The third installment of For Your (Re)Consideration is two one act plays dealing with the subject of wars and the battles families are forced to fight amongst themselves when someone is called to “serve.”

Written in the final years of World War I, Mine Eyes Have Seen is the story of a Black family who have fled the South after the father’s lynching. His wife dies of heartbreak leaving their three children to fend for themselves. The children are now young adults, but Lucy, the youngest, and Dan, the oldest, are reliant on their brother, Chris, to support them. When Chris is drafted, he is forced to wrestle with the idea of serving a country that has not served his family. The play is an examination on the nature of patriotism, citizenship, sacrifice and what those mean for people who have been betrayed by their own country.

Published in 1915, War Brides examines the role of women in supporting war at the home front, and the expectations that they willingly send their husbands and sons to die in wars. It highlights one woman’s determination, after her loss of a husband and brothers to war, to no longer become a tool for war. The play also demands that if women are expected to work and sacrifice for war, they should be given full voice in the decisions to go to war.

Mine Eyes Have Seen was written by Alice Dunbar Nelson and War Brides by Marion Craig Wentworth. Both are directed by Angelisa Gillyard. This is part of Ghostlight Ensemble’s For Your (Re)Consideration series, which explores the works of historically overlooked female playwrights.

This virtual staged reading will premier at 2 p.m. on April 18 and be available to stream on-demand through May 9. Tickets are available here.