In The Blood

In the Blood is a modern version of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, mixed in with Brecht’s Mother Courage. Suzan-Lori Park’s play is set under a bridge where a homeless family resides. In the playwright’s attempt to rectify African-American history in her works, she creates an environment where the audience becomes a part of homeless life through Hester La Negrita, an illiterate mother of five. Each one of Hector’s five children double as other characters in Hester’s life who take advantage of her. Some are the fathers to the children, others are important figures who should help her tragic situation, but instead are caught up in their own agendas and destroy it further.