Poker!

A scorching one-act that burns itself into memory. Zora Neale Hurston drops us into a shabby New York front room where Nunkie and his crew have gathered for a poker game that starts with laughs and ends with drawn weapons. The banter crackles with the kind of vivid, muscular vernacular that made Hurston a master of Black American speech, each player brandishing jokes and bravado like cards in their hand. But as the stakes climb, so do the accusations, the threats, the turning of friends into enemies. What begins as harmless entertainment reveals the ugly underbelly of gambling, the way money can make a man forget every bond he holds dear. Hurston weaves comedy and critique together with remarkable dexterity, never preaching yet delivering a sharp indictment of how easily play becomes destruction. The final moments leave the question hanging in the air: how much is just a game, and when does a man lose himself entirely?