A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE

The First Breeze of Summer

Full-Length Play, Drama  /  6w, 8m

Leslie Lee

This striking story of a middle class Black family in a small Northeastern city is told on two levels: events that transpire on one hot June weekend and flashbacks to the memories of the visiting grandmother as a young woman.

The First Breeze of Summer

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  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    6w, 8m
  • Duration
    Duration
    120 minutes (2 hours)
  • Suggested Use
    • Monologues
    • Scene work
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult

Details

Summary
This striking story of a middle class Black family in a small Northeastern city is told on two levels: events that transpire on one hot June weekend and flashbacks to the memories of the visiting grandmother as a young woman. She recalls the three men, two black and one white, who are the fathers of her three children. A resourceful woman, she feels some regrets, no shame and feels she has had a useful life. Lou, an oversensitive boy who is about to graduate from high school, worships the grandmother. The resolution of his problems and his acceptance of his sexuality and blackness form the backbone of the play.
History
THE FIRST BREEZE OF SUMMER first appeared at the St. Marks Playhouse in New York City on March 2, 1975. Directed by Douglas Turner Ward.
Cast Attributes
Keywords
Performing Groups

GREMMAR - Milton and Edna's mother, in her 70s
NATE EDWARDS - black male, in his early to middle 20s
LOU EDWARDS - Nate's brother, seventeen or eighteen
AUNT EDNA - black female, in her mid-fifties
MILTON EDWARDS - Edna's brother, father of Lou and Nate, mid-fifties
HATTIE - Milton's wife, her early to mid-fifties
LUCRETIA - the young Gremmar, her late teens
SAM GREEN - black male, his mid to late twenties
BRITON WOODWARD - white male, his late teens or very early twenties
REVERED MOSELY - black male, his early sixties
HOPE - Nate's girlfriend, black, her early twenties
JOE DRAKE - white male, in his mid-forties
GLORIA TOWNES - black female, in her late thirties
HARPER EDWARDS - black male, in hid mid-thirties

  • Time Period 1970s
  • Setting Contemporary. A small city in the Northeast.
  • Additional Features Play w/ Music
  • Duration 120 minutes (2 hours)
  • Cautions
    • Strong Language
    • Mild Adult Themes

Media

"Mr. Lee makes it clear how the past is the parent of the present." - The New York Times

"The people emerge as richly complex human beings... Storytelling with a passion ... [that has] all the old fashioned virtues." - The New York Times

"Leslie Lee explains the revealing of secrets as the seeking of light; like trying to fill the void between reality and God's will" - The New York Theatre Review

"Delicate[ly] balance[s]...religion and reality, human flaws and dignity, humor, tenderness and pathos." - Variety

ON BREAKING CHARACTER

Scene Study and Classroom Reading: Plays for Colleges and Universities
by Becca Schlossberg
August 23, 2019

Licensing & Materials

  • Minimum Fee: $110 per performance

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Authors

Leslie Lee

Leslie Lee

For the stage, Leslie Lee is the author of numerous plays that have been produced in New York City and regionally. His plays include: The War Party, Colored People’s Time, Blues in a Broken Tongue, The Rabbit’s Foot; Black Eagles, Hannah Davis; a new version of the musical ...

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