NOW CASTING NOW CASTING NOW CASTING A LESSON BEFORE DYING by Romulus Linney Produced by Russ Andrade, Cooper Steve Anderson 1948 In the Jim Crow South, an innocent young black man is convicted of murder and sentenced to death. At trial, his attorney explains to the jury What justice would there be to take his life? Justice, gentlemen? Why, I would as soon put a hog in the electric chair as this. Jeffersons godmother, Miss Emma Glenn, and Tante Lou, ask Grant Wiggins, the local black schoolteacher and Lous nephew, to turn Jefferson from a hog to a man. Characters Breakdown Grant Wiggins: Black, Mid-late twenties. Schoolteacher. He feels rage at whites for treating him badly and rage at himself for taking the treatment lying down. This rage, bottled up in Grant, turns to bitterness, cynicism, and self-absorption. He feels he cannot help his community, and in order to stop this failure from paining him, he removes himself from the people he loves deciding that, since they are beyond hope, he cannot be blamed for failing to help them. In helping Jefferson find some dignity, Grant finds some solace. Jefferson: Black, Teens-Early Twenties look, Slight build, Condemned man. When Jefferson’s lawyer defends Jefferson by likening him to a mindless hog, Jefferson becomes terrified and infuriated, obsessed by the possibility that he really is no better than a hog. He rages in his cell, mimicking a hog’s behavior and jeering at his friends and family, or refusing to speak to them. Miss Emma Glenn: Black, to look 60s/70s, Jefferson’s godmother. Miss Emma possesses great faith in God. After hearing Jefferson’s lawyer call Jefferson a hog, she becomes obsessed with ensuring that Jefferson dies “like a man.” Miss Emma expresses her emotions freely and demonstrates her strength and resolve during Jefferson’s trial and incarceration. Tante Lou: Black, to look 50s/60s, Resents Grants cynical atheism, Although she lives a troubled life under a harsh, racist system, she finds freedom for her soul in the church, her family, her dignity, and her pride. Vivian Baptiste: Black, Mid-late twenties, Grant’s beautiful, loving, and intelligent girlfriend. Vivian is a schoolteacher at the black Catholic school in Bayonne. She is married and has two children, but is in the process of divorcing her husband. She wants to hide her relationship with Grant for fear her husband will use it to justify taking the children away from her. Yet, She distrusts Grant because, in his self-centered way, he pressures her to forsake her community. Reverend Ambrose: Black, 50-70, The fiery, self-righteous leader of the black quarter’s religious community, and Grant’s primary foil in the novel. Reverend Ambrose believes that true faith in God shields the believer against oppression. Ambrose believes that Grant is foolish for forsaking his religion and that Grant will have a sinful influence on Jefferson. Jefferson connects only with Grant, and the Reverend cannot convince Grant to attempt to save Jefferson’s soul. In his conversations with Grant, the Reverend reveals his belief that lying is a necessary component of survival, especially for Southern blacks struggling to live. Sheriff Guidry - White, 45-55, An authoritarian man who runs the prison in Bayonne. Guidry resents anyone who trespasses on his domain, especially blacks like Grant and Miss Emma. He provides blacks with a modicum of freedom and opportunity while maintaining an overarching, white authoritarian superstructure. Deupty Paul Bonin: Late 20s-Mid 30s, The sheriff’s deputy at the Bayonne jail, he is the only white in the novel who truly sympathizes with the black struggle in the South. Henri Pichot, 50s-70s, A stubborn white man with a sense of duty, he owns the plantation where Grant spent his childhood. Pichot is not a bad man, but he enjoys his position of power in the quarter. He cherishes the status quo because it allows him to feel superior to people. Like many of his white peers, he causes harm simply by his unwillingness to change. Mr. Joseph Morgan - The white superintendent of schools. Like Pichot, Dr. Joseph knowingly maintains the status quo: black oppression under a fundamentally racist system. A hypocrite, Mr. Joseph presents a façade of benevolence, but he actually believes that although black children should receive a small amount of religious and patriotic education, they should primarily work the fields as farm hands. EMAIL submissions ASAP to: coopersanderson@yahoo home.lacasting/
Posted on: Tue, 20 Jan 2015 01:25:46 +0000
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