Summary

Act One, Scene 3 is set in the Crumps’ kitchen. Ernestine reads a magazine and speaks to the audience, commenting on how she has been pushed into the middle of a three-in-a-bed arrangement with Lily and Ermina. Lily uses a hair straightener on Ermina as they talk about why Lily is not able to keep a job; she is too high-spirited, and too much of “an independent thinker” (31). Ermina jokes about Ernestine wanting to be a movie star, and all three banter about how hard it is for a black [sic] woman to be a star. “When I’m onscreen,” Ernestine says, she “sure can act very white” (32). Lily jokes about Ernestine’s next movie being a romance, but Ermina says there will not be any romance until Ernestine loses some size in her butt. Lily comments that romance is overrated, talking about...