Coming of Age

Institute History

  • 1991 January Screenwriters Lab

Description

COMING OF AGE is the story of the rites of passage of Terry Green, a black youth living on Chicago’s Southside in the early 1960’s who struggles for maturity and self-realization. Like many young men born in poverty, Terry is drawn to a life of petty crime to survive. However, Terry is more fortunate than many others in two respects; he has exceptional talent in basketball, and he has a mother committed at every turn to wrestle with his bad angel.

COMING OF AGE is a portrait of black life in the early sixties. It is the story of a young man’s bittersweet first love for an affectionate but unambitious beauty named Cheryl. It is the tale of youthful friendships, one in the case of Reg that threatens to ruin Terry, the other that encourages and strengthens Terry’s hard fought decision to become a writer. Above all, COMING OF AGE is about a young man who, against the odds, leaves to assume responsibility for his own life when nobody would have faulted him for blaming others for the plight in which he found himself.

Credits

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