THE THEATRE MADE IN PARADISEA Comical Historical Romance of Theatrical Survivors

by Jonathon Ward

Jonathon Ward27 Darewood LaneValley Stream, NY 11581(516) 263-0408jonathonward47@gmail.com

ABOUT THE PLAY

CHARACTERSRequires a multi-ethnic cast of 4M and 2W.JOHN STANFORD – A Puritan leader. His right ear is cropped. 35 years old.

STEPHANO AFRICANUS – A devout Christian who has been raised and served in Lord Pembroke’s house and a Puritan household. 20 years old.

GEORGE GREENE – An actor from the Globe Theatre who had to escape London as times grew worse for the theatre. Modeled on Nathan Field. 32 years old.

MASSASOIT – A nephew of the great Chief of the Wampanoag. 25 years old.

REBECCA STANFORD – John’s wife, who wanted to be in the theatre, of gypsy descent. 25 years old.

FERDINAND – Bosun (double-cast with Massasoit).

ASKAMABOO – Massasoit’s wife, young matriarch. 28 years old.

PURITANS – offstage singers (double-cast with Askamaboo, Rebecca, and John)

SETTINGIn the hold of the Golden Hart and different parts on the shore of Cape Cod in the Fall of 1619.

NOTE: I recommend that the play be performed with a story-theater style or in what I call an Elizabethan magical realism.

SYNOPSISAt sea in a storm in 1619, Rebecca Stanford, the wife of an abusive Puritan leader, discovers an actor, Nathan Field, on board who she knew in London as a girl. He is sailing to the new world disguised as a Pilgrim to start a theatre in Jamestown after the Globe Theatre didn’t hire him to replace Burbage. Rebecca’s husband, the Puritan leader, finds the copy of The Tempest they are reading. Believing the storm is conjured by the actor using spells from the play, he accuses them of being witches and threatens to denounce them. In the storm, Rebecca is washed overboard, and floats ashore on Cape Cod where her husband has left her actor friend and Stephano, her servant from Africa, to force them to confess that they are conjurers. Hiding in the woods, Rebecca is befriended by a woman from a Wampanoag village and together they gain the freedom of Rebecca’s friends and the Wampanoag’s husband. Nathan, Stephano and Rebecca are invited to stay in the Native village for the Winter, where they plan to start their Paradise Theatre and do their day jobs planting corn and digging out canoes.

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THE THEATRE MADE IN PARADISEby Jonathon Ward

ACT I, Scene 1

On board the Golden Hart. Night. The acting company enters and forms a ship’s prow. They begin to rock side-to-side in an increasingly violent storm. Then they swirl around the stage together, shushing the audience to secrecy, and end with their backs to them. George enters the hold with his whale bladder. A company member gives him his script of The Tempest, which he hides under the bladder. He rejoins the company. REBECCA enters looking for the script. She finds it and begins to read as though committing it to memory, then hears something, and drops it on the bladder and hides. GEORGE enters with his bag of gold. He looks around and then hides it in a pocket of the bladder. He notices the script of The Tempest is misplaced and is pleased. He looks for REBECCA. When he hears someone in the direction he entered, he falls to his knees. FERDINAND enters.

FERDINAND

You’re needed on deck to jettison cargo.

GEORGEYou’re disturbing my prayers. Nearly two months at sea, off course, running out of provisions.

FERDINANDAs a carpenter’s assistant—

GEORGEA Pilgrim and a carpenter! I will tell the leader of the Puritans you are coming between his people and God! Go to the deck to keep our ship from being swallowed by the waves whilst I pray to the Holy Carpenter!

GEORGE raising his hands to heaven. O, Jesus! Hallowed be Thy Name! Please watch over us, better than this bosun does!

FERDINAND exits. The ship heaves to the side. REBECCA falls out from her hiding place. He blocks her from exiting.

GEORGE

You’re here.

REBECCAI won’t say anything about you being in the hold, if you say nothing.

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GEORGEMy lips are sealed.

REBECCAWhy are you on board?

GEORGEI’m going to the New World just like you.

The ship heaves.

If we survive this tempest.

GEORGE gets the whale bladder.

REBECCAWhat are you doing?

GEORGE(blowing air into it)

My whale. If the ship goes down, I’ll float to shore like Jonah.

She starts to leave. He blocks her.

GEORGEI can’t believe we meet on a ship full of Puritans. And you married to one. Do they know that you once played Eve in my Masque of Eden?

REBECCAShh.

GEORGEAnd that all the men including Lord Pembroke wanted to be your Adam?

REBECCAI’ll tell them you’re Nathan Field, the actor!

GEORGEI’m George Greene, a Pilgrim and a carpenter.

REBECCAThe last time I saw you, you were the Prince of France and drunk. Did the Globe fire you?

GEORGENo. I left to form my own company in Jamestown.

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REBECCAJamestown.

GEORGEIf Burbage and Shakespeare can start their theatre in a London swamp, I can start mine in the colonies. Did Stephano tell you I had a copy of The Tempest?

REBECCAYes.

GEORGEI knew he would. He was too shy to read the role of Miranda.

GEORGE entices her with his copy of the script. William’s finest play and a window into the New World.

REBECCA(attracted to it)

Where did you get it?

GEORGEI copied it.

REBECCAStole it?

GEORGEShakespeare’s dead. Burbage is dead. Prospero must live.

REBECCAYou think you can play Burbage’s role?

GEORGEOf course! And you, Miranda.

He gives her the script.My theatre will be free from the tyranny of the English laws that keep women from the stage. Will you audition?

REBECCAAre you going to ask me to lie with you, Nathan?

GEORGEWe can play, as adult actors now, not as young lovers consumed and misled by desire.

REBECCADo you have money?

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GEORGEI have gold.

REBECCAWhere did you get it?

GEORGEYou don’t have the role, yet.

REBECCAYou know I can act.

GEORGERecently, I’ve only seen you act like a Puritan.

REBECCA(taking off her bonnet)

Where do you want me to take it from?

GEORGEHere.

GEORGE is given his Prospero’s cloak by someone from the company.

Imagine that we are on the isle of Bermuda. My production will be set where Shakespeare’s inspiration came from. The seas and the thundering skies fairly rock the land, but we are safe above the turmoil.

The ship lifts and tilts.

Enter Prospero and Miranda.

REBECCA(tossing the script aside)

If by your art, my dearest father, you havePut the wild waters in this roar, allay them.The sky, it seems, would pour down stinking pitch,But that the sea, mounting to the welkin's cheek,Dashes the fire out. O, I have sufferedWith those that I saw suffer: a brave vessel,Who had, no doubt, some noble creature in her,Dash'd all to pieces. O, the cry did knockAgainst my very heart. Poor souls, they perish'd.

GEORGEExcellent!

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STEPHANO(off, whispering)

Mistress Stanford?

GEORGEIt’s Stephano. Will you take the role?

REBECCAI want an up-front fee.

GEORGEI’ll give you an apple.

REBECCAYou have fresh fruit?

GEORGEHere.

He takes an apple handed to him by a company member.

I’ll pay you the rest in gold when we’ve started our theatre. Agreed?

REBECCAI agree.

REBECCA bites the apple. Ow! It’s a prop! My lip is bleeding!

STEPHANO enters.

STEPHANOYou’re here.

GEORGEEnter Ariel. Hast thou perform’d to point the tempest that I bade thee?

STEPHANO(to Rebecca)

Master John is looking for you.

GEORGEYour line is: To every article.

STEPHANO(to Rebecca)

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He’s searching for you on deck.

REBECCA(getting her bonnet)

We can’t let him find us.

STEPHANOI told him I’d look for you in the hold. He’s very angry. Your lip.

He gently touches her lip.

How did this happen? Did he do this?

REBECCANo. I bit my lip. Thank you. We’re going to start a theatre.

GEORGE Your entrance is here, Ariel!

STEPHANOI am not Ariel.

GEORGE“How now? Moody? What is’t thou canst demand.”

STEPHANOFrom you? “My liberty!”

GEORGE“Before the time be out?”

STEPHANOMaster is having his head aches from the evil spirits and if he finds her with you, there is no telling what he’ll do. (to Rebecca) I don’t want Master to hurt you. We’ll go to your quarters and read the Bible together.

REBECCAWe have to go.

REBECCA and STEPHANO start to exit.

GEORGEWhen we reach Jamestown.

REBECCAShhhh.

GEORGE

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If all he reads is the Bible, he’ll always be a servant to his Master John.

STEPHANOMy Master is God.

GEORGEI am your director.

STEPHANOYou are a Serpent asking us to be someone we cannot be. Ariel! Miranda! (to Rebecca) I only want to read the Bible with you. It makes us better people.

JOHN(off)

Stephano!

REBECCAHe’s here!

GEORGEHoly Lord!

They scramble to hide, fall flat on the floor and realize it doesn’t work.

Kneel!

GEORGE takes off his cloak and puts it on the floor.

Kneel upon Prospero’s magic cloak!

ALL fall to their knees on the cloak.

O, Lord, we thank Thee for keeping us forever upright.

JOHN, seasick, enters as the ship rolls. He kneels with them. Deliver us from every evil, as You did Jonah, when You spake unto the whale that swallowed him, and it vomited him forth on to the shore…

JOHN retches. …slimy from the sour smelling fish guts.

JOHN retches again.

JOHNAmen.

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ALLAmen.

STEPHANOMaster John. Let me help you to the deck.

JOHNNo.

GEORGEYou need the air.

(The ship rolls.)

JOHN No. (to Rebecca) Why are you here?

GEORGETo free Jonah by vomiting him onto—

JOHNNo more about Jonah! (to Rebecca) What are you doing in the hold?

REBECCAI came down to see if our belongings were dry and found Mr. Greene.

GEORGEPraying to God to see us through the storm.

JOHNWhy is your cloak on the floor?

GEORGEWhy to kneel upon, sir.

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STEPHANO(to John)

Master, I think it would be good if you went on deck.

JOHNShow Mr. George Greene to the Captain and tell him I found him preying on my wife.

STEPHANOSir.

JOHNAnd I want him put in chains. Do as I say.

GEORGESir, if I may be so bold. My prayers were interrupted by your good wife and then her servant and then you. I was praying for the safety of the ship.

JOHNYour prayers have not stopped the tempest.

GEORGEDo you know to whom God listens?

JOHNGod knows and God will sort it out. Take him.

GEORGEPerhaps, sir, God would have us sort it out now.

REBECCAMr. Greene, please excuse us. Thank you for spreading your cloak so that my dress would not be soiled as we prayed.

GEORGEJust as I was entering Paradise through prayer.

REBECCAPrayer is not enough to gain entrance to Paradise. (to George) Good works alone will get us there.

GEORGEYes, Mistress Stanford. I thank you for your Biblical instruction. Good evening.

As the ship rolls, GEORGE and STEPHANO exit.

JOHNWhy were you with Mr. Greene?

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REBECCAI learned that he was afraid that some in the company considered him to be a Jonah and might throw him overboard.

JOHNYou have had your eye on him since we sailed. What happened to your lip?

REBECCANothing.

JOHNYour lip is swollen.

REBECCAI bit it. You smell of vomit. Let go of me.

JOHNWhat were you doing with him?

REBECCAYou saw.

JOHNDid he touch you?

REBECCAHe did not.

JOHN holds his head, as though God’s judgemental hand was laid on his brow.

JOHN

I saved you from whoredom and put Jesus in your heart so you would know His suffering and overcome your wickedness. We entered marriage purified of sin.

REBECCAI have not sinned.

JOHNDid he promise to open your eyes so you could be “as a god and know all things?”

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REBECCAWhy, John, have you become so harsh? You talk to me in front of others as though I was your slave.

JOHNYou have never suffered as a slave, punished for your righteousness! Imprisoned! Cut!

JOHN, as though seized by God, bows his head.

REBECCA(going to him)

I know that you suffered. Every day, I pleaded with them to release you.

JOHNAnd how did you plead? Whispering in the Lord Pembroke’s ear?! On your knees? Fornication!? What did you do with George Greene!?

REBECCAI was praying.

JOHNWith Psalms?

REBECCAYes.

JOHNWhere is your Bible? Where? Show me!

REBECCAOver there. I brought my Bible. It’s over there in the dark. (pointing) Not there.

JOHNThe Tempest. By Shakespeare. There are conjuring spells in here.

REBECCAMy Bible is somewhere. Perhaps Stephano took it.

JOHNWere you reading this?

REBECCAI was reading a Psalm, “How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?”

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JOHNYou are in league with the Devil.

REBECCANo.

JOHNBefore God you promised with your marriage vows to stop lying. But Satan is in your heart.

REBECCANo!

JOHNYou will suffer for this.

REBECCAMay the Grace of God---

JOHNYou cannot lie to me!

JOHN forces her to her knees.

REBECCAIt was given to me by an actor at the Globe I knew.

JOHNIs your Mr. Greene an actor?

REBECCANo!

JOHNThen you are the witch and I will rid you of Satan!

He grabs her and rocks her in his grip.

REBECCABy the Grace of God.

He strikes her. John. John. Please. I beg of you in the eyes of God! Oh, Jesus.

He pushes her down.

JOHN

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The two of you will stand trial and either be released from Satan’s clutch or be burned at the stake for conjuring this storm.

The ship rolls. They are thrown off their feet and there is a loud cracking sound from off. FERDINAND enters.

FERDINAND

Mr. Stanford! A beam has cracked! Come now, sir!

JOHNComing.

FERDINANDWe’re taking water.

COMPANY enters falling to their knees in prayer. GEORGE’S hands are tied behind his back. FERDINAND calls to sailors on deck.

Lay her a-hold, a-hold! Set her two courses off to sea again; lay her off!

COMPANYTo prayers, to prayers!

FERDINAND tries to get people up to help, but they immediately move to somewhere else to pray.

FERDINANDYou fools! Have you a mind to sink?

COMPANYMercy on us! We’ll split apart!

FERDINANDWork then! Work! All hands on deck!

REBECCAIs my only Paradise in Heaven?

FERDINANDTwo courses off to sea!

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REBECCAWhere are Stephano and Nathan?

COMPANYWe’re lost! We’re lost!

FERDINANDLay her off! You’ll drown us all!

REBECCADear God, help us find our way to shore!

A monstrous wave rises above the COMPANY which causes them to drop their prayers and succumb to its power. The COMPANY swirls around REBECCA, as though they are the roaring waters. She sinks below the sea, struggles back to the surface, gasping for air, then sinks again. Her Puritan dress and bonnet are washed from her as she rises once more and grasps the whale bladder, which is floating near her. The ship pitches into darkness and she is separated from the COMPANY. The wind howls. The sea turns into a forest by the beach.

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ACT I, scene 2

In the forest, which is formed by the Company, near the beach on Cape Cod. It is several days later. REBECCA, dressed in a corset, branches and a squirrel skin cap and clutching the whale bladder, looks out from behind a tree. Hiding behind the bladder, she dashes to another tree, as though a spirit carrying a piece of the moon, and hides.

REBECCA(to audience, whispering)

I landed on this seashore Paradise where I’m embraced by the trees that give me fruit, the streams that provide me drink, and the creatures who leave me their coats. But it’s dangerous in these woods. I thought there were no Serpents, but then yesterday I see that my husband John came ashore. I cannot let him see me or he will take me back. There he is! He’s going into the woods. And there is Stephano! Oh, how I miss him! I have to find a way to talk with him, and find out Nathan’s fate, so we can make our way to Jamestown by land.

MASSASOIT(off left)

Wuneekeesuq! (welcome)

REBECCAA man! A native Adam.

REBECCA hides.

STEPHANO(off right)

I mean no harm!

STEPHANO and MASSASOIT enter from opposite sides.

MASSASOITTunketappin? (where do you live)

STEPHANOWe anchored to make repairs and need fresh water and food.

MASSASOIT approaches him and looks him over.

MASSASOITYour skin is too dark to be a Naragansett.

STEPHANOI don’t understand.

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MASSASOITI am a Wampanoag. We are the people who are the First to See the Rising Sun. You have come from the way of the Sun.

JOHN(from off)

Hold him!

MASSASOITWho is that? His skin is wompey (white) like the female death-spirit I saw in the woods last night, carrying a piece of the moon. She disappeared like him.

STEPHANOI don’t know what you’re saying.

MASSASOITLast night, I went back and told my wife and the village, but they thought I was making a joke.

STEPHANO(miming actions)

You better go. My Master is harsh. He tracks deer. He’s a hunter.

MASSASOITYou are dark like the night. The death-spirit and her friend are light like the day. Do you go together like night and day?

STEPHANOHe will capture you. It’s best if you run.

MASSASOIT You seem frightened.

STEPHANOThe English capture people and take them to England to be servants and slaves.

MASSASOITCome. I’ll take you to my village. Hub hub hub.

MASSASOIT starts to exit. JOHN ambushes and holds him. REBECCA looks out from behind a bush.

MASSASOITMatchaumaquot! (he stinks) You foul smelling animal. Get off me!

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STEPHANO(to John)

He’s just saying he wants to be our friend!

MASSASOIT(to John)

My people will rip your testicles off!

JOHNSavage! Stay still! (to Stephano) Give me the rope! (to Massasoit) Still! Or I’ll slit your throat. You are mine now! Do you hear me?! Mine!

MASSASOIT is subdued. REBECCA horrified disappears before STEPHANO turns. To Stephano

The rope! In my belt! What are you doing?

STEPHANOI thought I heard something.

JOHNHold him! See he doesn’t move.

JOHN ties MASSASOIT’s wrists together.

I found their food. We’ll tie him to a tree and use him for bait to attract others and then attack.

MASSASOITMy uncle is a sachem.

JOHNShut your mouth or I’ll cut your throat!

MASSASOITHe will pay you in trade for me.

STEPHANOHe’s trying to tell us something.

MASSASOITI will take you to him, if you untie me.

JOHN(punching Massasoit in the stomach)

Savage!

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MASSASOITMy wife will find me and bring warriors against you.

JOHN starts to hit him again.

STEPHANONo!

JOHN, as though his skull is seized by God’s hand, is bowed over in pain.

It’s been a very difficult journey! You lost your wife and you’re angry as any man would be, but we are Christians and Christ died for our sins. We accept the suffering that our Lord has given us to bear without hurting others because of it. (to John) There. He’s still.

JOHNHeathens trust heathens.

STEPHANOI am not a heathen, sir.

JOHNIn this heathen place, you’ll be drawn back to Nature.

STEPHANOYes, sir.

JOHN(waving to the ship)

Hallo! Hallo! You can bring George Greene ashore. We’re safe from the Indians now! I found food! (to Stephano) You have been a good servant and you were fortunate that when Lord Pembroke died, he left you to Mrs. Stanford instead of selling you.

STEPHANOI am indentured and Lord Pembroke left money to maintain my indentureship.

JOHNHardly enough.

STEPHANOI am not a slave.

JOHNYou are Christ’s slave.

STEPHANO

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Yes, sir. I am a slave to Christ.

JOHNAnd you will serve me, now that my wife is dead, in making this land Christ’s dominion.

JOHN is again seized by a pain in his skull.

Did my wife know George Greene before?

STEPHANOI know you are pained by the loss of Mistress Stanford and have been cruelly hurt.

JOHNDid she?

STEPHANOI never saw them together before last night.

JOHNIs he an actor?

STEPHANOI never saw him perform.

JOHNDid he do magical incantations to conjure the storm?

STEPHANONo.

JOHNIn London, actors did witchcraft for the groundlings while the aristocrats sat high above us stuffing their mouths and dropping cake crumbs on our heads. The actors performed private Masques for Lord Pembroke, and a young girl, naked as Eve, was paraded in front of his guests, I heard say. Then they all went to Holland’s Brothel and treated the whores as though they were their slaves by divine right.

STEPHANOMistress Stanford loved you very much for saving her from Holland’s.

JOHNI paid for her sins with my flesh.

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STEPHANOYes, sir.

JOHNAnd this land will be Christ’s Dominion and the wicked will perish from its soil!

STEPHANOYes, sir.

JOHNSatan is in every tree, in every rock, in every heathen heart, and I will release his curse with the confession of George Greene!

STEPHANOYes, sir.

JOHN(to Stephano)

He and all who consort with him will burn in Hell!

STEPHANOYes, sir.

JOHNWe’ll leave the savage tied to a tree by his tribe’s burial ground. There are graves and urns of wheat there, which we’ll take back to the ship for God’s children. (Taking a handful of corn out of his pocket and showing it to Massasoit) Wheat to feed God’s children!

MASSASOITCorn! Where did you get it?

JOHNNo more gibberish! Get up.

MASSASOITMatta. Matta. (no, no) You took corn from our ancestors’ graves! My father is buried there. What are you doing?

JOHNI’ll cut your tongue out, if you’re not quiet.

STEPHANO(moving between them)

The Indian means no harm, sir. He means no harm. (to Massasoit) You have to go peacefully with us.

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MASSASOITAbbamocho. (the devil) Why do you do what he says? Why do you lower your eyes to his blue eyes and look straight into mine?

JOHNCome! Before he takes you in with his Satanic eyes.

STEPHANO(lowering his voice)

I promise I won’t let him hurt you.

JOHNCome!

JOHN, MASSASOIT and STEPHANO exit. REBECCA appears from behind the bush. She watches them go down the beach and into woods.

REBECCAIn London, where all the world was supposedly a stage, I had to hide my true self, but now I vow I’ll no longer be a weak-kneed Eve beaten down by a man who thinks he’s God. Tonight, when it is dark and they’ve brought Nathan ashore, he and I will join together and convince Stephano and his friend to join with us. We will save this Paradise from those who want to make it their new England.

REBECCA exits to hide in the woods.

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ACT I, Scene 3

Next day. Another part of the beach. Afternoon. JOHN STANFORD leads, with a pistol and carrying a sack, followed by STEPHANO carrying Rebecca’s Bible. He escorts GEORGE whose hands are tied behind his back.

JOHN(to George)

Kneel. (to Stephano) You will stay with him tonight.

STEPHANOBut, sir, I’m innocent.

GEORGEAnd so am I!

JOHN(to Stephano)

The Congregation voted to test your faith. If you burn his play to prove your innocence, you will be allowed back on the ship. If you do not, we will leave you ashore and sail without you. Your provisions, which they voted for you against my wishes, are some old biscuits and a bottle of sherry. We’ll see if drink returns you to your heathen ways. (to George) As for you, I will be back in the morning to ask you one last time for your confession. If there is none, you will be burned at the stake.

GEORGEAnd if I do confess?

JOHNYou’ll be burned - to make sure you’re not lying. If you from crimes would pardon’d be, serve God to set you free!

JOHN exits to the boat.

GEORGEHe desecrates Shakespeare!

STEPHANOAnd you have destroyed me!

GEORGEAriel.

STEPHANOI am not Ariel! You had no right to cast me in your spell.

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GEORGE struggles to free his hands.

GEORGEYou had no right to show him my belongings!

STEPHANOI did not!

GEORGEYou told his wife I had The Tempest!

STEPHANOYou asked me to read the part of Miranda knowing I would tell her! Didn’t you!?

GEORGEShe was ignoring me.

STEPHANO What do you expect? She told me all about your affair and how you used her. You were always too drunk to learn your lines! You promised her roles that she could never have! And then you abandoned her to Lord Pembroke!

GEORGEI had my career.

STEPHANOYour career! The sweetest kindest girl in all of England, innocent as the morning dew. All she wanted was to live a simple life in a little cottage outside of London. You crushed her dreams with your career.

GEORGEShe said I did?

STEPHANOYes. It began with you, and I saw what happened to her.

GEORGEI see you loved her, too.

STEPHANOYes, I loved her! More than you ever did or ever could!

With Rebecca’s Bible, he kneels in prayer.

May she rest in peace.

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GEORGEI’m sorry you lost her. I’m sorry I lost her. She was such a wonderful actress and a person. But the Globe would have let me go, if I questioned Lord Pembroke’s interest in her. It’s not my fault that women who have a talent for acting have only two choices – be a wife or a whore.

STEPHANOYou told her you didn’t love her! You loved the theatre more! Look what it got her! And me! Now you will be punished!

GEORGEDid you stand up to the men who abused her because you loved her?

STEPHANOI knew my place.

GEORGEYour place! They say we’re witches. Is that our place!? Our place in the new world is where we say it is.

STEPHANOI had no say.

GEORGEBut now we’re on a beach and you do. Our roles now are what matter. You can be a savior by untying me.

STEPHANOOur Father who art in Heaven hallowed be thy name.

GEORGE(overlapping, struggling to get his wrists free)

It was God who abused her through Lord Pembroke, a Catholic, and then her Puritan husband. Hypocrites, all of them!

STEPHANO(overlapping)

Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done….

GEORGEThe King of England will enslave you along with all the other Africans in London in the name of God! Help me!

STEPHANO….on earth as it is in Heaven.

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The actor playing ASKAMABOO magically floats a cross-shaped branch out of the forest towards GEORGE.

GEORGELook!

STEPHANOGive us our daily bread, and forgive us debts,

GEORGEThat stick!

STEPHANO…forgive our debtors.

GEORGEA cross!

The stick magically cuts GEORGE free. He takes it and lifts it into the air.

STEPHANOLead us not into---

GEORGE(to the stick)

All hail, great master! Grave sir, hail! I come to answer thy best pleasure;

STEPHANO(overlapping)

Temptation… Lead us not into. Temptation.

GEORGE…be it to fly, to swim, to dive into the fire, to ride on the curl’d clouds, to thy strong bidding task your servant and all his quality.

STEPHANO(seeing George, grabbing the bag)

I will burn The Tempest!

GEORGE threatens him with the cross.

In the name of God!

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GEORGEGod answered my prayers!

GEORGE tries to grab the bag.

Give it to me.

STEPHANOWhat will you do to me?

GEORGEI will force you to act! To get us back on the ship to get my gold.

STEPHANOHow many times do I have to tell you I’m not an actor.

GEORGEYou have no choice. We’re on a beach with a shipload of Puritans for an audience!

GEORGE holds up the stick towards the ship as a religious symbol.

To get my gold, we’ll take this stick that looks like a cross and weave magic spells.

STEPHANOI won’t.

GEORGEYou will be released from your servitude, if I get my gold.

STEPHANOWhat?

GEORGEI will negotiate with John to release you. I’ll buy your contract.

STEPHANOI’m not a slave to be bought and sold.

GEORGEIf King James has his way, you will be.

STEPHANOWhere did you get your gold?

GEORGEI borrowed it from an aristocrat.

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STEPHANOBorrowed?

GEORGEHe’s sponsoring my company, which I want you to be a part of.

STEPHANOIn Jamestown, where the colony has barely survived?

GEORGEIt’s struggling, because it has no theatre. They came looking for tobacco, fish, and furs! (holding up the stick towards the ship) These Puritans want religious freedom! They don’t realize that it’s theatre that creates value in the world. Did you know that Jamestown is near the place where the actual shipwreck happened which inspired Shakespeare to write The Tempest!? We’re going to do his play in its natural habitat. People, all around the world, will flock across the Atlantic’s broadway to see it. And at the end of the play, we’ll fly them back to England or Milan or Naples or their native villages. Their imaginations fired up with the beauty created by our theatre in this new found land. And people will come!

STEPHANOYou really think you’re Prospero.

GEORGEOf course!

STEPHANOWhy don’t you fly us back onto the ship then? Why stop there? Why not to England? Or Africa? I can’t believe you.

GEORGEDon’t then. Be a slave. (searching through the bag, he finds The Tempest and holds it close to his heart) Did you know Lord Pembroke was making fun of you by naming you for a drunken fool? Did you ever ask yourself why he didn’t name you Othello? A black man brought down by the treachery of a white. A tragedy. Here, a biscuit. They have worms, but if you scrape them off, they’re edible.

GEORGE scrapes the worms off and eats. He opens a bottle of sherry.

STEPHANOWhere is the gold?

GEORGEOn the ship.

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STEPHANOWhere?

GEORGEI made a pocket in my flotation device. The whale’s bladder. My Jonah’s whale.

STEPHANOThat globe shaped thing.

GEORGEYes. It’s still onboard the ship. You told me you saw that they didn’t jettison my things from the hold. Is that right?

STEPHANOYes.

GEORGEI have to get back on board and get it.

STEPHANOWhat would I have to do?

GEORGEThis is my plan. We’ll find the Indian you told me about. We’ll create a pantomime of pious movements and show the Puritans how we can convert a wild “Caliban” into a God fearing Christian. When they see that miracle, they will vote against your Master John, and they will take us back on the ship and I’ll get my gold and buy your freedom.

STEPHANOI’ve never acted.

GEORGEYou say that but you’re always putting on a show: Yes, sir. No, sir. Isn’t that acting?

STEPHANOTo survive.

GEORGEAh, welcome to the theatre!

GEORGE lifts the cross towards the ship.

We thank our glorious benefactors for our new found purity in our new found land. Let us find our Caliban. Away.

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GEORGE exits to the woods singing “Come unto these yellow sands” and doing a jig. STEPHANO follows refusing to sing or dance. REBECCA appears hiding behind the bladder.

REBECCAI am betrayed! Nathan frees himself from by converting and following the ways of the cross! And Stephano, who only knows the Bible, follows him. I’ll have no actors! No script! My theatre will be a stage for soliloquies! Nathan’s betrayed me twice. When I was a girl in London, he took me into the tiring room and let me dress up as a queen, a spirit, a lady in waiting. But then he cast me as Eve in a private masque telling me, women weren’t allowed on the stage. I’ll have my way. I’ll find the native who John tied up and we’ll start our own theatre using gesture and sign language!

REBECCA mimes the opening of a curtain, bows to the audience and exits. ASKAMABOO appears from another part of the forest and watches them go and then goes in another direction.

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ACT I, Scene 4

In the woods. Later that afternoon. The actor playing JOHN enters carrying MASSASOIT on his back, their arms interlocked behind them. He plants himself as a tree and his arms become the rope holding MASSASOIT captive. MASSASOIT tries to free himself. ASKAMABOO, his wife, enters from the forest. They embrace and she starts to untie him.

MASSASOITThank the Great Spirit you found me. An evil-spirited person did this.

ASKAMABOO An evil-spirited person?

MASSASOITThere is a whole tribe coming! They took corn from our ancestors!

ASKAMABOOYou tell our whole village about a female death-spirit carrying a piece of the moon who is stronger than our Bear Spirit and then you disappear when they laugh at you! Now there is a whole tribe of evil-spirited people coming to get us and, as far as I saw, there are a couple of fools stumbling around in the woods lost. If it’s not for a woman, I think you came out here to avoid work.

MASSASOITI came to pay respect to my father before we move for the winter. There is a dark one with them, like the night. He is different from the wompey skinned one, who is like an oversized weasel.

ASKAMABOOI saw a dark one but the other is like a rabbit hopping around waving a stick in the air.

MASSASOITWas he sour-faced and grim?

ASKAMABOONo. (demonstrating) He hopped around and waved a stick. This sounds like another one of your stories.

MASSASOITYou always act like everything is under your control. Every year, you plant more corn than we need and have me dig out a new canoe just so you can gain status and become a sachem.

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ASKAMABOOWell, if you were a warrior like your uncle, I wouldn’t have to. Why didn’t you stand up to them?

MASSASOITThe wompey overpowered me.

ASKAMABOOThe rabbit with a stick overpowered you?

MASSASOITI’m telling you he was an oversized weasel and if you don’t untie me, they could take me away like Squanto.

ASKAMABOOLike Squanto.

MASSASOITYes, like Squanto!

ASKAMABOOHe was kidnapped. You or one of your imaginary spirits tied you to a tree to make your story believable. There will be a full moon tonight, and I will show you there are no pieces missing from it.

REBECCA(softly off)

Hello? Hello?

MASSASOITIt’s the death-spirit.

ASKAMABOOSounds like a woman to me.

MASSASOITUntie me. Get me out of here before it takes me.

ASKAMABOOI have to see this death-spirit.

ASKAMABOO hides by going between his legs into the trunk of the tree. REBECCA enters stealthily hiding behind the whale’s bladder.

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REBECCAI saw you on the beach. I will rescue you from the Puritans. We’ll start a theatre, which I want you to be a part of. I am an actor. (makes an actorly gesture) Actor. (makes another gesture)

MASSASOITMauncheake! (get out of here)

REBECCAWhat are you saying?

MASSASOITMauncheake!

REBECCAOf course, we are in Paradise and you only speak Hebrew. I’m joking. I know you’re Indian. If you let me untie you, we’ll speak with our hands.

MASSASOITStealer of Moon pieces!

REBECCA(with gestures)

I. Untie. You. With my hands.

MASSASOITMattanit! (evil spirit) Abbamacho! (the devil)

REBECCA

All right. I won’t touch you. Fine. It must be what I’m wearing. You’re bare-chested like Adam. And I’m practically wearing armor. I’ll costume myself like you. So I can be like Eve to your Adam.

REBECCA begins to undress. To audience I’m comfortable being naked on stage. I hated to disrobe for john’s but on stage I don’t mind.

ASKAMABOO appears.

MASSASOITAskamaboo! I don’t know her!

ASKAMABOO goes behind the tree.

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REBECCAThere’s no reason to be so upset.

MASSASOITStop her! Mauncheake! Abbamacho!!

REBECCAAll right, all right. If I undress to play Eve, you don’t need to get upset. I’m not trying to seduce you. I’m just acting, which you need to learn to do if we put on The Tempest. (gestures thunder and lightning) The Tempest (gestures). If I cast you as Caliban (growls aggressively) and you attack Miranda (acts sweetly desperate), I, the actor playing Miranda (acts sweetly), have to know that I can trust that you, the actor playing Caliban, (growls) are acting Caliban (growls), and not being him.

MASSASOIT growls at her.

REBECCAAll right. That’s good.

MASSASOITGo back to where you came from! Abbamacho!!

STEPHANO(off)

Hello!

Off-stage GEORGE singing “Come unto these yellow sands” as though a Crusader hymn. https://vimeo.com/60904845

REBECCAWho’s that? I’ll be back for you!

REBECCA exits into the trunk of the tree. ASKAMABOO comes out from behind the tree.

MASSASOITAskamaboo!

ASKAMABOOShe’s just a woman! That piece of the moon is a whale bladder.

MASSASOITShe’ll take me away!

ASKAMABOO Let her try!

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ASKAMABOO hides. REBECCA enters.

REBECCANathan Field is singing a hymn and joyously carrying a cross like a crusader! When will men learn that religion is no escape from evil!?

MASSASOITWhat’s happening?

REBECCAShhhh.

REBECCA tries to untie him. ASKAMBOO enters behind her and growls.

REBECCAWho are you?

ASKAMABOOYou are after my husband.

REBECCAThe Puritans are coming.

ASKAMABOOI won’t let you take him.

REBECCABut if we stop them, you can be in our play.

ASKAMABOO grabs REBECCA and covers her mouth. She drags her into the woods. MASSASOIT tries to blend into the tree. GEORGE, holding up a cross, and STEPHANO enter and sit to rest.

GEORGEI think we’re lost.

STEPHANOI feel like we’re being watched.

GEORGE(seeing Massasoit)

Wo!

STEPHANOWe found you!

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GEORGEHe’s a perfect Caliban. Bestial in strength.

MASSASOIT(to Stephano)

Who is he?

STEPHANOWe have to untie him.

GEORGEA hidden anger burns in his eyes like a wolf robbed of his bone.

MASSASOITYou have to help me!

GEORGETada dada. He speaks in iambic pentameter?

MASSASOIT(to Stephano)

What is he going to do to me?

GEORGEWha-is-ee-go-tado-ta-me. Tada dada dada dada.

MASSASOITKeep him away!

GEORGEKa-im-a-way. Tada dada! (to Massasoit) You can play Ferdinand! When I find an actress who can play Miranda to replace our tragically lost Rebecca—

A muffled sound from the bush. REBECCA appears and is pulled back down. STEPHANO turns to look.

STEPHANOIt could be Indians! Or Master John! We have to untie him.

STEPHANO starts to untie him.

GEORGEHe could run away.

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STEPHANOWhat do you expect?

GEORGEI expect we have to teach him what it is to act like he’s tied up.

STEPHANO frees MASSASOIT.

STEPHANOI’m sorry you don’t doesn’t understand the difference between a human being and an actor. He’s not an actor.

MASSASOITActor?

GEORGEYes. Actor. I want to teach you how to be an actor. (makes a grand gesture)

MASSASOIT(to Stephano)

Is he from the same tribe as the woman? Actor. (makes a gesture)

GEORGEYes! Actor!

MASSASOIT(to Stephano)

My wife captured her. She’s crazy. Is he as harmless as she turned out to be?

GEORGEI have gold!

MASSASOITGold?

GEORGEGold!

STEPHANOYou don’t have it, yet.

GEORGEI have a play! The Tempest!

He gestures thunder and lightning.

MASSASOIT

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(imitating gesture)Tempest!

GEORGEYes! You could be in it. Do you know any women we could cast?

Muffled sounds from the bush.

STEPHANOThere’s someone there.

MASSASOIT(making frantic gestures to indicate Rebecca’s capture)

Actor.

GEORGEActor!

MASSASOITActor. (makes actor gesture)

GEORGEHe desperately wants to be an actor! Excellent!

GEORGE unties MASSASOIT.

We’ll go back to the beach to play our play before it’s too dark.

GEORGE starts singing his hymn version of “Come unto these yellow sands” and exits leading them with a Puritanically repressed jig.

MASSASOIT(to Stephano)

My wife is in the woods with a woman from his tribe. I’ll tell my wife you protected me. She’s bringing warriors.

MASSASOIT and STEPHANO exit following GEORGE, who tries to get them to dance. Only MASSASOIT tries the step. ASKAMABOO enters holding REBECCA who has a squirrel tail stuffed into her mouth. She tries to talk.

ASKAMABOOYou are trying to take my husband away!

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REBECCAPlease! I mean no harm.

ASKAMABOO takes the squirrel tail out.

ASKAMABOO(pointing in the direction of her husband went)

Why did you undress for my husband?

REBECCAOh! She has the fury of Lord Pembroke’s wife!

REBECCA getting to her knees.

Let me explain. It was a mistake.

ASKAMABOOTell your warriors to let my husband go! Massasoit! My husband!

REBECCAMassasoit.

ASKAMABOOMassasoit! Mine!

REBECCAMassasoit. (pointing at herself) Mine!

ASKAMABOO moves towards REBECCA, who falls to her knees.

I was just playing Eve to try to open communication with him. He dresses like Adam. I thought he might want to be an actor for our theatre.

ASKAMABOOMassasoit.

REBECCAPlease forgive me!

ASKAMABOOLook at you! I can see why my husband took you for a death-spirit. You haven’t braided your hair for weeks. You look and act like an abandoned woman searching for her husband. Get up!

REBECCAWhat?

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ASKAMABOOGet up! I don’t like to see people grovel.

REBECCAPlease don’t kill me.

Magically a bearskin floats in carried by the actor playing MASSASOIT.

ASKAMABOOYou look cold. Take the bear skin.

ASKAMABOO offers the bearskin to REBECCA.

REBECCAFor me? (taking it and wrapping herself in it) Thank you. Oh, thank you.

ASKAMABOOI have to go and bring warriors back, but I like to travel when the moon is higher. Here, cranberries.

REBECCACrabapples? They’re small.

ASKAMABOOThere not poison. Try them.

REBECCAThank you. Mm. Different.

ASKAMABOO(laughing at her reaction)

Bitter. Try this dried squirrel meat instead.

REBECCAMmm. Veal. This is good.

ASKAMABOO(digging and collecting kindling)

I will dig you a hole in the sand for a fire so my husband will smell the smoke and know I haven’t abandoned him. My husband is a very difficult man, and he gets under my skin and I have a sharp tongue. But I don’t want him to be another Squanto.

REBECCASquanto?

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ASKAMABOOSquanto.

REBECCAThere was a Squanto in London. He visited the Queen. Squanto.

ASKAMABOOSquanto was kidnapped and taken across the water and then he came back speaking another tongue.

REBECCASquanto.

ASKAMABOOSquanto went crazy. His wife left him and most of his village died because of the fever. He lost all his land because it was his wife’s.

REBECCADrawings of Squanto in London showed his costumes with beautiful beadwork like yours.

ASKAMABOOWampum.

REBECCAWampum.

ASKAMABOOI like to wear my wealth, so people know that I can help them. I have land from the Mashpee River to Popponesset Bay. My husband’s uncle is the great Sachem Massasoit. If my Little Massasoit doesn’t learn to be a great warrior, I’ll never be a Sachem. He tells people there are evil spirits and they laugh, but then they are frightened when they get sick with a fever which chews at their body like a wolf. They think the spirits are abandoning us. This is my plan. My husband will squawk like a trapped animal and lead us to them. The Spirit of the Bear will watch over you tonight. Here’s the flint. Make sure you cover the fire, if they move and you follow them. It’s been a dry season. I’ll be back in the morning with help from my village.

ASKAMABOO wraps the bearskin more tightly around REBECCA.

REBECCAAre you leaving me? We have to go down to the beach, when it’s dark. I have to save them from becoming Puritans. If they convert, all I can do is monologues.

ASKAMABOOI see you are carrying a great burden on your shoulders, but you must be brave.

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REBECCAI feel we understand each other, but I don’t understand how.

ASKAMABOOHow?

REBECCA(with a gesture)

How.

ASKAMABOO(amused)

How.

REBECCA(excited they are communicating)

How!

ASKAMABOO(with a gesture to stop her)

How. Let us offer thanks.

O Great SpiritI thank you today.

As the prayer is given, REBECCA follows the movements to learn.

I thank you for Mother Earth

REBECCA(trying to pronounce)

Mother Earth.

ASKAMABOOI thank you for Grandmother Moon

REBECCAGrandmother Moon.

ASKAMABOOI thank you for Grandfather Sun

REBECCAGrandfather Sun.

ASKAMABOO

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Thank you for leading me to my husband. Massasoit.

REBECCAMassasoit. Mine.

ASKAMABOOMine.

ASKAMABOO exits. REBECCA goes to the fire.

REBECCAI’ll stay until it’s dark and then I’ll go to the beach. I worry that they’ll convert Massasoit Mine like Prospero wanted to do to Caliban. Then Nathan will rewrite The Tempest and make it a religious mystery play, with Prospero as a priest conjuring up the saints. He’ll convert all the Indians, as if they were Calibans and Sycoraxes. Shakespeare imagined native people as evil witches, and the Puritans treat them that way. But actually they have kindness and strength. Finally I get to a place where all the world is truly a stage. It includes me and a person from Africa, and people from India, and two Englishmen. But still that stage is only in my head. It exists there as much a fantasy as The Tempest. If only the crackling fire could play a scene with me.. The crickets in the dark applaud. The ocean bring waves of laughter to my feet. Oh, I’m so tired. Even if I have no gold or script, I can make a theatre in Paradise. The Indians must have hundreds of stories that no one from Jamestown has heard. I’ll learn their language. I’ll sleep awhile. Alone. (whispering into the forest after Askamaboo) Thank you for the fur.

REBECCA pulls the bearskin around her and falls asleep.

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ACT I, scene 5

Rebecca’s Dream. REBECCA struggles in her sleep. STEPHANO, MASSASOIT, GEORGE and JOHN enter and encircle her. ASKAMABOO enters and REBECCA suddenly awakens.

ASKAMABOOA long time ago, a woman and her children were alone in their wigwam. 

STEPHANO and MASSASOIT lie down beside REBECCA.

The children were sound asleep and their mother sat by the fire.

MASSASOIT/STEPHANOFire. Fire. Fire. Etc.

ASKAMABOOO Suddenly she saw a ship sailing toward shore.

REBECCA sails in the ship made by the actors.

And two fisherman walked across the water to her doorway.  

JOHN and GEORGE appear to her as apparitions carrying a Bible and The Tempest respectively.

ASKAMABOOShe asked them what they wanted and they said….  

JOHN/GEORGEMay we come in?  Our clothes are wet and we are chilled to the bone.  We need to warm ourselves by your fire.

MASSASOIT/STEPHANO(frightened, huddling together)

Fire. Fire. Fire. Etc.

ASKAMABOOShe invited them in and as she watched them, she noticed that she could see right through them, -- as if they were ghosts shimmering in the flames!  

MASSASOIT/STEPHANOFire. Fire. Fire. Etc.

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ASKAMABOOHer fear of them increased, but since she was brave, she held her ground and said nothing. Finally the men spoke.

JOHN/GEORGEDo you want all the things that all the wampum in the world can give you?

ASKAMABOOShe didn’t answer.

JOHN/GEORGEDo you want all the things that all the wampum in the world can give you?  

ASKAMABOOThe woman looked at her children and thought of their growing up. She looked at the men and said, Yes.  

JOHN/GEORGEAll you have to do is go outdoors behind your wigwam to your planting fields. Beside a rock you will dig a hole and find your wampum.

JOHN and GEORGE plant their books.

It is in a Book, the Good Book, so says our Lord, and a magic play with the stuff of dreams for the stage.   Thank you for the warmth of your fire. Good night.

JOHN and GEORGE exit as evil-spirited ghosts.

ASKAMABOOThe woman took her hoe and went outside and began to dig, thinking of her children.  

ASKAMABOO acts her story.

Every time she stuck her hoe into the ground, she heard her children cry out.  

Her children cry out.

She rushed indoors to see what their trouble was. They were soundly sleeping in their blankets.  Again she dug with her hoe.  

Her children cry out.

Again her children cried out. She rushed inside. She decided to stay with her children and wait till the first light to return to the digging place.

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JOHN and GEORGE stealthily enter and take their books, then they exit.

In the morning, she went to her field with her children and found her hoe where she left it. But she could see that someone else had been there.  The hole in the ground was big and empty. Someone had dug up her entire planting field, and put a fence around it, and there was no good book or a play. She wondered, What was she to do? She had no wampum. No land. She gathered her children together and told them in whispers that the greatest treasure she can give them is the story of what was done to them. When that story is told and the books are planted again in Mother Earth, the place from where all stories come, the fence would fall down and they would live in Paradise again. The woman and her children, whose village was by the Mashpee River, continued to live there in sickness and health, through good times and bad for a long, long time.

MASSASOIT and STEPHANO exit. ASKAMABOO wraps the bearskin around her and lays her down to sleep.

O Great Spirit, I thank you for the night!

ASKAMABOO exits. REBECCA cries out in her sleep and sits up.

REBECCAEverything will be taken from us! O, what am I to do?

She gathers the bearskin around her. Lights fade to black.

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ACT II, Scene 1

Dusk. On the beach. GEORGE, STEPHANO and MASSASOIT enter. GEORGE carries the cross. STEPHANO carries the bag.

GEORGEThere. See. Ship.

MASSASOITEvil spirited people.

GEORGEI won’t try to pronounce your word for it. But in English it’s ship.

MASSASOITShip!

GEORGEGood! They’re our audience. We have to please them and keep them from finding my gold.

MASSASOITShip!

MASSASOIT sits without waving.

STEPHANOHe doesn’t like the people on the ship.

GEORGE(sits beside Massasoit)

We don’t like the people on the ship. They’re shits.

To demonstrate GEORGE makes a fart sound with his armpit.

MASSASOIT(imitating)

Shits!

GEORGEShshsh.

MASSASOITShip! Shits!!

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GEORGE(laughing)

Shshsh.

MASSASOIT(laughing)

Ship! Shits! Chickachava! (kiss my arsehole)

GEORGEChickachava!

STEPHANOThis is not the way to show them we’re bringing a person to Christ.

GEORGERight. Right. (to Massasoit) Listen. We need to build a fire. Fire.

GEORGE mimes a fire’s flames in the sand.

MASSASOIT(imitating him)

Flowers grow in the forest not on the beach.

GEORGE You put sticks together. Pile them up. Warm your hands. Fire.

MASSASOIT(laughing)

Oh! I thought he meant flower. (to Stephano) He’s a funny guy. (saying it in English with correct signing) Fire.

GEORGEYes! Fire! Fire! Tadadada. A ship, a fire.

MASSASSOITTadadada. A ship, a fire.

GEORGE(with a grand actor gesture)

An actor.

MASSASOIT(with a gesture)

Actor.

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GEORGE(hitting the sand)

On a stage!

MASSASOIT(hitting the ground with his foot)

On Mother Earth!

GEORGEThey have a word for stage.

MASSASOITMother Earth!

GEORGEMother Earth! Have a drink!

GEORGE gives a drink to MASSASOIT.

MASSASOITUgh! What is that?

GEORGELike this. (He drinks.) Ahhh! Try it again.

MASSASOIT drinks it like GEORGE.

MASSASOIT(handing bottle to Stephano)

Ahhh. It burns!

STEPHANOIt looks like we’re having a shore party.

GEORGEWe are. Are you afraid a little drink will turn you into a heathen? The truth is it loosens your rigid way of thinking and returns you to innocence. It lets you see this land as Paradise. Take a drink so he knows we’re in this together.

STEPHANO(holding the bottle)

We need to build a fire.

MASSASOITIf you want a fire, we’ll need to fetch wood. We passed a lot on the trail. Tinder, too. I have flint. Fire!

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STEPHANO drinks reluctantly.

GEORGEHe understands everything, unlike some people. (to Massasoit) Let me explain our play. You, as Caliban….

GEORGE growls and MASSASOIT imitates.

…will fetch driftwood like in Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Prospero, played by me, wants to convert you to Christianity, and we’re going to make it look like we do for our audience.

MASSASOIT(to Stephano)

I don’t know what he’s talking about, and he talks a lot.

STEPHANO(to George)

I don’t think he wants to be Caliban.

MASSASOIT(to Stephano)

I am called Massasoit. Docke taugh he necke? (what is your name)

STEPHANOMy name is Stephano.

MASSASOITStephano. I am a nephew of the Sachem. Massasoit of the Massachusett people.

STEPHANOMassasoit.

MASSASOIT Of the Massachusett.

GEORGEMassasoit of the Massachusett. I’ll drink to that. (handing him the bottle) I am George. You drink to that.

MASSASOITGeorge.

He drinks.

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GEORGE(taking bottle)

To Stephano.

Bottle to STEPHANO.

STEPHANOMassasoit.

He drinks.

MASSASOIT(with bottle)

Stephano. George.

GEORGEI think you’ll make a fine actor. (makes gesture)

MASSASOIT(with gesture)

Actor.

GEORGEYou can come with us to Jamestown and be a part of my company.

STEPHANOWe can’t take him on the ship.

GEORGEHe’ll be a Christian.

STEPHANOThey’ll kidnap him like Squanto.

MASSASOITSquanto?

GEORGESquanto. We’ll make him as famous as Squanto.

MASSASOITSquanto.

GEORGEYou’ve heard of Squanto?

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MASSASOITSquanto. He was really messed up. I’m not going with the ship shits.

STEPHANOHe knows about Squanto and the ship shits.

MASSASOITNot good.

STEPHANOWe can’t let him be taken.

GEORGEWe’ll cross that ocean, when we get to it, but now we need to build a fire….

MASSASOITFire. All right. Ponesanto. (start a fire) We need little wood and big wood.

MASSASOIT gets up and goes and picks up the cross.

And some medium wood. Like this.

GEORGEGlory be! (to the ship) He’s found religion!

MASSASOITYou have to break it up into smaller pieces.

MASSASOIT starts to jump on it. GEORGE catches him.

GEORGENo! No! It’s our cross! (taking the cross, to Stephano) My God, look. We’ve got their attention. Three lanterns on the ship. The Almighty is upon us! The play begins! Break a leg!

GEORGE swirls the cross around in the air. STEPHANO reluctantly gets on his knees. GEORGE sings as though it were a hymn.

Come unto these yellow sands,And then take hands:

Courtsied when you have and kiss’dThe wild waves whist:

Foot it featly here and there;And, Holy Spirits, the burthen bear.

Hark, hark!

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GEORGE bows and then lifts his hands to heaven to show MASSASOIT what to do.

Bow. Wow.The watch dogs bark:

Bow. Wow.

PURITANS(singing, off)

Amen.

MASSASOIT(laughing, bowing and wowing to the cross)

Bow. Wow. Bow. Wow. Dogs are parasites in my village and we don’t kneel to them. They chase rabbits for sport.

MASSASOIT barks and chases GEORGE, the rabbit.

STEPHANOOh, God, please save us!

GEORGENo, no. Shsh! We must pray!

STEPHANOThey’ll burn us at the stake for your mockery!

GEORGETrust me!

STEPHANOOh, I trust you’ll get us burned!

STEPHANO drinks.

GEORGE(to Stephano)

Kneel beside us. Come.

GEORGE pulls MASSASOIT close.

I will take you to the netherworld where spirits live and bring you to the way of the cross.

(as a dirge)

Full fathom five thy father lies;

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Of his bones are coral made;Those are pearls that were his eyes:

Nothing of him doth fade,But doth suffer a sea-change

Into something rich and strange.Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell:

Ding-dong

MASSASOITDing-dong.

GEORGE The fringed curtains of thine eye advance,And say what thou seest yond.What is’t? A spirit? Thy Father! He speaks to you?

GEORGE holds the cross before them.

STEPHANO(to Massasoit)

I once knelt on a beach on the shores of Africa pleading for a white man to let me go. He took me aboard a ship and chained me to its deck. One morning as I lay beneath the sails, I saw them carry a body out of the hold. My father. They carried him like cargo to the side of the ship.

MASSASOITShip!

STEPHANOAnd threw him over. I saw His face below the surface. A school of fish flashed by and I heard him say, - he spoke to me! - Live for your Father. Live for those who die for you. Full fathom five my father lies, of his bones are coral made. We must not let them take you or you will never return home!

MASSASOITBow. Wow. Bow. Wow.

GEORGE(calling out to the ship)

We have brought a Native to God and saved him from sin! (to Massasoit) Lift your hands in praise. (to ship) Glory be to the name of God!

MASSASOITBow. Wow. Bow. Wow.

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PURITANS(off, singing from the ship)

Fairest Lord Jesus, Ruler of all nature,O Thou of God and man the Son, etc.

MASSASOITYou, my friend, Stephano, you are not like the ship shits. You speak from the heart. You are welcome to my village. You Who See the First of the Night.

STEPHANOI wish I could understand your words.

GEORGEHe’s saying, Thou hast done well, fine Ariel!

MASSASOITI have some advice. (taking up the cross) You need to burn this! My people don’t want dog worshippers bow wowing around our burial grounds. Dogs dig up corn from the gravesites like the ship people do. (pawing the beach) They dig and have no respect for our ancestors.

GEORGE(to the ship)

He’s a preacher!

MASSASOIT(to George)

Get rid of this! Burn it! Burn it in the fire!

MASSASOIT pantomimes fire.

GEORGEThe fires of Hell!

MASSASOITFire! Fire! Now listen. I’ll show you where we can find food. Namohs. In the moonlight.

He pantomimes a stabbing motion with the cross and points into the woods.

Spear namohs!

GEORGEHe wants to go on a crusade!

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MASSASOITSpear namohs for food.

GEORGE(to the ship)

He wants to take the cross to his people! And plant the cross on the shores of the new Jerusalem!

STEPHANONo. I think he’s saying he has food.

GEORGEFood? You have food?

MASSASOITNamohs. Come with me.

GEORGENamohs!

MASSASOIT exits.

STEPHANO(holding George back)

Wait! Wait! You must promise me that in the morning we’ll let him go. We won’t let them take him onto the ship.

GEORGEWhat? He’ll come with us to Jamestown.

STEPHANONo! They’ll enslave him!

GEORGEListen to me! We’ll give him a share in the company. We’ll feature him as an actual Caliban!

STEPHANONo.

GEORGEAll right! I’ll play Miranda! You’ll be Ferdinand! And we’ll do The Real Tempest!

Suddenly, MASSASOIT re-enters with a scream and stabs the cross into the ground. He pantomimes lifting the spear out of a stream at the end of which is a wriggling fish. He pantomimes fish with his hand. He takes it off and eats it.

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MASSASOITCome! I know where we can spear namohs. Namohs. To eat.

STEPHANOFish!

MASSASOITNamohs!

STEPHANONamohs.

GEORGEShow us the best springs! The land! The berries to pluck! Every fertile inch! (To ship on his knees, sotto voce) And they can stay on board and eat their biscuits with worms! (to the ship) Glory be to God!

GEORGE, STEPHANO and MASSASOIT exit to the woods, singing, howling and holding the cross high. There is a distant singing of a joyous hymn from the ship. https://vimeo.com/60904845.

PURITANSFair is the sunshine,Fairer still the moonlight,And all the twinkling starry host; etc.

Lights to black.

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ACT II, Scene 2

Later that night. In the woods. JOHN, with his pistol raised, enters feeling his way in the dark. REBECCA enters disguised in her bearskin. She approaches him and growls. He touches the bear and exits rapidly.

REBECCAWhat powers this bearskin has! In Holland’s brothel, a man would come into my bed in the dark and abuse me no matter what I said. And now John slithering around like a Serpent at night, touches this fur and runs. O, sweet Paradise, I am home and safe at last.

REBECCA crawls under a bush, wraps her bearskin around her and pulls her whale to her. STEPHANO enters stumbling in the dark.

Is he back? No. It’s Stephano! Does he know John is in the woods?

STEPHANO undoes his pants to pee.

REBECCAPssst.

STEPHANO(looking down to see what he’s hearing)

I’ve had too much to drink.

REBECCAPssst.

STEPHANOBut in the morning, I’ll be back on the ship and I’ll be free.

REBECCAPsst.

REBECCA crawls towards him, disguised as a bear.

Stephano.

STEPHANOWho’s there?

REBECCAIt’s me.

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STEPHANOA bear! Oh, God, is this my fate?

STEPHANO falls to his knees expecting to die.

REBECCANo! Shhh! It’s me.

REBECCA drops the bearskin from her shoulders.

STEPHANOMistress Stanford!? Is it you?

REBECCAYes.

STEPHANOI can hardly believe it.

REBECCAI’ve been in the woods for days wanting to talk with you.

They kiss.

STEPHANOI thought you drowned.

REBECCAI was washed overboard, and I floated ashore.

STEPHANOA miracle!

They kiss again.

I have good news. Last night, we convinced the Puritans that George is a God-fearing Christian, and they’re going to take us back on board, despite what John wants.

REBECCAThey are?

STEPHANOGeorge has gold on the ship. He’ll buy my indenture and free me. I can learn the carpenter’s trade and build a cottage like we dreamed. What’s the matter?

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REBECCAI can’t go back on the ship.

STEPHANOOh, yes.

REBECCAJohn thinks I’m dead.

STEPHANOYes.

REBECCAThis is our chance. I met a woman who gave me this bearskin. Her husband is the man you captured. Hopefully they’ll take us in.

STEPHANOAnd we’ll live in the woods?

REBECCAIt’s not near London, but it is our Garden of Eden, if we let it be. We’ll begin at the beginning.

STEPHANOLike in the Bible?

REBECCAYes.

STEPHANOWe’ll be God’s children in Paradise. Just us.

REBECCAYes.

STEPHANOYou and me.

REBECCAYes.

They kiss.

REBECCAAnd Nathan.

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STEPHANOOh.

REBECCAWe have to start our theatre.

STEPHANOBut….

REBECCAI’ll talk to him. I know he found religion but—

STEPHANOHe still wants to go to Jamestown.

REBECCABut we can make a theatre here.

STEPHANOThere’s no audience.

REBECCAThere are people. You befriended one. And I did. And I came across a village that was abandoned and fields that were harvested. The people must be somewhere. I want you to take Nathan’s whale to show him I’m here.

STEPHANOHis whale?

REBECCAYes. It’s how I floated ashore.

STEPHANODear God! It has his gold in it. There’s so much.

STEPHANO looks for the gold in the whale.

REBECCAGo tell Nathan now. I can’t be seen. Go on.

STEPHANOHe wants to sail to Jamestown.

REBECCAIf he really has to go there, we’ll walk.

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STEPHANOThat’s impossible. It’s weeks away, by sea. They were plotting their course, before I was brought ashore. I know.

REBECCAOh.

STEPHANOAnyway, he burned the script to prove he’s a good Christian.

REBECCAHe did?

STEPHANOThey were threatening to burn us at the stake. They’ll accept him now as a Christian. He can go on without us.

REBECCABut he has to know he doesn’t have to.

STEPHANOHe made hymns from Shakespeare’s songs. He converted the Indian for the Puritans. He pretended Massasoit was Caliban.

REBECCAWas he acting?

STEPHANOHe’s a liar. That’s all he knows how to do.

REBECCAThen he was putting on a show? A pantomime? Is that what he was doing?

STEPHANO(reluctantly)

Yes.

REBECCAThank God! I’m so relieved. I thought I was abandoned to do solo performances. We’re going to start our theatre!

STEPHANOI was hoping you….

REBECCAI know you refused to be a part of it, but we need you in the company.

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STEPHANOMistress Stanford.

REBECCAI’m not your mistress anymore.

STEPHANOBut I’m not Ferdinand or Ariel or Miranda.

GEORGE(off)

Stephano!

REBECCAYou’re no longer Stephano, either. You’re that prince that was born in Africa long ago. You told me your name once.

STEPHANOI was born Ukawsaw Gronniosaw.

REBECCAThat’s it. In the new world, we can start all over again. You can be Ferdinand, who was a prince, or Othello or Ukawsaw.

STEPHANOI only want to be your Adam.

REBECCAWell, you are! You are the most Adam-like man I’ve known. Adam stayed with his Eve after the Fall. You stayed with me at Lord Pembroke’s house and Holland’s Brothel and in the Puritan household of Hell. And now we’re back in Paradise. We can start all over again.

They kiss and embrace.

STEPHANOYou know who the Serpent is. George! He abandoned you.

REBECCAI know but—

STEPHANOI want us to teach the Natives to read scripture like you did me. We’ll read the story of Adam and Eve with them. We can act it out without the Serpent.

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GEORGE(off)

Stephano! Are you there?! They’re coming!

STEPHANOIf he stays, he’ll make us do a Shakespearean version of the story. Adam will kill his Eve like Othello did Desdemona. The serpent Iago will make me turn against you.

REBECCAOh, Adam. In The Tempest, Ferdinand says to his Miranda: “O you,So perfect and so peerless, are createdOf every creature’s best!”

STEPHANOYes.

REBECCAAren’t I made of every creature’s best?

STEPHANOYes.

REBECCABut it’s only through the theatre that I can be my best.

STEPHANOIf he takes you away from me.

REBECCAHe won’t.

STEPHANOHow do I know?

REBECCAYou have to trust me. You know what it is to be denied who you are.

STEPHANOYes.

REBECCAAnd how exciting it is to have the chance to be who you are.

STEPHANOYes.

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REBECCANow is my chance. Nathan is a carpenter, an actor, a director, a producer. With him I can create a place to be freely who I am. And so can you. Go tell Nathan. Take the gold so he knows he can stay.

STEPHANOAnd if he doesn’t want to?

REBECCAI’ll talk to him.

They kiss.

STEPHANOI don’t want to share you again with anyone.

REBECCAGo. God says, it is “not good that a person is left alone,” so come back soon.

STEPHANOI’ll be back for you.

STEPHANO with the gold exits to the beach. REBECCA with the whale exits into the forest. There are the sounds of drums in the distance. ASKAMABOO appears, directs offstage warriors to hide, then exits. Black.

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ACT II, Scene 3

On the beach. Drumming is closer. MASSASOIT is asleep by the dying embers of a fire. GEORGE tries to wake him. STEPHANO enters.

GEORGEWhere were you?

STEPHANOJust peeing.

GEORGEThey are lowering boats to come ashore. I tore off a blank corner of The Tempest and charred it in the fire to make it look like we burned the whole manuscript.

STEPHANOYou didn’t burn it as you promised?

GEORGEIf we burn plays for the Puritans, they’ll next think they can burn actors. (trying to wake him) Massasoit.

STEPHANOI’ve decided I want to go with him before they get ashore.

GEORGEWhat?

STEPHANOI’ll teach the Indians how to read, with Rebecca’s Bible, in memory of her.

He gets the Bible.

GEORGEIf the Puritans catch you, they’ll whip you. I’ll free you and teach you carpentry when we build our stage in Jamestown.

STEPHANOI don’t feel right being a part of your theatre.

GEORGEWhy?

STEPHANOYou stole your gold, didn’t you?

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GEORGEI borrowed it from the young Earl of Pembroke.

STEPHANOStole it.

GEORGEYes.

STEPHANOWouldn’t it be better to start your theatre without stolen gold?

GEORGEBe an amateur company?

STEPHANOIf they find you stole—

GEORGEThey’ll thank me for it. The abundance of fur. The namohs in the ocean. Netted and salted. The value of real estate. All because I built my theatre. They’ll beg me to be patrons.

STEPHANOThat’s all the more reason I can’t be part of your theatre.

GEORGEWhat reason?

STEPHANOThey are the men who made coral of my father’s bones.

GEORGEYou can play Othello to show the treachery--

STEPHANOI don’t want to be in a Shakespearean tragedy. I want to live in Paradise, and teach the natives how to read the Bible. There are two men in armor with blunderbusses in the boat. When these pious men of Zion land, all your Ariels and Calibans will be enslaved! And Prospero burned!

GEORGEWhat has gotten into you? We’ll get to Jamestown where the Puritans will be outnumbered. I’ll teach you how to love the theatre, even acting.

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STEPHANOThe only role I want to play is Adam. Massasoit.

GEORGEAll right, we’ll start with the Mystery Plays, but you’ll need an Eve. We can find women in Jamestown. Pocahontas had sisters.

STEPHANONo! Rebecca is the only Eve I ever wanted to know or ever will know.

GEORGEYou have to move on.

STEPHANOI will.

GEORGEGood.

STEPHANOThat’s why I’m going with him.

GEORGE They’ll accuse me of letting you go.

STEPHANOMassasoit.

GEORGEJust wait until I get my gold. I’ll settle your service.

STEPHANOMassasoit.

MASSASOITOh. My head. What were we drinking? The drumming in my head.

STEPHANOLook.

MASSASOIT sees the boats approach the shore.

MASSASOITOh. There is going to be a war. My people are getting ready to attack.

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STEPHANO(to Massasoit)

I want to come with you.

GEORGE takes ahold of STEPHANO.

GEORGEThey’ll blame me for your escape!

He grabs STEPHANO by the ankle.

I have a plan!

STEPHANOLet go.

GEORGEPush me and knock me down so they see I tried to stop you.

STEPHANO(pushing him away)

No! If they catch us, they’ll punish us worse than you!

GEORGEThen something else! We have to show them! I’ll tell them you went to convert the Indians. Pray with me. One last time! (to Massasoit) Bow wow. Bow wow in front of the cross.

MASSASOITNo more bow wows.

GEORGEPlease!

GEORGE falls on the ground crying and gnashing his teeth. STEPHANO and MASSASOIT reluctantly kneel. GEORGE scrambles to his knees.

O, Almighty God of Playwrights and Actors, You last saw me as the King of France at the Globe, but now I am but a poor player in need of lines, who’ll live in your will as I did in Will’s will...

JOHN appears at the edge of the forest. MASSASOIT kneels.

…if You help me escape this terrible tragedy.

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STEPHANOAmen! We have to go! Amen.

MASSASOITBow-wow. Bow-wow. Come.

MASSASOIT starts to exit followed by STEPHANO. JOHN steps from behind a tree pointing his pistol at them. The drumming in the distances crescendos during the scene.

JOHNSo in your time in the wilderness you taught a savage to desecrate the cross.

GEORGEHe was bowing, sir. And wowing. (demonstrating) Bowing and Wowing.

JOHNStay on your knees. Nathan Field.

GEORGEYou must be mistaken.

JOHNGet down!

GEORGEI am George Greene.

JOHNLast night, the people on the ship—

MASSASOITShip!

JOHN--were fooled by your play, but I was in the woods nearby. I heard those songs at the Globe. You played the Prince of France once.

GEORGEBut, sir…

JOHNI saw you hide the book of spells on your person.

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GEORGEThe spells are gone. The words returned to the thin air as smoke. Sir, the charred remains…

JOHNI saw you burn one page from it before you hid it on your person. (takes out a rope) Stephano, tie him up. We will burn him for his Satanic worship.

GEORGEI brought the savage to Christ.

JOHNTie him up!

STEPHANOSir.

JOHNDo as I say.

STEPHANOThis is not England.

JOHNDid you hear my command?

STEPHANOWe are in not in England, sir.

JOHNDo as I say!

STEPHANOIn the eyes of the Lord---

JOHNTie him up!

STEPHANOI am no longer English. I am Adam and I am going to live in Paradise.

JOHNYou are my indentured servant under the common laws of England.

STEPHANOThere are no laws in Paradise except God’s.

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GEORGE(starts to circle John and others adjust)

And we don’t know who He talks to.

JOHNDo you hear me?!

GEORGEYou are surrounded by men who are living outside the law!

MASSASOITMen like him must be fought.

JOHN points gun at MASSASOIT.

GEORGEThere is no need to shoot him!

JOHN points the gun at GEORGE.

STEPHANOI will not tie him up!

JOHN points gun at STEPHANO.

JOHN(to Stephano)

Do as I say!

GEORGEAriel! Caliban!

JOHN points gun at GEORGE. GEORGE tosses cross to MASSASOIT.

Namohs!

MASSASOIT yells and moves towards JOHN. JOHN points the pistol at him. STEPHANO grabs the pistol. It fires into the air. MASSASOIT lifts the cross and stabs JOHN.

MASSASOIT

(standing over John, pushing the cross into him) I burn more fiercely than your fire stick!

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JOHNSavage! Murderer! Murderer!

GEORGE falls to the ground and calls out to the people on the ship.

GEORGEDon’t kill me! Please don’t kill me!

STEPHANO takes the Bible.

MASSASOIT(to Stephano)

What is he doing?

GEORGEI don’t want to die!

STEPHANOHe’s acting!

GEORGE(aside to Massasoit)

Take it. You have to show them you want to kill me. (to the ship) Have mercy on me!

STEPHANOHe’s an actor!

MASSASOITActor. (putting on an act, he lifts the cross) I will kill you!

GEORGENo! No!

MASSASOIT drops the cross and laughs.

MASSASOITHe’s funny. We have to go.

STEPHANO(to George)

Good luck with your theatre in Jamestown.

STEPHANO drops the bag of gold next to GEORGE.

GEORGEMy gold! My gold! Where did you find it?

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STEPHANOOn the beach. Goodbye.

STEPHANO and MASSASOIT exit. JOHN grabs GEORGE by the ankle.

JOHNYou let them get away!

GEORGEMe, sir? I tried to stop them! (breaking loose and getting the pistol, shouting into the woods) Vile hag-seed! I will tear you limb from limb! I will battle you to the death! Get back! Back! (to John) I frightened them off.

JOHNDear God, you were terrible as the Prince of France. You could never play Falstaff. Help me.

GEORGESir? I saved your life.

JOHN dies.

Oh. Sir? You never would have relieved me with your prayers, nor pardoned my crimes. I could never be a dweller in this land confined to your Puritan hell. (to himself) Pull yourself together. (He pantomimes praying.) Spirits enforce, art enchant. All the strength I have is in my charms. I will not end in despair. (He picks up his script.) I will have my stuff of dreams. (to Puritans in the boats) He is dead! He confided in me his dying wish: We must sail to Jamestown! The family of Pocahontas will help us!

GEORGE picks up his bag of gold.

Wait. How did my gold float ashore? Stephano took Rebecca’s Bible.

He searches through the bag.

And he cast himself as Adam, so he must have an Eve. And is that Eve, Becky?! Did she get ashore with my whale and my gold?! (to the ship) Go on without me! I’m staying ashore to convert the Indians!

GEORGE, taking with him the gold, pistol, bag, script and cross exits. Lights to black. Drumming in the distance begins and crescendos, then stops. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahiWyFE4E2c

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ACT II, Scene 4

ASKAMABOO and REBECCA appear from the bushes and watch their men run down the beach towards them.

ASKAMABOOThe Spirit of the Bear is finally in Massasoit. Hopefully the Great Spirit will lift the fever sickness from our people.

REBECCAYes.

ASKAMABOOYour little canoe is leaving without you. They’re raising their great white wings on the big ship to fly away. You better go. You don’t want to be left behind.

REBECCAThank you very much. You are so kind. We do want to stay with you.

ASKAMABOOYou understand things very well.

MASSASOIT and STEPHANO enter at a run. STEPHANO jumps into the arms of REBECCA and spins around. MASSASOIT jumps into the arms of ASKAMABOO. They spin around happily.

STEPHANOHe’s dead. John is dead.

REBECCAWe’re free at last.

STEPHANOHe was going to kill George and enslave me and kidnap Massasoit. God is a just God, isn’t He?

REBECCAYes.

STEPHANOA righteous God?

REBECCAYes.

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STEPHANOYou must not blame either Massasoit or me for defending ourselves.

REBECCAI don’t.

MASSASOIT jumps into STEPHANO’s arms and they spin around.

You had to defend yourself, and we’ll never go back.

STEPHANOYes. I brought your Bible.

REBECCAYou did?

STEPHANOYes. We’ll begin again.

He gets on his knees and offers his hand for her to kneel beside him.

REBECCAThere was no Bible in Paradise, you know. Adam and Eve lived without it as God’s children. Where is Nathan?

STEPHANOHe wanted to go to Jamestown.

REBECCAWithout me?

STEPHANOHe stole the gold from the House of Pembroke.

REBECCABut Adam—

STEPHANOI gave him the gold and he wanted to go to Jamestown.

REBECCAI’m his Miranda.

STEPHANOI’m sorry. He said Pocahontas has sisters. We must give a prayer of thanksgiving for this day.

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REBECCABut….

STEPHANO extends his hand to REBECCA. REBECCA reluctantly kneels.

STEPHANOOur Father, Who art in Paradise,Hallowed be thy Name.Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, As it is in Paradise….

MASSASOIT(overlapping with prayer)

Isn’t it funny how they pray on their knees to their Spirit?

ASKAMABOOShould we get on our knees out of respect?

MASSASOITNo. They do crazy things across the water.

STEPHANOExcuse us. We are guests in your house. Will you join us in prayer?

MASSASOITNo bow wow.

ASKAMABOOBow wow?

MASSASOITThat means get on your knees and raise your hands up. (to Stephano) No bow wow. The sun is up and we have to go.

ASKAMABOO(hugging Rebecca goodbye)

You have a long journey across the water and we have a long walk ahead of us. We wish you well and a safe journey back across the water.

ASKAMABOO and MASSASOIT start to exit. REBECCA and STEPHANO start to follow them.

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REBECCAThey’re saying good-bye.

STEPHANOWait. You can’t leave us.

REBECCAWe want to go with you.

ASKAMABOODid you ask them to come with us?

MASSASOITThey could.

ASKAMABOOI don’t know if it would work out. She has no family. No land. He looks like he can hunt. But where are they going to live?

MASSASOITWith us. They can help clear the fields and dig out canoes in the Spring.

ASKAMABOOOh, so you can have them do your work for you.

MASSASOITYes. To earn their way.

ASKAMABOOShe has to leave the whale bladder. They’ll laugh you out of the village, if they see it’s what you thought was a piece of the moon.

MASSASOITPut the moon down. Down.

STEPHANOI think he wants you to put down the whale.

REBECCA tosses it aside.

MASSASOIT(explaining to Stephano)

I told everyone that was a piece of the moon.

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ASKAMABOO(laughing)

A whale’s bladder!

MASSASOIT, REBECCA and STEPHANO laugh, too.

MASSASOITI must have been out of my mind.

GEORGE(off)

Wait! Wait for me!

REBECCAIt’s Nathan!

STEPHANONo.

REBECCAWe’re here!

ASKAMABOOThe rabbit!

REBECCAHello!

MASSASOIT(to Askamaboo)

We’ll have some fun. Hide!

ASKAMABOO and MASSASOIT put on the bear skin and hide.

STEPHANO(stopping Rebecca)

We can’t go to Jamestown with him.

REBECCAHe’s staying with us.

STEPHANONo. We don’t need him.

REBECCAWhat are you saying!?

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STEPHANOWe’ll start a theatre, and we’ll do Bible stories.

REBECCANo!

GEORGE enters out of breath. ASKAMABOO and MASSASOIT rise up behind GEORGE growling.

GEORGEOh! Spare me! Oh!

MASSASOIT(laughing)

Actor!

GEORGE(laughing)

Actor! Actor! Yes! You scared me half to death!

REBECCAAre you all right?

GEORGEBecky, yes. I am so happy to be alive! Her bear is marvelous! She has to be in our company!

REBECCAYes.

GEORGEBecky!

GEORGE jumps into REBECCA’s arms and she spins him around.

REBECCAI thought I’d never see you again.

GEORGEAnd you!

REBECCAI’m so sorry I took your whale.

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GEORGEIt saved you!

REBECCAYes!

GEORGEBut Stephano didn’t tell me you were alive!

REBECCA drops GEORGE.

REBECCAYou didn’t?

GEORGEHe wanted me to go to Jamestown without you!

REBECCA(to Stephano)

You didn’t tell him!?

GEORGE(physically attacking him)

You pious hypocrite!

STEPHANO holds up the Bible in defense.

STEPHANOYou’re the hypocrite acting like you believed in God, speaking with a forked-tongue!

REBECCAStop!

GEORGE and STEPHANO struggle over the Bible.

REBECCAYou won’t fight! You’ll listen to me!

ASKAMABOO(overlapping)

You, men! You don’t know how to listen! (grabbing the Bible) Always squabbling over trivial things. Let her talk and do what she says to do.

MASSASOITThe women have spoken. Do what the Life-Givers say!

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REBECCA(to Askamaboo)

Thank you. (to Stephano) You lied to me.

STEPHANOI was wrong. I’m sorry. (Falling to this knees.) Our Father who art--

REBECCAStop. Why!?

STEPHANOAfter all those years protecting you from other men’s lies, I was afraid of losing you.

GEORGE(coming between them)

He’s hopelessly in love with you.

REBECCA(pushing George aside)

I always thought so, until a moment ago.

STEPHANOI love you.

REBECCAThere’s nothing in the Bible that says you lie to the one you love. I lied to John. I lied to the Earl of Pembroke, but never to you.

GEORGE(coming between them)

Don’t you realize if you played the role of Ferdinand, and you practiced honesty in your acting, you’d get the girl every time. Isn’t that what you want?

STEPHANO(pushing George aside)

In reality, yes.

REBECCAIn reality, you didn’t play your new role of Adam honestly. This isn’t the man I know.

STEPHANOI don’t know what to say.

GEORGEI don’t think he’s ready to play Ferdinand.

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REBECCA(pushing George aside)

On the ship, I asked you to find out if Nathan had anything to read, so when we reached the new world, we could discover truths outside the Bible through our play.

GEORGEHe’ll never be able to play “thus humble ever.”

STEPHANOI am thus humble ever.

GEORGEIt’s easy to say you’re thus humble ever. But can you act it? He has to audition like everyone else.

STEPHANO(to Rebecca)

Why should I have to audition for a role I’ve always known? Ever since I was tossed on the shore of England I thought of you as my Miranda, the most perfect and peerless of all creatures.

GEORGEEnough. You have to audition.

REBECCAAll I’ve ever wanted was to be an actor. Ever since I was a girl on a farm in Leaveland and sent to London as a maid. How can you love me and deny me that?

STEPHANOI’ll never deny you anything ever again.

REBECCAYou have to audition.

GEORGE(to Stephano)

Do you remember the lines in the proposal scene?

STEPHANOThe first scene I read together with you?

GEORGEYes. When you played Miranda horribly. You’re here. You can warm up if you like.

REBECCA leads STEPHANO in a relaxation exercise.

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ASKAMABOO(to Massasoit)

What are they doing?

MASSASOITThis Actor tribe has funny rituals.

GEORGE(showing Massasoit and Askamaboo the script)

This is the proposal scene from Shakespeare’s The Tempest. It’s a very tender moment when all of Prospero’s dreams are coming together in an act of love between his daughter Miranda and a young prince Ferdinand. (to Massasoit) After this, I would like you to read for several roles. I have gold to pay actors and we’re going to be very rich when everyone in your tribe learns English. We’re taking it from here. I know you’ll love it. (to Stephano and Rebecca) All right. I want to remind you of events leading to this scene.

GEORGE confers with REBECCA and STEPHANO.

MASSASOIT(to Askamaboo about the Bible and the script)

What do you think these are?

ASKAMABOOWhatever they are, they create trouble. Do you remember the story your father used to tell about the sailor-ghost? Who promised to bring us all the wampum in the world? And then he takes our land, digs it up and puts fences around it.

MASSASOITYou think this is their wampum?

ASKAMABOOI don’t know. They seem very precious to them.

MASSASOITWe could bury them as a joke and tell them Mother Earth took them back.

ASKAMABOOI don’t think they would appreciate that.

As the following scene is run, MASSASOIT, without ASKAMABOO seeing, hides the Bible and script. REBECCA sees him do it.

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GEORGEAll right. We’re ready to begin. (to Massasoit) You can see how it’s done. Save you’re applause for the end. (to Stephano and Rebecca) Are you ready? Take it from “My husband, then?”

REBECCAMy husband, then?

STEPHANO(overly dramatic, falling to his knee)

Ay, with a heart as willingAs bondage e’er of freedom: here’s my hand.

REBECCAAnd mine, with my heart in ’t. And now farewellTill half an hour hence.

STEPHANOA thousand thousand!

REBECCAIt doesn’t feel right with him on his knees.

STEPHANOShe’s right.

REBECCAWe’re joining together as equals.

STEPHANO(to Rebecca)

Let’s do it more like Adam and Eve, when she’s giving the apple to him.

REBECCAYes!

GEORGEI’m the director. You need to imagine you’re in Lord Pembroke’s aristocratic world.

STEPHANOI’d rather not.

REBECCAMe neither. Let’s do what he says and try it like Adam and Eve.

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GEORGEAll right! Let me see it.

They play the beat this time with true love.

REBECCAMy husband, then?

STEPHANOAy, with a heart as willingAs bondage e’er of freedom: here’s my hand.

REBECCA(holding out her as though with apple)

And mine, with my heart in’t. And now farewellTill half an hour hence.

STEPHANOA thousand thousand!

MASSASOIT sits by the place where the Bible and script are hidden.

GEORGEExcellent! (to Askamaboo and Massasoit) We can applaud. (applauding)

ASKAMABOO and MASSASOIT stare back at him and smile. Pause.

ASKAMABOOAre you ready to go?

MASSASOITWe have to go back to our village to break it down and move for the winter.

GEORGEYou didn’t like it?

ASKAMABOO and MASSASOIT shrug, not understanding.

REBECCAThey don’t understand it.

ASKAMABOO(to Massasoit)

What are they saying?

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MASSASOITI don’t know.

GEORGEAll of a sudden I feel like I want to go home.

GEORGE looks out to the ship sailing away.

STEPHANOIt’s too late.

GEORGESometimes actors…

MASSASOITActors. (with gesture)

GEORGE(fiercely, trying to be understood)

When they perform in a new place, are overwhelmed with a strange feeling. Once I traveled with the King’s Men to a castle outside of London. The hall echoed, the stone floor had no give as did the boards in London, and the daylight peeked inside suspiciously as we rehearsed. We wondered how we could make our story live. Or even if our story mattered to the audience outside of our theater. Of course, they knew our language. Here we are…. With stories that make no sense on this beach and in these woods. Hundreds of miles from Jamestown.

REBECCAWe’ll never sail back to Milan like Miranda and Ferdinand.

GEORGEI’ll never be the King of France again. I am Prospero on his island, with people who are not Caliban or Sycorax. I don’t know the language they speak. The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces, the solemn temples, the great globe itself dissolves. This insubstantial pageant fades, leaving not a rack behind. We’ll never go back.

GEORGE breaks down crying uncontrollably.

REBECCALast night, I dreamed that two sailors came to Askamaboo…

ASKAMABOOAskamaboo.

REBECCAYes. With a Bible and a play which they put under a rock.

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She sits next to the hiding place and puts her hand on it.

They promised if she found them, they would give her all the riches in the world. When she went looking for them in the place they told her, her planting field was dug up and fenced in. The Bible and the play were gone, taken by the sailors, along with her land. But in our story, the Bible and the play can be the seeds we plant. The soil will enrich them, if we plant them with respect for the soil and the people who live here. They will grow nurtured by the spirits that are in the land.

She reveals the Bible and the play.

MASSASOITTada dada dada dada dada. Actor!

ASKAMABOOActor?

REBECCAActor!

STEPHANOActor!

GEORGEWe have a theatre!

REBECCAWe’ll make up stories from the stuff of dreams. (to Stephano) We’ll enact your heroic tale of being kidnapped and escaping to freedom. We’ll do a comedy of your Puritan disguise. And my play will be an epic romance! And our patrons! (kneeling before Massasoit and Askamaboo) We don’t know yet what their stories are, but they will temper everything we create.

STEPHANOWhat about sets and costumes?

REBECCANature can be our backdrop. We’ll make costumes from leather, hats from feathers, and shoes from beads and shells. (to Askamaboo and Massasoit) Dear Majesties of this magnificent Paradise, thank you for accepting us and helping us to find a place for theatre, so we can perform together all the untold stories and all those as yet to unfold as we escape from the Puritan’s grasp.

MASSASOITIn the spring, I’ll teach you how to cut down trees and dig out canoes.

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GEORGEDi-ow-can-o?

MASSASOITDig out canoes. And fish for namohs.

GEORGENamohs!

ASKAMABOOIf you’re not careful, he’ll get you to do all his work.

GEORGEAll his work!

ASKAMABOOHe’ll tell you great stories from his trickster imagination, and at our pow wows…

GEORGEBow wows?

MASSASOITPow wows.

ASKAMABOOHe’ll teach you how to dance.

MASSASOITDance.

GEORGEDance?

MASSASOIT demonstrates. GEORGE, REBECCA and STEPHANO try the step and get into it.

ASKAMABOOFinally you found people as crazy as you are!

MASSASOITMay the ship shits never return to our shores.  

GEORGEShip shits.  

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MASSASOITChickachava!

GEORGEChickachava!

MASSASOITWe will dance this Fall (slapping the sand) On a stage!

STEPHANOOn a stage!

REBECCAOn a stage!

GEORGEOn a stage!

ASKAMABOOOn Mother Earth!

ALLOn Mother Earth!

ASKAMABOOThe sun is up.

MASSASOITWe are the First to Know the Rising Sun. Hub hub hub.

ASKAMABOOWe know the way!

Exeunt, on a run. Music begins. The COMPANY enters singing and dancing to a Native rhythm.

ALLCome unto these yellow sands,

And then take hands:Courtsied when you have and kiss’d

The wild waves whist:Foot it featly here and there;

And, Holy Spirits, the burthen bear.Hark, hark!

Bow. Wow.The watch dogs bark:

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Bow. Wow.

They all howl and raise their hands, palms upward, to the sky. Lights to black.

THE END

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