The Alexander Litany by Kori Alston Draft 1/12/16 © 2016 Kori Alston
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The Alexander Litany By Kori Alston Draft 1/12/16 © 2016 Kori Alston 2 for Jaeden. 3 Characters – Clarence Alexander – Black. 76. He spent years looking at prison walls. Joseph Alexander – Black. 41. He would never admit to his addiction. Max Alexander – Mixed. 19. His fight will be a long one. Jack Alexander – Mixed. 15. Sports are his escape. He’s finding bravery. Naomi Alexander – White. 41. She found herself when Max was born. Warren – White. 18. Smarter than he seems. Often high. Chris – 18. Dark, twisted, and afraid to be alone. A charmer. Time – 2014 2015 Places – Small town Western Massachusetts Broken neighborhood Albany New York Southern California A place of thought Note – In this play, love is real. 4 Prologue. A poem. NAOMI: I know why The caged bird Never learned To fly Wings clipped That blackbird Crow Sent after the shiny Pennies and dimes Of the streets And sidewalks. I know why He circles And circles And circles Me and my Shiny shiny Pennies and dimes Smile. I know why he loves me. Now listen to A black man’s philosophy. 5 ACT 1 Scene 1 – A place of thought. CLARENCE, JOSEPH, MAX, AND JACK exist within the same space of thought, unaware of each other. Three generations. The Alexander men. CLARENCE: You can’t teach a boy to be a man. That’s some shit they got to be doin' on they own. Boys learn by doing, that’s how they different from girls. Girls need love – they gotta know that you thinkin’ bout them. Boys gotta know that they alone in this world. Ain’t shit you deserve that you don’t go take for yourself as a man. ‘Specially as a black man. Ain’t nobody wanna give you shit as a black man. They wanna take from ya. Take your future, take your past, take your thoughts. My boys know how to take what they deserve. But I don’t need to give them no lessons or lectures bout how to be a man. I just do it and they watch and learn from me, ya see what I’m sayin’? I handle my shit. I take what I need. I do my business with a smile on my face and my fist in my pocket. But we got a generation of boys who ain’t gonna be men. We losin’ ‘em. They soft. Not my boys, I raised them right. But they raisin’ they own kids differently. They lovin’ them too much – givin’ them too much of the shit they need to be takin’ for themselves. Shit – there ain’t nothin’ worse than weak man. JOSEPH: All we can do is be better than our fathers were. Nobody’s perfect. We’re all just trying. Kids need someone to tell them that they love them – not just on birthdays or Easter – everyday. Kids need someone to teach them all the things they learned from life. My father didn’t teach me shit. He barely showed up. The only time I saw my father was when he would show up drunk to my grandmother’s house looking for money. I didn’t have a real father. He’s a lazy piece of shit. I’m around for my kids. I make mistakes – I’m not perfect. But I try. I provide for my family. That’s all I can do – I try, I fail, but I try again. They don’t have to like me for that but they need to respect that I am their father and that I am trying the best I can to give them the life I never had. Those boys don’t know how good they have it. MAX: I don’t tell people about my father. This is a new beginning and I won’t let the past get in the way of that. I tell people that my mom is a single parent. Yeah, she’s still technically married to my dad but he was never a real parent. There’s a difference. A father is biological – necessary for your genetic existence but that’s it. A parent cares for you. A parent would do anything for you. A parent doesn’t lie or make you wait by the window for them to not come home at night. A parent doesn’t forget about you – you’re always on their mind. A parent doesn’t have to tell you that they love you because you already know. A parent doesn’t use your sexuality to justify his inability to connect with you. A parent certainly doesn’t choose a bottle of pills over you. He’s just broken, I get it, but I don’t care – it’s not my job to fix him. JACK: Max gave up on dad a while ago but I understand. It’s hard. Dad is good at breaking promises. I’ve learned to stop believing them – it makes it easier when he doesn’t show up. Sometimes I still wish he would help me train for 6 JACK: sports the way he tells people he does. He takes credit for how good I am but he really doesn’t help me at all. Mom’s the one who drives me up to the soccer field to let me practice my shot. Mom’s the one who goes running with me and helps me research the best basketball gear. I definitely don’t hate dad like Max does but its still hard being his son. I don’t know, I guess I just want the kind of dad that my friends have. Like, Kevin’s dad takes him hunting and shopping for bb guns. Connor’s dad drives him all over the state so that he can get the best basketball training. That’s the kind of dad I want my dad to be but I guess he’s got better stuff going on. 7 Scene 2 – Small town Western Massachusetts. A Saturday. Jack is fast asleep in bed. 10:14am. The sun is coming through the curtains. A perfect fall morning. His room is messy but not dirty. He hasn’t had the energy to clean it up. Organization doesn’t come easily to him. Trophies everywhere. Sports posters. A PS3. Naomi enters with her cellphone – pink case. Mom’s tough but she loves pink. She sits on the edge of Jack’s bed and rubs his back. NAOMI: Hey Jackson… hey Jack can you wake up for a minute, kiddo? JACK: (Typical morning stretch noises.) Yeah… NAOMI: So bud, I just got off the phone with Adams Academy… JACK: And… NAOMI: They don’t think they have the resources you need and think you should try to come back next year once we’ve learned how to manage it. JACK: No no no I can go back. NAOMI: Jackson, you’re still having seizures everyday. JACK: Mom, I’ll be fine. I can’t leave Adams. NAOMI: I know this is really hard for you kiddo but I think – JACK: No, mom, I’m okay. I’ll really be fine. NAOMI: We just need to get you more stable – figure this whole epilepsy thing out. JACK: I made so many new friends. I started a new life. I can’t just leave. NAOMI: I know. I’m sorry. But you still have all your friends at Barrington High. You guys will pick up right where you left off. I’m sure they’ve missed you! JACK: Mom, I can’t go to Barrington. I worked so hard to get into Adams; I’m not leaving. NAOMI: If we can get you better, you can go back next year. JACK: Just let me try again. I promise I’ll be okay. NAOMI: You had a really bad one just last night, J. We will get you better, I promise. And I’ll drive you out to go see the Adams’ games. 8 JACK: Mom, I left for a reason. NAOMI: I know, J, I know. But your health is more important right now. Epilepsy is manageable but everything I’ve read about it says that it takes a while to adjust your life around it. Jack buries his face in his pillow. Naomi rubs his back. NAOMI: I know… JACK: You’re sure I can go back next year? NAOMI: Absolutely. They don’t want to lose an athlete like you. JACK: But this isn’t fair. I was so happy and now this has to take it away from me. Like why epilepsy? I worked so hard and now I’m just going right back to Barrington. NAOMI: I’m going to get you all the support you need. I’ve already talked to the guidance counselors up there and they have no doubt that you’ll get what you need out of Barrington. You can take all honors classes and I’m going to talk to them about you not having to fulfill an art and tech requirement so that you can do some independent studies. Everyone knows how hard this is for you, Jack, we do. Silence. Jack gets up and loads his new video game into the system. NAOMI: Do you want to call Max? I’m sure he would have good advice. JACK: I don’t want to bother him; it’s still early. NAOMI: I was already texting him this morning. He had to get up early for work. JACK: Oh… Jack sits back in bed and starts playing his video game. He gets frustrated and stops.