About the Play:

HARD TO FIND BOOK, only a very limited number of copies are still available.

Born Ready has become a favourite of acting teachers for Male/Male Scene study showcases.

Joseph Jomo Pierre is known for his plays that reflect urban black experience such as Born Ready, BeatDown, and Pusha-Man, which marked his mainstream introduction to the Toronto theatre scene. His world is one of fatherless children, where boys turn to drugs and guns while girls turn to motherhood at the blink of an eye, where the colour of your skin dictates the course your life will take, where your brothers are as likely to pull you back down, as to help you get up.

Beatdown: Three Plays includes:

Born Ready a.k.a. Black on Both Sides is a critically acclaimed one-act play whose original title was Born Ready To Die. Two young men, who could have been brothers, grow up on separate paths in Toronto, but somehow wind up pointing guns at each other one night. A tough-minded play about growing up in Toronto's gang and gun culture that examines the social and psychological set-up of black-on-black violence. The play was first seen at Toronto's Passe Muraille in 2005, receiving excellent reviews and strong audience support. (Cast: 1 female, 2 male)

BeatDown a.k.a. Life is a one-act drama: Streetlife and fatherhood collide. This play takes place on one night. Jayquese finds out that he is about to be a father, then seeks to escape this news by visiting first with the women in the play and then with his boys. The BeatDowns throughout the play are brief snippets of Jayquese's ongoing nightmare. (Cast: 4 female, 4 male)

Pusha-Man a.k.a. The Seed is a one-act drama. A place where sham medical treatments meet everyday needs – a woman is giving birth to a man's child. A father/son story about learning respect and responsibility. (Cast: 1 female, 2 male)

What people say:

"…an important new playwright, Joseph Jomo Pierre. He explores the young urban black experience with a keen ear and a strong sense of theatricality." — NOW Magazine

About the Playwright:

Joseph Jomo Pierre is a Trinidadian born playwright and actor who was raised in Scarborough, Ontario. He graduated from York University with a BFA in acting. He has been playwright in residence at Obsidian Theatre, Factory Theatre, and Theatre Passe Muraille. He has also been a part of the playwriting group at Tarragon Theatre and the inaugural collective for Canadian Stage's Festival of Ideas and Creation. His play, Shakespeare's Nigga was a finalist for the 2013 Governor General's Literary Award for Drama. His goal as a writer has always been to inject the life experiences and culture around him into his work. To reflect the images and struggles of a people that rarely see themselves on stage, yet whose stories are as valued as any other.