The Colored Museum

The exhibit opens with a narrator in a tuxedo who solemnly enters through the audience. He introduces “yet another Mama-on-the-Couch play” that “tears at the very fabric of racist America” (24). He sits on a stool and announces the opening of the play. As the narrator describes the setting, the set pieces are put into place by a stagehand or appear via crude lighting effects.

A couch revolves onto the stage. On the couch sits Mama. She is wearing a dress made from the same material as the couch and the window drapes, which appear as they are announced. She reads an oversized Bible. A door mat is set downstage center. A picture of Jesus appears on the wall.

The Son, Walter-Lee-Beau-Willie-Jones, enters. As he enters, Mama asks him if he wiped his feet. The Son explodes into an emotional speech about his conflict with “The Man […] wipin’ his feet on me […] every damn day of my life” (24). Mama insists he wipe his feet, but the Son rebels, stating he wants to dream and take charge of his own life. This causes a fight about life and God that ends in Mama giving the Son an exaggerated slap across the face.