Vignettes of the Deaf Character and Other Plays

The Girl Who Saved a Village: Adapted from Indian Tales

285 The Girl Who Saved a Village Adapted from Indian Tales Playwright’s Note. Certain members of the ensemble will act as the “visual chorus” for this play. They will perform various roles, such as the Villagers, the trees, and so forth. They will also be “puppeteers ” handling such roles as the gods and the Maharajah’s army. It is important to have an Indian choreographer as a consultant on the movements and mudras (symbolic body and hand movements ) necessary for this play. Cast of Characters NIRANTALI: first mother of the Earth; mystical and enchanting AMRITA: a young village teenager who loves nature and trees; somewhat like a mortal version of Nirantali FIG: Amrita’s pet monkey; a loyal and impish creature GRANDMOTHER: a wise, old lady of the village; Amrita’s grandmother ARNAB: a young teenager of the village; Amrita’s boyfriend MUKESH: a young teenaged refugee from a destroyed village; Arnab’s friend MAHARAJAH: ruler of many Indian villages; a powerful prince RECRUITING OFFICER: a soldier under the Maharajah RAVI: a low-ranking soldier of the Maharajah’s army GODS: supreme beings who sent Nirantali to Earth VILLAGERS: local people who rally around to support Amrita 286 The Girl Who Saved a Village The Setting Time: The present Place: A village in India Scene 1 Darkness. Stars on the cyclorama. We see a small spot of light travel from the stars to the stage. A boom. Then smoke. Lights up on someone in a crouched position onstage. It is NIRANTALI, the first mother of the earth sent by the gods. She slowly rises and majestically does a ceremonial dance in a spotlight. We do not see the floor. She stops. Looks up above the audience members’ heads. Behind her, on the cyclorama, shadow puppets of the GODS appear; they communicate with one another and then to her. Still looking up above the audience, she gestures to them, and they have the following exchange: 1. “I am ready to receive your command.” 2. The GODS gesture something abstract. 3. NIRANTALI is puzzled by what they want. 4. The GODS rephrase their command. 5. She questions them. 6. They confirm. 7. She acknowledges what they want. 8. The GODS fade from view. 9. NIRANTALI’S eyes follow the flight of an object. Another boom. Smoke. A small bag falls from above and lands near NIRANTALI on stage. She goes to pick it up and opens it. She takes out some seeds. She takes a deep breath and throws a seed in one direction. In ASL, she signs SUN. The sun appears. She throws a seed in another direction. She signs MOON. The moon appears. Another seed gets thrown. She signs EARTH. The earth appears and the whole stage is lit, revealing a desert landscape. She is about to throw the rest of the seeds but catches herself. She The Girl Who Saved a Village 287 removes a few from the pile and saves them. Now she throws the pile every which way, and signs PEOPLE! Suddenly people of the village appear, walking and chatting with one another. We see a GRANDMOTHER followed by two youngsters , AMRITA and ARNAB, who are playing with AMRITA’s monkey , FIG. NIRANTALI walks among the VILLAGERS, invisible to them. Eventually, they become very hot from the sun and complain to one another about it. NIRANTALI gets an idea to help keep them cool: she throws a seed way up in the air, which brings forth water. The VILLAGERS enjoy the cooling effects; they drink the water, use it for washing and bathing, etc., but then they become flooded with too much water. Seeing that this didn’t work out too well, NIRANTALI throws a seed far away. Soon a huge wind comes forth that dries everything up. But eventually the wind turns into a small sandstorm. The stranded VILLAGERS shield their eyes, trying to fight the wind. Throughout all of this, NIRANTALI is unaffected by the elements. She realizes again that this was not a very good solution. NIRANTALI takes out her last seed and throws it upstage. She signs TREE. She goes beyond the traditional sign for “tree” to one that continues to grow, expand, root itself, and grows some more. In essence, she does a sign-mime, and perhaps a Dance of the Banyan Tree. As she does this, shadow-puppetry on the cyclorama and/or perhaps actors, reveal the growth...