Contemporary One-Act Plays Part 52

SHE. Say that again!

HE. They'd do what Manikin did....

SHE. Manikin?

HE. Minikin?

SHE. Shall I tell you something?

HE. Tell me something.

SHE. Are you listening?

HE. With my inner ears.

SHE. I wasn't jealous of that woman----

HE. You weren't jealous?

SHE. I wanted to hear you talk----

HE. You wanted to hear me talk?

SHE. You talk so wonderfully!

HE. Do I, indeed? What a b.o.o.by I am!

SHE. And I wanted to hear you say----

HE. You cheat, you idler, you----

SHE. Woman----

HE. Dissembler!

SHE. Manikin?

HE. Minikin?

SHE. Everlastingly?

HE. Everlastingly.

SHE. Say it again!

HE. I refuse----

SHE. You refuse?

HE. Well----

SHE. Well?

HE. You have ears outside your head--I'll say that for you--but they'll never hear--what your other ears hear!

SHE. Say it--down one of the ears--outside my head?

HE. I refuse.

SHE. You refuse?

HE. Leave me alone.

SHE. Manikin?

HE. I can't say it!

SHE. Manikin! */

[_The clock goes on ticking for a moment. Its mellow chimes strike the hour._

CURTAIN

WHITE DRESSES

(A TRAGEDY OF NEGRO LIFE)

BY

PAUL GREENE

_White Dresses_ is reprinted by special permission of Professor Frederick H. Koch. Copyrighted by the Carolina Playmakers, Inc., Chapel Hill, North Carolina. For permission to produce, address Frederick H.

Koch, director.

PAUL GREENE

Paul Greene, one of the most promising of the University of North Carolina Playmakers, was born in 1894 on a farm near Lillington, North Carolina. He has received his education at Buies Creek Academy and at the University of North Carolina, from which he received his bachelor's degree in 1921. He saw service with the A. E. F. in France, with the 105th United States Engineers.

In addition to _White Dresses_, Mr. Greene has written a number of one-act plays: _The Last of the Lowries_ (to be included in a forthcoming volume of Carolina Folk-Plays, published by Henry Holt & Company), _The Miser_, _The Old Man of Edenton_, _The Lord's Will_, _Wreck P'int_, _Granny Boling_ (in _The Drama_ for August-September, 1921). The first three plays named above were produced originally by the Carolina Playmakers at Chapel Hill.

_White Dresses_ is an excellent example of folk-play of North Carolina.

This play was written in English 31, the course in dramatic composition at the University of North Carolina conducted by Professor Frederick H.

Koch. "The Aim of the Carolina Playmakers," says Professor Koch, "is to build up a genuinely native drama, a fresh expression of the folk-life in North Carolina, drawn from the rich background of local tradition and from the vigorous new life of the present day. In these simple plays we hope to contribute something of lasting value in the making of a new folk-theatre and a new folk-literature."