Speed Killed My Cousin
The Carpetbag Theatre, Inc. (CBT), is a professional, multi-generational ensemble company dedicated to the production of new works.
Alternate ROOTS' service region consists of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C
By Linda Parris-Bailey
A Carpetbag Theatre Inc. Production
This timely new work follows the first women combat veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars and their uneasy return home.
SPEED KILLED MY COUSIN is the story of a young, African-American, woman soldier of the Iraq war, and her struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
The play takes place in a hummer, as the main character is driving down the L.I.E. highway in New York. As she struggles with flashbacks and memories, she tries to talk with her father about his experience in the Vietnam war, and her cousin – a Vietnam veteran who died in car crash shortly after his return. She also remembers the women she left behind in Iraq, some of whom did not survive. Memories and scenes unfold before her, and in the rear-view mirror, as she’s driving. Ultimately she must decide whether or not let go of the wheel, as her cousin did, or to choose life.
THE CREATIVE TEAM
The creative team consists of the playwright, Linda Parris-Bailey; CBT ensemble actors Bert Tanner, Linda Parris-Bailey, Starr Releford & Will Dorsey, and special guest performer Ashley Wilkerson; Arab-American director/dramaturge, Andrea Assaf; and visual artist, Melody Reeves, whose video design adds a new dimension to this powerful work. With fabulous original music by Kelle Jolly and John Puckett!SUPPORT
Support for the project thus far includes a National Performance Network (NPN) Creation Fund Award, with co-commissioners Junebug Productions and Mason-Rhynes Productions; a commission from the Bear Arts Foundation for the “Ten Minute Play Festival”; a Ko Festival Rehearsal Residency in Amherst, Massachusetts; and a work-in-progress performance at the Alternate ROOTS Festival in Baltimore, Maryland.BUT WE STILL NEED YOU!!! WE NEED $5000 TO FOR ARTIST FEES, DESIGN & PRODUCTION COSTS, to make our vision of this work a reality!
PREMIERE
“Speed” will open OCTOBER 25TH, 2012, in conjunction with the Network of Ensemble Theaters (NET) Micro-Fest in Knoxville, TN.Additional showtimes: Thurs-Sat, Nov 1st, 2nd and 3rd.
ALL shows begin at 7:30pm
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Linda Parris-Bailey wrote a story in 1973 about her cousin's death. Her cousin's death was suspicious and mysterious to her. She was young. Her cousin had just come home from Vietnam and her family was relieved becasue he was actually home from the war. Her cousin was not like most people returning home from the war. He was very quiet, almost Zen like. He wasn't like the other tortured soldiers, liker her other cousins. It wasn't really like him. He was crazy and came back calm.
So when he wrapped himself around a tree, it was a shock. So fast forward to Iraq and Afghanistan, to a time where deaths by suicide out number deaths in combat. It's a time where PTSD is common language and common terminology. It wasn't like Vietnam. During the war in Vietnam, we saw the war. We saw the bodies coming home, loaded in aircrafts. During this war, we didn't see. We weren't allowed to see. No one was being drafted. Everybody was volunteering, serving 2 or 3 tours of duty. Linda wrote this play as a tribute to her cousin. But she also wrote this play about women and women's experience with war. It's written, directed and designed by women. We need your support to finish this play. We want this play to encourage communities to start having discussions about what happens when soldiers return from war. So we are trying to raise $5,000. We need more. But $5,000 would help us produce the play with all of it's visual and scenic elements. Support this production. Support this anti-war statement. "They only way to stop PTSD, is to stop the war."- Vet Center Employee "Speed Killed My Cousin" is the story of a wounded, African-American, female soldier contemplating suicide while driving on the Long Island Expressway. Passengers in the car are her father, a veteran of the Vietnam War, and her deceased uncle. All of them suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. All of them have kept silent about the war. One of them has committed vehicular suicide while the others must whether they will break the silence or follow the same path. The central character comes from a long line of Black soldiers. However, she is the first women to see combat. The complexities of of her experiences are explored thru digital media, music and text. The CBT ensemble that will complete the work consists of four core CBT ensemble actors, the playwright Linda Parris-Bailey, the director/ dramaturge Andrea Assaf, visual artist Melody Reeve. Umoja Abdul Ahad serves as a Vietnam consultant. Lighting design is by Darron McCroom.