The Central Park Five, Act I: Scene 2

Scene 2

“WE ARE THE FREAKS”

LIGHTS UP:

The stage is bathed in colors of red, purple, dark blue.

A hot, summer night; sticky and uncomfortable.

A cityscape appears: The brownstones and tenements of Harlem.

Still photos of YOUTHS OF HARLEM – teens and young adults, Male and Female, in the fullness of their lives, flash across the scrim. ANTRON, KEVIN, KHAREY, RAYMOND and YUSEF, Appear now as bored teenagers looking for some release. They are scattered about, in different areas of the stage, Separate spots illuminate,

YUSEF

It’s warm out, tonight

I need some air.

I can walk around for awhile.

It might do me some good.

I need to know

Where my life will take me.

I wonder, I dream,

I need to know.

Mom expects so much more of me.

Who am I to be?

I don’t always know.

I need to clear my head.

I need to know my path.

KEVIN

They tell us in school how big the world is.

ANTRON

But that’s their world, it ain’t mine.

KEVIN

My world is as big as my block. That’s all.

What goes on here is all that matters.

This is all I will ever be.

ANTRON

How am I going to get enough

Sleep?

THE MASQUE

(as a tourist)

They don’t live like us.

They don’t want to fit in.

They don’t think like us!

Their music is too loud.

They walk too boldly down the street.

They wear their clothes in strange ways.

Who are these people?

Why must they be the way they are?

YUSEF

Why is Mama always tired?

KHAREY

Everyday I wonder

Who will get shot?

Thank God it wasn’t me!

YUSEF

I dream,

But when I wake up everything’s like it was yesterday.

KHAREY

I ride the subway,

But I never been on a train.

I can see airplanes

But I can never fly.

THE MASQUE

(as a commuter)

They laugh at us.

They don’t want to work. They steal.

They don’t care about going to school.

They shoot each other.

They kill!

They don’t care.

They have babies they can’t take care of.

They have fathers they do not know.

They are lost.

THE CENTRAL PARK FIVE

(images of angry BLACK YOUTH)

This is my world.

This is how I live.

This is my world, my world!

I will make sure

People see me here in my world!

This is my world!

Come into our world!

The world is ours.

Hold your head high!

The world is ours.

Stand up, Step up!

The world is ours.

When you pretend

Not to see, not to hear.

Stop acting like

You have something to fear.

Harlem is my home.

Harlem, where you’re never alone.

THE MASQUE

(as a policeman)

We must be on our guard. We must watch them.

They are everywhere.

They don’t think like you and me.

They are everywhere.

We must stay strong and

Watch them!

(The FIVE move about the stage watching warily, suspiciously at anything and everything. Gradually, ANTRON, KEVIN, KHAREY, RAYMOND and YUSEF move to separate spots.)

RAYMOND

I hear they be rich downtown.

All those bright lights.

They live real good downtown.

Not like way up here.

THE MASQUE

Keep that lid on, uptown.

Keep those people calm,

We need more police,

Uptown!

RAYMOND

Not like up here.

THE CENTRAL PARK FIVE

I feel like I’m in a cage!

YUSEF

The Tourists come uptown on buses to look at us!

They come to Sylvia’s

And take pictures of the food!

They come to the Apollo

So they think they’re cool!

They walk on our streets and get a rush

When they get home alive!

THE MASQUE

Crime is going up!

Too much arson!

Keep the drugs, uptown!

FIVE

They treat Harlem like a zoo!

Time to bust out!

Time to break out!

Time to act out!

THE MASQUE

We need more police, uptown!

More lights on the street,

More cops!

We must save our city.

Keep our city alive!

CENTRAL PARK FIVE

This ain’t no life,

This ain’t living!

This is all a big mess.

Time to bust out!

Time to break out!

Time to act out!

We about to wild out!

We are the freaks!

We are the freaks

Who own the night!

We are the blade runners

Who can’t be killed!

We are the slaves

Who can’t be whipped!

We’re stressed out, blessed out

Down for anything and e’vrything!

We are out here but we don’t care.

We are the young ones

Who’ll keep comin’.

CENTRAL PARK FIVE & CHORUS

We are the freaks!

We are the freaks

Who own the night!

DARKNESS. We hear the sound of a runner jogging, her breath, her footsteps, on the gravel intermixed with sounds of her occasional GRUNTS as she exerts herself. Suddenly, there is a sound like a THUD, then, a muffled SCREAM. We can hear what seems like a STRUGGLE, then, silence - nothing but darkness and the occasional CRICKET and the cool evening breeze and the darkness. Suddenly:

THE MASQUE

(Reappearing as a Desk Cop)

The police have received a call

A gang of youths is throwing rocks

At cars in Central Park.

There they go again!

RAYMOND

This is bad!

Raymond exits.

KHAREY

This is getting crazy!

YUSEF

It’s out of hand!

Kharey and Yusef exit.

KEVIN

As long as we don’t do something stupid.

KEVIN & ANTRON

We got nothing to worry about.

THE MASQUE

Another call.

Gotta get a squad car there!

A homeless man has been beaten,

And thrown aside like he was nothing!

And now they are chasing people on their bikes!

KEVIN

This ain’t funny, no more!

This looks bad!

ANTRON

I’m out! I’m out!

(Kevin and Antron exit.)

THE MASQUE

How many kids are there?

Black kids! Brown kids!

What do you expect?

This is Harlem!

What do you expect?

Stop them! Round them up!

We must find them

In Harlem!

In Harlem!

END SCENE TWO