Showin Up Black (FKA,Black Bougie)
Table Read with Actors
Synopsis
Louis and Claire Hopegoode, an affluent African American couple, see their plans for their daughter Evvie’s perfect debutante ball collide with a Black Lives Matter protest in front of the cotillion hotel. Claire, the debutante ball chair, insists that her influential husband have the protest moved so as not to interfere with the debutante ball, nor disrupt her climb into the upper echelon of society. Her husband, Louis, a prominent attorney is conflicted by his role behind the scenes of the protest that may compromise whose side he’s really on.
Evvie, has other sentiments about the protest and in particular, one of the organizers of the protest, that cause her to reject her parents’ goals for her life, and subsequently endanger her safety. And Kwan, a young Black organizer who has beat the odds and is enrolled in an exclusive east coast college, finds himself dodging the clutches of the police that could send him to jail for years.
When forced to take action on the competing desires, obligations and violence crashing through their world, will the Hopegoodes be able to hold their family together, and restore the safety they thought they had achieved by living in an elite gated community?
Evvie, has other sentiments about the protest and in particular, one of the organizers of the protest, that cause her to reject her parents’ goals for her life, and subsequently endanger her safety. And Kwan, a young Black organizer who has beat the odds and is enrolled in an exclusive east coast college, finds himself dodging the clutches of the police that could send him to jail for years.
When forced to take action on the competing desires, obligations and violence crashing through their world, will the Hopegoodes be able to hold their family together, and restore the safety they thought they had achieved by living in an elite gated community?
Script History
“Showin' Up Black” (FKA "Black Bougie") was developed at Cleveland Public Theatre (CPT) through Catapult, a CPT New Play Development Program, and the Nord Family Foundation Playwright Fellowship, under the guidance of Executive Artistic Director Raymond Bobgan.
A short version of the play received a virtual staged reading at Ensemble Theatre of Cleveland in 2019.
A short version of the play received a virtual staged reading at Ensemble Theatre of Cleveland in 2019.
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Excerpt
Excerpt Act I Scene 3
The Evening Before the Debutante Ball; The Hopegoode Home.
CLAIRE
....... Your father wants to talk to Kwan, alone, Evvie. C’mon, let’s let the men talk.
EVVIE
But, mom, I want to stay and talk, too. Isn’t this sexist?
CLAIRE
How can it be sexist if I said it? To the kitchen .....
(Exit CLAIRE and EVVIE. LOUIS gets two Blue Moon ales for himself and KWAN. KWAN enters the study, sits in LOUIS’ desk chair. LOUIS is left the small uncomfortable side chair.)
LOUIS
Biomedical engineering. That’s a good field. You’ll always have a job. How did you get interested in it?
KWAN
I always liked to build things. My dad used to get me the Lego kits when I was a kid. Then in high school, I drew a lot – planes, rockets, sci-fi stuff, and I was good in math. Mr. Kolewyn taught math and physics. He got me onto the school Robotics team, and we won the competition down at the Science Center. It turned out that he had friends at Boston U and MIT. He liked me, and he got them to take a look at me. One of them hooked me up with a scholarship package and zip boom bam I was at MIT. Now I’m a sophomore.
(KWAN puts his feet up on LOUIS’ desk to experience the feel of the power position. LOUIS takes KWAN’s feet down.)
LOUIS
Sounds like you’ve got the natural aptitude for the field. An engineering degree in any field is good to have; and your degree is paid for. You seem personable, and you’re obviously smart. You’d certainly always have a job. Why don’t you want to go back?
KWAN
Why don’t I want to go back? Every day, it was like proving that I wasn’t the MIT ‘affirmative action’ case study! And they play mind games trying to prove they’re superior to me. The brothers, too. I don’t need a piece of paper or some club to prove I’m smart, or to have people to talk to on my level. A man ought to be comfortable enough in his own skin to be comfortable in the company of all men.
LOUIS
Well, if you truly believed that, you’d be comfortable enough to stay and finish your degree.
KWAN
I’m comfortable. It’s just that I feel like, right now, being in the protest movement is the most powerful way to bring about the reckoning to change things. To finally make these cops and this system pay for murder. That’s the only way to stop them.
LOUIS
I understand how you feel. There are a lot of revolutionaries in this world, but few of them ever get to have real influence over the chain of events that impact their own lives. Take a look around, son. When I have a problem, I don’t have to deal with the police on the street. I pick up the phone and call the Chief of Police, or the Mayor of the City and get it taken care of. My wife and daughter aren’t afraid to go shopping or out to dinner or just to take a walk around the block. When you pulled up in my driveway with my daughter in your car, the police station already knew you were here before you even got close to the door. Now, that’s something to aspire to.
KWAN
Respectfully, sir, I’m not your son. My parents are alive and well, and still married - to each other. But about what you said, I think there are other things to want and hope for.
LOUIS
Alright, fair enough. Think about it, that’s all I’m saying.
KWAN
I do think about it, Mr. Hopegoode. But if a Black person can’t be safe in their own home, doing nothing illegal, how can we focus on achieving material things?
LOUIS
Good question. But if those folks protesting downtown had the smarts you have and the opportunities you have, do you think they’d say to you “give that up and join us”?
KWAN
That’s because you don’t see that the movement has changed. It’s not men in suits with college degrees who are leading the movement anymore. It’s all different now. There aren’t leaders like back in the day. It’s more spontaneous now; everybody’s connected by social media; and folks get behind whatever is trending at the time.
LOUIS
And you think taking it to the streets changes policy?
KWAN
I think it starts in the streets and so yes, that is the battleground. Then the news and social media get it, and people can see what’s happening, and that’s how we influence the laws and hold the police accountable.
LOUIS
Protests certainly gain visibility. I grant you that. But protests don’t change laws. People with power and money change laws and policy.
KWAN
It’s entertainers now - athletes, and rappers, folks that are too big to silence who are not mainstream.
LOUIS
Those athletes and rappers have money, that’s true: Colin Kaepernick, LeBron, Chance the Rapper. But did you also know that Black Lives Matter has forty-two million dollars on their balance sheet? Yeah, that’s a correct number - all from contributions. That’s how they can keep saying what they’re saying. Don’t look now, young man, but you’re making my point for me.
KWAN
I don’t mean to, sir. We can’t be sayin’ the same thing. There is power in numbers when people march. It’s not all about the mainstream and money.
LOUIS
Get some. Get some money, and then you can do whatever you want – fund the protest movements; fund politicians who’ll make the changes we want to see; especially in the way police operate.
KWAN
That can’t be the only way.
LOUIS
I used to be like you once. Ready to put my body on the line for justice and equality. And then I found out, it’s always about the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’.
KWAN
I get you. Y’all living out here. Gates at the end of your streets. Everything you could want; feeling safe and secure. But it’s like once you arrived out here in the Heights, the actual movement got gutted. You forgot where you come from, yo!
(LOUIS jumps up to face KWAN who is standing. They are chest-to- chest.)
LOUIS
Watch what you’re saying. We’re just having a conversation.
KWAN
No disrespect, man. All I’m saying is that all those Black people together back in the day were a force. Black Power. (Raises his fist) Now that you guys got that green power, we don’t see y’all no more.... And sometimes, it seems like to me that we’re sliding back, right back where we started.
LOUIS
No, we’re not sliding back. But you and other young Black men like you, have to make the
difference. Leverage your opportunities. You seem like a sincere young man. Committed. We
need that for this generation coming up. That’s good for a man alone. But a woman’s got to be
protected. You understand what I’m saying.
KWAN
Yeah, I get you. That’s why I’m not taking Evvie to the protest tomorrow, like she wanted.
(LOUIS and KWAN lock in a stare-down.)
The Evening Before the Debutante Ball; The Hopegoode Home.
CLAIRE
....... Your father wants to talk to Kwan, alone, Evvie. C’mon, let’s let the men talk.
EVVIE
But, mom, I want to stay and talk, too. Isn’t this sexist?
CLAIRE
How can it be sexist if I said it? To the kitchen .....
(Exit CLAIRE and EVVIE. LOUIS gets two Blue Moon ales for himself and KWAN. KWAN enters the study, sits in LOUIS’ desk chair. LOUIS is left the small uncomfortable side chair.)
LOUIS
Biomedical engineering. That’s a good field. You’ll always have a job. How did you get interested in it?
KWAN
I always liked to build things. My dad used to get me the Lego kits when I was a kid. Then in high school, I drew a lot – planes, rockets, sci-fi stuff, and I was good in math. Mr. Kolewyn taught math and physics. He got me onto the school Robotics team, and we won the competition down at the Science Center. It turned out that he had friends at Boston U and MIT. He liked me, and he got them to take a look at me. One of them hooked me up with a scholarship package and zip boom bam I was at MIT. Now I’m a sophomore.
(KWAN puts his feet up on LOUIS’ desk to experience the feel of the power position. LOUIS takes KWAN’s feet down.)
LOUIS
Sounds like you’ve got the natural aptitude for the field. An engineering degree in any field is good to have; and your degree is paid for. You seem personable, and you’re obviously smart. You’d certainly always have a job. Why don’t you want to go back?
KWAN
Why don’t I want to go back? Every day, it was like proving that I wasn’t the MIT ‘affirmative action’ case study! And they play mind games trying to prove they’re superior to me. The brothers, too. I don’t need a piece of paper or some club to prove I’m smart, or to have people to talk to on my level. A man ought to be comfortable enough in his own skin to be comfortable in the company of all men.
LOUIS
Well, if you truly believed that, you’d be comfortable enough to stay and finish your degree.
KWAN
I’m comfortable. It’s just that I feel like, right now, being in the protest movement is the most powerful way to bring about the reckoning to change things. To finally make these cops and this system pay for murder. That’s the only way to stop them.
LOUIS
I understand how you feel. There are a lot of revolutionaries in this world, but few of them ever get to have real influence over the chain of events that impact their own lives. Take a look around, son. When I have a problem, I don’t have to deal with the police on the street. I pick up the phone and call the Chief of Police, or the Mayor of the City and get it taken care of. My wife and daughter aren’t afraid to go shopping or out to dinner or just to take a walk around the block. When you pulled up in my driveway with my daughter in your car, the police station already knew you were here before you even got close to the door. Now, that’s something to aspire to.
KWAN
Respectfully, sir, I’m not your son. My parents are alive and well, and still married - to each other. But about what you said, I think there are other things to want and hope for.
LOUIS
Alright, fair enough. Think about it, that’s all I’m saying.
KWAN
I do think about it, Mr. Hopegoode. But if a Black person can’t be safe in their own home, doing nothing illegal, how can we focus on achieving material things?
LOUIS
Good question. But if those folks protesting downtown had the smarts you have and the opportunities you have, do you think they’d say to you “give that up and join us”?
KWAN
That’s because you don’t see that the movement has changed. It’s not men in suits with college degrees who are leading the movement anymore. It’s all different now. There aren’t leaders like back in the day. It’s more spontaneous now; everybody’s connected by social media; and folks get behind whatever is trending at the time.
LOUIS
And you think taking it to the streets changes policy?
KWAN
I think it starts in the streets and so yes, that is the battleground. Then the news and social media get it, and people can see what’s happening, and that’s how we influence the laws and hold the police accountable.
LOUIS
Protests certainly gain visibility. I grant you that. But protests don’t change laws. People with power and money change laws and policy.
KWAN
It’s entertainers now - athletes, and rappers, folks that are too big to silence who are not mainstream.
LOUIS
Those athletes and rappers have money, that’s true: Colin Kaepernick, LeBron, Chance the Rapper. But did you also know that Black Lives Matter has forty-two million dollars on their balance sheet? Yeah, that’s a correct number - all from contributions. That’s how they can keep saying what they’re saying. Don’t look now, young man, but you’re making my point for me.
KWAN
I don’t mean to, sir. We can’t be sayin’ the same thing. There is power in numbers when people march. It’s not all about the mainstream and money.
LOUIS
Get some. Get some money, and then you can do whatever you want – fund the protest movements; fund politicians who’ll make the changes we want to see; especially in the way police operate.
KWAN
That can’t be the only way.
LOUIS
I used to be like you once. Ready to put my body on the line for justice and equality. And then I found out, it’s always about the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’.
KWAN
I get you. Y’all living out here. Gates at the end of your streets. Everything you could want; feeling safe and secure. But it’s like once you arrived out here in the Heights, the actual movement got gutted. You forgot where you come from, yo!
(LOUIS jumps up to face KWAN who is standing. They are chest-to- chest.)
LOUIS
Watch what you’re saying. We’re just having a conversation.
KWAN
No disrespect, man. All I’m saying is that all those Black people together back in the day were a force. Black Power. (Raises his fist) Now that you guys got that green power, we don’t see y’all no more.... And sometimes, it seems like to me that we’re sliding back, right back where we started.
LOUIS
No, we’re not sliding back. But you and other young Black men like you, have to make the
difference. Leverage your opportunities. You seem like a sincere young man. Committed. We
need that for this generation coming up. That’s good for a man alone. But a woman’s got to be
protected. You understand what I’m saying.
KWAN
Yeah, I get you. That’s why I’m not taking Evvie to the protest tomorrow, like she wanted.
(LOUIS and KWAN lock in a stare-down.)