DEADLY WEAPONS

AVAILABLE FROM DRAMATIC PUBLISHING CO.

Commissioned, devised with and premiered by Graffiti Theatre Company, Cork, Ireland

THE STORY

A thriller that explores the hazards and consequences of reckless behavior. When three teenage friends, Moss, Jessie and Serena, decide to take the law into their own hands, they are forced to confront themselves, their relationships, and their actions. Moss thinks that Old Man Leisner has murdered his missing son, so the three friends decide to break into his place to search for clues. But when Old Man Leisner arrives unexpectedly, their seemingly harmless dare goes horribly wrong and a terrible accident leads to discoveries about themselves all four could never have imagined. Jessie, Moss and Serena are forced to make choices that reveal themselves, their priorities and the complicated nature of their friendship. Deadly Weapons challenges audiences to assess the nature of responsibility and how, under extreme pressure, we can behave in ways that are surprising and deadly.

CAST: 2 men, 2 women

More information below

HISTORY AND REVIEWS

Deadly Weapons is ...a protean mix of character study, information resource and audience interaction. And it manages to be surprisingly moving in the process." --The Dallas Morning News 3/2/2002

Deadly Weapons was presented in a rehearsed reading at New York University Program in Educational Theatre's New Plays for Young Audiences at the Provincetown Theatre, New York City, Directed by Graham Whitehead, June, 2000

Deadly Weapons was presented at a Dark Night Staged Reading at Dallas Children's Theatre with the support of Presbyterian Health care, Directed by Graham Whitehead, November 2000

The American premiere of Deadly Weapons was the inaugural play in Dallas Children's Theatre's Young Adult Series at the Crescent Theatre, Directed by Graham Whitehead, November 2000

Listed in ASSITEJ Outstanding Plays for Young Audiences, Vol. VI 1999

Nominated for a 2002 Leon Rabin Award for Best New Play by the Dallas Theatre League

FROM EMELIE FITZGIBBON, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, GRAFFITI THEAtRE COMPANY, CORK, IRELAND

"Suddenly, there were three characters in the room. Demanding, secretive, vulnerable, they compelled our attention, taking us on a dark adventure into uncomfortable places. We followed. This was the extraordinary and seminal moment in the devising room that saw the genesis of Deadly Weapons. Laurie Brooks has come to Ireland to work with Graffiti Theatre Company on a new script. Deadly Weapons was the result, an ideal mix of educationally provocative ideas embedded in a fast-paced thriller. The play became our 1998 fall tour, a successful and challenging experience for students and teachers who found themselves deeply invested in the recognizable young characters in the play. Serena is new to the neighborhood, desperate to belong to the seemingly glamorous world of Moss and Jessie. Challenged by them, she accepts a dare to do something deadly dangerous. However, a secret that Serena keeps will turn the dare into a nightmare. The "deadly weapons" of Laurie Brooks' play are more than the literal ones, They are sharply embedded in family, society and peer relations in ourselves. It is a play about hurt and challenges. It speaks to young people and those who work with and for them. Its voices are real voices. As one 13 year old said to me, "I know these people." It is this recognition which makes the play compelling. Everyone in the audience can identify with at least one of the characters and the landslide from a deceptively simple dare to "be one of us" into a relentless spiral of damaging consequences. Deadly Weapons is a play which treats its young adult audience with respect and recognition; portraying the toughness and absolutism of both their world and their mine-sets while respecting their ability to identify and analyze the anti-models presented. As the audience, we are challenged by competing sympathies underlying a tense and driven plot. As directors, actors and explorers we are challenged to investigate and inhabit the vital reality of this charged and dangerous world."