Table of Contents
The Story of the Play
It is the turn of the twentieth century in New York. In New Rochelle live the members of an upper-class white family: Little Boy, Father, Mother, her Younger Brother, and Grandfather. In Harlem, Sarah, a Black washerwoman, falls for the popular ragtime pianist Coalhouse Walker Jr. In the Lower East Side are Latvian-Jewish immigrants Tateh and his young daughter. All hope to be part of the promised American Dream.
Father, who owns a fireworks factory, prepares to travel on a year-long expedition to the North Pole and leaves everything in the capable hands of Mother. Soon after he departs, Mother is shocked to discover a Black newborn baby in her garden. Younger Brother and Grandfather call for the police who find Sarah, the mother, in a nearby house. Mother immediately takes responsibility for mother and child—they are welcomed into her home.
Coalhouse Walker is determined to woo Sarah back when he hears of her whereabouts. He purchases a new Model T to find and impress her. Coalhouse arrives at Mother’s house and learns he has a baby boy. Sarah refuses to see Coalhouse, so his determination leads him to visit weekly until Sarah agrees to see him. Father returns from his expedition stunned to find his house filled with ragtime music. Father struggles with his own racism, but Mother and Younger Brother refuse to reject the new members of their household.
Meanwhile, Tateh is full of hope as he sets up his artist stand to support him and his daughter. Tateh’s dreams of a better life turn to dust as they barely survive in the atrocious immigrant tenements. While Harlem and New Rochelle collide in Mother’s house, Tateh and his daughter leave the city to go to Lawrence, Massachusetts to work in a textile factory. The working conditions there (and all over the country) are appalling, so activist Emma Goldman takes to the streets to rally for better conditions. Younger Brother attends her rally in Union Square and joins the cause. In Massachusetts, the textile factory workers go out on strike, which turns into a riot, and Tateh flees with his daughter on a train to Philadelphia. While they travel, Tateh creates a flipbook to calm his daughter, and the train conductor sees it. Intrigued, he wants to buy the book, and Tateh
Back in New York, Coalhouse and Sarah are accosted by the racist Willie Conklin and the Emerald Isle fire squad. Acting out of bigotry, they viciously destroy Coalhouse’s Model T. Coalhouse demands restitution but is rebuffed at every turn. When Sarah advocates for Coalhouse’s cause, she is killed by the police. Heartbroken and grief-stricken, Coalhouse vows he will get justice. Coalhouse gains many supporters, including Younger Brother. Ultimately, Coalhouse loses his fight for equity and urges his supporters to tell his story. The age of ragtime ends, and the USA is ushered into an uncertain future.
