BY RUDY BELFORT
Characters
Axel Flow
A dark-skinned, African-American man in his late thirties; owns a store in Harlem and is the husband of Prudence.
Prudence Flow
A brown-skinned, African-American woman, in her mid-forties; wife of Axel.
Moving Man #1/Timothy/ Jan S
A White man, in his young thirties, who operates a moving company, and/or lives in Rosedale.
Act One
OPEN on the FLOWSā apartment. The apartment has one bedroom, a small bathroom, an open concept kitchen and combines with the small living room and dining room. The walls are colored linen white; there is a plain brown carpet that covers the floors in the living room, a two-seater couch in the living room, and flower paintings that hang on the walls. The kitchen contains the normal kitchen assets, same as the bedroom.
AXEL and PRUDENCE are packing. As Axel packs his clothes, PRUDENCE looks out the window, searching for the moving truck with the moving men.
PRUDENCE
Honey, are you done yet? Moving truckās here, we gotta pay ’em by the hour. No money to waste.
AXEL [exhausted]
I know, honey. I’m packing as fast as I can.
PRUDENCE [annoyed]
Well, pack faster. Honestly, you should have done this a long time ago. I told you to take today off!
AXEL
First, I can’t leave unannounced. Second, I had to give the store up to Fidel. He’s responsible. I hope . . .
PRUDENCE [sarcastically]
You couldnāt have told him on a phone call?
AXEL
You think I can send him my store keys over the phone?
PRUDENCE
Boy, don’t you start with me! I’m trying to be peaceful, and you’re not helping with that.
AXEL [softening]
Sorry, honey. [A beat.] Fire comes in different colors.
PRUDENCE
Huh?
AXEL
Thatās what Fidel said. I told him I need someone to run the store after we move to Rosedale. He said Rosedale was the whitest city he knew.
PRUDENCE
Weāll be fine. Thereās no staying in Harlem anyway. Everythingās already set.
AXEL
He said heād hold the fort down. Then he told me something his older brother once said. āFire comes in different colors, but they all can still burn you, especially white.ā
The doorbell rings.
PRUDENCE [mockingly]
āFire comes in different colors.ā Finish mopping the floors, Fidel!
AXEL
Anyway, I left the keys for him and told him to call me if there’s a problem.
The doorbell rings again. AXEL snaps out of it.
AXEL
Good news, I’m done! You can let the moving men in now.
PRUDENCE opens the door, allowing three MOVING MEN into the apartment. The men are all Black, except for MOVING MAN #1, whom we will later learn is named TIMOTHY.
MOVING MAN #1
Afternoon! This the Flow family?
PRUDENCE [smiling]
Yes, sir. That’s us!
MOVING MAN #2 [to AXEL]
We’ll take these off your hands, sir.
Two of the other MOVING MEN take the suitcases and bags from AXEL’s hands, and head out of the apartment.
MOVING MAN #1
Anything else we can help you with?
AXEL
No, sir, but thank you.
MOVING MAN #1
Well, okay then. We’ll grab the rest of your stuff and get out of your hair.
The other MOVING MEN start grabbing the remainder of the Flows’ belongings, carrying them out of the apartment.
PRUDENCE
Wait! Is it possible for y’all to drop us off along with our stuff? It’ll cost a lot of money to call a cab.
MOVING MAN #1 [uneasily]
Uh . . . Sure. I don’t see why not. But let’s head out now before it gets late. Hour’s drive from Harlem.
MOVING MAN #1 exits along with his coworkers, as they take the final batch.
AXEL
Honey, you can head out. I need to walk around here one last time.
PRUDENCE shrugs and heads out, leaving AXEL in the aprtment. He ambles around, assessing the kitchen/dining room, then the bathroom, then, finally, the bedroom. There, AXEL picks up and gazes a photo standing on the bare mantelpiece.
AXEL 1 [smiling]
Gonna miss you, Fidel. [pause] Different fires. Different colors.
The MOVING MEN’s truck honks off stage. AXEL hastily places the photo of Fidel and him in his pocket, before running out the apartment door. Curtain.
Act Two: The Move
OPEN on the truck interior, a few minutes after the MOVING MEN have moved everything from apartment to truck. The Flow couple, along with two of the movers, sit in the back of a 15ā moving truck heading to their new home. MOVING MAN #1, whose name we will learn is TIMOTHY, is driving in the front. The boxes in the back are well organized, but thereās not a lot of room; everyone is crowded. Some of the moving men arenāt visible due to boxes, bags, and dim stage lighting. The only people sort of visible are the FLOW couple and TIMOTHY. There is a sullen silence. Obviously, PRUDENCE and AXEL still have tension between one another.
MOVING MAN #1/TIMOTHY
So I realize I didn’t introduce myself. I’m Timothy.
PRUDENCE [not paying attention to TIMOTHY; speaking to AXEL]
Damn. If there’s something I would change, it would be the size of this truck. Told you to rent the 17 or 20 inch moving trucks.
AXEL
I look like I’m made of money? You know how much those cost?
TIMOTHY clears his voice.
MOVING MAN #1/TIMOTHY
Miss Flow. How far along are you?
PRUDENCE [suddenly aware of TIMOTHY; confidently]
I’m nine months in. Thank you for asking.
MOVING MAN #1/TIMOTHY
Well, congratulations, Mrs. Flow. You folks know if it’s a boy or girl yet?
PRUDENCE [shaking her head]
I wanted it to be a surprise. I’m happy you noticed. Sometimes I think Axel forgets I’m pregnant.
AXEL manages to move out from under his pile of belongings. He moves to the couch, further in the back. He closes his eyes, trying to sleep.
MOVING MAN #1/TIMOTHY
Why are y’all moving to Rosedale? No offense, but . . . you do know it’s basically an all white neighborhood?
PRUDENCE [shrugs]
A better life for us.
PRUDENCE points at herself, then her belly, then AXEL.
PRUDENCE
Sure, Rosedale isn’t the most [making air quotes] “diverse” city. But we are a kind, humble family. We’ll be fine. [Pause] Hopefully.
TIMOTHY [troubled]
Black people need more than hope in that place. You hear about what the white kids do to Black kids there?
PRUDENCE [suddenly concerned]
I never heard that, no. What happened?
TIMOTHY
Well . . . This was 1975. Started with the Black kids riding their bikes around Rosedale. Sunny, suburban street. They saw what looked to them like a parade, decided to bike toward it. Small small crowd, everyone carrying an American flag. Out of the blue, theyāre swarmed by a group of white children, who hurled racial slurs and rocks.
PRUDENCE looks more and more alarmed.
TIMOTHY
The white adults who gathered nearby did nothing to stop it. Turns out, the kids biked into a white supremacist rally. [Pause] It’s like I always say. “Fire comes in different colors, but they all can burn you. Especially the white ones.”
PRUDENCE turns to him. Now she is shocked.
PRUDENCE
How did you hear that? Do you know a person named Fidel?
TIMOTHY
I dunno. Maybe once. I was raised in foster care.
A long silence. PRUDENCE finally speaks.
PRUDENCE
You know, I’m so tired. Think I’m gonna close my eyes for a few. Wake me up when we arrive, okay, Timothy?
PRUDENCE closes her eyes.
TIMOTHY
No problem.
As the FLOW couple sleeps, the stage darkens. Bill Moyer’s 1976 documentary, “Rosedale: The Way It Is,” appears, with accompanying voiceover, on the screen behind the stage. Eventually, the stage lightens; we see the couple yawn. The van has arrived in Rosedale. TIMOTHY assists Prudence by lifting her off the truck floor and leading her into the set of their home, now onstage, leaving Axel and the couch in the truck.
Eventually, we see Prudence and Axel wave goodbye as the moving men pile into the truck and drive away.
Voiceover fades. Curtain.
Act Three: A Fresh Start
LIGHTS on the FLOWS standing outside their new home. We can hear the birds chirping, the wind blowing. Based on the set, the sun is shining. It looks like a lovely day.
As AXEL and PRUDENCE speak the following lines, a figure in a bent hat emerges from the end of the block – offstage – and walks slowly toward the couple.
AXEL
Our first day in Rosedale.
PRUDENCE
You gonna escort me on our first day, honey? I’m in so much pain.
AXEL [cheerfully]
Ah, quit the sob stories. Let’s go. Meet the neighbors, share a pizza, have some ice cream . . . I can’t wait!
PRUDENCE
I do love that fresh Rosedale air.
By now, the stranger has reached the couple. He doffs his hat. We see it’s TIMOTHY, now JOHN S. The FLOWS don’t recognize him.
JOHN S.
Hello. Are you new here?
AXEL
Oh, hello sir. Yes. Moved in last night.
STRANGER
Oh! In that little old moving van?
PRUDENCE [whispering]
I told you it was tiny. [louder] Yes, that was us!
JOHN S.
Welcome to Rosedale! Listen, we’re having a gathering just down the block. You should come and watch. It could change your life.
JOHN S. turns and starts to walk away. PRUDENCE waves at him.
PRUDENCE
Wait! We didn’t catch your name.
JOHN S.
John Sear, ma’am. But you can call me John S.
JOHN S. turns and continues to walk offstage.
PRUDENCE
John S . . . Janus . . . Sounds like a Roman god, don’t it?
AXEL
Huh? Sure. Look, let’s go to that rally. John made it sound life altering. Let’s see what all the excitement is for! . . . Uh, if you can, honey.
AXEL and PRUDENCE start walking slowly across the stage. We can hear the sounds of the rally growing louder. Suddenly, PRUDENCE grimaces in pain.
PRUDENCE
This child is killing me!
AXEL seems to not hear her. He is moving more quickly.
AXEL
You hear that? We’re missing the best part!
PRUDENCE
Wait for me. You’re gonna have to carry me.
AXEL tries to pick PRUDENCE off the ground, not quite making it. They hobble forward. As they do, a large rolling pallet brings a small crowd onstage from the opposite direction. They are straining to see and waving flags. Some children are mixed in. The sound of the rally grows louder.
AXEL
That chant, Prudence. What’re they saying?
PRUDENCE [exhausted]
I don’t know. I can’t . . . hear it. It’s . . . kind of muffled.
AXEL
A chant for America? Something like that?
As he speaks, a white child approaches the couple.
PRUDENCE
Theyāre watching us. Why does it feel like everyone is watching us? I can feel their eyes.
The child throws a rock at AXEL. He flinches and cries out.
PRUDENCE
Hey!
The white child leaves, then comes back with his posse. The children, yelling, all begin to throw rocks, mainly at AXEL. PRUDENCE, at least, is spared as a pregnant woman.
WHITE CHILD #1
Get out of here, you n*****!
WHITE CHILD #2
What you gonna do about it, n****!
AXEL and PRUDENCE are breathing heavily. The children keep throwing rocks.
PRUDENCE
Oh my God . . .
AXEL [wincing]
Hon!
The children go back to the rally. A familiar adult rushes onstage.
JOHN S.
Come on. Iāll take you to the hospital, wherever that is.
Curtain.
Act Four: The Flame of Purification
LIGHTS ON: the waiting room outside the delivery room. JOHN S. is sitting there; AXEL enters.
JOHN S.
So! Your baby girl is born.
AXEL
I met my baby Nova!
JOHN S
Nova! Why Nova?!
AXEL
Nova means new beginning. Our new life, in human form.
JOHN S.
I love that. But wasn’t that rally terrible?
AXEL
It was awful. āN****ās go to hell!ā Those children, they had to be taught that. No way a child wakes up one morning with hatred for Black people.
JOHN S.
Yes. Well, the people in your new life must not train their children properly. Almost makes you want to pack up and head back to your old life, right?
AXEL
What? . . . Nahā¦ itās fine. Weāll make it work.
JOHN S
Are you sure? They donāt seem to like you. Thereās no point living in a neighborhood that hates your kind.
JOHN S. [standing up]
You should really reconsider! Nobody wants you here. Why canāt you get that through your nappy heads?!
AXEL [angered]
Didnāt we make ourselves clear enough? We are staying!
JOHN S.
So be it!
Dazed, AXEL gets up from his seat and heads into the delivery room, where he finds PRUDENCE on the bed holding a baby girl, who is currently crying.
PRUDENCE [exhausted]
Hi hon.
AXEL [still lost in thought]
That guy.
PRUDENCE
Huh?
AXEL
John S. I thought he was nice. But he wants us to leave. Thinks we came into his city, and messed everything up.
PRUDENCE
All these white people. Out for our throats.
AXEL
Good thing I asked Fidel to come to our house.
PRUDENCE
What? But why?
AXEL
I just donāt trust anyone here anymore. We canāt let our guard down or leave our home in the hands of these white people. I told Fidel to call us in case of anything. This hospital has a phone just outside your room.
The phone rings.
AXEL
That must be him. I love you.
PRUDENCE
Love you too.
AXEL walks out of the room and picks up the phone.
AXEL
Fidel! (pause) Oh my God . . .
PRUDENCE
What? What is it?
AXEL
Burn down our home? But who could do such a thing?
PRUDENCE
It had to be them.
AXEL
In the ashes of our front porch . . . What did it way? What did the message say?
PRUDENCE
āFire comes in different colors, but they all can still burn you. Especially white.ā
Artist’s Statement
This play explores the complexities of racism and housing discrimination in the 1970s through the story of the Flow couple, Axel and Prudence, as they navigate theĀ challenges of moving to a new neighborhood in Rosedale, Queens. Through their struggles andĀ triumphs, I aim to shed light on the systemic injustices that have long plagued African AmericanĀ communities and to spark a conversation about the ongoing need for social change.
