BrBraaveve NoWorld NoWorld:: Community.Community. Identity.Identity. You see somethin’ Stand-upStand-up wrong with the world Comedy.Comedy. and there’s only one question you gotta ask yourself: What are you gonna do about it? Drama/ComedyDrama/Comedy by by Laurie Brooks Colorized covers are for web display only. Most covers are printed in black and white. BRAVE NO WORLD: Community. Stand-up Comedy COMMISSIONED FOR THE KENNEDY CENTER’S INAUGURAL FAMILY THEATRE SEASON RPENN O IN H CUP G C This imaginative new work asserts that Distinguished Playwright if you look beyond the surface, Award you’ll see that the world is what YOU make it ... and the time to start creating it is NOW. Cath-ar-tate. Make a change now. Brave No World: Identity. Community. Identity. Stand-up Comedy. Drama/Comedy. By Laurie Brooks. Cast: 1m., 1w. Popular high- school senior John has a secret: He loves books. But he’s afraid to tell anyone for fear it’ll ruin his “angry-cool” rep. When his mother remarries, John is suddenly step- siblings with Lexie, an honor stu- dent who couldn't be more his opposite. Their many differences —from their upbringing and skin color to musical interests and friends—lead each to make flawed assumptions about the other. But when John and Lexie least expect it, they discover that the old . adage “never judge a book by its cover” still rings true. Mixing powerful storytelling and contemporary music with stand-up com- Laurie Brooks edy “rants” about culture and society inspired by such literary clas- sics as To Kill a Mockingbird, The Invisible Manand Brave New World, this imaginative new work asserts that if you look beneath the surface, you’ll see that the world is what YOU make it ... and the time to start creating it is NOW. Commissioned by and pre- miered at The Kennedy Center. Standards based high-school classroom materials focusing on the analysis of hip-hop lyrics to “provide students with a greater understanding of rhythm, form, DRAMATIC PUBLISHING diction and sound in poetry,” which include activities, readings, and links to related lesson plans and websites, are available from the National Arts and Education Network (ArtsEdge), a program of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Bare stage w/ props. Optional music CD available (underscoring and transi- tion music). Approximate running time: 1 hour, 15 minutes. Code: BC5. Front cover: The Kennedy Center, Washington D.C., production featuring Daniel Frith. Photo: Carol Pratt. Cover design: Susan Carle. 13 ISBN: 978-1-58342-552-7 10 ISBN: 1-58342-552-7 D Printed on Recycled Paper P C _ _ 9 781583 425527 70020 > www.DramaticPublishing.com BRAVE NO WORLD: Com mu nity. Iden tity. Stand-Up Com edy. By LAURIE BROOKS Dra matic Pub lishing Woodstock, Il linois • Eng land • Aus tra lia • New Zealand © The Dramatic Publishing Company, Woodstock, Illinois *** NO TICE *** The am a teur and stock act ing rights to this work are con trolled ex clu - sively by THE DRA MATIC PUB LISHING COM PANY, with out whose per mis sion in writ ing no per for mance of it may be given. Roy alty must be paid ev ery time a play is per formed whether or not it is pre sented for profit and whether or not ad mis sion is charged. A play is per formed any time it is acted be fore an au di ence. Cur rent roy alty rates, ap pli ca tions and re stric tions may be found at our Web site: www.dramaticpublishing.com, or we may be con tacted by mail at: DRA MATIC PUB LISHING COM- PANY, 311 Wash ing ton St., Woodstock IL 60098. COPY RIGHT LAW GIVES THE AU THOR OR THE AU THOR’S AGENT THE EX CLU SIVE RIGHT TO MAKE COPIES. This law pro - vides au thors with a fair re turn for their cre ative ef forts. 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The name of the au thor must also ap pear on a sep a rate line, on which no other name ap pears, im me di ately fol low ing the ti tle, and must ap pear in size of type not less than fifty per cent the size of the ti tle type. Bio graph i - cal in for ma tion on the au thor, if in cluded in the playbook, may be used in all pro grams. In all pro grams this no tice must ap pear: Pro duced by spe cial ar range ment with THE DRA MATIC PUB LISHING COM PANY of Woodstock, Il li nois © The Dramatic Publishing Company, Woodstock, Illinois For KPK © The Dramatic Publishing Company, Woodstock, Illinois Brave No World: Com mu nity. Iden tity. Stand-up Com - edy. was com mis sioned and pre miered by The John F. Ken nedy Cen ter, Wash ing ton, D.C., for the 30th an- niversary of the Imag i na tion Cel e bra tion and the in au gu ral sea son of the Fam ily Thea tre. The John F. Ken nedy Cen ter for the Per forming Arts STEPHEN A. SCHWARZMAN, Chair man MI CHAEL M. KAISER, Pres i dent FAM ILY THEATER Jan u ary 2006 Dan iel Frith ...............................John Brie Eley.................................Lexie Di rec tor ........................Wendy McClellan As sis tant Di rec tor .......................Ian Frank Co-com poser/Sound De signer ..............Kevin Hill Co-com poser ........................Shaun Cozart Set De signer ....................Ja cob Muehlhausen Lighting De signer..................Em ily Lagerquist Cos tume De signer ...................Blair Gulledge Props Ar ti san ....................Dreama J. Greaves Pro duction Stage Man ager............Selena Anguiano Cast ing Di rec tor .......................Eli Dawson Un der studies........An drew Jessop, Audra Analise Polk Ex ec u tive Pro ducer .................Darrell M. Ayers Pro ducing Di rec tor .................Kim Pe ter Kovac Pro duc tion Man ager .......................Jeff Hill 6 © The Dramatic Publishing Company, Woodstock, Illinois BRAVE NO WORLD: Com mu nity. Iden tity. Stand-up Com edy. CHAR AC TERS: JOHN ......17, white. Takes his style from black cul ture in body lan guage, dress and speech. LEXIE ..........17, black. Up wardly mo bile, good girl. More white in style than black. TIME: Now. PLACE: Anywhere in America. SETTING: A bare stage. Two micro phones are in the space and books are scat tered ev ery where. MU SIC/SOUND: You are wel come to cre ate your own mu - sic and sound de sign for this play, or use the CD of mu - sic/sound cre ated for the orig i nal pro duc tion by Kevin Hill (CD avail able from Dra matic Pub lishing). If you cre ate your own mu sic, please fol low the mu sic cues in the script. If you use the CD, forgo the cues in the script and fol low the cues on the cue sheet pro vided with the CD. 7 © The Dramatic Publishing Company, Woodstock, Illinois BRAVE NO WORLD: Com mu nity. Iden tity. Stand-up Com edy. (MU SIC. SPOT LIGHT on JOHN, 17. He ap proaches the mike.) JOHN (to the au di ence). Y’all are goin’ along, livin’ your lives, not payin’ much at ten tion to what’s around. What’s goin’ down. Your lives are all about you, aren’t they? You and your lit tle world. Me, too, un til now. So watch my story and ask your self: Am I livin’ in a brave no world or a Brave New World? (MU SIC RATCHETS UP.