CALLOUS WINDSHIELD DEATH OF HOMELESS MAN PROMPTS AUTHOR TO MAKE ONE ACT PLAY ON SIMILAR SUBJECT AVAILABLE FREE TO SCHOOLS, OTHERS ON THE INTERNET
SMYRNA, NC -- (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE via PRNetwire) -- MARCH 22, 2002 -- The discovery of the callous death of a homeless man trapped in a broken windshield in Fort Worth, Texas during early March 2002 has caused an outrage in the community.
5 years ago, playwright Rick Doble wrote a similar story in a one act play. Written for junior high and high school students, Doble believes that the moral questions raised by the Fort Worth incident need to be discussed by young people. Therefore he is making his play available free on the Internet. The play is on the web at: www.RickDoble.net/play
In the recent Fort Worth, Texas incident, a vagrant became wedged in the auto's broken windshield after being accidently struck by a car. Instead of stopping and getting help, the driver, a nurse's aid, kept on going, parked the vehicle in her garage and let the man die according to the Associated Press (March 7,8,9,12,13,15) and Reuters. The woman had been drinking and taking drugs. Later her friends allegedly dumped the body in a park.
In Doble's play the driver, an ambitious middle level executive who was slightly drunk, hit a derelict on a lonely road, left the body covered with leaves in a ditch and went on with his life. Years later after rising to a powerful position within his corporation, his dreams began to haunt him.
In a pivotal scene Seth, the hero of the play, is agitated and incoherent. He tells his disturbed memories to a psychiatrist, "I cannot sleep these shadows in my dreams keep waking me, hit and run on a country road late at night - a shadow that was a nobody really, a vagrant, a passerby, walked into my headlight like a deer, stunned - the sudden body banging against my car, my first new car."
Yet unlike other stories of a skeleton-in-the-closet, Seth finds he cannot be justly punished because he has trouble finding people who will believe his story.
Written for school students, this one act play asks hard ethical questions but does not give simple answers.
"Life is not just ambition, money and success. It involves a lot of moral questions and decisions. This is why the firemen and policemen of New York City who rushed to save victims on 9/11 are revered as heroes," said Doble.
Based on Greek tragedy the play includes a chorus and can be performed by just a few students or an entire class. The staging could be quite simple and it can be put on with or without music.
Doble had initially test marketed the play by allowing about 10 schools to perform it without charge, including ones in Canada, the Philippines, South Africa, California, Georgia and North Carolina. After putting on the play a student in the Philippines wrote Doble, "I'm from III-St. Walburga the one who asked if we could use your play... Thank you so much. They really liked the play. It was a success!!"
When he discovered it was well liked, he had planned to publish and sell it. Now Doble has decided it is more important that these difficult questions be discussed. The play is available free on a permanent basis to schools, non-profits, arts and educational groups and other non-commercial concerns.
All who read the play are put on the honor system; if they decide to use the play, they must send the author an e-mail and simply ask for permission. This will be granted for all non-commercial presentations.
ABOUT RICK DOBLE:
Playwright and author Richard (Rick) deGaris Doble has a B.A. in English with an Honors in Writing, from the University of North Carolina, 1966 and a Masters in Communications (Department of Radio, TV, & Motion Pictures) also from UNC, 1975. He has taught photography, creative writing and journalism for over 30 years to students of all ages. Some of his dramatic works have been republished in a workbook for SUNY drama teachers and students. His site is linked to by DramaWest, the Western Australian Association of Drama Educators. His poetry has been published in small magazines since the late 1960s. He is editor of a national newsletter entitled Savvy-Discounts.com newsletter. www.RickDoble.net
The play is on the Internet at:
http://www.RickDoble.net/play
MEDIA CONTACT
Rick Doble
Tel. (252) 729-8691
Fax: (775) 993-0792
Email: rick@rickdoble.net
# # #
View the original news release in text-only format
