This Bird of Dawning Singeth All Night Long

Asleep in her apartment in the wee hours of the morning, Anne, a white woman, is jarred awake by a ringing telephone, and then again and again, until she rips the cord from the wall in frustration

But then the ringing phone is replaced by a knock at the door, her insistent caller being a black woman - who claims that she is Anne's twin sister, Nancy

Rattled and fearful, Anne tries to decoy her unwelcome visitor from the apartment, but Nancy stays. Gradually their encounter develops into a revealing, provocative and, ultimately, fatal confrontation, which yields a disturbing yet perceptive study of racial distrust, and the essential brotherhood which this subverts and denies

Part of the trilogy entitled American Night Cry

First presented by New York's experimental American Place Theatre, this haunting two character play, which marked the debut of a young black writer of major potential, employs imaginative symbolism to explore its theme of racial tension, and the destructive hatred which this can generate

" a genuine command of dialogue and the ability to create dramatic tension and atmosphere" ~ NY Times