Had to get this when I saw it.

Brick City Blues is a choppy, poetic play. There are themes but no real plot. It’s a lot of voices all saying things on stage together. It starts out with the death of Michael Pugh. He was a young kid who was killed by police while taking the garbage out for his mother. A mix of disbelief and familiarity comes from the narratives. Then eventually that topic gets tied to women’s bodies–women’s bleeding birthing menstruating bodies. The process of being able to give birth then eventually not. How that links back to taking a kid’s life.

I think that concept is cool. This was easy to read, but I do wish there was some sort of continuity or clearer characters or something. But I always remind myself when I read a play that it is meant to be staged. Theater is not just about dialogue. And there are a lot of good, poetic passages that stand for themselves. Like that is the best part–the parts. Small lines about praying for your period to come down, meeting a new guy who ends up being terrible, and watching your kid die. Deep, heavy, good.

Best line: well if you didn’t notice we in brick city something always seems to happen. (Marsha Jones 23)

-Rachel Wagner

Click here to view all the plays I have for sale at Ten Dollar Books.

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– Jacob’s Hip: Poems
– FEM: New Millennium Beauty & Fashion
– Abandonment Issues: Alive in New Jersey
– Back Like I Never Left: Dating as a Single Mother

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