I Just Wanna Tell Somebody

Childlike characters appear in tiny shafts of light as they utter a simple yet powerful message: "I just wanna tell somebody." Through a series of episodes, we learn what it means to be an abused child in America. We attempt to understand why some parents are the way they are. The plot begins to take shape when a boy named Tony is physically abused by his unemployed father, Willie, because the child would rather play on his high-school basketball team than work to support a father who will not work. Following the beating—abused and distraught—Tony retires to his room, falls on his bed and cries himself to sleep. As Tony slumbers, he dreams of an imaginary courtroom where all abused children in America bring their abusive parents to trial. In the dream, Tony becomes the prosecutor and calls forth witnesses to document bizarre cases of child abuse. Willie, a classic child abuser himself, becomes the defense attorney. Twelve abused children—some living, some dead—serve as members of the jury. When all the cases have been revealed and all the facts have been dramatically stated, the judge asks the jury for its verdict. The nightmare ends. Tony cries out in his sleep and then awakes. We are shocked back into reality, where child abuse is uglier than ever before. But, hopefully, by this time we realize—beyond a shadow of a doubt—we can no longer stand by and just witness what is happening to our children. We have to do something. We have to "Tell somebody!" In order to make the play available to a larger audience, the director can choose to produce it as a musical or a nonmusical. Written in episodes, it is easy to control the length of the performance by omitting sections.The play is for adults and young adults.