alphabetical author index

Day of the Kings

  • Daphne Greaves
  • Full Length Play, Drama, 18th Century
  • 7M, 4F
  • ISBN: D95

"Sparkles with imagination and exhilarating language, but it also tackles 'risky' themes such as slavery, cross-dressing and interracial love in the 18th-century Havana."

Variety

  • Full Length Play
  • Drama
  • 90 minutes

  • Time Period: 18th Century
  • Target Audience: Teen (Age 14 - 18), Adult
  • Set Requirements: Flexible Set

  • Performance Group:
  • Community Theatre, College Theatre / Student
Inspired by actual events, Day of the Kings tells the little-known story of Enriquetta Faber, a courageous woman living a dangerous lie. In early 1800s Cuba, it is illegal for women to practice medicine. So Faber, the widow of a French surgeon, disguises herself as a man and becomes a respected doctor with a thriving practice. 

Faber negotiates the harsh extremes of Cuban society and realizes she is not the only one living a lie and breaking taboos. Hector Nunez is the owner of a large plantation. His increasing debt, an unhappy wife, and a passionate mistress are taking a serious and painful toll on his health. 

Hector's teenage daughter, Blanca, is undergoing her own growing pains. When she falls in love with Esteban, a young slave in the family's household, Blanca embarks on a potentially disastrous course. The crises of this family, her patients, swirl around Faber as she attempts to maintain her own lonely and secretive existence. However, when Faber falls in love with her young apprentice, her life spins out of control. 

On the Day of the Kings -- a day of celebration, drink, music and dancing in the streets -- secrets are revealed and lives overturned, and Faber is forced to make the hardest decision of her life. 

REVIEWS:

"Sparkles with imagination and exhilarating language, but it also tackles 'risky' themes such as slavery, cross-dressing and interracial love in 18th-century Havana."

Variety

"An exquisitely crafted drama about human bondage, secret passions and the hysteria of social change on the hothouse island of Cuba in the early 1800's... With its very title -- a reference to the Feast of Epiphany, when Cuba's slaves are allowed to enjoy one Mardi Gras-style day of freedom and celebration -- Day of the Kings hints of things to come: the slow crumble of the power play between Cuba and Spain, blacks and whites, women and men."

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

  • Casting: 7M, 4F
  • Casting Attributes: Strong Role for Leading Woman (Star Vehicle), Expandable casting, Minority casting

Name Price
Day of the Kings Script Order Now

Inspired by actual events, Day of the Kings tells the little-known story of Enriquetta Faber, a courageous woman living a dangerous lie. In early 1800s Cuba, it is illegal for women to practice medicine. So Faber, the widow of a French surgeon, disguises herself as a man and becomes a respected doctor with a thriving practice. Faber negotiates the harsh extremes of Cuban society and realizes she is not the only one living a lie and breaking taboos. Hector Nunez is the owner of a large plantation. His increasing debt, an unhappy wife, and a passionate mistress are taking a serious and painful toll on his health. Hectores teenage daughter, Blanca, is undergoing her own growing pains. When she falls in love with Esteban, a young slave in the familyes household, Blanca embarks on a potentially disastrous course. The crises of this family, her patients, swirl around Faber as she attempts to maintain her own lonely and secretive existence. However, when Faber falls in love with her young apprentice, her life spins out of control. On the Day of the Kingsea day of celebration, drink, music and dancing in the streetsesecrets are revealed and lives overturned, and Faber is forced to make the hardest decision of her life. Flexible set. Approximate running time: 90 minutes.

$19.95