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Subseries 1.1, A Photograph: Lovers in Motion, 1979-2015, includes drafts of scripts with edits and additions for a 1979 production, production notes, and a program. A Photograph: Lovers in Motion, a play written by Shange, was first produced in 1977 at The Public Theater as a photograph / lovers in cruelty and was later rewritten and retitled a photograph / lovers in motion. Published by Samuel French in 1981, the play follows a young photographer's struggles with love and creativity at the tail end of the Black Arts Movement in 1970s San Francisco through his relationships with a dancer, a model, and an attorney.

A Real Man & Other Stories (Sub-Series 2.6) includes manuscript drafts for the short story collection under this title, published by Shylah Boyd in 1990. This work features a character named Shylah, and pulls from several parts of the author's life. The drafts include writings in the form of playscripts, which may have been an exercise in the writing process. The bulk of these materials are dated in the early to mid 1980s.