Darker Face of Earth (First Edition)

In this serio-comic first play, Pulitzer Prize winner and current U.S. poet laureate Dove ( Thomas and Beulah ) takes us into the fascinating world of antebellum South Carolina. In presenting Amalia, a rich white woman who gives birth to a slave's child, she combines elements from Judaism and Christianity, highlighting parallels between the biblical book of Exodus and the flight from slavery to freedom. In the defiant, proud Augustus, the infant placed in a sewing basket and carried off, Dove creates a Moses figure, supposed leader of his people, who fails at the last moment. Amalia's husband isolates himself in his shame, handing over control of the slaves to his wife while he looks to the stars for wisdom (as per the wise men at the birth of Jesus). Tidbits of interesting trivia unfamiliar to many readers abound: we learn that slaves given Sundays off fell into two categories, players and prayers. At times unconvincing (Amalia not only gives birth to the slave child, she insists upon a slave woman as midwife), at times too contrived (Augustus's genealogy hinted at and explained through chance meetings), this is nevertheless a worthwhile contribution to African American culture and literature. (Mar.)