Caged

New Jersey Prison Theater Cooperative

• Publisher: Haymarket Books
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781642590241
• eBook ISBN: 9781642590814
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: American Drama
• Index: Literature

This poignant play, written by current and formerly incarcerated authors uses, gripping truths and soulful dialogue to reveal the human cost of America's for-profit justice system. The story follows Omar, pulled back into the prison system after trying to lift his family out of poverty, who struggles to maintain a sense of humanity while fighting to keep his loved ones close. According to NJ.com, "From institutionalized racism to addiction to the prison-industrial complex, this is a play about a great many large, pressing social challenges, but at its core it is a play about one family and its struggles to remain united as their world steadily crumbles. Impactful, warm, and unrelenting, this play that began as an experiment turns out to be an excellent examination of the human cost of a harsh and inhospitable world."

For every print copy of Caged purchased from Haymarket Books through June 1, Haymarket will donate a copy of the book to prisoners and their families working with the New Jersey Scholarship and Transformative Education in Prisons Consortium (NJ-STEP).

All profits from the book will go to a prison re-entry fund run by The Second Presbyterian Church of Elizabeth, New Jersey to help the playwrights secure housing and continue their schooling upon release.

Act I, Scene V

THINGS FALL APART

Afternoon. JIMMY is getting a glass of water in the kitchen. OMAR enters.

OMAR: Hey

JIMMY: Heyyy . . . uuuuh, you seen ya momma?

OMAR: Her and Sharonda was suppose to be going to church. Then Sister Odell takin’ ’em to Food Town on the way home.

JIMMY: Boy I tell ya . . . ya momma spend mo’ time down at that church than the law allow . . . ain’t nobody cook round here, three four dishes in the sank, and they sitting up in a church . . .

OMAR (INTERRUPTING): Did you start a game with them dice?

JIMMY: Huh? Oh yeah, I went down to that Puerto Rican gamblin’ joint . . . Them niggas ain’t know nothing ’bout no trick dice.

OMAR: You hit em?

JIMMY: Hell yeah. I ain’t stop throwing them dice till I turn every last one of they pockets to rabbit ears! Boy I lit their ass up like downtown Atlanta!

OMAR: That’s crazy.

JIMMY: Ummmm huh. That’s why Wizard like ta go down on that corner and play ya’ll . . . he know he can’t set them dice down in no real gamblin’ joint.

OMAR: Naw?

JIMMY and OMAR sit at the table.

JIMMY: Hell naw!

OMAR: You an’ Wizard tight back in the day. . .

JIMMY: Wizard?

OMAR: Wizard say he was the man back then!

JIMMY (LAUGHS): That nigga parkin’ cars when we come up . . . It was me . . . uhh Cadillac! and . . . Hard Nose! We was the only somebodies knew where to get them dice . . . an’ Wizard watched us till we decide to give him a shot.

OMAR: Aw, man.

JIMMY: That nigga ain’t know his ass from a hole in da ground! The first time I let him in on the game he fucked up . . . I told him to stay on the dice case da nigga I was gamblin’ ’ginst try ta grab’ em . . .

OMAR: Why?

JIMMY: That’s what they use to do if they thought you was cheating . . . they snatch ’em off the ground and say I caught these. Anyway, I’m tearing this nigga’s ass up but I’m making sure the dice hit off the wall and role towards Wizard. Wizard standin’ straight up like a goddamn giraffe and he let that nigga reach down and grab my dice!

OMAR: Awe man! What happen!!

JIMMY: Dat nigga took one look at them dice and realized I had him in a trick bag an’ we got ta fighting right there. He throwing shit. I’m throwing shit. We tore that gamblin’ joint up! When I come up out of there my suede shirt was ripped. I was bleeding on my right side . . . Wizard cross the street holla’in, Jimmy I think that nigga stabbed you!!

OMAR: Wizard ain’t help?

JIMMY: Hell no. Took off like a scalded dog. I lost HALF a pint of blood messin’ wit that nigga and that other fool that cut me got way wit’ my dice. You had ta know what you was doing back then cause a nigga ain’t have no problem putting no cold steel in ya ass!

OMAR: Yea.

JIMMY gets up from the table.

JIMMY: Come here. Let me show you how we use ta switch the dice.

OMAR walks over to learn something from his father. JIMMY takes a few bills from his pocket and two sets of red dice.

JIMMY: Ok. I’ll teach ya. You need two sets of the same color dice. You keep one set in ya hand wit’ the money and the other set in ya shooting hand. Now when you get ready ta switch you reach down and grab the dice with the hand were ya money at. Come on let me show ya.

OMAR and JIMMY kneel on the floor. CHIMENE and SHARONDA walk in.

CHIMENE: What y’all doing?

JIMMY (CHUCKLING): Prayin’

CHIMENE: With dice in ya hand? Y’all go down and get the groceries out of Sister Odell’s car.

OMAR (ATTEMPTING TO KISS CHIMENE ON THE CHEEK WHO MOVES AWAY): Hey ma.

CHIMENE: Boy go ’head. You done got just as bad as ya daddy. Where’s Quan?

SHARONDA: Where he’s always at. That bowlin’ alley.

CHIMENE: I’m goin’ lay do...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Copyright
• Table of Contents
• INTRODUCTION – Chris Hedges
• INTRODUCTION – Boris Franklin
• CHARACTERS
• CAGED
• Act I, Scene I—BUILDING A BASE
• Act I, Scene II—CHIMENE’S BLESSING
• Act I, Scene III—JIMMY TRIES
• Act I, Scene IV—FAITH
• Act I, Scene V—THINGS FALL APART
• Act I, Scene VI—AFTERMATH
• Act I, Scene VII—THE SCORE, OR THE NEW DEAL
• Act I, Scene VIII—THE SYSTEM
• Act I, Scene IX—UNDERGROUND
• Act I, Scene X—INITIATION
• Act I, Scene XI—RADICAL LOVE (REDUX)
• Act I, Scene XII—INSIDE/OUTSIDE
• Act I, Scene XIII—QUAN STEPS UP
• Act II, Scene I—BENEATH THE SYSTEM
• Act II, Scene II—FLOATIN’/CHIMENE’S LIGHT DIMS
• Act II, Scene III—DEATH OF CHIMENE
• Act II, Scene IV—BREAKING THE CODE, OR RADICAL LOVE (RE)EMERGES
• Act II, Scene V—THE SYSTEM STRIKES BACK
• Act II, Scene VI—SHAKY GROUND
• Act II, Scene VII—HUMANITY TRIUMPHS
• Act II, Scene VIII—MAKING PEACE/TAKING LOSSES
• Coda—ECHO
• GLOSSARY
• Back Cover