Leslie Lee

The First Breeze of Summer Leslie Lee

p>Drama

Characters: 8 male, 6 female

Platform with area staging.

This striking story of a middle class Black family in a small Northeastern city is told on two levels: events that transpire on one hot June weekend and flashbacks to the memories of the visiting grandmother as a young woman. She recalls the three men, two black and one white, who are the fathers of her three children. A resourceful woman, she feels some regrets, no shame and feels she has had a useful life. Lou, an oversensitive boy who is about to graduate from high school, worships the grandmother. The resolution of his problems and his acceptance of his sexuality and blackness form the backbone of the play.

"The people emerge as richly complex human beings... Storytelling with a passion ... [that has] all the old fashioned virtues." - The New York Times