About Brother's Keeper: Written and Performed by Wallace Norman
Brother's Keeper
Written and Performed by Wallace Norman Hudson Valley based Playwright, Actor and Director
Presented on the Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots (June 28, 1969). The riots are widely considered the watershed event that transformed the gay liberation movement and the twentieth-century fight for LGBTQ+ rights in the United States.
BROTHER’S KEEPER by Wallace Norman's is a gripping solo play about courageous survival and the delicacy of friendship. Playing 13 characters Norman shares the journey of two young boys who are abused by a member of the Catholic clergy. Norman shifts between the two main characters as they grow up and apart. One does not survive the trauma. The other bravely confronts his abuser. This cathartic act leads to healing, love and a kind of peace.
**** Norman is a magnificent Actor and Powerful Writer ****
Four Stars! The Scotsman, The Edinburgh Fringe
Dates:
June 28th, 2024 Doors: 6:30pm Show: 7:00pm
June 29th, 2024 Doors: 1:30 Show: 2:00pm
Cultural Context - LGBTQ+
The themes and events of Brother’s Keeper are very much informed by the experiences of the LGBTQ+ community. 65% of middle school LGBTQ+ youth report that they have been bullied. For transgender youth some studies show that 80% suffer the abuse of bullies both in person and online. The trauma of bullying can be devastating and deadly. It leads to suicides. Equally, or perhaps more profound, is the damage done to the young and powerless by adult sexual predators. This play was completed just before the news broke this fall reporting that priests and others involved in the French Catholic Church sexually abused more than 330,000 children over a period of some years. My central character William grew up to be gay. When younger he anguished: “I felt that there was something about me, something wrong about me that made Brother James do it.” The feeling of defectiveness and shame for victims of sexual abuse is scarring. For many the wounds never fully heal. Brother’s Keeper is William’s personal journey. I believe my play also sheds light on the toxic, hateful and contemptuous culture that the LGBTQ+ community, my community, continues to live in. Some perish. And others, like William, courageously survive.