ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT Bernard Davis Jr. was born in Concord, North Carolina. He is the first-born child of Bernard Sr. and Alice Jane Hardison-Davis. He is the eldest brother of eight siblings: Hurley, Patricia, Larry, Olivia, Denise, Berlinda, Carolyn, and Ryan. Bernard Junior's family background is mixed with that of poverty, parental discord, and separation. Bernard's father, the son of a North Carolina dirt farmer, was a man of humble means who was born and grew up the tenth of thirteen siblings. Bernard Junior's father was both a loving and responsible parent who dropped out of public high school, served his country honorably during WWII, and for the better part of his life worked as a custodian.