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NOTE: This play is set in Houston during the 1980s. STORY LINE: German expatriate building contractor JURGEN throws an 18th birthday party for his beloved daughter BATINA, and invites his mixed African American and Caucasian building crew to his home to celebrate. But when Jurgen's valuable souvenir, a Hitler-era Luger, disappears, and Jurgen wants the thief caught, suspicion splits along racial lines...
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[FRANKIE SHLOMO] African American, mid 20's to mid 30's, Born and raised in Harlem, A former street hustler with an edge but charming. Moving to Texas for a fresh start. Frankie works at a pretty draining job, mixing mortar for building contractor Jurgen. Tired of sweating in the Houston heat, and maybe suspicious that his boss prefers to work with white boys, he's looking for an office job -- but after interviewing with Miss Jackie Watson, Frankie scents a different possibility in the wind, and opts to woo her instead of maintain his professional demeanor. Frankie invites Jackie and her friend Shareeta to attend a birthday party for his boss's daughter -- and when Jurgen's prize Luger disappears, Frankie is outraged but not particularly surprised when the only black man at the party becomes the prime suspect. A man with a few sketchy decisions in his past that come back to haunt him while he's in police custody, Frankie is innocent of stealing the gun -- but he's briefly suspected of being a thug by Jackie, a false move that Frankie will allow her to repent at leisure...LEAD
[ZACH] Caucasian, mid 20's, charismatic, born and raised in Texas, Zach likes to stir things up. Zach is a just-graduated college student who has returned to Houston after studying in New York; and he longs to get back to the Big Apple. The ex-boyfriend of Batina, Zach dumped her with barely a word of goodbye, but when he returns he hopes to take up where he left off -- and he manages to talk his way into a job on Jurgen's building crew. Unrepentant about getting Dago-Czech fired, he's quietly looking for his ticket back to Manhattan, and he's convinced that he can sell Jurgen's Luger to a collector of Hitler memorabilia for big bucks. But Zach isn't nearly as slick as he thinks he is, and he not only loses Batina to his buddy Clint, he's obliged to return the Luger to Jurgen...LEAD
[JURGEN] mid 50's. A successful building contractor in Houston, Jurgen is a German American master mason who's been laying brick for 27 years; born in Germany during the War, he still has an accent. The tough-minded employer of Frankie and Dago-Czech, he fires Dago to give a job to Zach, his daughter Batina's ex-boyfriend. Jurgen is very protective of Batina, on whom he dotes, and he throws a party to celebrate her 18th birthday. Jurgen's a little odd; he defends some aspects of Hitler's legacy, and his proudest possession is a Luger used in a failed attempt to assassinate the Fuhrer. Possibly more comfortable working with whites than blacks, but completely willing to have African-American visitors in his home, Jurgen is enraged when the Luger is stolen during Batina's party, and he's determined to get it back...LEAD
[JACKIE WATSON] African American, mid to late 20's, born and raised in the black ghetto of Texas. Jackie, a straight shooter, is a a professional businesswoman, a Human Resources head who has had a long day of interviewing. Jackie feels that she has pulled herself out of the ghetto and found herself a place in life, and she's appalled by black men who don't treat her with enough respect. After interviewing Frankie, she's charmed in spite of herself, but is a little wary of his too-smooth ways. She's willing to go out with him, but lets him get only so far -- and when she believes (wrongly) that he's guilty of having stolen Jurgen's valuable Luger, she slaps his face, angry that she's fallen for another stupid criminal. After the real thief is unmasked, Jackie has to eat a certain amount of crow, and might even forgive Frankie for the other flaws in his character...LEAD
[BATINA] 18 years old, Caucasian, New age, earthy, yoga beauty. Buddhist, in harmony with others and the universe. Sexually innocent, but strong and savvy, she is Jurgen's only daughter, and she's getting a little antsy about her daddy's over-protective nature. Batina dated Zach the previous summer, and thinks of him as her first love -- but he left her flat when he went away to school, and she's hopping mad that he dismissed her so casually. After meeting Clint, Zach's roommate, Batina has a perfect way to annoy both Zach and her father simultaneously: have a little romance with Clint. But Clint might be just nice enough to develop into a major amour...LEAD
[CLINT] Caucasian, Mid 20s. Average height and build. Academic type, high IQ, perhaps a bit naïve and a bit of a bookworm. Born and raised in mid-West America. Zach's close friend and roommate, Clint is another ex-college student who's now out looking for work -- and he rather thinks he might get a job as Frankie's replacement. Not thrilled at all when Zach brings Frankie home and offers him a room for only $200 a month, Clint shows himself to be more practical and level-headed than Zach -- but after meeting Batina, he lets his romantic side out for a run. Well aware that he's dating the daughter of a very protective father, Clint has to behave himself when he's alone with her -- and when Zach stupidly steals Jurgen's valuable Luger, Clint has to think fast, because he wants to get the gun back without getting caught...LEAD
[DAGO-CZECH] Mid 20s to early 30s. , Half-Italian, half-Czechoslovakian. Tall, lanky, a bit rough, disheveled, always in a suit (usually cheap polyester). Born in Texas, raised in the Texas ghetto, although he is white, through his past associations and assimilation with black America, he literally talks and acts like he is black. Frankie's friend and co-worker on the building crew, Dago-Czech is outgoing, chatty, and kinda lazy, the kind of employee who seizes every opportunity to have a quick toke. Fired by his boss Jurgen in favor of Zach, he is briefly one of the suspects when Jurgen's gun is stolen...LEAD
[SHAREETA] Mid to late 20s, African American. Born and raised in the black ghetto of Texas. Worked her way up, but still lives in the ghetto. Professional but streetwise and analytical. Shareeta, Jackie's wisecracking friend, is a professional psychologist working with troubled children in the ghetto and is very proud of her name, which means "pulse" in Ethiopian. A single woman with a sharp edge to her, Shareeta is comfortable with her black heritage, and absolutely loathes any public use of the N word -- even when it's used by streetwise black men intent on reclaiming the word for their own use. Shareeta shows signs of being romantically attracted to Zach, in spite of the fact that he's the Luger thief...LEAD
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