The Story

Costume design by Cory Sincennes

Harlem Duet is the story of the complex relationship of a Black couple, played out against the backdrop of three different periods in the American Black experience: 1860, before the uS emancipation Proclamation; 1928, during new York’s Harlem Renaissance; and again in Harlem, in post-civil rights 1997. each setting reframes the story of the woman, her deep love for her partner, and her sacrifices, pain, revenge and resilience when she is betrayed by him. each era’s cultural and social backdrop plays a unique part in how each couple’s story develops – and ends. And, as in Shakespeare’s Othello, a strawberry-embroidered handkerchief plays a significant part in each story.

First, a note about names. In 1997, the lead characters are Billie and her husband Othello. In 1928, the two characters are called “She” and “He”. And in 1860, on a plantation, they are “Her” and “Him”. The majority of the action occurs in 1997, where Billie and Othello, married for nine years, are living in an apartment in Harlem. Billie is a graduate student and Othello is a professor who has recently achieved tenure over a white man named Chris Yago. Othello has fallen in love with a colleague, a white woman named Mona, and is in the process of leaving Billie for her. Also part of the 1997 story are Billie’s friends: her landlady, Magi, her sisterin-law Amah (married to Billie’s brother), and her estranged father, Canada, who turns up unexpectedly. Billie is in deep pain over Othello’s choice and all of its repercussions – and she makes a plan to make him pay. The other time periods are seen as a series of flashbacks throughout the unfolding of the 1997 events. Sometimes the action shifts to Harlem in 1928, where “He” is a classically trained actor, playing in blackface in a minstrel show. Again, “He” is involved with a white woman – a director named Mona – and “She” responds out of her pain and despair. And there are scenes set in the American South from 1860 to 1862, where the couple – now “Her” and “Him” – are slaves. They have set up a plan to escape from the plantation, go north and find freedom in Canada. But at the last moment, “Him” decides he can’t leave his white mistress. And once again, the consequences of that choice are devastating.

Set design for Harlem Duet by Rachel Forbes Costume sketch for He by Rachel Forbes