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PARTWAY DOWN LADDER

  (SAILOR SHOUTS ABOVE STORM, CLINGS TO LADDER)

  SAILOR: Men overboard! All men up to secure the mast. Up, up fast !!

  SOUND: SAILOR PULLS UP THROUGH HATCH. GHOSTLY CHANTING BEGINS

  SIRI: (FRIGHTENED) Rubin, no!

  RUBIN: Be good, Siri. Siri isn’t afraid.

  SIRI: Rubin, I see!

  RUBIN: You see a storm, dark night, close to America. You see a man not hiding.

  SIRI: Please, Rubin. I see them all being swept into the water!

  RUBIN: I have to go up, Siri. You know that...if you have sight. (PAUSE) Tell me you know.

  SIRI: I know.

  SOUND: CLOTH WITH COINS COMING OUT OF POCKET

  RUBIN: Be wise. Remember, you are strong. You have the swift running mind. Take the coins.

  SIRI: No.

  RUBIN: Take them. Gramma. Take care of this one if I don’t see you. You call me honey tongue, but she is the poet. Of plain tongue, and of the French. Soon English too. She will make our island proud.

  SIRI: Rubin...

  SOUND: A LONG CRY FROM ABOVE

  RUBIN: And though she is sweet as a soft fig, her will, is fierce.

  SIRI: Rubin, I will follow you.

  RUBIN: You will obey me. And stay. Unless I call you. Now. Take your child.

  SOUND: CHANTING GROWS HIGHER

  SIRI: Come, baby child. (CALLING) Rubin!

  SOUND: RUBIN CLIMBING LADDER

  SIRI: Mambo. I fear now.

  OLD WOMAN: Nothing more to fear. We know all the fears. No darkness that has not taken us. No scream in the fire. No squeal of bodies torn, pieces ripped, eyes, bowels, sex torn away from still living souls. We know it all, we have it all on the tongue, in the brain, all still live, still, alive.

  SIRI: I denied my loa, my Sirene.

  OLD WOMAN: She has no anger. All love.

  SIRI: I brought him here. He could have led. He goes by my hand.

  OLD WOMAN: What do you see in the red sky?

  SIRI: Here. Take the child... And the coins.

  SOUND: SHIFTING BABY AND COINS

  OLD WOMAN: Why give me this...this baby?

  SIRI: In America...baptize him, pass him over the fire, do it well. Call him Agwe, for god of the sea.

  OLD WOMAN: Girl, I am old. It’s for you to replace mea. I know nothing.

  SIRI: You have strength now. Tell him about Christophe. You have as much milk as me.

  OLD WOMAN: What do you see, girl?

  SIRI: Call her, call! Sirene of the water. She takes me now. I dance the dance.

  SOUND: THE CHANT BECOMES DRUMMING, WITH SOUNDS OF STORM

  OLD WOMAN: Sway, child, now sway. Sirene is your loa. Sirene of the water. She will attend. Does the man dwell with water?

  SOUND: VOICES AND PERCUSSION “CREATE” DANCE. MANY VOICES BACK UP SIRI’S SONG

  SIRI: (SWAYING) I see...

  He dwells in water

  turquoise clear water

  floating so lightly

  singing cool in the sun

  OLD WOMAN: Dance, child, dance.

  SIRI: He slices through water

  turquoise clear water

  embraces me laughing

  tumbling as one

  (SIRI’S DANCE APPROACHES FRENZY)

  SIRI: Our limbs twine in water

  world under turquoise

  bubbles veer lightward

  from the bed we have won

  SIRI: (TRIUMPANT SOUND, RISING INTO DISTANCE) Aaaaaaaaaah!

  OLD WOMAN: Up child, up the ladder, as though you fly! You join him, I know.

  MUSIC: CHANTING GROWS INTO DEEP CHORD OF MUSIC RESOLVING UP AND UP

  OLD WOMAN: Dance your dance freely, child

  Enter the stream

  Waken tomorrow

  From your dark dream

  SOUND: SURF LAPPING SHORE

  MUSIC: RHYTHMIC ISLAND MUSIC AND CHANTING UP, THEN HOLD UNDER…

  ANNOUNCER: Haiti: A Dream by Karen Sunde, directed by Marjorie Van Halteren om collaboration with The People’s Light and Theatre Company

  MUSIC: ORCHESTRA, DRAMATIC, RHYTHMIC UP, THEN HOLD UNDER CREDITS…

  END OF PRODUCTION

  THE SOUND OF SAND

  Winner of Bob Hope Award

  From National Foundation for the Blind

  MUSIC: HARMONICA. IN SLOW. ESTABLISH. HOLD UNDER,

  ANNOUNCER: In cooperation with the American Foundation for the Blind, the Iowa State University Players present... The Sound of Sand.

  MUSIC: UP. AS THEME ENDS, SEGUE SOUND.

  SOUND: BEACH NOISES. HOLD UNDER.

  PETIE: (EXCITEDLY) Come on, Dad. Hurry! Let’s find a good place.

  BRUCE: Hold on there, boy. Mustn’t move too fast for your mother. She’s not so young anymore, you know.

  IRENE: (FADING IN) I heard that, you two characters. I guess I can keep up with the best of you. Well, where’s it going to be?

  PETIE: By the water. I want to get down near the water. Can we, Dad?

  BRUCE: Sounds fine to me. (AS THOUGH LOOKING FOR A SPOT) Mmmm, okay. A sharp left, son. I think I see a spot.

  PETIE: This way, Dad?

  BRUCE: (LAUGHING) Yes, but don’t pull. Don’t pull. We’ll get there.

  SOUND: OFF: “LAST ONE IN IS IT” (FADE OFF) LIGHT SURF. “COME ON, DENNY.” (LAUGHTER.

  BRUCE: Here we are. How about this?

  IRENE: Just fine, dear. It’s not even very crowded.

  SOUND: LIGHT SPLASHI NG AND LAUGHTER,

  PETIE: I hear splashing! How close are we?

  IRENE: About as close as we can get without soaking the sandwiches.

  BRUCE: I’d say…about twenty feet. Here Petie, put down your pail and help me spread the blanket.

  PETIE: Sure Dad.

  SOUND: FLAP OF BLANKET

  BRUCE: That’ll do it.

  PETIE: Can I go in, Mom?

  IRENE: Not just yet, Petie. We have to go back to the car to get our lunch.

  BRUCE: Why don’t you stay here with the blanket till your mother and I get back?

  IRENE: Oh, Bruce. Do you think he should…I mean…we’ve never been here before. (NOT TOO CONCERNED)

  PETIE: Aww, Mom. I’ll be okay.

  BRUCE: Of course he’ll be okay.

  IRENE: (GOOD-NATURED) The minority sex is over-ruled again. (FADING OFF) Behave yourself, young man. We’ll be right back.

  PETIE: O.K. (CALLING) Don’t forget the cookies.

  SOUND: OUT.

  MUSIC: HARMONICA SNEAKS IN, HOLD UNDER ALL “THINKING”