FIVE SCENES FROM LIFE
by Alan Brody
FIVE SCENES FROM LIFE follows the evolving relationship between Nina Shenton, a 36-year-old white political science professor, and Bobby Jones, a 34-year-old Black inmate, over the course of several months at a maximum security prison.
Act I begins in Nina's government classroom where Bobby, intelligent but manipulative, lingers after class. Their initial sparring reveals Nina's no-nonsense teaching style and Bobby's complex mix of intelligence, charm, and street wisdom. When Bobby invites Nina to Family Day as his "family" since he has no visitors, she cleverly circumvents the inappropriate request by attending as a guest of the entire class.
At Family Day, Nina experiences the bittersweet reality of prison life - families doing "the bump" dance, children in their best clothes getting dirty with barbecue sauce, speeches from the NAACP. She and Bobby share an unexpectedly tender moment learning to dance together, and Bobby asks her to be his correspondent. Their connection deepens beyond the student-teacher relationship.
Four weeks later, Bobby has been in solitary confinement ("keeplock") for three weeks after attacking a guard with a wrench. Nina confronts her own growing feelings and the warnings from Mike, a sympathetic guard who cautions teachers against getting "involved." Bobby confesses his love for Nina, and despite her attempts to maintain professional boundaries, she admits her feelings are reciprocated.
Act II picks up two months later during an independent study session. Their relationship has clearly become romantic, with stolen moments of physical intimacy. Nina faces pressure at the university where colleagues disapprove of her "fixation" and threaten her tenure. Bobby provides emotional support, sharing his philosophy about finding an inner "gyroscope" to survive difficult times.
When Nina pushes for specifics about Bobby's crime, he initially tells her a fabricated story about killing an elderly Jewish liquor store owner - a tale designed to play into racial stereotypes. But Nina discovers Bobby has been lying about multiple things: his crime, his sentence length, and academic dishonesty. The truth emerges: Bobby is serving life for killing another drug dealer, and he's a repeat offender who dealt drugs to children.
The climactic final scene forces both characters to confront their deepest truths. Bobby reveals he lied because he was afraid Nina was too intelligent for him. Nina must admit her own pattern of destructive sexual behavior - sleeping with multiple colleagues and even picking up a stranger immediately after being intimate with Bobby. Both characters are forced to acknowledge their self-hatred and self-destructive patterns.
Despite the devastating revelations, they choose each other. Bobby asks Nina to marry him while they dance the bump in the empty classroom, and she accepts. They commit to building a life together based on truth rather than lies, even though the practical challenges are enormous - she faces losing her job, and he has decades left on his sentence.
Themes: The play explores love across racial and class lines, the possibility of redemption through honest connection, the difference between manipulation and vulnerability, and the courage required to build authentic relationships. It's ultimately about two damaged people choosing to risk everything for the possibility of genuine love and transformation.