Choreo Script

Catalogue of unfolding ideas:  Choreo Script

When the elephant comes crashing through the roof.

Celeste Miller and Justin Thomas

Music: Chip Epsten

Costumes: Erin Howell-Gritsch

Lighting: Ben Doehr

Technical Director: Erik Sanning

UPDATE MARCH 28, 2013

PRE-SET:  A trapeze swings back and forth, creaks.  A subsonic rumbling and the creaking of a trapeze back and forth.  Onstage a fortuneteller is absorbed in her tarot cards. A coat lies abandonded on the floor

SCENE 1.

We hear a violin from very, very far away. Charmion’s daughter enters walks around the coat as if it is a fallen body.  She has a ukulele.  She looks up and plays to the sky.

William becomes visible.  He has a snow globe. Illusionist becomes visible.  He has a giant suitcase.

TEXT

ACTION

FORTUNETELLER: (speak over arriving ensemble) Once upon a time, When the trapeze act was seen as the most difficult act that humanity could achieve, There was a strongwoman and trapeze artist named Charmion. She practiced her art high in the vaulted domes of the greatest vaudeville theatres of the land. And there was William Dugan who sought a certain  redemption that you or I will never understand.  It had to do with flying and elephants, but not flying elephants. (Acknowledge audience) And then there is you and there is me. (shuffle the cards) For a very short amount of time I have been authorized to answer the most profound and difficult questions that could possibly be posed by the human mind.  For a small fee. But a warning – just like wishes, opportunities like this should always be checked for loopholes.

Ensemble is arriving one by one, they see the coat.  They look up.  Then they join in behind William and the snowglobe, all joining in on a common unison phrase.

After the last ensemble member joins the crowd.   

Charmion shadow puppet becomes visible. 

The Illusionist walks over to the coat.  Charmion’s daughter stops playing.

He picks up the coat, looks up and smiles.  He lifts the coat.  Charmion appears in shadow puppet land, she flys across a cityscape..  Light shift so that we no longer “see” the stage performers.

WE RUSH BACKWARDS IN TIME: (with sound and lights) The ensemble runs in a backwards circle and ends up on the stage right/ left  in two lines that face each other.

SCENE 2: The red tent of a fortuneteller.

During this scene, the subsonic rumbling intensifies.

On drum hit, two lines of the ensemble rush to face each other.

A longer than we expect pause.

A second drum hit: duets of “hand taking” begins.

DANCE OF TAKING HANDS:  Each couple has their own unique duet.  Then it all goes into unison.  When in unison, William enters the line systematically replacing a duet partner, then moving on.  After he gets to the end of the line he moves to the Fortuneteller. 

(The snowglobe is now with the Fortuneteller)

FORTUNETELLER:

Charmion lives.

WILLIAM:

But how will I find her?

FORTUNETELLER:

The elephant will lead you to her.

WILLIAM:

But there is not a single elephant in sight!

FORTUNETELLER:

If you haven’t already noticed, things are often not what they seem.   

THE RISING OF THE FORTUNETELLER

(She gradually increases in size, growing larger and larger, until her skirt becomes a circus tent.  The ensemble skip into the circus tent and disappears. 

The subsonic rumbling is palatable and metaphorically the elephant enters the room. 

ELEPHANT FEET GO MARCHING BY

William watches from downstage, in front of the audience aisle.   

SCENE 3: THE ORPHANAGE OF THE SISTERS OF PERPETUAL LIGHT:

WHAT IS IN THE SUITCASE?

The Illusionist hauls his suitcase to where the Fortuneteller was.  He opens the suitcase, putting all that the fortuneteller has left behind inside it.  Then he takes out a small folding stool and sits on it.  From this vantage point he watches the scene unfold.

THE ELEPHANT ASSEMBLES AND THE ORPHANAGE DOOR ENTERS

The elephant backpack is placed on William and the elephant assembles, while the Orphanage door enters.

The elephant walks toward the door, as the door walks toward the elephant. Together they turn, so that now the interior of the orphanage is revealed. .

(knocking on the door causes Sister Marie to appear.  During this speech Sister Marie makes a slow confused entrance.  The ensemble continues to repeat “Sister Marie, are you there?” until Sister Marie is able to open the door)

ELEPHANT:

Sister Marie!  Sister Marie, are you there?  Oh Sister Marie, you who admits unwanted children to the orphanage and the only person allowed to unlock and lock the door of the orphanage of the sisters of perpetual light.

Are you there?

A matter of urgent cause to you I bring.

Sister Marie?

Finally Sister Marie gets to the door, exhausted she falls into it and she opens it. Ensemble stops their whispering.

ELEPHANT:

(A grand bow, which the ensemble also does) Good of the evening to you. 

I have come for the collection of the little person that you are calling by the name of Charmion. 

SISTER MARIE:

Pardon?

ELEPHANT:

 (grand bow by ensemble) Charmion.  I have come for the collection of her.  She is belonging elsewhere.

SISTER MARIE:

(standing on her head) You must speak up. I do not hear very well.

ELEPHANT:

(grand bow by ensemble) It is the one you are calling Charmion.  I am coming for to keep her and for taking her to where she is, after all, belonged.

SISTER MARIE:

 I am truly sorry, I cannot understand a word you are saying.  Perhaps it is because you are an elephant?  Could that be it?  Could that be the cause of the hindrance in our communications?  Understand, I have nothing against elephants.  You yourself are an excellent elephant and obviously well-mannered; there is no doubt.  But the fact remains, I can make no sense of your words, so I must bid you good night.

Sister Marie closes the door.  She walks away the door walks with her.  Charmion is revealed, a suitcase beside her.  She is wearing the coat.

The elephant reluctantly leaves and begins to walk away, and in so doing, disassembles. Actor takes the trunk and frame from William, they are folded, as are the ears, and placed in a suitcase.  William, the ear carriers, and the voice of the elephant follow the items into the suitcase.  The suitcase closes itself and they are gone.

CHARMION: Madam elephant, I am here!  Madam elephant!  I’m here! (watching the elephant disappear) A DUET WITH TEXT (BELOW) BETWEEN CHARMION’S DAUGHTER AND THE FORTUNETLLER: CHARMION’S DAUGHTER: But the elephant continued to walk away, getting smaller and smaller as it walked down the street, FORTUNETELLER: until finally it turned into a mouse and disappeared entirely from view. After it disappears.  Charmion picks up the suitcase, the door recedes from her.

SCENE 4: NOW HIRING

The Illusionist picks up the suitcase and walks to the screen.  He removes a poster and “slaps” it on the screen.  A large projection reads:

Now Hiring:

Aerialists

and other fantastic acts

Illusionist crosses to Charmion. She takes off her coat and hands it to him.  She is in a fantastic outfit.  She steps forward, to dream. Ensemble form around her, dreaming  Then, music comes to an end.

Mood is broken, ensemble jostles to read the poster.  They get very excited.

ILLUSIONIST

C’mon!  Go sell your act!

The ensemble rushes forward into separate spots of light.

ENSEMBLE

Let me tell you about my act!

TEXT AND MOVEMENT DANCES: LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT MY ACT

Text and movement section where they are each “selling” their act.

The Ringmaster is center stage enjoying this immensely.

At end of dance,

The two lines converge, and then reform into an orderly line to see the elephant. 

SCENE 5: STANDING IN LINE TO SEE AN ELEPHANT

The Illusionist and Charmion are at the end of the line.

William crosses away from the line.  He and Charmion see each other.  They do the brief moment of the duet from the Fortuneteller scene, but then William is replaced by the Illusionist.

The following dialogue is done with the duet from the fortuneteller scene. First William dances with Charmion, then the Illusionist replaces him

CHARMION (TO THE ILLUSIONIST):

What are we standing in line for?

ILLUSIONIST:

To see the elephant.

CHARMION

How did an elephant get here?

SCENE 6: HOW THE ELEPHANT GOT HERE

Mood changes.  Burst of drumming.  RINGMASTER comes running into the space.  Dancers accentuate this act, by a dance that is high energy and defines the three circles of light. Three circles of light zooming around room, to create a Three Ring Circus. 

Dance: Running patterns for the energy of the circus.  At the end of the dance, they are standing in place.   An announcement of music, a spotlight on the Ringmaster.

RINGMASTER:

Ladies and Gentlemen!  How did an elephant get here?

The screen lights up with the shadow puppets.  The dancers are silhouetted on the stage. The Ringmaster in his own special light.

Ring 1 (screen	Ring 2 (screen)	Ring 3 (screen)	On stage:
SHADOW PUPPETS Fortuneteller appears.  William appears and approaches the fortune teller. He makes a request, and then a sneeze	SHADOW PUPPETS Illusionist appears, an elephant falls out of the sky, in slow motion.  Lands on the head of the Illusionsit on the sneeze	SHADOW PUPPETS Charmion appears.  A trapeze swing lowers into the space in front of her, lowered by an elephant’s trunk..	RINGMASTER (narrating the Illusionists story):  An old Ilusionist made one last attempt to wow the crowd and rise above his mediocrity! He began to form an incantation to bring forth a bouquet of lilies, when something tickled his nose and an unfortunate …
Ahh- choo!	Ahh- choo!	Ahh-choo!
William is embraced by the trunk of an elephant and rides off. Fade out.	Bars fall down encircling the Illusionist and the elephant. Fade out.	Charmion reaches for the trapeze	RINGMASTER: Instead of lilies an elephant crashed through the roof! Mayhem, disaster, and chaos! And The magician and the elephant are arrested.

CHARMION SHADOW PUPPET FLYS AWAY OVER CITY SCAPE.  FIRST ON TRAPEZE AND THEN TRAPEZE DISAPPERS AND IT IS JUST HER..  Charmion’s theme music plays.  Rest of cast begins to exit and prepare for entrance of elephant feel jail.

SCENE 7: THE ARREST OF AN ELEPHANT

DANCE:  Elephant feet form a circle “jail” a movement sequence establishes the jail, then the scene in the center begins. It starts with just movement.

Ensemble:

In the center:  Police chief (PC) a young lieutenant and the Illusionist. A movement sequence is scored underneath the dialogue.

Marching around the center scene.

PC: I have thoroughly consulted all laws and regulations and failed to find a single edict for dealing with a beast that has appeared out of nowhere, destroyed the roof or our opera house, and caused panic and mayhem. I see no recourse but to place the elephant, and you sir, under arrest. ILLUSIONIST: Sir, she appeared. Perhaps if we are patient she will disappear. POLICE CHIEF Does the elephant appear as if she will disappear? YOUNG LIEUTENANT: Sir!  The elephant is a criminal.  She must be tried and punished as a criminal.  (circling) ILLUSIONIST: But why is an elephant a criminal? (following YL’s circling) POLICE CHIEF: Why is the elephant a criminal?? (following the circling) ILLUSIONIST: Yes, why?  If I were to throw a rock at a window, would you then blame the rock for the window breaking?  (make a window, YL steps through) POLICE CHIEF: What kind of magician throws rocks? What kind of sorry excuse for magic is that, the throwing of rocks? (Illusionist and YL make a seat for PC and carry him around the perimeter of the marching feet) ILLUSIONIST: You misunderstand me, sir.  I meant only to say that the elephant did not ask to come crashing through the roof of the opera house.  Would any sensible elephant wish for such a thing? And if she did wish for it, then how can she be guilty of it? POLICE CHIEF: (Frustrated) I ask what action should be taken, and you talk to me about sensible elephants and what they wish for? YOUNG LIEUTENANT: (Moved by the Illusionist’s manner.) Sir, what if we found the elephant a home, sir? POLICE CHIEF: (sarcastic)/ YOUNG LIEUTENANT: (gullible) Really?  Really? Really? Why did I not think of it? Let us dispatch the elephant immediately to the Home for Wayward Elephants Who Engage in Objectionable Pursuits Against Their Will.  It is right down the street, is it not? POLICE CHIEF: (Sound of frustration) Arrest the elephant. ILLUSIONIST: Would you consider the idea that the elephant is guilty of nothing except being an elephant? POLICE CHIEF: Leave me alone. WILLIAM: You are asking the wrong questions.  JAIL OF ELEPHANTS BEGINS TO DISOLVE AND WEAVE TOWARDS WILLIAM: The questions that matter are: Where did the elephant come from?  (WILLIAM IS LIFTED) What did it mean that she came here, now?  What if she is just the first in a series of elephants? What if she has come bearing a message?  (WILLIAM IS SET DOWN ON HIS FEET, AND THE ELEPHANT PEOPLE BACK AWAY.  HE IS ALONE) (CALLING OUT IN A GREAT ALONE-NESS) What if everything is to be irrevocably changed by an elephant’s arrival?

SCENE 8 : PROMISING WINGS

We are back to the line of people waiting to see the Elephant.   Charmion and the Illusionist have reached the head of the line.  A huge elephant trunk comes down from the ceiling.  As the following dialogue takes place, Charmion has a solo.

ILLUSIONIST:

(quietly, as a whisper to Charmion) The elephant has stopped reminding herself of her name.

She has decided that she would like to die. 

CHARMION:

(gently and with great respect, to the elephant) Could you look at me?  (SOLO: HAIR GESTURE)

When The elephant opens her eyes. 

An emptiness fills the spine so that it floats away from the flesh.

ILLUSIONIST:

She is heartbroken.  (SOLO ROSIE GESTURE)

She must go home. 

or she will die.  

CHARMION

(To the elephant) I. I will. I will secure.  I will secure for you.  I will secure for you an enormous set of wings.  (SOLO WITH PEANUTS GESTURE)

FORTUNETELLER:

For the first time since she crashed through the roof of the opera house, the elephant feels something akin to hope. (SOLO, ARCH)

The music is rising, swelling towards a majestic peak, when it stops.

ILLUSIONIST:

What have you done!?

Charmion realizes the wings she has are just the tiny wings of moths. And with that, the floor gives way and the elephant crashes through to whatever is below.  Or perhaps the elephant trunk falls from the ceiling, it is approached with elephant hooks and carried off.  All the magic seems to have been sucked out of the room.  The Illusionist hands her the poster.

SCENE 9: FOR HIRE

In the shadow puppet world, the elephant is marched away by the police.  The illusionist is arrested.  William, enters with a push broom, sweeps up and around Charmion. 

Charmion is clutching the  “Now Hiring” poster. 

She is pointed in the direction the circus office that has magically appeared.  She enters the circus office. William is in line in front of her.

RINGMASTER:  (To   William )   You can start with the elephants. It’s mostly shoveling …. (they both turn and look at Charmion.  Then William and the Ringmaster shake hands.  William exits.  The Ringmaster turns to Charmion.

RINGMASTER:  Well, what can you do?

EDISON FILM

Charmion pulls out a movie projector and shows the Edison film

When the film ends, the ringmaster stamps: “Hired” on her forehead (or forearm). The office disappears. 

SCENE 10: CLEANSING

In the next scene we watch Charmion scrubbing the words off. The elephant is supplying the water. We see the trunk of the elephant, a bowl of water.  A turkey baster is used for the elephant’s trunk to siphon water that is used for Charmion to wash her face.  Charmion returns to the Ringmaster.  She shows him her forehead is clean, and demands a handshake. Just like the handshake that William got.  Reluctantly, but then the Rignmaster  does – shake.

Return to the movement motif of fortune teller reading palms and that “contract”

SCENE 11: THEIR STORIES: CHARMION AND WILLIAM

MOVEMENT

TEXT

Movement sequence: essence of trapeze. Swings fly through the space (lots of them) dancers in a sequential, building, mathematical equation of trapeze – but on floor not in air. The trapezes swing around them in the space.  A lot of the movement is to avoid being hit by a swing.

Charmion climbs to the trapeze platform and her story is told: CHARMION STORY #1: ILLUSIONIST Eighteen years after two unrelated but important markers in time: The publication of Charles Darwin’s “dangerous idea” And the invention of the death-defying flying trapeze act, a child was born. CHARMION Charmion. ILLUSIONIST Charmion had flying dreams for as far back as she could remember. When Charmion was six, her mother made a bold choice.  For months the Orpheum Music Hall had been advertising a new form of entertainment: Vaudeville. RINGMASTER: Entertainment suitable for the whole family! Wholesome entertainment suitable for the previously uninvited audiences of women and children!  Alchohol free!  No smoking! No cursing! Moral!  Entertaining and Instructive! And a gift of coal and ham for every ticket buying customer! ILLUSIONIST Charmion’s mother took her daughter by the hand, and in they went. The acts that night included: A Song & Dance routine,  A Magician, An apache dance A Celebrity Lecturer, An Animal Act featuring a small elephant, a dog and a pony Comedy and Dramatic skits An acrobatic team A contortionist, a Regurgitar And a Death-Defying Flying Trapeze Act performed by a male aerialist dressed as a female. Charmion’s dreams of flying turned to desire.  That night Charmion told her father over dinner. CHARMION  “ I think I’d like to fly”, ILLUSIONIST knowing full well that if she didn’t, she would die. Her father replied, GIGI  “Not a bad idea.  When do you start?” ILLUSIONIST This could have been a forward thinking father, or he was ready to get rid of one of the fourteen children that were pulling the family into starvation. Charmion was sent away to live and work at the Orphanage of the Sisters of the Perpetual Light She gave up all dreams of flying, until an elephant showed up. CHARMION And that is your first small elephant story. (POSSIBLY SOUND OF TOY PIANO HERE FOR FIRST TIME)

The work of the trapeze dodging is done.  The ensemble takes a lunch break.

ACTION	TEXT
William and Charmion have lunch. They eat out of lunch boxes.  Charmion in leotard.  Unfolding around them are a duets of  Charmions and Williams.  Things keep changing. As they speak, they exchange: her skirt/his work coat.  Ensemble is also removing, replacing ritualized (Anna Halprin) William is shoveling. Charmion is swinging. Shift: Charmion is shoveling William is swinging Shift: Charmion  removes dress, Willliam removes overalls.  They both have circus leotards underneath.  They pose like circus stars.  Then they dress in each other’s clothes.  He in dress, she in overalls. Repeat: William is shoveling. Charmion is swinging; Charmion is shoveling William is swinging Begin to repeat the Super Nova gesture sequence. Shift of movement for ensemble to ???	CHARMION STORY #2 CHARMION My act. (But isn’t it all an act?) I appear on stage in full Victorian dress.  Without explanation, a trapeze also appears. I reach for it, desiring to fly Once on the trapeze, it is clear that my clothes are an impediment.  After a slight hesitation, I begin to disrobe done to my acrobatic costume. The whole performance is carried out as decorously as possible. (Davis, 122) Perhaps I was living out the possibility of flying free of society’s codes But there is a penalty for soaring above those prescriptions.  (Kibler, 144 Besides, I couldn’t fly through the air forever, As strong as I was,  always I returned to the ground. To thunderous applause. WILLIAM STORY #1 WILLIAM: It’s a simple start.  I was born in Moultrie, GA.  At the age of twelve I ran away to join the circus.  I was hired by the Sparks Bros. circus to work with the elephants. So you could say that For my act, I work with elephants My costume is the clothes of a laborer. The owner of the circus, Charlie Sparks was more than an employer.  He was like a father to me. I apprenticed under a seasoned elephant handler named Bram Gunterstein. Bram had this quote posted in the trailer we shared: “It is said that elephants talk to one another, mumbling with their mouths But to not all is the speech of the beasts audible, but only to those who tame them hear it.” That’s a quote from a 3rd century poem of the Roman Empire, a 2,150 line, four book epic that has descriptions of just about every animal within the realm of the Empire. Bram translated it from Latin for me. Bram’s rules for working with elephants: JILL “Elephants are neither good or evil, they are not human forget about human feelings, our definitions of right or wrong, follow the rules of the elephant. LAUREN They are intelligent.  They can be easy going, loving and loyal. But they are always elephants and we are always humans. BENJI Elephants are dangerous if you are not acting right. ROSIE To act right is learning how they act. To act right is to slip into the elephant’s skin. To act right is to learn from the elephants: how do they behave with each other? How do they resolve conflicts, show affection and play? GEO An elephant in captivity needs to know commands for their hygiene and safety. They need to stand patiently and lift their feet so you can care for them. They need to lay down for washing. IVY A good trainer uses the elephant hook sparingly, and never sharpened. It’s just part of the communication of sounds and touch.” WILLIAM I woke up every day and headed to the elephants. Big Mary was my favorite.  She loved watermelon. I brought her watermelon whenever I could. She would chirp and mumble, the way elephants do.
ACTION	TEXT
Charmion and William, with ensemble set up the ring of egg shells. Carefully arranging them.  There is also the labor of setting this up.  Charmion is no slouch, lifting, carrying, etc.	CHARMION STORY #3 CHARMION: I made a museum exhibit of my body. (Shteir, 53) The ideal for women to emulate and men to possess.  An article called “Ladies, How Does Your Figure Correspond with the Measurments of Charmion” ran in the Denver Post. In an interview with the Des Moines Register, I revealed that my daily regime began with a cold bath.  My body posed vexing questions for a society accustomed to repletion in a woman. (Erdman, 116) Of particular criticism were my arms, one critic wrote: ILLUSIONIST  “she shows the muscles of a strongman rather than the lovely curves one likes to see in a woman’s arms.”
ACTION	TEXT
William walks very carefully around the ring of eggshells. Up in the balcony, his movement his copied by the ensemble, but in place, not moving	WILLIAM STORY #2 WILLIAM: The circus stopped in Erwin, Tennessee. Charlie and I had a quarrel.  I was young.  The same temper that sent me running away to the circus, sent me impetuously running from the circus. Charlie needed a replacement to walk the elephants to the watering hole. He hired Red Eldridge, a drifter, who had just been let go from his job at the nearby Kingsport Hotel. On Red’s first day he took the bull hook, and frightened of the gigantic beasts, he sharpened it. After the circus parade, Red walked the elephants to the watering hole. Big Mary stopped for a discarded watermelon rind. Red grabbed her behind the ear with the hook, let it sink into her flesh and pulled. There are many accounts of what happened next. None of them easy to hear. Big Mary was put on trail and found guilty for the brutal murder of Red Eldridge. The day of her hanging, she walked, with the other elephants, trunk to tail, to the railroad yard.  I wasn’t there.  But some say she wasn’t fooled.  She knew what was coming. They hanged her from a railroad crane.  It took two trys. My Mary. 30 years old. Weighing 5 tons and standing 13 feet tall.
ACTION	TEXT
STILLNESS, JUST THE VIOLIN, RETURN TO THE “PROMISES OF WINGS”?	SILENCE
Said like a prayer	CHARMION STORY #4 CHARMION: Height 5’1”; weight 125 lbs; length of face 7 ½”; wrist 6 ½ “; calf 14”; figure 36-22-36.
Reprise promises of wing movement?	WILLIAM STORY #3 WILLIAM I put circus dreams away and returned to Moultrie. Devoted myself to building a life as a family man. My dreams of the circus resurfaced when the Pan American Animal Exhibit came up for sale. I bought the exhibit that included a baby elephant, Nancy. Nancy rekindled my dreams We would walk the streets of Moultrie, talking – and she would chirp and mumble the way elephants do her trunk looped into my belt. ILLUSIONIST But William took sick and was hospitalized. Nancy walked to the hospital every day and stood outside his window. WILLIAM We whispered elephant dreams. ILLUSIONIST William’s children decited that his tombstone should be a life-sized replica of baby Nancy. WILLIAM There.  A Small Elephant Story for you.   (POSSIBLY SOUND OF TOY PIANO

SCENE 12: CHARMION STEPS AWAY FROM VAUDEVILLE

SCENE SHIFT.  A TRANSITION.

SUPER NOVA DUETS  DANCE

ACTION

TEXT

At end of dance, ensemble pulls suitcases and travel gear from behind the curtains and help each other carry the up the ladder.  Charmion leads the way.  Illusionist stays on floor and watches. People who are doing Balanchine story get into place.

ILLUSIONIST Now it came to pass that vaudeville was on its way out, so Charmion made a plan to step away from vaudeville before it stepped away from us. She gathered us together and proposed that we pack our stuff and head for Sarasota, Florida in hopes of finding work with the circuses as they wintered over. It was a long trip.  We never made it. We stopped, here.  CHARMION  “Anticipatory,” ILLUSIONIST said Charmion when she booked the rooms for us. Our first night she told us a small elephant story.

SCENE 13:  A SMALL  ELEPHANT STORY

BALANCHINE & STRAVINSKY: A BALLET FOR 50 ELEPHANTS AND 50 BALLERINAS

(told with puppets)

It came to pass that early in his career ballet choreographer

 (PICK UP PUPPET) George Balanchine

received a request from

(CIRCUS POSTER) the Ringling Brothers & Barnum & Bailey Circus (PUT DOWN CIRCUS AND BALANCHINE)

to do the choreography for a ballet involving the circus's

(PICK UP PUPPET) 50 elephants, 

(PICK UP PUPPET) 50 ballerinas  (BOTH PUPPETS DOWN)

lead by one of the most famous elephants of all –

(PICK UP PUPPET) Modoc. PUT MODOC DOWN)

Much to the delight of the (POSTER) circus company. (PUT POSTER DOWN)

(BALANCHINE) Balanchine immediately suggested bringing in his friend and longtime collaborator

(STRAVINSKY) Igor Stravinsky.

(PUT STRAVINSKY AND BALANCHINE DOWN, PICK UP TELEPHONE)

(BALANCHINE) "I wonder if you'd like to do a little ballet with me." (BALANCHINE DOWN)

(STRAVINSKY) "For whom?" (STRAVINSKY DOWN)

(BALANCHINE): "For some elephants." (BALANCHINE DOWN)

(STRAVINSKY)  "How old?" (STRAVINSKY DOWN)

(BALANCHINE): "Very young." (BALANCHINE DOWN)

(STRAVINSKY) "All right. If they are very young elephants, I will do it." (STRAVINSKY AND TELEPHONE DOWN)

The show was very successful and the crowd was particularly enthusiastic about Balanchine's extraordinary ballet.  After this debut, Ringling Brothers performed the ballet another 425 times, but Stravinsky never saw the show.

Two years later Stravinsky reported, that after a radio broadcast he received a telegram from an elephant called

(BESSIE) Bessie who had taken part in the ballet in 1942.   Later, Bessie and Stravinsky met up in Los Angeles She danced THE CIRCUS POLKA for Stravinsky, not having forgotten a single step.

(STRAVINSKY AND BESSIE DOWN)

SCENE 14: CHARMION LEAVES

ACTION	TEXT
Action that gets cast down from balcony, and Charmion disappears.  Try a gradual assembly of “Establish a Beginning”, lights going on and off, people appear.  Downstairs for the Stravinsky puppets: Jill, Ivy, Rosie, Lauren.  When others get down the ladder, the surge upstage pulls them all upstage right.	ILLUSIONIST One morning Charmion was gone.  We started to panic. But she came back, and she came back with a new elephant story.  This happened every day.  We grew comfortable.

ILLUSIONIST:

One day she left and she didn’t come back.

ACTION	TEXT
MOVEMENT SEQUENCE, “WALKING ON AIR”	ACTOR 1: “She’ll be back” ACTOR 2: ”We’re over reacting.” ACTOR 3:  She’s not coming back.

ACTION	TEXT
Weaving dance,	ILLUSIONIST: Searching gained an urgency. The urgency began to wear us out, and we searched more and more out of habit than anything else. Habit chewed away at hope and we began to realize, but not confess that we were searching without hope. We began to drift apart. It only figures On the last good-bye it was agreed that we would only get together once in a blue moon.
Form into an upstage line and counting with names whispered	WILLIAM It was decided that Charmion’s daughter would take charge of the coat.
Charmion’s coat is lowered into the space, to Jill.  The Illusionist goes to his big suitcase and pulls out a coat for everyone.  They assemble for the Dance of the Coats.	JILL Once in a Blue Moon we pull out the coat and settle in for some storytelling while we wait for the long night to pass.

SCENE 15:  DANCE OF THE COATS

All the coats have fallen, except Charmion’s daughter has not taken her coat off.  It is Charmion’s coat.  The others look at her, then exit with their coats.  Left alone, she digs into the pockets and pulls out a story.  Her coat is taken from her (something magical needs to happen with it). 

SCENE 16: COMPASSION OF THE ELEPHANTS

CHARMION’S DAUGHTER

A small elephant story.

ACTION

TEXT

Before their line, actor appears.  It causes everyone to assemble upstage right.  After last line, the dance happens

JILL Two elephants lived in the Jewelled Garden of the Dali Llama.  The elephants were very much in love and spent their time walking side by side along the paths, careful not to tread on the flowers.  DAKOTA  The Dalai Lama would often sit on a bench watching them as he settled in for his meditation. Breathing slowly through one nostril at a time, holding for long periods before exhalation, the dalai lama slowly put himself in a trance. DEVON  Bees gathered to their hives, stars streaked towards collision, rivers rushed toward the sea, worlds were born and died. JILL The meditation on elephants ended in a most tragic way.  CEDRIC  As a good-will gesture, the Russians sent the Dalai Lama a small tractor to facilitate plowing in the vegetable garden.  Fascinated by the yellow machine, the elephants would follow it up and down the furrows, much to the annoyance of the Russian technician.  IVY Finally he lost his patience and, to scare the elephants away, he backed the trailer toward them.  The cow did not step back in time and her foot was run over. Her shriek brought the Dalai Llama rushing from his prayers, but too late to save the Russian who had been seized by the bull’s trunk and smashed repeatedly against the wall.  JILL  It was like a hurricane.  The female spun frantically on three feet.  The male went into a panic running in circles, trampling flowers, knocking down bushes uprooting trees until the garden was destroyed LAUREN The cow lay down on her side.  The bull tried to console her with grunts and nudges, but she would not get up. DAKOTA  The monks tried to help, but the bull attacked them ferociously.  There was nothing to do but watch. CEDRIC  The Dalai Lama instructed the monks to form a circle on the roofs around the garden and to hold hands with him. IVY  It took two weeks for the female elephant to die. A day later her mate was dead, too, of sorrow.  CEDRIC Within this sorrow was stored an enormous energy of love, the giant compassion of the elephant.  It was night and the circle of monks glowed with an orange light.  The wilting flowers and the dying trees were lit for an instant, then all was dark.

DANCE OF THE COMPASSION OF THE ELEPHANTS:  At the end of the dance, all the trapezes are released.  Charmion is visible for just a moment.

SCENE 17: “IRENE, GOOD-NIGHT”

The show is over, everyone is packing up and exiting – except for Chip and Jill who linger.  Playing violin and ukulele.  Little things happen.  Percussionist packs up and leaves, taking hat and coat.  Ringmaster might unicycle a little.  Illusionist gathers his things.  Ringmaster and Illusionist have a moment – all is forgiven.

Everyone is gone, just Chip and Jill.  A vocalist has appeared and is humming along with the Charmion theme.  Jill stops playing, puts her uke in its case and takes the Now Hiring poster.  Chip stops playing – its just the vocalist.  Jill rips up the poster into tiny pieces and throws them into the air.  It begins to snow, lights begin to fade.  Vocalist last notes.

End