Infants of the Spring
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Based on real events, Wallace Thurman’s classic novel Infants of the Spring vividly examines the legendary Harlem Renaissance from the inside out with a virtual portrait gallery of the major African American literary personalities of the time. Ifa Bayeza’s new adaptation of Thurman’s incendiary work puts the entire New Negro Movement under indictment, challenging the power of art to create true social change and exposing the peril to the individual artist seeking to meet that expectation. A generation of writers blazed brilliantly and brazenly for an era and then, but for a few, became lost for decades. Set in 1929, Thurman’s prescient novel foresees the fall. Equally hilarious and poignant, the tragicomedy captures the jagged fibrillating pulse of the American Jazz Age at its height and glorious end.
“Niggerati Manor,” hosts an odd assortment of poets, painters and singers mingled with green newcomers from the Deep South and the exotic West Indies, providing the perfect setting for Raymond’s eclectic “salons.” When Stephen, a young Danish exchange student, becomes bedazzled with this insider’s view of Harlem, Raymond casually suggests he try living there. To Raymond’s surprise, Stephen accepts the offer. Ray seizes the opportunity to study and chronicle the effects. What begins as a cynical lark pushes the boundaries of tolerance and exacerbates the frailties of every tenant in the manor as this avant-garde experiment in integration seems to create its opposite – disintegration. Love turns to loathing, pride to infamy, and virtuosity to madness. One by one, Raymond’s colleagues fall until he alone is left standing.