This a manuscript for a three act play that was found in a dumpster close to downtown Cambridge. We didn’t happen upon it, we went looking for it. We call it
Reverse Yourselves
Scene I Act 1
Enter the black man who is an acknowledged scholar on the history of race relations in the United States. We find him in the front yard of his alleged home.
Soon a woman sees him trying to get in a door. She calls the police.
The police get the report and send a patrol car to the address, while now the black man is inside the alleged house.
The officer in charge of the investigation is not only a long time veteran but one who has the added job of training other officers in dealing with minorities and persons of other ethnic backgrounds.
Scene II Act I
The officer has entered the house after talking with the black man. They are alone and cannot be heard.
The officer is next seen talking to the black man after asking him to come outside where he immediately handcuffs him and takes him to jail.
Final scene Act I
The black man is released within hours and returns home. News crews and television stations clamor for more information. The police refuse to back down in their actions, although they do drop the charges against the black man.
Act II
Several days later, the President, a black man also, makes a remark that the police acted “stupidly”. News crews and television clamor for more information.
Act III
All things in Congress, Senate come to a halt as the President holds a news conference and announces he will drink beer with the two most publicly identified figures in this drama. The woman caller is not invited to drink beer with the President, but the Union Rep and his family are.
Ed Note: Fortunately, the ink started to fade from the original at this point and we are left, for want of a better description, “locked out”.
The Characters
A black man who is a scholar and good looking in the camera and has a tremendous following with every person being interviewed saying he is a close personal friend and refers to him as, “Skip”. He wants an apology and he threatens to sue.
The Officer is young and good looking in the camera of the “visit the gym everyday” type who refuses to apologize for his arrest of the black man. His chief in the station and his union rep and everyone else in this station and every other police station in the country agree he shouldn’t apologize. They all threaten to sue for defamation.
The President who is young and good looking without the camera and has a beautiful wife who says nothing during this event. The country goes on hold while everyone waits for him to apologize for his remarks of “Stupidly”. All the Emergency rooms go from being full to empty. The banks announce they have had a record profit for this quarter and are giving themselves huge bonus’s because they think they deserve it. Nobody listens to them. The far off wars are really far off. Even the crazy old fool and his daughter have to go to an AA meeting to get anyone to listen to them anymore.
Unseen character, a woman, isn’t heard from and has no lines to speak until threaten with bodily harm. By this time, filming is done. She isn’t even asked to join the cast party as they strike the set. She has to buy her own beer.
Costs for production are believed to be minimal as we think there is some left over TARP money lying around.
Ed. Note: We think this will quickly overtake any proposals for the filming of Michael Jackson’s life and could be followed up with books, more films and possibly a theme park being started in an unused corner of the Harvard Yard.
New Yorker
Outs & Murders
Current Issue 2009
This a manuscript for a three act play that was found in a dumpster close to downtown Cambridge. We didn’t happen upon it, we went looking for it. We call it
Reverse Yourselves
Scene I Act 1
Enter the black man who is an acknowledged scholar on the history of race relations in the United States. We find him in the front yard of his alleged home.
Soon a woman sees him trying to get in a door. She calls the police.
The police get the report and send a patrol car to the address, while now the black man is inside the alleged house.
The officer in charge of the investigation is not only a long time veteran but one who has the added job of training other officers in dealing with minorities and persons of other ethnic backgrounds.
Scene II Act I
The officer has entered the house after talking with the black man. They are alone and cannot be heard.
The officer is next seen talking to the black man after asking him to come outside where he immediately handcuffs him and takes him to jail.
Scene III Act I
The black man is released within hours and returns home. News crews and television stations clamor for more information. The police refuse to back down in their actions, although they do drop the charges against the black man.
Scene IV Act I
Several days later, the President, a black man also, makes a remark that the police acted “stupidly”. News crews and television clamor for more information.
Final Scene
All things in Congress, Senate come to a halt as the President holds a news conference and announces he will drink beer with the two most publicly identified figures in this drama. The woman caller is not invited to drink beer with the President, but the Union Rep and his family are.
Ed Note: Fortunately, the ink started to fade from the original at this point and we are left, for want of a better description, “locked out”.
The Characters
A black man who is a scholar and good looking in the camera and has a tremendous following with every person being interviewed saying he is a close personal friend and refers to him as, “Skip”. He wants an apology and he threatens to sue.
The Officer is young and good looking in the camera of the “visit the gym everyday” type who refuses to apologize for his arrest of the black man. His chief in the station and his union rep and everyone else in this station and every other police station in the country agree he shouldn’t apologize. They all threaten to sue for defamation.
The President who is young and good looking without the camera and has a beautiful wife who says nothing during this event. The country goes on hold while everyone waits for him to apologize for his remarks of “Stupidly”. All the Emergency rooms go from being full to empty. The banks announce they have had a record profit for this quarter and are giving themselves huge bonus’s because they think they deserve it. Nobody listens to them. The far off wars are really far off. Even the crazy old fool and his daughter have to go to an AA meeting to get anyone to listen to them anymore.
Unseen character, a woman, isn’t heard from and has no lines to speak until threaten with bodily harm. By this time, filming is done. She isn’t even asked to join the cast party as they strike the set. She has to buy her own beer.
Costs for production are believed to be minimal as we think there is some left over TARP money lying around.
Ed. Note: We think this will quickly overtake any proposals for the filming of Michael Jackson’s life and could be followed up with books, more films and possibly a theme park being started in an unused corner of the Harvard Yard.
New Yorker
Outs & Murders
Current Issue 2009
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