Hagar's Children
by Ernest Joselovitz

THE STORY: The time is Christmas Eve, the place Bridgehaven Farm, a home for emotionally disturbed teenagers.

As preparations for the holiday celebration begin, under the guidance of two compassionate and concerned counselors, a young black man called Oliver and a Jewish woman called Esther, we are increasingly aware of the alienation and resentment the young inmates feel toward society in general and their parents in particular.

The depth of their estrangement is revealed first in small crises, tantrums and disputes, and then, more shockingly, through the brutal killing of a pet lamb.

The investigation of this crime is conducted by the children themselves and culminates in a highly emotional scene in which they come to realize that they have taken a real step towards rehabilitation, and are closer rejoining the world from which they had so bitterly withdrawn.