In this coming of age story we see a young man who is facing the most dreaded day of his life, his eighteenth birthday. It is on this day that every man in his family must spend the day playing football, the one thing that he hates. He is the youngest of four brothers and he is the only one that doesn’t like football. He feels that this is a disappointment to his father and his father has said as much. He’s not supportive of his accomplishments academically, his writing poetry, this child is everything that he didn’t teach his boys to be. But on this day this young man decides to share with his mother that he’s gay as she’s always been his cheerleader. They share this moment and the mother tells him she will always support him, but he wants the support of his father. As he stands in the mirror dressed in full football uniform topped off with a helmet he begins to see his family arrive and realizes that he is lucky to have the family that he has. It’s almost time for him to show his machismo to the family, play football with all the men as the women watch intently, cheering, laughing and supporting. He finds an appreciation for this. Through his comical storytelling and emotionally passionate storytelling we see a cunning story of a young man who accepts the things he cannot change. As he prepares for his decent down the stairs into full family mode there is a knock at the door, his father. It is a turning point in his life: does his father accept him for who he is or encourage him to be who he wants him to be? ***This piece was conceived for ALL young men. You have the writer’s permission to say lines in another language that is real for the actor and his family environment should he choose to. This does NOT mean adding text.
PR- Machismo
Well ladies and gentlemen the day is here. The day that I have been deathly afraid of for most of my life. I knew at a really young age that I was different; when I say different I mean I wasn’t like my three older brothers. I had no desire to play football, toss a football, be tackled because I’m guarding the football, or even watch football for that matter. But I live in Texas. The home of football, not like it was really originated from here but it feels like it. In my mind the original factory where they mother for the football was crafted is only a few blocks from our high school. In my mind every man that is born and raised in this state gives up five years of their life, almost like a missionary, to dedicate to the Great American game of football. Because when you’re from Texas not wanting to play football is almost like living in Alaska and being afraid of the dark.