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#1 Prologue/We Dance (Storytellers)
(In darkness, we hear the sounds of a violent storm. THUNDER roars and LIGHTNING flashes to reveal a group of peasant STORYTELLERS huddled together in fright around a fire. A LITTLE GIRL cries out in terror and the adults begin to tell her a story in order to soothe her)
STORYTELLER 1
There is an island where rivers run deep.
STORYTELLER 2
Where the sparkling sea gives it the name “jewel of the Antilles.”
STORYTELLER 3
An island where poor peasants labor…
STORYTELLER 4
And the wealthiest, the grands hommes, play.
STORYTELLER 6
Two different worlds on one island!
STORYTELLER 5
And big monsters stomp around with three heads - breathing fire. Rarrgh! Rarrgh! RARRGH!
(Others stare. Storyteller smiles sheepishly.)
STORYTELLER 1
The grands hommes own the land.
STORYTELLER 2
They are masters of their own fate.
STORYTELLER 3
The peasants are at the mercy of the wind and the sea...
STORYTELLER 4
...They pray constantly... to the gods.
STORYTELLER 5
Who have big teeth and stomp around with three heads – breathing fire. Rarrgh!
(The other storytellers slap their foreheads. GODS step forward)
ASAKA
Asaka, Mother of the Earth.
AGWE
‘Sup, dudes. I’m Agwe, God of Water. Gnarly.
ERZULIE
Erzulie, beautiful Goddess of Love.
PAPA GE
And Papa Ge, sly Demon of Death.
(Villagers enter the stage)
ALL
ASAKA, GROW ME A GARDEN.
PLEASE AGWE, DON’T FLOOD MY GARDEN.
ERZULIE, WHO WILL MY LOVE BE?
VILLAGERS AND STORYTELLERS
PAPA GE, DON’T COME AROUND ME.
PLEASE AGWE, DON’T FLOOD MY GARDEN
ASAKA, GROW ME A GARDEN...
GROUP 1
WE DANCE...
GROUP 2
WE DANCE...
ALL
TO THE MUSIC OF THE GODS,
THE MUSIC OF THE BREEZES THROUGH
THE GREEN PLANTAIN,
THE MURMUR OF THE RIVER AND THE ROAR OF RAIN.
AND IF THE GODS DECIDE TO SEND A HURRICANE,
WE DANCE TO THE EARTH,
WE DANCE TO THE WATER.
THE GODS AWAKE AND WE TAKE NO CHANCE
OUR HEARTS HEAR THE SONG
OUR HEARTS MOVE ALONG
AND TO THE MUSIC OF THE GODS
WE DANCE!
(the “grands hommes” enter striking elegant poses. DANIAL BEAUXHOMME and ANDREA DEVEREAUX enter)
ANDREA
On the other side of the island, safe behind high walls and iron gates…
DANIELLE
...the grands hommes dance to a different tune.
ALL GRAND HOMMES
LA, LA LA LA
LA LA LA
LA!
DANIELLE
They drink champagne, entertain tourists at their fine hotels, and tell servants,
ANDREA
“Polish up the Mercedes.”
ALL GRAND HOMMES
LA, LA LA LA
LA LA LA
LA!
ANDREA, DANIELLE VILLAGERS
HOW FINE OUR CLOTHES ARE! WE DANCE...
HOW FAST WE DRIVE! WE DANCE...
WE DANCE AT PARTIES...
ALL VILLAGERS
WHILE WE ARE DANCING JUST TO STAY ALIVE!
(ANDREA and DANIELLE rejoin the group.)
ALL
WE DANCE TO THE EARTH,
WE DANCE TO THE WATER.
THE GODS AWAKE AND WE TAKE NO CHANCE.
OUR HEARTS HEAR THE SONG
OUR FEET MOVE ALONG
AND TO THE MUSIC OF THE GODS,
WE DANCE TO THE EARTH
WE DANCE TO THE WATER
THE GODS AWAKE AND WE TAKE NO CHANCE...
(DANIELLE and TI MOUNE separate themselves from the group and begin to move slowly toward one another, PAPA GE steps between them)
PAPA GE
Two different worlds...
BOYS AND GIRLS
OOH LA!
ASAKA
Never meant to meet...
ALL
OOH LA!
AGWE
But, if the Gods move our feet...
VILLAGERS
WE DANCE!
WE DANCE!
WE DANCE!
(STORYTELLERS take their original positions around the fire as the storm rises again)
STORYTELLERS
The story of Ti Moune.
#2 One Small Girl/Waiting for Life
STORYTELLER 6
One small girl in a tree.
STORYTELLER 1
Torn from her mother and crying in fright
STORYTELLER 2
Tossed by sea and left to face the stormy night.
STORYTELLER 3
At last, the storm subsided and the morning sun glowed.
STORYTELLER 4
Two old peasants came cautiously down the road…
STORYTELLER 5
Probably looking out for monsters.
(The other storytellers shush #5. The storm ceases and morning arrives. MAMA and JULIA come down the road.)
MAMA
Ah, Julia, just listen to those birds.
LITTLE TI MOUNE
Waah!
(MAMA and JULIA stop and look around)
MAMA
What kind of bird is that?
JULIA
Ah, that is the rare Australian swallow. It’s cousin makes a call like rikki-tikki-tik. But the Australian swallow sounds more like
MAMA
A little girl!
JULIA
Precisely.
MAMA
What is your name?
(A Silence. LITTLE TI MOUNE doesn’t respond. ERZULIE makes a gesture. MAMA and JULIA draw back.)
JULIA
We are simply too old for children.
MAMA
We have no room and no food.
(ERZULIE gestures again and MAMA and JULIA turn back towards LITTLE TI MOUNE)
ERZULIE
And not knowing quite why, they followed their hearts back to the tree.
(LITTLE TI MOUNE screams very loudly)
LITTLE TI MOUNE
No!
PAPA GE
And discovered she could speak after all.
ASAKA
And they mended the clothes she tore.
AGWE
The hut was totally crowded and food was totally like nowhere.
ERZULIE
But somehow, their lives held more for the small girl to live for.
PAPA GE
They named her “Ti Moune”.
LITTLE TI MOUNE
What does “Ti Moune” mean, Mama?
MAMA
It means “little orphan.”
JULIA
I wanted to call you Hirundo Australis.
LITTLE TI MOUNE
What’s that mean?
JULIA
Australian Swallow.
MAMA
You were saved by the gods for something special.
LITTLE TI MOUNE
Saved for what?
MAMA
Ti Moune, if we knew why the gods did the things they do we would be gods ourselves!
LITTLE TI MOUNE
Someday I’m going to ask them!
(LITTLE TI MOUNE vanishes and in her place stands a full grown version. STORYTELLERS begin to work in the field.)
TI MOUNE - WAITING FOR LIFE
STORYTELLER 4
And the gods heard her prayer.
(The GODS, except Asaka, burst into raucous laughter, looking down at the sleeping TI MOUNE)
ASAKA
(curious)
This peasant girls seems to have high aspirations.
AGWE
Let’s throw mangoes at her!
ERZULIE
What?
PAPA GE
Big, juicy mangoes!
AGWE
Incoming!
(Papa Ge and Agwe throw ‘mangoes’ [foam balls])
PAPA GE
Boom! Direct hit!
AGWE
Knock some sense in her head.
PAPA GE
Scare her half to death!
ERZULIE
Give her what she wants.
PAPA GE and AGWE
Give her what she...?
ERZULIE
Yes, give her what she wants.
PAPA GE
Ridiculous!
ASAKA
Interesting.
AGWE
More amusing than mangos maybe... Or, better yet, let’s throw chickens! Or cheese!
PAPA GE
This girl should be sent away.
ASAKA
Not in the way you imagine.
ERZULIE
She should be given the chance to prove herself.
ASAKA
She should go on a journey… a quest.
AGWE
Or… and I’m just brainstorming here. We could throw cheese and chickens at her.
PAPA GE
I like her idea.
ASAKA
No.
ERZULE
I will give her strength when the time is right.
ASAKA
I will guide her way.
AGWE
I’ll provide the place where two different worlds meet.
PAPA GE
And I will make her choose.
ALL GODS
(A pact)
Tonight!
(ERZULIE, PAPA GE and ASAKA EXIT, as AGWE creates a mysterious night of rain.)
(TI MOUNE begins to wake up)
(DANIELLE enters driving through the dark rainy night. The STORYTELLERS make up the body of the car.)
(DANIELLE crashes and lies unconscious. AGWE exits.)
TI MOUNE
Help! Someone! Come quickly! A boy is hurt! Help me, someone!
(A silence. SHE realizes no one is coming. She approaches DANIELLE.)
Hello? Can you hear me?
STORYTELLER 1
She roared down the road!
STORYTELLER 2
Going too fast around the curves.
STORYTELLER 3
Sent us scrambling off the road like chickens.
TI MOUNE
Please! She needs help!
JULIA
The rich will send police.
MAMA
And if she lives, how angry the Gods will be!
STORYTELLER 4
The only thing that will save the girl’s life is to send her back to her world!
TI MOUNE
The only thing that will save the girl’s life is me!
JULIA
I will find where she comes from.
MAMA
Julia, no!
JULIA
I will find who she is. In the meantime, you care for her, Ti Moune.
STORYTELLER 5
Bidding them goodbye, Julia went skipping down the road toward the black mountains.
JULIA
I’m not skipping! …It was much more of a ‘canter’.
STORYTELLER 1
He went off into a world he knew nothing of...
STORYTELLER 2
The world of the grande hommes.
STORYTELLER 3
The peasants carried the girl to the village and laid him on Ti Moune’s mat.
ALL STORYTELLERS
One day gone by.
STORYTELLER 4
The girl has the will of Papa Ge himself.
STORYTELLER 5
Clinging to life by one small thread.
STORYTELLER 6
If it hadn’t been for Julia’s daughter,
STORYTELLER 1
She’d certainly be dead!
ALL STORYTELLERS
Two days gone by.
MAMA
You need food and sleep. You can’t go on without any sleep!
TI MOUNE
Mama, sshh.
MAMA
Have some tea.
TI MOUNE
Her skin is hot.
MAMA
Have a rest.
TI MOUNE
She needs me here!
TI MOUNE and MAMA
I know what’s best!
VILLAGER 1
Now the sky is growing dim.
VILLAGER 2
And the clouds are racing by.
(Meanwhile, JULIA arrives at a gate)
GATEKEEPER
You want what?
JULIA
I’ve come so far and I need--
GATEKEEPER
Get back!
JULIA
I have some news for Monsieur--
GATEKEEPER
Get back! Ain’t no one can see the Wizard. No how!
JULIA
What?
GATEKEEPER
Sorry. I just always wanted to say that.
JULIA
Monsieur Beauxhomme has a--
GATEKEEPER
Pig!
JULIA
No. I mean, maybe he does, but—
GATEKEEPER
You don’t understand. I was calling you ‘pig’, pig.
JULIA
Please, I beg! I must see Monsieur—
GATEKEEPER
Monsieur Beauxhomme!?
JULIA
I have come so far! I have found her daughter!
VILLAGER 1
Now the sky has turned to black.
VILLAGER 2
And the wind is like a knife.
VILLAGER 3
Papa Ge is coming back for the girl who clings to life.
VILLAGER 4
And one will have the gods to repay!
STORYTELLER 4
Some say it was the worst storm the gods have ever sent.
STORYTELLER 5
The Peasants prayed that they would live to see the morning.
TI MOUNE
I am a tree holding away the storm.
PAPA GE
Arrogant fool!
TI MOUNE
Stay away! I won’t let you have her. Take my life for hers!
PAPA GE
What?
STORYTELLER 1
But the Beauxhommes came and reclaimed their injured daughter.
STORYTELLER 2
They took her back to their fine hotel, with its fine high iron gates, on the other side of the island.
STORYTELLER 5
It’s really nice. Has a big pool and everything.
TI MOUNE
No! Let her go! You can’t take her! Come back!
JULIA
Now the gods are happy. She is in her world and you are here in ours.
MAMA
Let the gods decide her fate.
TI MOUNE
I must follow her!
JULIA
Are you mad? Crazy? Livin’ la vida loca?
TI MOUNE
Give me your blessing and let me go. I will go!
MAMA
What can we say to stop her now?
JULIA
She has heard her drums of destiny; the fanfare of fate; the ukulele of urgency.
MAMA
Her heart has all the answers.
JULIA
Even if you get to the Hotel Beauxhomme, you will never get through the gate. Trust me.
TI MOUNE
I will get there, Julia. I will get through the gate. I’m not a child any longer.
(All three embrace. But then, TI MOUNE pulls away. SHE runs off.)
STORYTELLER 3
And Ti Moune set off into the world.
STORYTELLER 4
She left behind the ones who loved her.
STORYTELLER 5
She was eaten by a lion.
STORYTELLER 1
No. She wasn’t.
STORYTELLER 2
On every side was the terrible devastation of the storm.
STORYTELLER 3
But on this island, the earth sings as soon as a storm ends.
STORYTELLER 4
And as Ti Moune set out, she realized she was walking with old friends.
STORYTELLER 1
The birds...
STORYTELLER 2
The trees...
STORYTELLER 3
The frogs...
STORYTELLER 4
The breeze...
STORYTELLER 5
Elvis…
(Storyteller 5 is suddenly hit with a ‘mango’)
AGWE
That’s enough, little storyteller dude.
STORYTELLER 1
Listening to nature’s gifts, Ti Moune lost all her fear.
ALL STORYTELLERS
She knew Asaka was near!
ASAKA
You’ve never been away from the sea, child
You’re gonna need a helping hand.
A fish has got to learn to swim on land!
ALL
WALK WITH ME LITTLE GIRL
DON’T YOU BE AFRAID.
FOLLOW ME, LITTLE GIRL,
LET ME BE YOUR GUIDE
A PRETTY THING LIKE YOU
WILL NEED A THING OR TWO
AND WHATEVER YOU NEED,
MAMA WILL PROVIDE
ALL GODS
DOWN THE ROAD LITTLE GIRL,
YOU MAY LOSE YOUR WAY
ALL ALONE IN A WORLD
THAT MAY SEEM TOO WIDE
BUT SIT ON MAMA’S LAP
AND I (SHE) WILL DRAW A MAP
ALL
AND WHATEVER YOU NEED,
MAMA WILL PROVIDE!
ASAKA
I’LL PROVIDE YOU:
ALL
Moss!
ASAKA
TO SOFTEN THE ROAD
ALL
Rocks!
ASAKA
TO SIT ON!
ALL
Trees!
ASAKA
TO SLEEP UNDERNEATH
ALL
Sand!