Seeking the Genesis - Acting Edition

by Kia Corthron

Six-year-old hyper Kite "flies." But his teacher tells his mother, C Ana, that his ever-excitement is a brain disease and urges Ritalin. Not just to calm him down his jumpiness, C Ana is told, is cerebrally, genetically related to sixteen-year-old brother Justin's gang violence. C Ana believes it's all poppycock. Her nineteen-year-old niece Cheryl, however, hanging around the family's apartment in the projects to tutor Kite and shy eight-year-old sister Kandal, supports the teacher. Cheryl lost all three of her brothers to street violence and desperately seeks a solution. Justin attempts the difficult, dangerous road out of the gangs and along the path is startled by the realization that his mother thinks his extracurricular activities were the result of some brain malformation; Kandal continues getting As while learning nothing a reward for being "well behaved"; and Kite, medicated, gets quieter, skinnier, sleepless and, while there is no academic improvement, the lesson he learns, or comes to believe, is that he is essentially bad and needs his pills to be good.

Genres: Plays

56 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Caroline May · Rating 4 out of 5]

I LOVE the way Corthron uses punctuation to compliment her naturalistic dialogue - it lends itself extremely well to the family dynamic. This play is certainly biased in opposition of medicating childred, but I respect that. Who wants to read a drama that's just milquetoast in the center? I don't entirely agree with Corthron in that I feel sometimes, medication is necessary for kids to get the education they deserve, but I also am extremely critical of the idea that hyperactivity is a "defect" that needs to be corrected or kids will start shooting people (an ideal that is mostly attributed to young african-american men - its giving eugenics). The whole nature vs. nurture thing comes to a head at the end of the play when Justin tells his mom that a kid held him at gunpoint for his shoes - that violence isn't ingrained, it's learned. Justin didn't resort to gang activity because he was hyperactive as a kid- he's a product of his environment, and he did what he could to survive and support his family. Seeking the genesis. Seeking the origin. The root. Maybe the root of where violence begins? In the brain, or from the environment around you?

[Sydney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredibly naturalistic but a great discussion on the lack of resources given to those with certain mental health disabilities as well as the discussion of hyperactivity and whether medication is what’s best for those who exhibit signs at a young age