PLAYS - Sebastian de Assis

The Pimp

A play in two acts

Synopsis

When United States Senator Richard Headlam spends a night in a New York City police station for prostitution solicitation, he is placed in a jail cell with a notorious South Bronx pimp. Their overnight encounter reveals a new perspective into what it really means to be a pimp.

The approximately 23,000-word (80 minutes) two acts play is about the happenstance interaction of the prominent 49-year-old Caucasian U.S. Senator and his cellmate, the infamous 38-year-old African-American pimp, Clint “The Rooster” Crow. The blatant contrast in education, upbringing, and social class between the two characters is clearly evinced through their speech, behavior, and mannerisms. At first they appear to be fundamentally opposite in every perceivable way. However, soon they realize that they share more common characteristics than their divergent socioeconomic status indicates. Through their dialogue, gradually they become aware of an unexpected common denominator in their professional trade: they are both pimps; one of sex workers on the streets, while the other carries out similar functions in a prostituted political system.

As the two men become better acquainted with each other and begin sharing sordid details of their trades and debasement of their character, the misleading perceived discrepancies between their differing personae, physical appearances, and communication styles fall into a common pit of deception. In the end, it becomes evident who the ultimate pimp is.

Click on the play’s title to read Act I Scene 1: The Pimp