Quarter Rican

Casting

DANNY — Anxious and self-centered, but also thoughtful and wants to be a good person. Obsessed with all things race, ethnicity, and culture. Filled with doubts and questions about himself, his identity, and his son’s identity. Hyperverbal. An instigator. Uses humor to help make sense of the mini-traumas of his past. Half Puerto Rican, half Jewish. Whitish Latino, late-20s to early-40s. Must speak good enough Spanish to pronounce the Spanish words in a convincingly native way. Must be an excellent rapper and singer.

MC PLÁTANO — Brash, irreverent, tough, cynical, searing wit, Queer, Afro-Latine. Our host for the evening. DANNY’s alter-ego. All of DANNY’s potential coolness, none of DANNY’s hangups and neuroses. Any gender, but nonbinary/trans folks to the front of the line. Must speak good enough Spanish to pronounce the Spanish words in a convincingly native way. Must be an excellent rapper and singer.

DJ QUENEPA — Generates the soundscapes of MC PLÁTANO’s world, creates beats for all of the songs in the show, in constant conversation with MC PLÁTANO and the piece at large, harmonizes in many of the sung moments of the show. Chameleonic, lends their voice briefly to a number of different minor characters in the play — an old classmate, an old classmate’s mom, an additional narrator. Any race, any gender.

Setting

Place
Washington Park, on the border of Union City and Jersey City, NJ.

Time
Sometime in the 2010s or 2020s.