Creative Notes:
Zoetrope quarter-finalist
Two Pair
In a last-ditch effort to reunite their estranged parents, a Midwestern preacher's sons travel to Beverly Hills in search of their long-lost mother -- an R&B diva. But their quest is complicated by the identical twins they didn't know they had.
Project collaboration:
By Permission
Synopsis:
This script is based on Shakespeare's "The Comedy of Errors," with music, dancing, and a mostly African-American cast.
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Twenty five years ago, two pairs of identical twins are split up when their parents (a minister and an aspiring R&B singer) divorce.
Fast forward to the present day. In a small town in Kansas, Reverend Merchant’s eldest son, Jonathan, is a high school English teacher. His younger brother, David, is a reporter for the local paper. Their lives are turned upside down when their father becomes ill and they set out for Beverly Hills to find their long-lost mother so that their parents can be reconciled before their father dies.
As the Merchants' rusty Nova chugs along a California freeway, we meet the other brothers: Jermain, an executive with New Leaf Music (his mother’s record company), and Denzel, a rising (but reluctant) rap star whose heart’s really in ragtime.
Jermain’s about to get engaged to his girlfriend Riana – but hasn’t quite managed to tell his other girlfriend, Courtney. When he goes to break up with Courtney, she finds the engagement ring he bought for Riana and thinks it’s for her. He doesn’t have the guts to set her straight.
Back at New Leaf, Denzel's lack of talent frustrates his feisty dance teacher, Luce, who's trying to whip him into shape for an upcoming appearance at a charity gala.
In Kansas, Rev. Merchant leaves the hospital and, with two eccentric church ladies in tow, sets off to stop his sons – unwilling to admit that he still loves his ex-wife.
Meanwhile, Jonathan gets into a car accident with Yuri and Ivan, a pair of Russian mobsters, and barely escapes their wrath.
After a misunderstanding at New Leaf Music, Jonathan ends up at Riana’s house, where Riana’s father thinks he’s Jermain and has come to ask his blessing to marry his daughter. Instead, Jonathan falls for Riana’s sister, Cindy, and gets tossed out by Ng, the houseman.
David’s mistaken for his twin, rapper Denzel (“D-Man”), and basks in his new-found popularity. But Denzel humiliates himself in public by his inability to freestyle.
Because of Jonathan’s behavior earlier, Riana refuses to see Jermain. He sneaks into her house to attempt a reconciliation, and finds her in what seems to be a compromising position with her yoga teacher. Then HE gets tossed out by Ng.
Later, when Riana decides to give Jermain a second chance, she runs into Courtney at New Leaf and discovers that Courtney’s wearing the engagement ring Riana picked out. Now it seems that Jermain’s lost both of them, but he decides to give it one last shot and come clean with the truth.
When Yuri finds Jonathan and they get into a street fight, they both get arrested. David bails Jonathan out just before he gets beaten up in his jail cell, and they head for the charity gala for one last chance to connect with their mother.
At the gala, after considerable confusion (and several musical numbers), the family members (and lovers) are reunited and reconciled at last. (And it turns out that Dad isn’t going to die after all.)
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Twenty five years ago, two pairs of identical twins are split up when their parents (a minister and an aspiring R&B singer) divorce.
Fast forward to the present day. In a small town in Kansas, Reverend Merchant’s eldest son, Jonathan, is a high school English teacher. His younger brother, David, is a reporter for the local paper. Their lives are turned upside down when their father becomes ill and they set out for Beverly Hills to find their long-lost mother so that their parents can be reconciled before their father dies.
As the Merchants' rusty Nova chugs along a California freeway, we meet the other brothers: Jermain, an executive with New Leaf Music (his mother’s record company), and Denzel, a rising (but reluctant) rap star whose heart’s really in ragtime.
Jermain’s about to get engaged to his girlfriend Riana – but hasn’t quite managed to tell his other girlfriend, Courtney. When he goes to break up with Courtney, she finds the engagement ring he bought for Riana and thinks it’s for her. He doesn’t have the guts to set her straight.
Back at New Leaf, Denzel's lack of talent frustrates his feisty dance teacher, Luce, who's trying to whip him into shape for an upcoming appearance at a charity gala.
In Kansas, Rev. Merchant leaves the hospital and, with two eccentric church ladies in tow, sets off to stop his sons – unwilling to admit that he still loves his ex-wife.
Meanwhile, Jonathan gets into a car accident with Yuri and Ivan, a pair of Russian mobsters, and barely escapes their wrath.
After a misunderstanding at New Leaf Music, Jonathan ends up at Riana’s house, where Riana’s father thinks he’s Jermain and has come to ask his blessing to marry his daughter. Instead, Jonathan falls for Riana’s sister, Cindy, and gets tossed out by Ng, the houseman.
David’s mistaken for his twin, rapper Denzel (“D-Man”), and basks in his new-found popularity. But Denzel humiliates himself in public by his inability to freestyle.
Because of Jonathan’s behavior earlier, Riana refuses to see Jermain. He sneaks into her house to attempt a reconciliation, and finds her in what seems to be a compromising position with her yoga teacher. Then HE gets tossed out by Ng.
Later, when Riana decides to give Jermain a second chance, she runs into Courtney at New Leaf and discovers that Courtney’s wearing the engagement ring Riana picked out. Now it seems that Jermain’s lost both of them, but he decides to give it one last shot and come clean with the truth.
When Yuri finds Jonathan and they get into a street fight, they both get arrested. David bails Jonathan out just before he gets beaten up in his jail cell, and they head for the charity gala for one last chance to connect with their mother.
At the gala, after considerable confusion (and several musical numbers), the family members (and lovers) are reunited and reconciled at last. (And it turns out that Dad isn’t going to die after all.)
Latest Work
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Script 1 - Lauri's Original Draft05/04/11
