Gang 3-Act Play in Bullet Points

Act I

1. A gang drive-by shooting.  They riddle another car with bullets as a young man in his late teens gets out.  He falls, motionless.  The gang speeds off.
2. Later that year.  15-year-old Mark is failing his classes.  His teacher, Mrs. Dowers, catches him cheating, threatens to flunk him.  Mark promises to shape up.
3. Mark walks home alone.  18-year-old Brad spots him.  Asks him how he’s doing.  He knew Mark’s brother.  Brad says to call him if he needs anything, gives Mark his number.
4. Mark is at home.  His mother asks him how his day was, but he does not answer.  He goes to his room and locks the door.  He studies a picture of his older brother.
5. In gym class, another student fouls Mark down while they play basketball.  The ref does not see it, and the student makes a crack about Mark being used to getting knocked down by his older brother.  Mark snaps and attacks him.

Act II

1. Mark’s mother forces him to do chores around the house.  He has been suspended for three days, saved from expulsion only because of Mrs. Dowers.  He sneaks down when his mom goes over to her sister’s for dinner.
2. Hanging out by the bleachers, other students mock Mark as they pass.  Brad is among them and tells them to shut up.  They leave and Brad approaches Mark.  Brad says Mark’s brother used to get treated the same way until they met.  Brad brought him into a group, gave him a place, and made him feel important.  Brad gives Mark a baseball cap.  It used to belong to Mark’s brother.  It is used to identify those in the gang.
3. Mark’s suspension is over and he’s back in school.  One of his teachers asks him to take his feet off the desk and he refuses.  He goes to detention.
4. While in detention, Mark sees Brad wave at him from the window.  Mark sneaks out with Brad’s help, and they speed off in Brad’s car with other older students in the gang.
5. They go to a park where Mark helps them vandalize a building, spray it with graffiti, overturn garbage cans and break windows.  A bystander notices and Brad pulls a gun on him.  Mark yells for Brad to stop, but Brad will not listen.  The police come and the group scatters.  All are arrested except Mark, who manages to get away.
6. Mark arrives home that night, goes to his room.  He cannot believe what he just did.  His mom arrives moments later, knocks on his door.  Mark acts like he is asleep.

Act III

1. Mrs. Dowers visits Mark in detention.  She talks to him about his brother, asks him about his life, assures him he can always come to her.  Mark breaks down and admits what he did the previous night, telling her everything.
2. Mark is in court, where the judge sentences him to community service.  He refused to rat out Brad and his gang.  They are going to jail anyway.
3. Weeks later, Mark and his mother visit the grave of his brother.  They go home.