Brandon Amos was awarded 2nd Place in Drama in the 2022 Prison Writing Contest.
Every year, hundreds of imprisoned people from around the country submit poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and dramatic works to PEN America’s Prison Writing Contest, one of the few outlets of free expression for the country’s incarcerated population.
CHARACTERS:
Brandon Amos- young boastful black male in late 20’s to mid 30’s
Drew- black humble male with mentor style speech in early 30’s
Trumbo- black laid male with dark humor at times in late 30’s
Robbie- white teacher, adviser, mentor who isn’t fully aware of what prison life is like but cares about playwrights. Mid 40’s to early 50’s.
PROPS:
Chairs, soap shaped like doves if possible, letters from PEN, desk w/ office chair, soft towels, and vending machines.
TIME:
Anytime within 2018-2021
At Rise: Drew and Trumbo are seated in a circle of chairs inside a multi-purpose room painted all white with wide windows that show only a chain fence with barbed wire at the top. The room’s only furniture is an oak desk with a phone and a simple office chair behind it. There are 2 vending machines nearly empty behind Drew and Trumbo as well as a single water fountain on the side of them. A small hallway is off to the other side of the men which has a sign directing visitors about the bathrooms beyond the hallway. The room is big yet empty as Drew and Trumbo are in conversation with each other and their voices have a slight echo.
TRUMBO
Did you ever write anything for that Midevil Festival they’re putting on in New York next month? They say there’s a $150 prize for the winner and it’s a $200 submission fee.
DREW
I was writing something for it at first until Robbie sent all the details. The plays had to be about a jester and Queen while also incorporating a rabbit, excalibur, a turkey leg, and an iPhone… I’ve never even had an iPhone. I didn’t know if I should give the jester the iPhone watch or cellphone.
TRUMBO
The last phone I had was the Nextel Chirp.
DREW
I’m just tired of all these competitions that put us writers in a box. There’s always some crazy ass standards we have to write to. I get having a theme but why’s it always some crazy criteria added in? It should just be a free write of our idea for that theme.
TRUMBO
I’m with you… what about that play you sent off about Oprah having an Onlyfans page to that Mogul themed contest?
DREW
Still waiting to hear something on that.
(Brandon enters and is excited)
BRANDON
The King is here! What’s up scrubs?! Robbie ain’t here yet? (Looking around) Guess he wants me to run the class today so you can learn from a beast. (Shakes up with Drew and Trumbo)
DREW
Robbie’s taking a shit.
BRANDON
Y’all bring some plays in today? Y’all ain’t gotta be afraid of me showing you up or anything just cause I’m the expert. I know I ain’t been in this class as long as y’all but I was just born with the G.O.A.T. status.
DREW
We all give you your props for being the king of comedy. Me and Trumbo were just talking about some contests going on.
BRANDON
Only contest I care about is PEN, even that’s already getting old to me though cause I know I smoked it.
TRUMBO
(surprised) You already heard something from them?
BRANDON
Nah, but c’mon, we all know there’s no way I could lose. Y’all seen my “Episode Over An Episode” play, Robbie said it was cracker jack, which is a crazy way to say ‘best thing ever’ but you know white people are when they try coming up with their own lingo.
DREW
It was a good play
TRUMBO
Definitely a masterpiece
BRANDON
Exactly. Hell, I should win 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place.
DREW
I wouldn’t get my hopes up that high if I were you, it’s only your first PEN submission, it might take a few entries to win.
BRANDON
I doubt it, I’ma one and done kinda guy.
TRUMBO
(jokingly) How many time you been locked up?
BRANDON
Don’t play with my time… I’ve been locked up since juvie.
(Robbie enters from bathroom hallway)
ROBBIE
What’s up fellas? That bathroom’s really nice. They have small dove-shaped soaps and the softest towels I’ve ever felt. I even think the floors are heated.
DREW
We wouldn’t know, inmates don’t go in staff bathrooms but the doors look cool.
ROBBIE
Maybe it’s not all that nice, just one of the nicest prison bathrooms, know what, it doesn’t matter, it’s just another toilet and sink to handle your business. Anyways, I have some letters from PEN for y’all. Exciting right? (picks up letters from desk away from group then passes them out
BRANDON
Hard to be excited when you already know the results.
(Brandon eagerly opens letter. Trumbo scans his letter then puts it aside with no emotion. Drew reads letter and shrugs.)
ROBBIE
So what’s the news guys? Anyone $200 richer?
BRANDON
What the hell?! All this says is “Thank you for your submission. We look forward to you submitting again in the future. It doesn’t say if I won or not.
DREW
You didn’t win.
BRANDON
(Baffled) I don’t, I don’t get it. My play was cracker jack, that’s what y’all said. It was hilarious.
ROBBIE
It’s okay Brandon, just try sending something else. Maybe instead of comedy, you could send in a serious play.
BRANDON
I don’t wanna write serious stuff. I write comedy. Comedies keep my mind out of these fences. This is bullshit! What’s your letter say Drew?
DREW
I didn’t win, all I got was an honorable mention.
BRANDON
What’s that?
DREW
50 bucks, they’ll assign me a mentor who’s supposed to help with my creative writing but most likely they’ll just hop on my Jpay and tell me about some contests to enter in, critique my plays, and offer to send my plays around for me.
ROBBIE
Sounds like what we do here in this class.
DREW
(shrugs) Eh.
BRANDON
What’s your letter say Trumbo?
TRUMBO
(shrugs) Same ol, same ol.
BRANDON
Mayne fuck PEN! They could’ve gave me an honorable mention, hell $50 is like 20 noodles, 1 summer sausage, 2 sportsbar soaps, 2 Crest toothpastes, 1 lotion and I’m talking the good kind, 2 orange drink mixes, 5 iced honeybuns, 2 bags of Buffalo Blue cheese chips, 2 duplex bookies, 2 strawberry cookies, and just to splurge a lil, Reeses ice cream pint.
ROBBIE
(surprised) Sounds like you had the money already spent.
BRANDON
I would’ve been cool if they sent a decorated piece of paper that said, “Your play was dope!” I bet they let some weak ass play about UFOs or Lebron James win.
TRUMBO
Only plays about prison win PEN.
ROBBIE
You can write a prison play, Brandon. Write about your experience inside these walls everyday. If a prison play wins PEN everytime then that’s the formula you use to write.
TRUMBO
Someone has to die, too.
BRANDON
None of that was listed in PEN’s pamphlet, there was no criteria for the plays we submit.
DREW
Mostly all competitions have some secret theme or criteria that only they know about, they don’t tell the writers they’re putting them in a box or that what they write doesn’t matter if it’s not about their secret criteria theme.
BRANDON
(to Drew) You told me “Episode Over An Episode” could win PEN.
DREW
No, I said it was a good play and could do some things.
TRUMBO
Why would you tell him a comedy could win PEN?
DREW
Maybe I thought PEN was a genuine scholastic institution that respected all types of submissions.
TRUMBO
No tears from the writer, no tears from the reader.
DREW
What if he’s laughing?
ROBBIE
Contests are tricky Brandon. Shoot, I submitted to a contest about the struggles of elves in Santa’s workshop as sex slaves but the sex was implied… (awkward beat) I’m waiting on a call back.
BRANDON
I just don’t understand why I have to write about prison just to win PEN. I’m already in prison, I don’t wanna write about it. You’d think the goal of PEN would be to make us think of something other than prison.
TRUMBO
Their goal is to highlight prison writers and unveil the struggles they face behind the bars…
ROBBIE
…How about we help Brandon come up with some ideas? What’s some cracker jack stuff he can write a play about to win PEN?
DREW
All he’s got to do is write about everyday prison stuff and make sure someone dies.
ROBBIE
Okay, so what’s some everyday stuff y’all see in these walls?
TRUMBO
Rape.
ROBBIE
Everyday?!
BRANDON
I’ve, I’ve never seen a rape happen in prison.
TRUMBO
Oh it happens.
ROBBIE
Well, any ideas come to mind, Brandon?
BRANDON
Going off that? Uhm, I guess if I had to think of an idea, hmmm, (thinking), Okay, what if there’s a prisoner who’s working in the laundry room and this group of guys come in, there’s 3 of them, they’re brothers but they call ‘em sisters, and they want the laundry guy but he isn’t going so he tries fighting them–
ROBBIE
I like that, starts right in the action.
DREW
That’s Shawshank Redemption.
TRUMBO
(nods) Yup.
DREW
(to Brandon) Just think of some prison shit in general, hold off on the rape.
ROBBIE
Yeah, let’s save that for the climax.
BRANDON
Uh, alright. So say there’s this dude who’s like a genius with numbers like, he’s real good at doing guard’s taxes and getting inmates their stimulus checks, he got everybody in prison their stimulus, the whole $3,200, even the guards. Then there’s this dude who comes from another prison who knows dude’s really innocent, so he’s gonna testify for him–
ROBBIE
Hold on, who’s innocent?
BRANDON
Stimulus dude. And the other dude’s gonna testify in front of the grand jury to get him out but the guards and the warden don’t want it to happen so–
DREW
(fake sneeze) Shawshank!
TRUMBO
(nods) Yup. Yup.
BRANDON
Damn… Okay, okay, dude’s got this old black friend, he kinda looks like you Trumbo but he’s taller and skinnier, got connections like you though. He gets him a chisel, he’s secretly picking away at the walls in his cell. (Brandon notices Drew’s curious glare and realizes he’s again talking about Shawshank)
BRANDON (cont.)
But the “chisel”, the ‘chisel’, is a metaphor…
(An awkward moment.)
TRUMBO
I like it.
ROBBIE
I don’t know Brandon, I don’t see how you get from the metaphor to the rape. I think it needs to be something, (beats chest), something deep. Something about your life, that isn’t comedy.
TRUMBO
PEN is about drama. Comedy’s weak.
ROBBIE
I wouldn’t say comedy’s weak, PEN just seems to overlook it. None of us want you to give up comedy Brandon, I just want you to challenge yourself. You’re already great at funny plays, now lets try something different.
DREW
Expand your skill set.
ROBBIE
The idea of this class is to help y’all tell your stories through playwright and in doing so, the plays you write can bring you a new perspective to what led to those experiences while also getting an audience to see things from your perspective. You seem to run away from the challenge of facing those life-changing experiences you had Brandon but you should use them as motivation for a play and in doing so, it could be your best work.
BRANDON
(shrugs) I just don’t think writing things about my past will show who I am as a writer.
TRUMBO
Everything I’ve written has something to do with things I experienced in my life one way or another.
ROBBIE
And you’ve won PEN how many times Trumbo?
TRUMBO
Numbers aren’t everything.
ROBBIE
Regardless, I think Trumbo has good advice Brandon, your comedies are just an appetizer and we’re just looking for the meat and potatoes.
BRANDON
I’m not Trumbo… I’m me.
ROBBIE
It’s just helpful advice, just give it some thought. Anything else y’all want to bring up? Y’all bring any plays today?
(Brandon sits sulkingly to self as Drew and Trumbo dialogue).
DREW
I don’t think everything you wrote about took place in your life Trumbo.
TRUMBO
True shit.
DREW
The play Inferno? Windows breaking. Burning buildings with bodies in them?
TRUMBO
Northpoint’s riot in 2009.
DREW
People popping diabetic pills to overdose? You telling me people overdose on diabetic pills?
TRUMBO
I was diagnosed with Type 2 then–
DREW
Alright, what about Conviction, where dude made parole by hanging himself with a rope?
ROBBIE
Wasn’t that Shawshank?
TRUMBO
The “rope”, the rope was a metaphor
BRANDON
How about a play about a kid growing up in jail with adults after being pulled from a world of childhood and being forced to grow ahead of his time–
ROBBIE
Seems like kind of a stretch for a one act play, Brandon. We can pick back up next week guys, I have to leave and go setup the playhouse for tonight’s show, we’re doing the Elvis play. I’m stoked about it. The Elvis impersonator’s coming in again, it’s hilarious, the crowd loves it. I’ll get y’all some flyers. Keep your pens moving. I’ll see y’all next week. Need me to call anybody to take y’all back?
DREW
We’ll stay for a little bit then go back on our own.
ROBBIE
Good deal. See y’all next week.
DREW/TRUMBO
Peace Robbie.
(Robbie exits)
BRANDON
See, that’s why I write comedy, people listen long enough to laugh.
TRUMBO
I’ma head back to the dorm so I can finish up the internship play I’m working on. You’re a gifted writer, B, just keep at it. Apply the advice we gave you and you’ll be a sure winner for PEN, or at least considered. I’ll see you around.
(Trumbo exits to bathroom hallway)
BRANDON
Why’s he even come to class? All he does is the same play every week or he’s giving some dry ass feedback or tryna make jokes with dark humor.
DREW
I know but he’s won PEN a million times.
BRANDON
I hate him.
DREW
He has that effect on people.
BRANDON
How many times you win PEN?
DREW
None.
BRANDON
Bullshit. Not even for Louisville Sky? Or Joyride? Those were dope ass plays.
DREW
Yeah. You can win it though. You have the creativity down, you just need to personalize it.
BRANDON
Why didn’t you have my back with Robbie? You know I wrote a serious play, I gave it to you last week to critique.
DREW
I didn’t think you wanted anyone knowing about it. Usually you bring your plays for the whole group to see. The play you gave me is good, it can work. Is it about you?
BRANDON
What makes you think it’s about me?
DREW
I mean, the character’s name is Frandon Famous. Kinda rhymes with Brandon Amos. Plus you said you were in juvie. Frandon’s 8 years old in juvie. It just seems coincidental.
BRANDON
It’s not about me.
DREW
You’ve been in jail basically since 8 years old right?
BRANDON
(scoffs) The character was in juvie at 8 yes, but I–
DREW
I was on the run at 15 so basically I feel like I’ve been down since then. All that stuff in juvie that Frandon went through while thinking about what he was missing on the outside, I felt that.
BRANDON
(shrugs) I got out. I mean the character gets out at 18 for like 3 months back in–
DREW
I really don’t meet a lot of people who came into prison as young as me.
BRANDON
That’s just a story I came up with off the dome (tapping his head)
DREW
Clearly the play’s about you! Just embrace it. You’ve been through some shit and if you write about it, people connect to it.
BRANDON
Why do y’all keep tryna push me into writing about shit I don’t wanna write about?! Booohooo, I had a fucked up childhood! Guess that means I’m supposed to tell the world how mom put me in the system cause she hated I looked exactly like my dad who abused her, but she’ll never admit it.
DREW
It’s real and it happened.
BRANDON
Oh, you’ll love this plot then, how about my white grandparents treating me different from my other siblings cause my skin’s darker, or nah, I got a better plot, what about missing school dances and having girlfriends all cause I was forced to be in detention centers and group homes with teenage kids who had heinous crimes until I was 18. Suddenly the world’s surprised that I became a gang member, murderer, robber, drug dealer, and everything else they’re scared to look at when I pass them on the streets.
DREW
Those are all great play ideas, and you could probably win 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place with either of them.
BRANDON
Right, sell my life to win PEN.
DREW
It’s not about winning.
BRANDON
What you mean it’s not about winning?! What the hell’s it about then if it ain’t about winning?
DREW
It’s about… It’s… I don’t know what the fuck it’s about but you write and you work through shit. Like when I wrote Joyride, that was about my momma dying and writing that play helped me deal with it in my own way.
BRANDON
So you don’t wanna win PEN?
DREW
I wanted to win PEN so that I could have an award to give to my mom to be like I’m more than just in here. And like, I still want to win but I don’t know—
BRANDON
I wanna win so it doesn’t feel like all the time I’ve done has been for nothing. All the fallouts with my family, missing my kids’ births and birthdays, I just feel like I’ve had all these failures and winning PEN could be my first accomplishment.
(Sound of toilet flushing. Trumbo re-enters from staff bathroom wiping hands with soft towel and pockets full of soap)
TRUMBO
I write to show that people are larger than their convictions and that one day my children will pick up my plays and see that their father was more than who society said he was.
(Trumbo exits for real this time)
DREW
That’s why I fuck with Trumbo.
BRANDON
I was looking forward to getting some of that soap.
DREW
So what are you gonna do with that play you gave me?
BRANDON
You know what, fuck it, I’ll finish it and send it off to PEN. It’s not like they haven’t already told me no before.
DREW
Don’t write for the win, write because you’re a writer with something to say. Eventually someone’s gonna listen.
BRANDON
(shrugs) I guess. I gotta get back to the dorm, Shawshank’s coming on at 7:30.
(Brandon and Drew begin to leave)
DREW
You could’ve made a play about today’s class and sent it to PEN, now that shit might’ve won.
BRANDON
Ain’t nobody die or get raped.
DREW
The day isn’t over.
(Drew and Brandon face off for 30 seconds then start laughing)
BRANDON
Awkward… nah, I don’t think the judges at PEN would believe people like us really sit in a class talking about plays or concepts to try and win their contest.
DREW
After 20 years I think the bad parts aren’t even the rapes.
BRANDON
Dying’s pretty bad though.
DREW
Eh. It’s losing and finding yourself over and over.
(Drew and Brandon head to exit)
BRANDON
So the rape, the rape’s a metaphor.
DREW
Exactly.
(Drew and Brandon exit)
(CURTAINS)
Purchase Variations on an Undisclosed Location: 2022 Prison Writing Awards Anthology here.
