the Hayti Heritage Center

Speed Killed My Cousin is an original production by Linda Parris-Bailey. It is centered in the story of an African American female combat soldier and her struggle with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) upon her return home from Iraq. A third generation soldier, the central character courts death by vehicular suicide.

The play primarily takes place in a Hummer vehicle as the main character drives along the Long Island Expressway in New York. As she struggles with flashbacks and memories from Iraq, she tries to talk with her father about his experience in the Vietnam War and about her cousin, a Vietnam veteran who died in a car crash shortly after his return from the war.