Testifying
Two not-young not-white women, migrants from the South, join forces and a cult-church is born at an intersection in Harlem. The older one, not thin, contributes her beautiful gospel voice. Her somewhat younger friend envisions tambourines, first one and then many, collecting coins, then dollars, then wealth, from the gullible and the desperate. First in sidewalk rituals and then in theater, the music and promises of salvation draw crowds, tens, then hundreds. Sinners testify and contributions rise. Like movements everywhere, they sell holy water. Racketeers take notice and a siphoning scheme soars profit. Surrounded by the music from drums and tambourines, the women promise lucky Leviticus numbers for the true. The older woman pauses, again and again, for spiritual guidance. Her friend finds the sweetest romantic love - and then staggers from betrayal. Langston Hughes’ Tambourines to Glory wraps joyless and joyful moments in loud rooms overflowing with believers, in two prison cells, in one red Cadillac.