Lovings & Khamas

This is a sample of my play Lovings & Khamas. This play is based on true events.

Synopsis

Two love stories shared on one stage. One love story that has changed US History. Another love story that has changed the world. Based on their love stories that have been told before, Four People, Two different worlds and two different periods of time, In Caroline County, Virginia,1950s, Richard Loving, a Caucasian falls in love with Mildred, a shy-soft spoken African American and In London,UK, 1940s, Sir Sereste Khama, an African prince from Botswana finds love in Ruth Williams, a white British woman born from South London. Four people, two different time periods, two different worlds, two stories in one play. Somewhere in the 1940s and 1950s. Four interracial married couples. One from Virginia and the other from UK and Botswana. Dealing with segregation and apartheid. These people love stories were forbidden to the public and banished from their homes until they fight for their love and their right to come home. Their stories have been told before.

Lovings: Richard and Mildred

Richard and Mildred were a mixed raced couple from Virginia in 1950s. The Two were friends until they fell in love and got married in 1958 at Washington DC. Until they were arrested by the local police when they broke in their house in the middle of the night while they were sleeping. Their arrests and refusal to annul the marriage led them to exile from Virginia. The Two moved to Washington, DC, and settle there but wanted to return to their home in Virginia.

Khamas: Sir Sereste and Ruth Williams

Another mixed race couple from the 1940s, Sir Sereste Khama, Prince of Bechuanaland Protectorate from Botswana meets Ruth Williams at the Nutford House for London Missionary Society party introduced by Muriel (Ruth's older sister). The two share something in common and fell in love and married in 1948 after a year being together. Their marriage led an outrage in both Botswana and London causing them to exile in 1951.

Their story was told by films and documentaries.

SETTING: Virginia, DC, London, Botswana

TIME: 1940s, 1950s

Loving’s story is told on Stage Left and Khama’s story is told on Stage Right.

****Side Note: THE NARRATOR: one or two narrator(s) tells the story in the play. One or Two narrator(s) can be interracial couples, people from the past, one of the cast of characters, host, director, and storyteller********

INTRODUCTION

(Spotlight on NARRATOR(S), one or two narrator(s) tells the story.)

NARRATOR(S) This is a story about love. A true love story that has been told before. Before social media and technology took over the minds of adolescents, before actress Meghan Markle became our first black princess that is until her and her husband Prince Harry left the royal family. This is a love story that became affectionate, passionate, tender, and warm.

This is a love story that became forbidden from the public that led them to separate and banished from their homes. A love story about four people falling in love. These four people, two individuals both in love, divided from segregation and apartheid. Two plus two equals four. One plus One equals Two. This isn’t about a mathematics solution situation. This is about people in love. Both from two different worlds.

(LIGHT shines on RICHARD LOVING and MILDRED LOVING.)

NARRATOR (S) (CONT’D) For instance, the Lovings: Richard Loving and Mildred Jeter Loving. Two opposite people from the eastern part of Virginia. A white man who falls in love with a biracial woman. Their love caused them to exile from Virginia because Mildred is a colored woman.

(LIGHTS DIM on RICHARD LOVING and MILDRED LOVING.)

NARRATOR (S) And, the Khamas: Sir Seretse Khama and Ruth Williams Khama.

(LIGHTS shine on SIR SERETSE KHAMA and RUTH WILLIAMS KHAMA.)

NARRATOR(S) An African prince from Botswana who came all the way to London to find his bride. When he met Ruth, he was destined to marry her until people of Botswana and people of the UK weren’t pleased with their marriage.

(LIGHTS DIM on SIR SERETSE KHAMA and RUTH WILLIAMS KHAMA.)

NARRATOR Four people. Two love stories. These four people have their stories to tell. A love story that has been told before. This is their loving story!

(BLACKOUT.END OF INTRODUCTION.)