The Chip Woman's Fortune
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The Chip Woman's Fortune is a 1923 one act play written by American playwright Willis Richardson. The play was produced by The Ethiopian Art Theatre[1] and is historically important as the first serious work by an African American playwright to be presented on Broadway. Although Broadway had seen African American musical comedies and revues, it had never seen a serious drama.[2]
Emma: Liza's daughter, 18 and beautiful
Liza: Mother of Emma, struggling with her health
Aunt Nancy: The “chip woman” who lives with Liza's family in their home
Silas: Husband of Liza
Jim: Son of Aunt Nancy
Synopsis
The play opens with Liza not feeling well and being taken care of by Aunt Nancy.[3] Emma enters and is chastised by Liza for wearing makeup. Both Emma and Liza agree that Aunt Nancy has been a very helpful presence in the home, especially for Liza’s health. Liza explains to Emma that the Victrola has left the family in debt, and that Silas has been furloughed for a couple of days.[4] With the family already being extremely poor, and men coming to gather the debt any minute, Liza suspects that Silas will need to put Aunt Nancy out of the house, because she does not pay rent. Silas enters the home and explains how he suspects Aunt Nancy secretly has a fortune that she keeps buried in the backyard.[5] He wants to either ask her for the money or kick her out. Aunt Nancy re-enters and confesses that she is keeping money in the backyard to save for her son, who got out of jail that day and will be appearing at the house any minute. Jim enters and gives Silas fifteen dollars. He then proceeds to give half the money Aunt Nancy has saved for him to Silas. Silas repays his debts, and Aunt Nancy and Jim exit.[6]