My New Black Magazine - NYU Black Renaissance Noire BRN-FALL-206 ISSUE RELEASE | Page 160

Scene 4

Inside sara’s mind, a magic box.

sara:
I don’t want you to lie, Roy. I just want
you to see who I am. I want you to
see me without you being distracted
by all this shit I try to clean off of
you: the world; all the judgments and
conditions passed down through the
generations; the toxic shit we raised on;
the expectations of some mysteriously
better unknown. I want you to hold
me in a way I can be certain won’t quit,
when I fuck up. I want us to make it
real this time.

sara:
This is everything, including my letter
from Ms. Legendare. She’s telling
me I should come to New York, Roy.
I wasn’t supposed to tell anybody.
But what’s it all worth if I can’t share
something? I gotta be able to have
somebody, even for a little while.

the mayor draws a circle on the floor
using white chalk. the mayor
welcomes sara into the circle. sara
steps inside the circle.

roy:
You going to New York? Why you ain’t
tell me? You trying to say whatever’s in
that jar is getting you there?

the mayor:
Rebel!

sara digs her jar out from under
the tree.

sara:
It’s my prayers. My dreams. I’m sharing
that. I’m more than what you think,
Roy. See?

sara:
I want to show you something.
I don’t know why I’m doing this.
roy:
If you don’t know why, maybe you
shouldn’t do it.
sara:
Nah. I got to.

sara opens the jar. roy peers inside.
lights fade. roy remains, peering
inside the jar in tableau.

screen: Sepia tone. sara is bound
at the ankles, wrists, and mouth.
Close ups of each bound body part.

As the mayor calls out different
identities, sara tries to embody each
with movement.
the mayor:
Black girl!
Whore! Healer?
Woman. Saint.
the mayor draws a box around the
circle, where sara stands.

sara begins digging and pulls her
jar out.
roy:
What’s that?

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BLACK RENAISSANCE NOIRE

sara sits the jar between herself and
roy.