A Gathering of Old Men

A preview of my stage adaptation of Ernest J. Gaines’s A Gathering of Old Men

By Gladys W. MuturiPublished 2 years ago • 4 min read

This is a sneak preview of stage adaptation of A Gathering of Old Men.

Synopsis

Based on a , a white Cajun farmer shot dead outside of a home of an elderly black man named Mathu. After the murder, Candy Marshall, a headstrong owner of the plantation, starts to gather around all the men to bring all shotguns and take the blame for the farmer’s murder.

Setting: Louisiana cane farm

Time: 1970s

OPENING

(CAJUN HARMONICA MUSIC playing in the Background. Curtain opens. A sound of a tractor in the background. Big CHARLIE dash enters.)

BEAU (O.S) I’M GONNA GET YOU, CHARLIE BOY!

(CHARLIE scurry enters Mathu’s house. A spotlight on CLATOO standing CENTER STAGE. Everything is silent. CLATOO starts to speak.)

CLATOO It didn’t start this morning. It started about 30 or 40 years ago when our dear friend Big Charlie boy was on the run. On the run from mister Beau Boutan. Beau was a horrible man. If you look back then, the Boutan family were a known household name. Everything that Boutan has done, we black folks get framed, most likely to get lynch, beaten, women getting raped, name-calling us, “Nigger this, Nigger that”. Well, that was then, this is now. Charlie was getting chased by Beau, Fix’s son, driving in his tractor with a loaded shotgun. When Beau tried to find him….

(A sound of GUNSHOT FIRED. BACKGROUND MUSIC stops playing. Another SPOTLIGHT on the DEAD BODY of BEAU BOUTAN, covered with a long, white sheet smear with his blood on the ground. CLATOO stares at the body for a dramatic second then continues the story.)

CLATOO Shots fired outside of Mathu’s House and Beau was dead. How’s Fix gonna feel now if he finds his son shot dead by a black man outside of his home? What will be the outcome? What has the world come into? What do you think?

(BLACKOUT. END OF OPENING.)

ACT ONE

SCENE ONE

SETTING: Louisiana; Outside of Glo’s House

AT RISE: Light Fades on. It’s the 1970s in Louisiana. SNOOKUM, 11, sitting on the porch tossing his football up and down on the porch outside of his house. A sound of a car arriving at the house. Car stops and someone ejecting out of the car.

CANDY (O.S) Aunt Glo, Oh, Aunt Glo, Oh, Aunt Glo.

(SNOOKUM hears a VOICE and looks around to find the voice. AUNT GLO HERBERT, Snookum’s grandmother enters and sees SNOOKUM on the porch.)

AUNT GLO Snookum, what are doing out here? I thought I told you to go and finish your turnips.

SNOOKUM But I don’t like turnips.

AUNT GLO Did I ask if you like them?

CANDY (O.S) Aunt Glo, Oh, Aunt Glo.

(SNOOKUM hears the VOICE again and starts the find the voice.)

AUNT GLO (to Snookum) Boy, Is your name, Aunt or Glo? Get back in that house.

SNOOKUM Yes, Gram Mon.

(SNOOKUM enters in the house. AUNT GLO looks to see who’s calling her. CANDY MARSHALL, short haircut, wearing a white shirt and blue jeans with a black belt and brown boots enters. AUNT GLO sees CANDY.)

CANDY (looking for Glo) Oh, Aunt Glo, Oh, Aunt Glo.

AUNT GLO (to Candy) Candy? What is it?

CANDY Snookum in there?

AUNT GLO Yes, he’s at the table eating.

ANUT GLO (CONT’D) What’s the matter, Candy?

CANDY Get Snookum out here.

AUNT GLO Why? Did Snookum did something wrong?

CANDY Aunt Glo, we ain’t got the time. Get Snookum out here.

AUNT GLO (calling Snookum from the door) Snookum! Come on out here!

(SNOOKUM enters out the house.)

AUNT GLO (to Snookum) Candy wants to talk to you.

(AUNT GLO exit.)

SNOOKUM (to Candy) Hey, Candy, what is it?

CANDY Come here, Snookum.

(SNOOKUM comes closer to CANDY. She leans in with SNOOKUM.)

CANDY Now, listen. I want you to run, and I don’t want you to stop running. I want you to go tell Rufe and Reverend Jameson and Corrine and the rest of them to gather at Mathu’s house right away. And I want you to go to the front, and I want you to-listen to me good, now.

(CANDY puts her hands-on SNOOKUM’s shoulders.)

CANDY Go up to the house and see if Miss Merle’s there. If she is, tell her I say come quick. No, if she’s there, tell her to call Lou and tell Lou to come quick. Both of them, to come here quick. If she’s not, tell Janey to call her and Lou to get here quick. Don’t waste time on the phone talking, just get here quick. Don’t do nothing just get here quick. You heard what I said, Snookum? Go!

SNOOKUM What I’m telling all them people to get here quick for?

(CANDY lets go of SNOOKUM.)

CANDY That’s not your concern, Snookum. You’re nothing but a little boy. Now, get moving and don’t stop running. Go!

(SNOOKUM scurries exit. BLACKOUT. END OF SCENE ONE.)

If you want to read the full script:

Or you want to read the original novel by Ernest J. Gaines