The Gospel According to James and Other Plays

Knock Me A Kiss

Knock Me a Kiss 66 K n o c k M e a K i s s Production History Knock Me a Kiss was originally produced by Victory Gardens Theater, Chicago, Illinois, Dennis Začek, artistic director, Marcelle McVay, managing director, January 21 through February 27, 2000. The production was directed by Chuck Smith, with set design by Mary Griswold, costume design by Birgit Rattenborg Wise, lighting design by Todd Hensley, and sound design by BenjaminT.Getting and Benjamin Recht.Tina M. Jach was the production stage manager. Countee Cullen Jason Delane Yolande Du Bois Yvonne Huff Jimmy Lunceford Morocco Omari Lenora LeShay Tomlinson Nina Du Bois Celeste Williams W. E. B. Du Bois Dexter Zollicoffer Knock Me a Kiss was produced in New York by Woodie King Jr.’s New FederalTheatre in association with Legacy Creative Arts Company, Chuck Smith, artistic director, November 11 through December 5, 2010. The production was directed by Chuck Smith, with set design by Anthony Davidson, costume design by Ali Turns, lighting design by Shirley Prendergast, and sound design by BillToles. Bayo was the stage manager. Countee Cullen Sean Phillips Yolande Du Bois Erin Cherry Jimmy Lunceford Morocco Omari Lenora Gillian Glasco Nina Du Bois Marie Thomas W. E. B. Du Bois André De Shields (above)Yvonne Huff asYolande Du Bois and Jason Delane as Countee Cullen in theVictory Gardens Theater production of Knock Me a Kiss. Photo by Liz Lauren. (left) Dexter Zollicoffer as W. E. B. Du Bois, Yvonne Huff asYolande Du Bois, and Jason Delane as Countee Cullen in theVictory Gardens Theater production of Knock Me a Kiss. Photo by Liz Lauren. (right)Yvonne Huff as Yolande Du Bois and Morocco Omari as Jimmy Lunceford in theVictory Gardens Theater production of Knock Me a Kiss. Photo by Liz Lauren. (below) Morocco Omari as Jimmy Lunceford, Yvonne Huff asYolande Du Bois, Jason Delane as Countee Cullen, Celeste Williams as Nina Du Bois, Dexter Zollicoffer as W. E. B. Du Bois, and LeShay Tomlinson as Lenora in theVictory Gardens Theater production of Knock Me a Kiss. Photo by Liz Lauren. K n o c k M e a K i s s 69 Characters Yolande Du Bois The twenty-six-year-old daughter of W. E. B. DU BOIS and NINA DU BOIS.YOLANDE is a romantic who has led a very sheltered life.The greatest love in her life is the love she has for her father. Jimmy Lunceford Twenty-eight-year-old big band leader. Graduate of Fisk University and former high school teacher, JIMMY decided that the hand-to-mouth existence of touring with his band was more important to him than maintaining a job teaching high school. He is down-to-earth and very practical, up on current trends and fashions, and meticulous when it comes to music. He has a good business sense and lovesYOLANDE dearly. Nina Du Bois Midsixties, she is the wife of W. E. B. DU BOIS. NINA has a very provincial attitude toward sex, which she doesn’t enjoy but considers to be necessary. She lives in the shadow of her husband, whom she met when she was a student and he was her professor. She never fully recovered from the death of her eighteen-month-old son Burghardt. His death was fundamental in forming her attitude toward her daughter, YOLANDE, who was born later, and toward her husband,W. E. B., whom she considered responsible for Burghardt’s death. W. E. B. Du Bois Midsixties, but seems much younger. Active in national and (Will) international politics, he has come to recognize that he is a better politician than he is a husband and father. Even so, he considers his personal sacrifices for the promotion of his personal agenda well worth the trade-off. He maintains a very businesslike relationship with his wife and his daughter. Countee Cullen Twenty-five-year-old young boy-poet genius and protégé of W. E. B. DU BOIS, he is clearly a product of the Ivory Tower,Talented Tenth machine. He is very warm and charming, a man who has used words to get into and out of any situation. Although he’s a poet, there is nothing effeminate about him. Lenora Friend and confidante of YOLANDE, she’s the down-toearth , no-nonsense, tell-it-like-it-is type of friend we all would like to have. On April 9, 1928, Countee Cullen was...