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CONTENT:
This play is about two gangs of the West Side of New York City. RIFF is the leader of the JETS.
The opposition - a Puerto Rican gang called the SHARKS, is lead by BERNARDO.
Inevitably it is bound to happen that they want to fight against each other. The two gangs want to set the date of the fight at a dance. The Jets, who believe that they are the greatest, were founded by Riff and his best friend TONY. Later, Tony has been drifting away from the Jets. He even has a job at Doc\'s candy store. Riff goes to the candy store to persuade Tony to come to the dance too.
For MARIA the dance is also very important. It has been one month since her brother, Bernardo, brought her to America.
The dance begins fairly well, but when Bernardo arrives with Anita and Maria with Chino (the boy, Maria has to marry), the dance becomes a competition between Jets and Sharks. Suddenly Tony arrives. From opposite sides of the gym he and Maria see each other for the first time.
Later, Tony walks through the streets, lost in a dream and only thinking of the girl he has just met and he has just fallen in love with. At the dance, as planned, Bernardo is challenging to a rumble.
After a while Maria hears a voice from outside of her window. It\'s Tony. She goes out onto the fire escape and he climbs up to join her. For a moment they forget their problems. Tomorrow evening they will meet at the Bridal Shop, where Maria works.
At Doc\'s candy store, where a \"war council\" is taking place, Riff and his Jets are visited by OFFICER KRUPKE, a cop, who warns the boys not to cause trouble.
When Tony comes to meet Maria the next day, she wants him to stop the fight between the Jets and the Sharks. The rumble is about to begin when Tony arrives. He attempts to reconcile the two gangs, but Bernardo insults him. In the fight that follows the forbidden knives appear, and Riff is killed by Bernardo. Tony gets so angry that he stabs Bernardo. The rumble ends with the scream of the police siren. Tony flees to Maria, who has already heard that he killed her brother, but she can\'t hate him.
The Jets, now commanded by ICE, determine to protect Tony - particularly from Chino, who is searching for him with a gun. Anita agrees to find Tony at Doc\'s Candy store, where he\'s hiding, to tell him that Maria will join him. In a rage, because she is pestered by the Jets, she delivers another message. They should inform Tony that Chino found out about him and Maria and that Chino shot her.
Tony , who believes that Maria is dead, is running lost in thought through the streets. Suddenly he stops, as he sees a figure in the darkness of the playground. It\'s Maria! He starts running to her, ignorantly that another figure steps out of the shadows; it\'s Chino who pulls out his gun and fires.
Tony stumbles and Maria, who is running to him, catches him. Tony dies in her arms.
THE MAIN CHARACTERS:
MARIA:
* She is lacking in self - confidence.
* With New York, her new home town, she is not really familiar.
* She can't hate Tony, although he killed her brother.
* She wants to stay at Tony's side all her life knowing that there are dangerous situations they
have to cope with.
TONY:
* He is in love with Maria.
* He stabbed Bernardo, Maria\'s brother, in rage, because Bernardo killed his best friend.
* He is sick of the fights between the \"Jets\" and the \"Sharks\".
* He is a sensitive and helpful person who wishes: \"There\'s a place for us, a time and place for us!\"
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