Terrence
Twelve-year-old Terrence dreams of college, playing pro ball like his cousin, and being a detective. He’s mourning losing his dad to cancer when his crack-addict stepdad throws him out of the house. In middle school, he sleeps in unlocked cars, starves, learns nothing because he sleeps in class, and thrives only after a dealer tells him to hide a bag of crack. Overnight, his untapped business acumen awakens. By 16, he’s flashing a gold grill and hot car. By 18, he’s doing 8-to-10. In prison, he learns to read, his hands intuitively know how to cut hair, a new god loves him unlike the Slave Bible god he was raised to fear, and he plans his life in order to stay sane during 6 months of undeserved solitary. Released, he follows his plan and successfully builds homes for the disabled until the state revokes his license because he’s a felon for life, and his gold-digger wife takes everything and leaves him. Again, Terrence is homeless, except now he knows, “I’m too close to my destiny, and it’s too far to go back.”
Terrence Jackson and Jane Arrowsmith Edwards
Terrence Jackson was a shy, rural 12 year old devastated by his dad’s death from cancer when he was terrorized by his crack-addicted stepdad and forced from his home. He gained wealth and notoriety as an international dealer by 16, began serving eight years in a fed pen at 18, and was “released” at 26 to be a felon for life. He survives with grace.
Jane Arrowsmith Edwards writes plays, screenplays, fiction, and poetry. She was grateful to be invited to hear Terrence Jackson’s 2019 presentation at the Hippodrome for a social justice project introducing the community to survivors and victims. She adapted Terrence’s memoir essay and many remarkable anecdotes to the stage.
Cast
Director – Ryan Hope Travis
Terrence – Jay Nixon
Tonita – Mimi Paul
Actor 1 – Elaina Walton
Actor 2 – Kevin Mack