"Time cannot be bought. The only coin time accepts is life.”
– If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin
By James Baldwin
Adaptation and Direction: Elise Thoron
Performed by Channie Waites
Appropriate for: high school, college, and community audiences. Please note: this title contains mature content and language.
Available for remote or live performances
James Baldwin’s story of a family’s fight for justice in a society where institutional discrimination has the power to destroy lives—a theme that resonates today with audiences from all walks of life.
The Story
Young lovers Tish and Fonny discover they are having a baby after Fonny is arrested for a crime he didn’t commit. Racing against time, their families come together to attempt to clear Fonny’s name and bring him home from jail before the baby comes. A story that remains disturbingly poignant sixty years after it was first published, James Baldwin’s If Beale Street Could Talk is about abiding love in the face of injustice.
In Performance
Actor Channie Waites tells the story through narrator Tish’s point of view, and inhabits other characters including Fonny during his time in prison, and Tish’s parents and sister as they struggle to help him win his freedom. This adaptation highlights how the power of a family’s love can fight injustice and the racial bias of the judicial system.