BARRIERS
2 Men
Simple Set
52 pages
Two characters, a cop and a killer, deal with the loss of love and personal imprisonment on the eve of the killer’s execution. A hardened cop, Joe Eagle, and a convicted Killer, Joe Snake, a one-time drug-addict and petty criminal, face off on the night prior to Joe Snake’s execution.
The play is set in hard cement, a dark room, with large bars everywhere. It’s the belly of the male beast and explores MALE IMPRISONMENT, the Macho Psyche, and the barriers that hold that construct against the brutal pursuit of vulnerability.
Snake, killed the Cop’s daughter 6 years ago, because they were making love in a beautiful park, and he could not accept her beauty and love holding nothing but self-hatred within. As she pulled away, he grabbed her to give her his love, and broke her neck accidentally. But over a decade in jail, Snake introspects and becomes a deeply spiritual, whole and intellectual human being, while Eagle, due to the loss of his beautiful child, becomes hardened with hatred, vengeance, and retaliation.
The conditions of Snake’s life, prior to the murder, mirror the conditions of Joe Eagle, after the loss of his daughter. The pain created hardened their hearts, created a deep, terrifying desperation to overcome it, but were both limited by their hatred and male conditioning in our culture which demands one be strong, suppress vulnerability, and protect.
He’s brought Snake there to kill him with his bare hands, to purge the pain of his lost daughter from within through retaliation.
But what happens is a breaking of barriers we don’t expect, as the two men face off with their full humanity, and nothing to lose, in this hardened jungle of persecution, judgement and transcendence.
What happens when love is taken away – what’s left?
The barriers of our consciousness reflect hardened hatreds from years of genetic and social threat, murder, and fear. The male psyche, this machismo-mentality we’re taught to believe in, creates walls of indifference in both thinking, and feeling – shutting out, rather than opening up to any truth that does not condone the limited perspectives they’ve accepted.
Breaking down the barriers, is the center of all growth; the most difficult barriers to lift are those within ourselves.
How difficult is it to break free of your own identity, when your inner world is filled with these limitations?
As Snake says – “Please rephrase the violence.”
To read Excerpts from the play, click Read More below.
Note that formatting in the excerpts are not centered, and instead, left justified.
The PDF of the the play is in correct format.
2 Men
Simple Set
52 pages
Two characters, a cop and a killer, deal with the loss of love and personal imprisonment on the eve of the killer’s execution. A hardened cop, Joe Eagle, and a convicted Killer, Joe Snake, a one-time drug-addict and petty criminal, face off on the night prior to Joe Snake’s execution.
The play is set in hard cement, a dark room, with large bars everywhere. It’s the belly of the male beast and explores MALE IMPRISONMENT, the Macho Psyche, and the barriers that hold that construct against the brutal pursuit of vulnerability.
Snake, killed the Cop’s daughter 6 years ago, because they were making love in a beautiful park, and he could not accept her beauty and love holding nothing but self-hatred within. As she pulled away, he grabbed her to give her his love, and broke her neck accidentally. But over a decade in jail, Snake introspects and becomes a deeply spiritual, whole and intellectual human being, while Eagle, due to the loss of his beautiful child, becomes hardened with hatred, vengeance, and retaliation.
The conditions of Snake’s life, prior to the murder, mirror the conditions of Joe Eagle, after the loss of his daughter. The pain created hardened their hearts, created a deep, terrifying desperation to overcome it, but were both limited by their hatred and male conditioning in our culture which demands one be strong, suppress vulnerability, and protect.
He’s brought Snake there to kill him with his bare hands, to purge the pain of his lost daughter from within through retaliation.
But what happens is a breaking of barriers we don’t expect, as the two men face off with their full humanity, and nothing to lose, in this hardened jungle of persecution, judgement and transcendence.
What happens when love is taken away – what’s left?
The barriers of our consciousness reflect hardened hatreds from years of genetic and social threat, murder, and fear. The male psyche, this machismo-mentality we’re taught to believe in, creates walls of indifference in both thinking, and feeling – shutting out, rather than opening up to any truth that does not condone the limited perspectives they’ve accepted.
Breaking down the barriers, is the center of all growth; the most difficult barriers to lift are those within ourselves.
How difficult is it to break free of your own identity, when your inner world is filled with these limitations?
As Snake says – “Please rephrase the violence.”
To read Excerpts from the play, click Read More below.
Note that formatting in the excerpts are not centered, and instead, left justified.
The PDF of the the play is in correct format.
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