Griefknot is a 6 character 2-act play set in present-day Brooklyn. Leah, white, a secular Jew and a literary critic has been on her own after her parents’ premature deaths – her fathers by suicide after her mother died. She and Marvin, Sr. a prominent Black author, mid-40’s, who has had past struggles with alcohol fall in love. Marvin is a single parent to his young son, Marvin, Jr (Marvel), who is immediately drawn to Leah. Marvin’s mother Florence, a deeply Christian Bajan woman who has been helping Marvin raise Marvel, is not.

Years pass and Marvin and Leah have a child. Marvin is dying. He asks Marvel, now 21, and his half-sister, Alice, to take care of an increasingly fragile Leah who is drinking, unable to deal with his impending death. Marvin tells his half-sister of his fears that her drinking will lead Florence to try to take 9-year-old Charlie away from Leah and leave the family to unravel.

When the play begins Leah, Marvel, Alice, and Florence are clearing up from Marvin’s memorial service. Grief is shaping everyone and tensions between Leah and Florence run particularly high. Later that night, Leah, untethered and drunk, has an explosive interaction with Marvel, witnessed by Florence, that threatens to undo the family. The next morning, a desperate Leah flees, telling no one where she is going. Her departure heightens underlying conflicts between Alice, her mother, and Marvel. As the day turns to night, secrets are uncovered that allow hope that the family can remain intact. Griefknot explores how grief shapes peoples’ actions and the alliances that allow them to survive.

Synopsis

The title of this play comes from a word used by a Bajan patient as she described the abdominal pain she came to me for help with. She said the pain felt like a “grief knot”, a description that was resonant for me well beyond its use in identifying a medical symptom. In Griefknot I set out to explore the different ways I see people dealing with death in a family - bringing some of us closer as we remember and grieve together, while creating ruptures for others as buried jealousies are uncovered.

The play captures too the tensions that arise between people of different races and religions. Tensions that I see not only stemming from socially conditioned biases, but from our lack of knowledge and understanding of each other’s individual experiences. These rifts may be bridged and repaired through finding commonality in the experiences of one another.

Background

CHARACTER BREAKDOWN

Leah Rubin Evans A literary critic. Early/mid 40's and early/mid 30's. White.

Marvin Evans, Sr. A novelist. Early/mid 50's and early/mid 40's. Biracial.

Marvel (Marvin, Jr)* Marvin’s son. A college student and musician. Age 21 (and 9). Black.

Charlie Evans Marvin and Leah‘s son. Age 9

Florence Evans Sampson Marvin’s mother. A nurse. 70ish and 60ish. Afro-Caribbean (Bajan)

Alice Sampson A doctor. Early/mid 40's. Marvin’s half-sister. Black.

Additional Notes:

The play is set in the living room of the Evans family, Brooklyn, New York.

A Staged Reading in Studio City, CA
December 4, 2023
Directed by Desean Terry and John Frank Levey

Production History:

cast: * Khandi Alexander, * Lily Rains, * Montae Russell, * Elijah Reed, * Adreauna Artis,

*AEA

sample pages