The Lost Boys of Sudan

The Lost Boys of Sudan

by Lonnie Carter

A.I. Josh, T-Mac Sam, and K-Gar Ollie meet under the worst of circumstances: fleeing the brutal chaos of civil war. Thrown together by conflict, the boys forge a bond as they journey across the Africa toward the promise of safety at a refugee camp. Along the way, they trade stories of survival, sing to lift their spirits, and somehow find moments of laughter in the midst of loss. Their extraordinary path ultimately leads them far from home to Fargo, North Dakota, where the dangers of crocodiles and guerrillas are replaced by malls, video games, and Skittles. They never imagined life a continent, a culture, and a language away from everything they knew. But then again, neither will you.

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Quick Details

  • Type: Play
  • Estimated Run Time: 105 minutes
  • Availability: Available for productions worldwide
  • Cast Size: 16 roles + ensemble | Doubling possible for a cast of 8+

Full Details

Roles:

  • A.I. Josh, a Dinka Boy
  • T-Mac Sam, a Dinka Boy
  • K-Gar Ollie, a Dinka Boy
  • Twelve, twelve-year-old warlord
  • Christian Warlord
  • Muslim Warlord
  • Radio Operator
  • Copernicus Ptolemy Patrick, Head Master of Camp Kakuma
  • Miriam Maker, administrator at Camp Kakuma
  • Crispus Attucks, driver in Fargo
  • Clayton Powell, Social Reach worker
  • Moira Midnight, student placement counselor
  • Kookoorooku, a Dinka boy
  • Rummy, American High School student
  • Molly Midnight, high school student
  • Basketball coach

Ensemble of cattle, Dinka boys, Guerilla, Elders, students

The following resources are included in each performance license:
  • Permission to photocopy the PDF script for your production so there is no additional cost for these assets.

The following resources may be added to you license for an additional fee:
  • Logo/Media package

Lonnie Carter

Lonnie Carter, a charter member of the Victory Gardens Playwrights Ensemble, has spent nearly 30 years writing plays that jump racial and ethnic boundaries. He is widely acclaimed for his hip-hop dialect and rhythms, syncopated poetry and prose, humor, pathos, and sharp social commentary. Among his major plays are The Sovereign State of Boogedy Boogedy, Gulliver, Lemuel and last season's Victory Gardens world premiere, Wheatley, which was nominated\n for a Joseph Jefferson Best Play Award. The Romance of Mango Rubio, produced by Ma-Yi Theater Company in New York, won eight Obies in 2003. These and others have been performed at Victory Gardens, La Mama, E.T.C. in New York, the\n American Place Theater, Laguna Playhouse, Long Wharf and the Yale Repertory Theater in New Haven. Carter has taught playwriting in the Dramatic Writing Program at New York University since 1979. He is a recent alumnus of New York's New Dramatists and graduate of Marquette University and the Yale School of Drama. He was one of the youngest writers to receive a Solomon Guggenheim Fellowship, was twice a Fellow of the National Endowment for the Arts, twice a Fellow of the Connecticut Commission on the Arts and a Jenny McKean Moore Fellow at The George Washington University.

Originally commissioned and produced by Children's Theatre Company in 2006

Photos of production at Children's Theatre Company

Photos of production at Children's Theatre Company

Photos of production at Children's Theatre Company

Reviews

“

Carter’s play builds layer upon layer of meaning through evocative language, humor and telling details that create a world that is simultaneously dreamlike and concrete.

- Star Tribune
“

impossibly complicated psychological odyssey from rural, war-ravaged Sudan to all-American Fargo, N.D., (where many of the "lost boys" were resettled) come to life. It is an impressive, beautifully evocative journey on every level.

- Chicago Sun