Short Plays By Black power.part three

Silicon’s Caesar (The Algorithmic Empire)

A Short Play in One Act

Characters:

JULIUS CODE: The charismatic founder and CEO of a global platform.

BRUTUS: A trusted board member and friend.

CASSIUS: A manipulative and ambitious board member.

ANTONIA: A public relations expert, loyal to Code.

[SCENE START]

SCENE I

SCENE II

The Boardroom, a dark and imposing space. Code enters, alone, with a single guard.

JULIUS CODE

Good morning, gentlemen. We have a world to shape.

The new algorithm launches in an hour.

BRUTUS

(Stepping forward)

Julius, a word on power and restraint.

JULIUS CODE

Restraint is for the weak, the fearful, the slow.

I move at lightning speed. My will is law.

(Cassius and other board members gather around him menacingly.)

CASSIUS

Thy will be done!

(He stabs Code with a letter opener.)

(Other board members join in the attack. Code fights back, but is overwhelmed. He sees Brutus raise his hand.)

JULIUS CODE

Et tu, Brute? Then fall, ambition!

(He falls dead. The guard runs away in fear.)

(ANTONIA rushes in, horrified.)

ANTONIA

O mighty Code! Are all thy pixels dim?

Thy empire, built on light, now steeped in blood!

BRUTUS

(Standing over the body, trying to regain composure)

We acted for the greater good of all!

For freedom! We did cleanse the state of tyranny!

CASSIUS

(Wildly triumphant)

Proclaim it through the servers, on the feeds!

OmniCorp is free! The Dictator is dead!

(The sounds of the office outside grow into a riotous panic. Alarms begin to sound.)

ANTONIA

Free? You have unleashed a chaos you can't curb!

The public loves him, fools! They saw a god!

Now chaos reigns, the system is unmanned!

The algorithmic empire starts to fail!

(The lights in the room flicker and go out, replaced by emergency red light. The sound of distant sirens grows louder. The conspirators look at each other, realizing their 'freedom' has caused anarchy.)

BRUTUS

We sought control, but only wrought despair.

The power we did slay now rules the air.

A glorious tragedy, a bloody end:

We killed the tyrant, but lost the only friend

Who held the empire stable. Now we fall.

(The room descends into darkness and the sound of global digital collapse.)

[SCENE END]

A Midsummer Night's VPN (The Glitch in the Algorithm)

A Short Play in One Act

Characters:

LYSANDER: A young programmer, in love with Hermia.

DEMETRIUS: Another programmer, currently matched with Helena.

HERMIA: A clever coder, matched with Lysander.

HELENA: A sharp analyst, matched with Demetrius.

PUCK: The mischievous 'glitch' in the dating app's code.

[SCENE START)