SPEED KILLED MY COUSIN
A Carpetbag Theatre Inc. production
By Linda Parris-Bailey
Directed by Andrea Assaf
Media Design by Melody Reeves
Original Music by Kelle Jolly, John Puckett, and Bert Tanner
Performed by the Carpetbag Theatre ensemble, featuring:
Ashley Wilkerson, Bert Tanner, Linda Parris-Bailey, Starr Releford & Will Dorsey
Speed Killed My Cousin is a timely, moving new play about an African American woman soldier who returns from Iraq with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The story unfolds as Debra, the main character, drives down the Long Island Expressway (L.I.E.) in New York. As she struggles with flashbacks and memories, she tries to talk with her father about his experiences in the Vietnam war, and is visited by his cousin -- a Vietnam veteran who died mysteriously in a car crash shortly after his return. She also remembers her mother, and the women she left behind in Iraq, some of whom did not survive. Memories and flashbacks unfold before her, and in her rear-view mirror, as she drives. Ultimately she must decide whether to let go of the wheel, or to choose life.
Speed Killed My Cousin is a Carpetbag Theatre production, supported in part by the NPN Creation Fund, co-commissioned by the National Performance Network, Carpetbag Theatre, Junebug Productions, and Mason-Rhynes Productions. SPEED opened at the Network of Ensemble Theatres Micro-Fest in Knoxville, TN on October 25, 2012, with additional performances at Carpetbag Theatre November 1-3, 2012.
UPCOMING PERFORMANCES:
November 7-17, 2013 - Junebug Productions, New Orleans
Also in 2013 ... stay tuned for performances in Tampa, FL ...
TOURING THROUGH 2014
To bring this play to YOUR community, please contact Carpetbag Theatre at (865) 544-0447.
