After taking an Arts Outta Town trip to see the Detroit Repertory Theatre’s production of Sweet Pea’s Mama, students had a chance to submit follow-up questions to playwright Robert Lawrence Nelson. Rob was gracious enough to speak with Arts at Michigan once more, as he responded to the following questions:
What kind of audience did you have in mind for the play? It seems it would elicit very different reactions, depending on the audience.
I didn’t have a specific audience in mind. I wanted people when they see it to think that these characters are, they’re conflicted, they’re not black and white. You could have prejudice and still have affection for somebody. I wanted people to walk away questioning their own prejudice. I think we’re all prejudiced to some degree or another.
How do you select names for the character? Based on personal associations, to invoke stereotypes, . . . ?
There’s no science to it. It’s just what feels right.
How would Coralee and Abigail’s characters change if the play were situated in the mid-2000s?
I really don’t know how to answer that. Certainly Coralee wouldn’t have to play stupid to the degree that she did, or at all, and who knows, Coralee might be Abigail’s boss in some corporate firm.
I also think you can’t really separate those characters from that context, the time that they were in. That’s why I kept the ending open-ended. I can make an argument that Abigail keeps Coralee on, working for her, and I can make also an argument that she lets her go.
I don’t know if this is relevant, but once the balance started to shift, when Coralee spoke up for herself and told the truth, the argument I would make for Abigail keeping her is that she has nobody else and that she needs somebody. I don’t mean in terms of being a housekeeper. She needs another soul to rub up against.
And the argument I can make for letting her go is there’s just no way that she can have her in the household on an equal basis with her. Abigail is stuck in the past and not ready to grow. So I left it open-ended for the audience to grapple
In the play, Coralee often played a role that she thought would be easier for Mrs. Gentry to understand. This role playing still seemed very salient to me. Do you think the roles that people play have changed since the civil rights movement? How?
In terms of playing the role, we all play roles to a certain extent. We all do that in order to get ahead. I don’t think that’s awful.
Did you consider any other endings or added plots?
No other added plot. No other ending either, and I’ve been criticized from time to time about the ending. Certain people wanted Coralee to demand more or say her piece and leave, but she was in the context of her time and she needed to take care of her family. So she negotiated for what she thought was possible, yet told the truth.
And incidentally, she was inspired by her son, which I thought was ironic because she’s the one who was so hard on him to mind his Ps and Qs, and he being the new generation, really didn’t want any of that. But when he came clean to her and opened his heart to her, that inspired her to be truthful. He calls her on it. Yes, she is doing all this for him, but at the same time, there’s another track. There’s a part of Coralee that was afraid if she spoke her mind, she would be fired.
Did you feel the need to make the black protagonist victorious in the end, given history’s record of the opposite?
Well, I think, again, I think it was an earned victory, but it was an honest victory. In other words, she was inspired by her son to tell the truth, yet it wasn’t Hollywood ending with her walking into the sunset with her chest out. She was still negotiating for what was reasonable to get. I guess the question presupposes that it was an unrealistic ending.
She grew as a person. She came from her truth rather than her fear. She might stay on or she might not. In one sense, it’s irrelevant, which is why I left it up to the audience. What’s important is that she grew and that she was inspired by her son.
Why did Sonny decide to drop his accusations against Coralee?
You know, I’ve been questioned about that. The question that I’ve gotten before about his character is that people say he’s a bit unrealistic because he changes so suddenly, first by accusing her and then by letting it go. And I’m so against changing his character because I think his character goes to the heart of the play and the time.
Here he is, he’s a burgeoning young man. He’s on the cusp between still being a child and being a grown man in that society. And he’s frustrated and angry at the loss of his brother. He’s trying on manhood, you know, to see how it fits and who he is on the time. And he changes back because Coralee was indeed the one who raised him. Even though Abigail says Coralee took care of Georgia, Coralee raised him too.
So he’s between the two worlds, she being the lovingest mother who cared for him, and trying to be a responsible man, as he saw in the society. So he goes back and forth. At one moment, he’s yelling at her, and the next moment, he’s looking for sympathy, crying on her shoulder. And again, it goes to his character. He lost his brother, his twin brother, and I’m sure you know how close twins are, and in this case, the guilt of Georgia coming out first, and he’s not comfortable with what role he’s supposed to be in yet.
I really like to write sloppy characters, and when I say sloppy, I don’t mean in a denigrating way. I mean it in a positive way. They’re conflicted, they’re multi-dimensional. They’re complex, seemingly contradictory, because we all are that.
Was it justifiable for Sonny to question Coralee about Georgie’s death?
Again, I’ll fall back on what I just said. At this point, he’s trying on the big boy pants of being the man. And he senses something, which he’s right, of course. So yeah, I think it’s justifiable. How he goes about doing it, of course, is a bit strident, but understandable given his pain.
I was a little confused regarding Georgie’s death. Are we supposed to cheer on the victory of the movement or mourn for the death of an innocent soul?
Yes.
Thanks again to Robert Lawrence Nelson for speaking with us. The Detroit Repertory Theatre’s production of Sweet Pea’s Mama continues through March 15th. Find more information here.
