Before It Hits Home
by Cheryl L West

Name: Before It Hits Home
Brand: Cheryl L West
SKU: 9780822213222
Rating: 3.61 (48 reviews)

Off-Broadway

Before It Hits Home Book Cover — Before It Hits Home Cover

Highlights

Medium Cast

Female

Male

90 mins 1990s Role(s) for Black Actor(s) Roles for Children Unit Set/Multiple Settings Contemporary Costumes/Street Clothes American LGBTQ

Synopsis

THE STORY: Wendal, a jazz musician who has never managed to make it big, has just been diagnosed with having the AIDS virus.

To a string of questioning doctors, he indignantly denies having had any sexual relations with others but by the end of the

Press Reviews

"Relentlessly observant and ruthlessly forthright… Before It Hits Home shows that there are things about AIDS we haven't grasped yet – as playwrights, audiences, and people."
— New York Magazine

"Before It Hits Home… is not a play about victimization… it is instead an authentic, at times almost hysterical wake-up call to the black community, sounded from within."
— The New York Times

Characters

Character	Gender	Age	Description
WENDAL Black male in his early 30s	male	30s	Black male in his early 30s
REBA Black woman in her 50s, Wendal‘s mother	female	50s	Black woman in her 50s, Wendal‘s mother
BAILEY Black man in his late 50s, Wendal‘s father	male	50s	Black man in his late 50s, Wendal‘s father
MAYBELLE Black woman in her 50s, Reba‘s best friend	female	50s	Black woman in her 50s, Reba‘s best friend
SIMONE Black woman in her early 20s, Wendal‘s lover	female	20s	Black woman in her early 20s, Wendal‘s lover
ANGEL PETERSON Black woman in her early 20s, woman in clinic	female	20s	Black woman in her early 20s, woman in clinic
DOUGLASS Black man in his early 40s, Wendal‘s lover	male	40s	Black man in his early 40s, Wendal‘s lover
JUNIOR Black male in his late 20s, Wendal‘s younger brother	male	20s	Black male in his late 20s, Wendal‘s younger brother
DWAYNE Black boy, 12, Wendal‘s son	male	—	Black boy, 12, Wendal‘s son
DOCTOR White woman in her 40s or 50s	female	40s	White woman in her 40s or 50s
NURSE A middle-age Hispanic or Asian woman	female	—	A middle-age Hispanic or Asian woman