ESL

By Tom Smith

Characters:
Trey 16, Caucasian
Jackie 16, Caucasian
Ofelia 16, Latina
Jesús 16, Latino

Time/Place:   The time is present at an American high school.

Running time: 50 minutes.

Summary:
ESL is a bilingual drama in eleven scenes. 

Trey has been doing poorly in his Spanish class, so his father has hired Ofelia to be his tutor. Ofelia's cousin, Jesús, has come from Juarez , Mexico , to live with her family. Although he understands some English, Jesús refuses to speak any. 

Throughout the course of many weeks, Trey slowly finds himself becoming attracted to Ofelia, despite his recent and rocky relationship with Jackie.

But when Trey confronts Ofelia about her cousin's lack of English, they must grapple with the issues of multiculturalism, Americanism, and language. And when a hate crime is committed against Jesús at school, everyone must examine their own feelings of racism.