The Darker Face of the Earth

The Darker Face of the Earth is a verse play written by Rita Dove. Her first full-length play, originally conceived in 1979, it was published in 1994, while Dove was serving as United States Poet Laureate. It was substantially revised in 1996 in preparation for its first production.

The play is set on a slave plantation in antebellum South Carolina, and is based on the Greek legend of Oedipus, and on Sophocles' play Oedipus Rex in particular.

The play premiered at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon in 1996. It was thereafter performed at the Crossroads Theatre in New Brunswick, New Jersey and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. In 1999 it had its London premiere at the Royal National Theatre.

Amalia Jennings Lafarge: A white plantation owner/mistress who gives birth to Augustus, the son of Hector. Later on she and Augustus become lovers.

Augustus Newcastle [Mulatto]: The son of Amalia and Hector, sold into slavery.

Louis Fafrage: Amalia’s violent and impulsive white husband who has seduced many slave women.

Phebe: A slave that has romantic feelings for Augustus.

Scylla: A slave, prophet, and voodoo practitioner.

Hector: The slave Amalia seduced, resulting in the birth of Augustus.

Other Slaves on the Jennings plantation /Chorus: Diana, Ticey, Scipio, Psyche and Alexander.

Doctor: The person present at Augustus's birth who suggested selling him rather than killing him.

Jones [overseer]: A white man who watches over the slaves by the order of the Jennings family.

Leader, Benjamin Skenne, and Henry Blake: Two slaves and one free man recruiting comrades to start a slave revolt in the area.

...
Wikipedia