "old Joe," a raggedy character who subsists on other's castoffs and is an embarrassment to all. They are joined by L. V. Craig, a boastful cafe operator who delights in taunting Joe and in flashing his bankroll before the others. In the course of the action Joe furtively retrieves a piece of string dropped by one of the ladies-and at the same time L. V. Craig finds his wallet missing. Suspicion immediately falls on Joe, who is ashamed to tell what he has hidden in his pocket. But, when he finally does, no one will believe him. Ultimately the missing wallet is found, but the truth, once known, is still not easily accepted, nor does itovercome the hurt and anguish that unfounded suspicion can engender. (2 men, 3 women, 1 girl.)"

Genres: Plays

72 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Alice Childress (October 12, 1916 – August 14, 1994) was an American playwright, actor, and author.

She took odd jobs to pay for herself, including domestic worker, photo retoucher, assistant machinist, saleslady, and insurance agent. In 1939, she studied Drama in the American Negro Theatre (ANT), and performed there for 11 years. She acted in Abram Hill and John Silvera's On Strivers Row (1940), Theodore Brown's Natural Man (1941), and Philip Yordan's Anna Lucasta (1944). There she won acclaim as an actress in numerous other productions, and moved to Broadway with the transfer of ANT's hit comedy Anna Lucasta, which became the longest-running all-black play in Broadway history. Alice also became involved in social causes. She formed an off-broadway union for actors. Her first play, Florence, was produced off-Broadway in 1950.

Her next play, Just a Little Simple (1950), was adapted from the Langston Hughes' novel Simple Speaks His Mind. It was produced in Harlem at the Club Baron Theatre. Her next play, Gold Through the Trees (1952), gave her the distinction of being one of the first African-American women to have work professionally produced on the New York stage. Her next work, Wedding Band: A Love/Hate Story in Black and White, was completed in 1962. The setting of the show is South Carolina during World War I and deals with a forbidden interracial love affair. Due to the scandalous nature of the show and the stark realism it presented, it was impossible for Childress to get any theatre in New York to put it up. The show premiered at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and later in Chicago. It was not until 1972 that it played in New York at the New York Shakespeare Festival. It was later filmed and shown on TV, but many stations refused to play it.

In 1965, she was featured in the BBC presentation The Negro in the American Theatre. From 1966 to 1968, she was awarded as a scholar-in-residence by Harvard University at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.

Alice Childress is also known for her literary works. Among these are Those Other People (1989) and A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich (1973). Also, she wrote a screenplay for the 1978 film based on A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich. Her 1979 novel A Short Walk was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Childress described her writing as trying to portray the have-nots in a have society. In conjunction with her composer husband, Nathan Woodard, she wrote a number of musical plays, including Sea Island Song and Young Martin Luther King.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Kahmal Sealey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mojo -
Mojo presents us with two extremely different characters, both extremely poignant and very real representations of how the pain and struggle of that era would inform your decisions and the mindset you’d develop.

In Irene we get someone who lives in the past and doesn’t accept the future will be any better. She has arrived in the present BECAUSE of what’s happened to her.
In Teddy we get someone who lives in the future and doesn’t accept the past, not letting it define him. He has arrived in the present IN-SPITE of what has happened to him.
I think the best example would be illustrated in a story shared between the two.

Irene takes out some dice and explains that there is a major difference between how Africa and America view them. Whereas Africans would use them for ‘Throwing bones’ (to read fortunes and empower people/add to their lives); Americans would use them for ‘Shooting craps’ (to waste money and take away from their lives)

The polarisation of these two characters ‘guiding principles’ is wonderful to watch as they interact with each other throughout the play.

Something I also love about Alice Childress is how she allows us to look through the world from the character's POV. Prompted by Irene, after learning of a cancer diagnosis, she says that:

“Much as I’ve been through in life, this ain’t nothing worse’;

Truly, this was a sobering dose of reality as we’re reminded that for as omnipotent as slavery and discrimination were, on top of that people still had to deal with the various struggles of life; cancer diagnoses, toothaches, breakups, so for Irene to see a cancer diagnosis as something to just ‘take in her stride’, really speaks to the hardship and pain black people of their era had to endure. This is reinforced when she later talks about not wanting to feel ‘chicken-hearted’ which illustrates that for black people in that era, fear and sadness simply weren’t beneficial to express, because the only goal daily was to survive, and showing emotions wasn’t an effective way of doing so.

String:
Preamble, my guilty pleasure is when a play, book, or film justifies the title by introducing something that explains it, that aside.

String felt like a new angle by Alice Childress, although sticking with the same ‘umbrella type’ of characters (Black people of varying social standings), she explores this story in an almost murder mystery-esque context.

String was highly interactive, having you question each character's motives and, at times, making you want to physically enter the scene just to shake some sense into a character (just tell the truth Joe!)

Even though the outcome was expected, we all knew Joe would find the wallet one way or another, it didn’t feel like a disappointing resolution or an anti-climatic moment - it actually made you more invested as you tried to figure out how this would happen and how they’d react (very much like the movie 12 angry men, you know it has to get resolved.. but it’s the how’s that’s interesting)

[Jesse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alice Childress’ plays are stuffed with desire. She’s not satisfied with blaming social issues and history for the black experience; she uses the history to examine “the now” oh her characters minute by minute. She wants to know intimately each of her characters’ make-up without platitudes. The result is fully-lived characters that breathe so much truth and have so much more to say than most are ready to hear. In the hands of a lesser writer, these characters would have merely told us their problems and desires, but Childress perfectly shows us everything we need to palpably feel their desires and sorrows completely overwhelm us.

[Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Mojo," the first half of this twofer, is truly terrific: a mesmerizing two-hander about a woman dealing with cancer and her former good-time husband whose a player with everyone but her. Everything about this piece is rich: the character development, the evolving relationship, the contemporary language, the sociopolitical critique. "String," the second half, isn't nearly as good -- kinda like Tennessee Williams meets Columbo for an episode in the city park. But after that first one-act, I shan't gripe about the latter's shortcomings.

[mengwe · Rating 5 out of 5]

i reaaaaally like string! (the piece of string adaptation) though i’m frustrated as HECK for joe, it was a fun read