OPAL
Book, Music, and Lyrics
By Robert Lindsey-Nassif
Audition Scenes
THE BARNYARD NEAR THE PIGPEN
OPAL (Out front.)
The mamma does not have a cook or agoverness or a servant. So sheneeds lots of help and has lots ofdo's for me to do.
(The Mamma is feeding pigs by the pig trough.)
THE MAMMA And this is how yer ta slop the hogs. (Calling.) Suuuuueeeee!
OPAL There's Peter Paul Rubens! He's such a lovely pig. There is poetry in his tracks. And his gruntings are very musical.
THE MAMMA Suuuuueeeee!
OPAL Peter Paul Rubens, why are you rolling in the mud? I really must teach you some manners!
THE MAMMA Now, listen: them pigs ain't pets.
OPAL Why?
THE MAMMA Cause soon as they git big enough ta make me some money, they's gonna git sold.
OPAL You can't sell Peter Paul Rubens! It would hurt his feels!
THE MAMMA Just exactly where did you come from?
OPAL I don't know. When I was there, everybody knew where they was, so nobody asked me.
THE MAMMA Well, yer here now, an' here we work or we starve.
OPAL I'm only here until --
THE MAMMA I told you, yer folks ain't comin' back.
OPAL I have not likes for you.
THE MAMMA Well, that just hurts my feels!
(Calling.) Suuuuueeeee!
OPAL(Out front.) The mamma is teaching me to do "chores." I have wants to do things right, for she gets sparky when I do things wrong.
--------------------------------------------------------------
THE FOREST NEAR THE MILL OWNER'S HOUSE
(Neckties enters with two bouquets of wildflowers. He looks
around furtively, then lays a bouquet on the ground. Unknown
to him, Opal has been following.)
OPAL You're the man that wears gray neckties.
NECKTIES (Startled.) Oh, howdy. I heard about you. Yer the new girl.
OPAL (Indicating the flowers.) Somebody leaves fleurs just like those near the house of the thoughtgirl with the far-away look in her eyes.
NECKTIES Ya mean the mill owner's daughter?
2.
OPAL Yes. And I know who.
NECKTIES Ya do?
OPAL It was the tree spirits.
NECKTIES The tree spirits?
OPAL They bring wishes. They always did when Father was with me.
NECKTIES I hear yer folks is gone.
OPAL (Matter-of-factly.) Yes.
NECKTIES (A thought.) Hey. I got this mail order wish book. (Takes a catalogue from his nap sack.)
If you was a tree spirit, whatwould you choose?
(Thumbing through.)
A bottle a Dr. Harvey's Worm Elixir?
OPAL No.
NECKTIES No? (Turns a few pages.) Okay...How 'bout a luxury, galvanized, indoor bath tub?
OPAL (A little laugh.) No.
NECKTIES Well, what, then?
OPAL More colored pencils to write with.
3.
NECKTIES Okay. If I see any tree spirits, I'll tell 'em.
OPAL Men that wear neckties are a multiplication table of comfort.
(Takes the catalogue and begins looking through.) Now, let's pick out a wife.
NECKTIES A wife?
OPAL The Gossip Sisters say you need a wife, and I'm going to help you find one.
NECKTIES Off with ya.
--------------------------------------------------------
SADIE MCKIBBEN'S SHANTY Sadie is on her porch scrubbing clothes with a washboard and tub. There is a clothesline hung with laundry. Opal runs in, followed by the pig.
SADIE MCKIBBEN What's wrong, child?
OPAL Peter Paul Rubens and was exspelled from school because he is smelly and needs a footbath!
SADIE MCKIBBEN Oh, dear.
OPAL And the children laughed at me, because I talk in a different way.
SADIE The same could be said of Sadie.
4.
OPAL I don't like it here, Sadie McKibben. I miss the far-away lands. I want to go home.
SADIE MCKIBBEN
(An immigrant, herself; understanding.)
Aye...
OPAL
(Suddenly listening.)
Sadie McKibben! Felix Mendelssohn is squeaking his cheese squeak!
(Opal mimes taking a mouse from her apron pocket. She pets it.)
SADIE MCKIBBEN And I've none. I'm poor as a church mouse myself.
OPAL Felix Mendelssohn longs for cheese, just like I long for Angel Mother and Father.
SADIE MCKIBBEN Aye.
OPAL
(Putting the mouse back in her apron pocket)
The mamma says they're never coming back –- but she is wrong. For they said, if I find the way to make earth glad, I would be home.
SADIE MCKIBBEN And so you shall –- only not in the way ye intend.
OPAL But I'm trying real hard to make folks glad and get them the things they need.
SADIE MCKIBBEN Not glad without. Glad within.
OPAL I don't understand.
5.
SADIE MCKIBBEN Ye must find peace within, my child. They're not coming back.
OPAL Yes they are! I know they are.
(Opal pets the pig.)
SADIE MCKIBBEN (A thought.) Then, perhaps...Perhaps, they
will return to you –- in a special way.
OPAL
How?
------------------------------------
THE DEEP FOREST
A forest fire is raging. Neckties runs in commanding a party of men.
NECKTIES (Shouting.) Take those buckets and douse the clearing.
(Opal enters and runs past Neckties, calling.)
OPAL Girl that has no seeing!
NECKTIES (Grabbing Opal roughly.) Hey, where you goin'!?
OPAL To save the girl that has no seeing!
NECKTIES Go home, girl!
OPAL (Struggling.)
Please, let me go!
NECKTIES I said, go home!
OPAL She needs me!
6.
NECKTIES Opal, I said ta –-
(Pause.)
...we found the blind girl in the clearing. She was overcome with smoke.
OPAL
No.
NECKTIES
They took her to the ranch house. Hardly breathing. The doc says we was likely too late.
OPAL Too late?
NECKTIES I'm sorry. Now, go home.
(To the others.)
Come on, men, let's go! (Neckties and the remaining lumber camp folks run out, leaving Opal alone, in shock.
Sadie appears at another part of the stage. She is weary and disheveled –- her face smeared with ashes.)
SADIE MCKIBBEN
Opal.
OPAL (In shock.)
I taught her to walk the forest..
SADIE MCKIBBEN Yir not to blame! It was her own doing. Yir a child. She was not.
OPAL Now she is going away, like Mother and Father.
SADIE MCKIBBEN Aye.
OPAL And Peter Paul Rubens.
SADIE MCKIBBEN Aye.
7.
OPAL And they are never, never coming back! Just like the mamma said all along.
SADIE MCKIBBEN Aye.
(Opal breaks away from Sadie.)
OPAL You said they would send me a sign! I believed you! Why can't I see it! Why?!
8.
Book, Music, and Lyrics
By Robert Lindsey-Nassif
Audition Scenes
THE BARNYARD NEAR THE PIGPEN
OPAL (Out front.)
The mamma does not have a cook or agoverness or a servant. So sheneeds lots of help and has lots ofdo's for me to do.
(The Mamma is feeding pigs by the pig trough.)
THE MAMMA And this is how yer ta slop the hogs. (Calling.) Suuuuueeeee!
OPAL There's Peter Paul Rubens! He's such a lovely pig. There is poetry in his tracks. And his gruntings are very musical.
THE MAMMA Suuuuueeeee!
OPAL Peter Paul Rubens, why are you rolling in the mud? I really must teach you some manners!
THE MAMMA Now, listen: them pigs ain't pets.
OPAL Why?
THE MAMMA Cause soon as they git big enough ta make me some money, they's gonna git sold.
OPAL You can't sell Peter Paul Rubens! It would hurt his feels!
THE MAMMA Just exactly where did you come from?
OPAL I don't know. When I was there, everybody knew where they was, so nobody asked me.
THE MAMMA Well, yer here now, an' here we work or we starve.
OPAL I'm only here until --
THE MAMMA I told you, yer folks ain't comin' back.
OPAL I have not likes for you.
THE MAMMA Well, that just hurts my feels!
(Calling.) Suuuuueeeee!
OPAL(Out front.) The mamma is teaching me to do "chores." I have wants to do things right, for she gets sparky when I do things wrong.
--------------------------------------------------------------
THE FOREST NEAR THE MILL OWNER'S HOUSE
(Neckties enters with two bouquets of wildflowers. He looks
around furtively, then lays a bouquet on the ground. Unknown
to him, Opal has been following.)
OPAL You're the man that wears gray neckties.
NECKTIES (Startled.) Oh, howdy. I heard about you. Yer the new girl.
OPAL (Indicating the flowers.) Somebody leaves fleurs just like those near the house of the thoughtgirl with the far-away look in her eyes.
NECKTIES Ya mean the mill owner's daughter?
2.
OPAL Yes. And I know who.
NECKTIES Ya do?
OPAL It was the tree spirits.
NECKTIES The tree spirits?
OPAL They bring wishes. They always did when Father was with me.
NECKTIES I hear yer folks is gone.
OPAL (Matter-of-factly.) Yes.
NECKTIES (A thought.) Hey. I got this mail order wish book. (Takes a catalogue from his nap sack.)
If you was a tree spirit, whatwould you choose?
(Thumbing through.)
A bottle a Dr. Harvey's Worm Elixir?
OPAL No.
NECKTIES No? (Turns a few pages.) Okay...How 'bout a luxury, galvanized, indoor bath tub?
OPAL (A little laugh.) No.
NECKTIES Well, what, then?
OPAL More colored pencils to write with.
3.
NECKTIES Okay. If I see any tree spirits, I'll tell 'em.
OPAL Men that wear neckties are a multiplication table of comfort.
(Takes the catalogue and begins looking through.) Now, let's pick out a wife.
NECKTIES A wife?
OPAL The Gossip Sisters say you need a wife, and I'm going to help you find one.
NECKTIES Off with ya.
--------------------------------------------------------
SADIE MCKIBBEN'S SHANTY Sadie is on her porch scrubbing clothes with a washboard and tub. There is a clothesline hung with laundry. Opal runs in, followed by the pig.
SADIE MCKIBBEN What's wrong, child?
OPAL Peter Paul Rubens and was exspelled from school because he is smelly and needs a footbath!
SADIE MCKIBBEN Oh, dear.
OPAL And the children laughed at me, because I talk in a different way.
SADIE The same could be said of Sadie.
4.
OPAL I don't like it here, Sadie McKibben. I miss the far-away lands. I want to go home.
SADIE MCKIBBEN
(An immigrant, herself; understanding.)
Aye...
OPAL
(Suddenly listening.)
Sadie McKibben! Felix Mendelssohn is squeaking his cheese squeak!
(Opal mimes taking a mouse from her apron pocket. She pets it.)
SADIE MCKIBBEN And I've none. I'm poor as a church mouse myself.
OPAL Felix Mendelssohn longs for cheese, just like I long for Angel Mother and Father.
SADIE MCKIBBEN Aye.
OPAL
(Putting the mouse back in her apron pocket)
The mamma says they're never coming back –- but she is wrong. For they said, if I find the way to make earth glad, I would be home.
SADIE MCKIBBEN And so you shall –- only not in the way ye intend.
OPAL But I'm trying real hard to make folks glad and get them the things they need.
SADIE MCKIBBEN Not glad without. Glad within.
OPAL I don't understand.
5.
SADIE MCKIBBEN Ye must find peace within, my child. They're not coming back.
OPAL Yes they are! I know they are.
(Opal pets the pig.)
SADIE MCKIBBEN (A thought.) Then, perhaps...Perhaps, they
will return to you –- in a special way.
OPAL
How?
------------------------------------
THE DEEP FOREST
A forest fire is raging. Neckties runs in commanding a party of men.
NECKTIES (Shouting.) Take those buckets and douse the clearing.
(Opal enters and runs past Neckties, calling.)
OPAL Girl that has no seeing!
NECKTIES (Grabbing Opal roughly.) Hey, where you goin'!?
OPAL To save the girl that has no seeing!
NECKTIES Go home, girl!
OPAL (Struggling.)
Please, let me go!
NECKTIES I said, go home!
OPAL She needs me!
6.
NECKTIES Opal, I said ta –-
(Pause.)
...we found the blind girl in the clearing. She was overcome with smoke.
OPAL
No.
NECKTIES
They took her to the ranch house. Hardly breathing. The doc says we was likely too late.
OPAL Too late?
NECKTIES I'm sorry. Now, go home.
(To the others.)
Come on, men, let's go! (Neckties and the remaining lumber camp folks run out, leaving Opal alone, in shock.
Sadie appears at another part of the stage. She is weary and disheveled –- her face smeared with ashes.)
SADIE MCKIBBEN
Opal.
OPAL (In shock.)
I taught her to walk the forest..
SADIE MCKIBBEN Yir not to blame! It was her own doing. Yir a child. She was not.
OPAL Now she is going away, like Mother and Father.
SADIE MCKIBBEN Aye.
OPAL And Peter Paul Rubens.
SADIE MCKIBBEN Aye.
7.
OPAL And they are never, never coming back! Just like the mamma said all along.
SADIE MCKIBBEN Aye.
(Opal breaks away from Sadie.)
OPAL You said they would send me a sign! I believed you! Why can't I see it! Why?!
8.