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Force Continuum
Author(s):
Kia Corthron
THE STORY: Dece, twenty-four, lives with his grandfather. He is the third generation of black police officers in this family: His parents were both cops--his mother died of cancer when Dece was ten; his father was killed by gunshot when Dece was eleven. Dece’s partner, Flip, is vaguely racist but basically a good cop, husband and father of five. Dece always conceals his many worries with a laugh; on the job his biggest fear is the Buy and Bust--posing undercover as a customer for drug dealers. His grandfather tries to reach Dece through his own experience, espousing the virtues of community policing--cops knowing the people. Dece, feeling it’s a whole new world now, is dismissive. Dray, sixteen, lives with his sister Mrai, a mother of two small children, teacher, and asthmatic. Dray is a typically lazy teen and a talented painter. He becomes the victim of police brutality, leaving him paralyzed. Dece and Flip find Mrai in her car, dazed from too much cold medicine and extreme stress. The officers mistake her for a junkie or mentally ill. Tensions escalate leading to Mrai’s accidental death from asphyxiation, related to her asthma and the officers’ negligence. Dece and Flip are briefed by a representative of the Patrolmen’s Benevolence Association. They are freed, but Flip can’t live with the guilt. While Dece gets drunk in a bar, Flip goes to the bathroom and puts a bullet through his head. Dece has a new partner: a woman. Flashback: Dece’s father returns home late; he’d been part of the brutal killing of a "perp"--a fifteen-year-old boy. Present: Dece at a Buy and Bust becomes emotionally drawn into the personal ordeals of a perp; mistaking undercover Dece for another perp, two uniformed cops (one black, one white) shoot and kill Dece. Grandfather now all alone. Thinks about the night Father returned from the brutality episode--and killed himself.
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| Genre(s): | Drama
| | Time Period(s): | Not Available | | Play Type: | Play | | Runtime: | Not Available | | Acts: | Not Available | | Set Complexity: | Not Available | | Set Information: | Not Available | | Year First Published: | Not Available | | Total Characters: | 9 | | Male Characters: | 6 | | Female Characters: | 2 | | Androgynous Characters: | 1 | | Minimum Cast: | Not Available | | Maximum Cast: | Not Available | | Cost: | FEE: $60 per performance
Royalty/cost information prone to change.
Please check with the publisher for the most accurate information. | | Publisher: | Dramatists Play Service
Click on the publisher's name above for additional information, including updated prices. | | ISBN: |
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