2&1: A Harlem Musical with Loose Morals by
It's 1927 in Sugar Hill, the sweet part of Harlem. Negros are in vogue so everybody that's anybody slums it uptown for a bit of hooch and a good time. Olivia is a Negro writer for The Crisis Magazine dreaming of Parisian salons and literary fame equivalent to her male counterparts. During a wild party, she catches the eye of Irene, a flapper with an insatiable appetite who white passes to gain social...
It's 1927 in Sugar Hill, the sweet part of Harlem. Negros are in vogue so everybody that's anybody slums it uptown for a bit of hooch and a good time. Olivia is a Negro writer for The Crisis Magazine dreaming of Parisian salons and literary fame equivalent to her male counterparts. During a wild party, she catches the eye of Irene, a flapper with an insatiable appetite who white passes to gain social status. After sharing a kiss, a sexual awakening erupts within Olivia and she leaps into a torrid romance with Irene and routinely disregards her own needs for hers. Enter Tommy: a rich and charming British aristocrat eager to try on the bohemian lifestyle and who’s wild for Irene. Irene sees Tommy as her chance to claim her inheritance and plots a sham marriage. Olivia objects but Irene assures her it will be as easy as a flapper without a bra and soon they'll Charleston into the Harlem sunset together. However, when the stock market suddenly crashes and takes Irene's inheritance with it, Olivia begs her to end the charade. But it’s too late: Irene is pregnant and must marry Tommy or they will be destitute. Olivia reluctantly agrees.
Three months later Olivia and the newlyweds play "house" in a swank Upper East Side townhouse, with Tommy none the wiser of the goings on between the two women. Life is a gas and Olivia's work is all the rage until she loses a writing award. Frustrated with always being eclipsed by a man, she turns to Irene for comfort. But Irene has troubles of her own including her growing dependency on arsenic wafers to “pass” and her rekindled affair with her dominating ex, Stephen. A neglected Tommy is all too eager to comfort Olivia, creating a shift in emotional entanglements. On the eve of Olivia's last attempt at securing a fellowship in Paris, a strung-out and bitter Irene burns Olivia's novel triggering premature labor. When the baby is delivered as a Negro and subsequently dies from arsenic poisoning, truths are revealed, including that Tommy was not the baby's father. Olivia attempts to overlook Irene's betrayal, but when she learns that Irene burned her manuscript, she is devastated beyond repair and finally ends their relationship.
Set during the decadent Harlem Renaissance to a contemporary jazz score, 2&1: A Harlem Musical with Loose Morals, spotlights a part of the Roaring ‘20s rarely mentioned: the Black women who not only defined the modern woman, but also invented her.
Three months later Olivia and the newlyweds play "house" in a swank Upper East Side townhouse, with Tommy none the wiser of the goings on between the two women. Life is a gas and Olivia's work is all the rage until she loses a writing award. Frustrated with always being eclipsed by a man, she turns to Irene for comfort. But Irene has troubles of her own including her growing dependency on arsenic wafers to “pass” and her rekindled affair with her dominating ex, Stephen. A neglected Tommy is all too eager to comfort Olivia, creating a shift in emotional entanglements. On the eve of Olivia's last attempt at securing a fellowship in Paris, a strung-out and bitter Irene burns Olivia's novel triggering premature labor. When the baby is delivered as a Negro and subsequently dies from arsenic poisoning, truths are revealed, including that Tommy was not the baby's father. Olivia attempts to overlook Irene's betrayal, but when she learns that Irene burned her manuscript, she is devastated beyond repair and finally ends their relationship.
Set during the decadent Harlem Renaissance to a contemporary jazz score, 2&1: A Harlem Musical with Loose Morals, spotlights a part of the Roaring ‘20s rarely mentioned: the Black women who not only defined the modern woman, but also invented her.