This rare political drama is a throwback to the issue plays of the 40s and 50s. At times melodramatic and overwrought, it still works effectively if only because it takes a hard, politically incorrect look at the relations between the races. Set in a Hollywood house overlooking L.A., the play focuses on a father and step- daughter (Vaughn Armstrong and Elena Fasan) whose liberalism is put to the test when, in the midst of a race riot, three heavily-armed guerrillas (Lissa Layng, Billy Mayo and Mister) calling themselves representatives of the "Amerafrican People's Republic" break in and take them hostage. The latter two are black; Layng is a white female sympathizer a la Patty Hearst; Jill Remez is a Latina maid caught in the crossfire.
In Act One, the blacks (led by Mayo as the charismatic Malik) vent their frustration and anger against the white world which has exploited and abused them; in Act Two there is a reversal which restores power to the whites, who of course misuse it and bring death and destruction down on all concerned. The twain shall never meet in Penner's bleak, brutal assessment of the current racial state of the republic.
