Contributions

Contributions

Written by Ted Shine

Performed as part of Black Satire: One-acts from the Black Arts Movement

Directed by Lou Bellamy 2018

Contributions by Ted Shine is one of a pair of one-act plays from the Black Arts Movement directed by Lou Bellamy and performed together at the College of Saint Benedict in 2018. Set around 1960, this play features three characters: a young man named Eugene preparing for a lunch counter sit-in, his grandmother Mrs. Love who works as a cook, and their friend Katy who is on her way to work as a maid. Contributions addresses the different—and surprising—ways that different generations of African-Americans handle the oppression they face.

My design for this show aimed to capture a certain moment in history and use audience expectations to enhance the surprising nature of the play. After researching the cultural and political history of the 1950s and 60s, I was able to design costumes for each character inspired by real people who participated in the civil rights movement in different ways. Eugene’s look is based on photographs of young men who attended lunch counter sit-ins, as he is planning to do in the play. Katy’s dress is simple, feminine, and neat both because she is on her way to work and to reflect the styles popular among mothers fighting for school desegregation. Finally, Mrs. Love’s costuming intends to trick audiences into seeing her as unassuming and non-threatening, while also drawing inspiration for the silhouette and print of her dress from a famous photo of civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer.