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Act One

In a boarding house bedroom in Lower Manhattan, seamstress Esther Mills, an African-American woman described as plain, sits focused on her sewing machine, trimming lace on a camisole, while the sounds of a party echo from a distance. She is interrupted by her landlady, Mrs. Dickson, who has come to persuade Esther to join the celebration, mentioning that her bread pudding is being admired by one of the gentleman. Esther scorns her culinary admirer, Mr. Charles the bellman, but Mrs. Dickson still insists she join the party,especially when she realizes that Esther is keeping away as she is sewing a wedding corset for the guest of honor -- Corinna Mae, another boarding house girl, who is getting married. Esther explains that she would only feel like a wallflower; at thirty-five and unmarried, she can鈥檛 go to any more of these wedding parties. She thinks 鈥渨hy ain鈥檛 it me,鈥� and can hardly stand to hear the sound of Corinna Mae鈥檚 laughter. Mrs. Dickson consoles Esther, tells her