Death of a Salesman’s Son: A Dramatic Play

By Arthur Estrada PhD

This play takes place in the mid-twentieth century, a period during which the man of the house in a Cuban family living in Ybor City (the Latin quarter of Tampa, Florida) rules resolutely and, at times, stubbornly and the wife and children obey without question. They obey until the patriarch’s authority is lost upon his death. The play dramatizes the falling apart of a family when the patriarch’s sons, who do not share their deceased father’s commitment or ambitions, conspire to abandon their father’s dream, and seek their own divergent goals. This play begins with the death of a driven and domineering Cuban salesman and businessman who through his own intentional death provides his sons with a foundation from which to prosper. Poor decisions, blind ambition, and personal conflict result in disappointment and heartache.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 4, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669841319

Book preview

Copyright © 2022 by Arthur Estrada, Ph D.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Rev. date: 08/03/2022

Xlibris

844-714-8691

www.Xlibris.com

844247

Contents

Foreword

Prologue

Act One

Act Two

Act Three

Act Four

This play is

dedicated to my lovely wife and dearest friend,

Lynda, and my wonderful daughter, Amanda.

Foreword

This play is not a sequel to Arthur Miller’s acclaimed play, Death of a Salesman. Instead, it is a play greatly inspired by Arthur Miller’s masterful story. The drama portrayed in Mr. Miller’s great work was very personal and extraordinarily familiar to this playwright in that his own family’s history contains comparable flawed personalities and dysfunction. During this playwright’s own Cuban/Italian upbringing, he witnessed the undoing of his paternal familial structure and the family business. The play takes place in the mid-twentieth century, a period during which the man of the house in a Cuban family living in Ybor City (the Latin Quarter of Tampa, Florida) rules resolutely and at times, stubbornly, and the wife and children obey without question. They obey until the patriarch’s authority is lost upon his death. The play dramatizes the falling apart of the family when the patriarch’s sons, who do not share their deceased father’s commitment or ambitions, conspire to abandon their father’s dream, and seek their own divergent goals. This play begins with the death of a driven and domineering Cuban salesman and businessman who through his own intentional death provides his sons with a foundation from which to prosper. This story is based on actual events which occurred in and around the playwright’s own family’s clothing manufacturing and sales businesses, including real threats from organized crime organizations. The characters are a blend of real people within the author’s own family. As in Mr. Miller’s Death of a Salesman, poor decisions, unabashed ambition, and personal conflict result in disappointment and heartache.

Prologue

This story takes place in Tampa, Florida, in 1948, and begins on the day of Diego Alba’s funeral. Vera and Diego Alba, married in 1914, had been married for almost thirty-five years when Diego took his own life to benefit his sons. In 1923, Diego had started a clothing factory that he managed for thirty-four years. His life’s goal was to groom his two sons to take over the family business. Vera, a woman of her time, was a dedicated wife to Diego and the manager of her household. B. B., their eldest son, whose given name is an embarrassment to him, is thirty-four years old and is struggling to find his self-worth and thus his place in life. The younger son, Nicolas, who goes by the nickname Nico, is thirty-two years old, fun loving, and recklessly ambitious.

ACT ONE

Scene 1

The scene opens with Vera, B. B., and Nico entering through the back door into the kitchen of the Alba House. The mood is somber as they have just returned from Diego’s funeral. Vera puts a coffeepot on the stove.

VERA very sorrowful: Would you like some Cuban coffee, boys? It’s made, just need to heat it. B. B. and Nico nod no. I still can’t understand why nobody came. The Grubsteins were the only ones other than us there. Your father owned that factory for almost thirty-five years, cut all the patterns, did all the marketing, met with hundreds of people, and employed dozens of women. Where were they all?

B. B.: Well, Pop wasn’t sweet and cuddly, you know.

NICO: It was a nice funeral, Mama, even if there was only us.

VERA: And Tuto. Where was Tuto? Your father got Tuto started in the fabric business back in the twenties. He let him distribute his fabric and work out of the back of your dad’s factory in Ybor City until Tuto could afford his own place. Your father fed that family for months when they first got here from Cuba. He sacrificed by only buying fabric from him even though he could have gotten it a lot cheaper in other places. You don’t miss the funeral of the man who fed your family and gave them a start in life!

NICO pulling a fifth of scotch from his jacket pocket and showing it to B. B.: Will you join me, B. B.? Let’s have a toast to the old man. To the best dad two guys ever had. Remember how strong he was when we were kids, and if he got hurt, he’d say all he had to do was sprinkle a little water on the spot to make it well again? He was one tough guy, that’s for sure. We really had a lot of nice days. He always had a good dream to make Ybor City the business center of Tampa and to be Ybor’s best salesman.

B. B. shaking his head from side to side, receiving a cup from Nico: Nah. I’ll go to my grave believing he had the wrong dream. Let’s stop lying to ourselves. He never owned the factory; the creditors owned it, and they’re getting what’s left of it now. Mama’s getting nothing. The way he used to beg for loans just to keep the payroll and the inventory going . . . It was a disgrace to the Alba name. Women’s wear is not a good business because it’s always at the mercy of changing styles. Let’s be honest, Alba Styles didn’t keep up with the times. He was a man who was at his best selling, not running the business. Nico pours B. B. some scotch, and they tap glasses together. Both sit at the table.

NICO: I wish you wouldn’t say that about Pop. I think he was a good businessman. He lived the way he wanted to