COUNTDOWN TO THE HAPPY DAY is a two-character drama that depicts, in gritty street language and with grim humor, the unlikely involvement of Gertie, thirties/forties and a self-inflicted street person, and Cervin, a hulking fifteen-year old, both of whom are African American. From their initial explosive encounter on a nighttime city street, the two are chary of each other and emotionally combustible. Gertie, a troubled Army vet, resists being drawn into the world of Cervin, a seventh-grade dropout dependent on a bed-bound mother. Their relationship, nonetheless, grows ever more overlaid, complex, and inevitable as Cervin’s needs overwhelm Gertie’s deliberate detachment, forcing her to confront the pain and grief weighing at her core. In the play’s final moments they together chant a “countdown” to a happy day they both so crave and for which they continue waiting.