Patriotic Plays and Pageants for Young People Part 12

NANCY LINCOLN (turning to Abe).

You don't know how proud I am to hear them call you "Honest Abe." I shouldn't be surprised if someday you did something wonderful and splendid!

LINCOLN (smiling at her enthusiasm).

"Someday's" a long way off, Nancy!

NANCY LINCOLN (with conviction).

Well, I believe that even if a boy _is_ poor, and was born in a cabin, if he's as honest and hard-working as you are, Abe, he's sure to come out finely. Now, let's go home!

[Lincoln, ax on shoulder, exits towards middle background, Nancy and John and all the rest following, with the fiddler playing gaily.

The merrymaking is over, the gra.s.sy stage is left vacant, and the scene ends.

COSTUMES

The costumes for the young settlers have already been indicated in the episode itself. Francois, the young French-Canadian, wears a cotton khaki suit, cut on Indian lines. That is, the breeches of the suit are fringed, and he wears moccasins. He wears a tan shirt, open at the neck, and a scarlet sash belt.

The costumes for the Indians are of cotton khaki, cut on simple Indian lines. (See description of Indian costumes of "Princess Pocahontas.") Gay painting at neck. Beads. Sh.e.l.ls. Wampum. The Indian maidens and some of the braves have blankets. They should be striped in gay colors--red and green, orange and blue--the stripes very wide. A few blankets of solid color. Long pipes for the Indians to smoke.

Headdresses of brown and gray feathers. Dark Cloud wears a black feather head-dress. Red Plume wears a headdress of brilliant scarlet feathers.

LIBERTY DANCE

This dance is for a pageant given on a very large scale. It is formed of commingled groups of the young people of all nations, and is symbolic of the Old World coming to the New. The peasant costumes of Germany, Russia, Italy, Ireland, Scotland, France and Sweden should be worn, and the dances should be the folk dances of the various nations, with their appropriate music.

PAGEANT DIRECTIONS

Care should be taken in choosing the pageant site. The actual stage should be a level sward, with close-clipped gra.s.s that will make it as easy as possible for the dancers. It is ideal if the background and sides of this stage can be picturesquely wooded, and present a vista through which the pageant players can be seen approaching. It will be well if the pageant stage itself has a tree or so. This stage should vary in size according to the number of people in the cast. A small cast requires a smaller and more intimate stage. In this way scenes in which a crowd of supernumeraries are needed will give the effect of having more people than are actually there. On the other hand, a large stage is needed for big effects, where a great number of people are used. Too small a stage makes a great number of players seem a huddled ma.s.s, and through this pantomimic effects are lost.

The pageant players should, if possible, have the sun at the side. It is very difficult to play facing a strong light. Choice of the time of day in which the pageant is given has much to do with its effectiveness. Late afternoon (from four o'clock on) is by far the best time for outdoor drama. The earlier hours are somewhat garish,--the light too high, the contrasts too sharp and unvaried. But from four o'clock on the light mellows, the shadows become long and sweeping, the outdoor effects grow more and more beautiful. It is as if the first hint of sunset were the signal for ringing down a magic curtain on a scene where nature herself was pageant mistress. This is true of all outdoor plays as well as pageants.

Those who direct the pageant should see to it that the youthful players make a finished exit; that is, that one scene and set of players disappear entirely from view before another set of players begin to come on. Off stage the players should be in groups, arranged in the order in which they are to appear, so that as one group leaves the stage, the next is ready to appear, and confusion is avoided. No talk should be allowed off stage. On a still Summer day sounds carry: a murmur is confusing to the players.

The players should not be dependent on words alone for their cues. Very often a word may fail to carry out of doors; but a gesture can always be seen. Therefore, _gesture cues_ can be used at many of the climaxes.

These cues can be quite simple and natural, and while perfectly understandable to the players themselves, need not be at all obvious to the audience. The players and their director can decide upon the cues, and will find them of immense help. Thus, by an upraised arm, or by tossing back a braid of her hair, Pocahontas can signal to Powhatan that her talk with John Smith is finished. Washington shielding his eyes with his hand can be a signal to Carey that it is time for him to enter, etc., etc. Of course, in many cases the ending or beginning of a dance, or the entrance of some princ.i.p.al character will be cue enough in itself.

In the final procession (if the players choose to have a procession), The Spirit of Patriotism should march first, and behind her should follow the other players in the order of their scenes. This preserves the order of the epochs also, and makes an excellent color scheme--the tawny yellows and reds of the Indian garb, the dark Puritan costumes, the pinks and blues of the Colonial period as against the more somber colors of the settler's homespun, etc., etc. In order to give such a procession its full effect it should not seem too stiff and premeditated. Let some of the players march two and two, and then have some important character walking alone. Sometimes it may be possible to have a group of three, or a tall young player with two smaller and younger players, following her. Or again a line of Indians single file.

The properties should be carried in the procession to add to its effectiveness. The canoe, as if it were still a matter of portage; the sedan chair of the d.u.c.h.ess of Bourbon; the Indian war-drum used in "Princess Pocahontas," etc., etc. Needless to say these properties are carried in the group and epoch in which they belong. If the pageant is given on a very large scale which includes the Liberty Dance at the end, all those who took part in the dance should form the end of the procession. There should be a s.p.a.ce between them and the last of the settlers, as there is between the past and the present. In this s.p.a.ce should walk a figure symbolizing Hope and Joy--a young girl in draperies of the palest green, and hair bound with a Greek fillet. In her hands she carries a great laurel wreath.

When the Pageant of Patriots had its first production in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, the youthful players marched around the great oval outside which the audience sat, and having circled it once, marched off the scene. If, however, the future producers of this pageant wish to reverse this order, it can easily be done, by having the march end in the final tableau. It is merely a matter of choice.

In the Final Tableau The Spirit of Patriotism should stand on the stage in the middle foreground, center, and grouped about her should be the young folk of the various centuries. This scene should be well mapped out and rehea.r.s.ed beforehand, so that the ensemble will be splendidly significant and glowing in its effect, and there should be no clashes in the color scheme. The notes of "America" should be sung with tremendous fervor and power.

In many cases the pageant will, of necessity, have to be rehea.r.s.ed indoors. Outdoor places to rehea.r.s.e in are not always obtainable, nor weather always propitious; moreover, with young people the out-of-doors has too many distractions. Armories or halls are excellent places to rehea.r.s.e in; so are gymnasiums. The episodes should be rehea.r.s.ed separately. Rehearsing in a small room is fatal. It gives the youthful performers a tendency to huddle, from which they seldom recover. Their motions are cramped, and they lose all sweep and freedom. There should be understudies for all the princ.i.p.al parts, and there must be at least one full-dress rehearsal. The ages of the young people taking part in the pageant should be from eight to eighteen. The princ.i.p.al parts will, of course, be intrusted to the older boys and girls where the occasion demands. John Smith, Powhatan, and others need a certain amount of height and dignity.

The number of young people taking part in The Pageant of Patriotism will be determined by circ.u.mstances. From two hundred to five hundred young people may take part in it.

It should be kept in mind that a Children's or Young People's pageant differs widely from a pageant given by older actors. It should have about it an atmosphere of entire simplicity. There should be no striving for effect. Naivete is to be desired rather than ornateness.

Scenes filled with crowds of young players should alternate with scenes where solitary little figures appeal by their quaint remoteness, their suggestion of innocence and candor. The Pageant of Patriots is not only a pageant of country but of life's springtime, and interwoven with its episodes should be the glamor of the youth of the world.

THE PAGEANT OF PATRIOTS (Indoor)

THE PAGEANT OF PATRIOTS

(Arrangement of Indoor Episodes)

1. PROLOGUE BY THE SPIRIT OF PATRIOTISM 2. DRAMATIC SILHOUETTE: LORDS OF THE FOREST 3. THE COMING OF THE WHITE MAN (Tableau) 4. PRINCESS POCAHONTAS 5. PRISCILLA MULLINS (Tableau) 6. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, JOURNEYMAN 7. GEORGE WASHINGTON'S FORTUNE 8. THE BOSTON TEA PARTY 9. DRAMATIC SILHOUETTE: THE SPIRIT OF '76 10. ABRAHAM LINCOLN: RAIL-SPLITTER 11. FINAL TABLEAU 12. PROCESSION OF PLAYERS

PROLOGUE _Spoken by The Spirit of Patriotism_

People of --------, ye who come to see Enacted here some hours of Pageantry, Lend us your patience for each simple truth, And see portrayed for you the Nation's Youth.

Into times dim and far I bid you gaze, Down the long vista of departed days, Of hope and aspiration, woe and weal, Famine and hardship, strife and patriot zeal.

Back further still our march of years shall go To times primeval: The first scene will show In shadow silhouette the sagamore, The braves and chieftains of the days of yore, Lords of the forest, kings of stream and hill, Of trail and wigwam: masters of the kill!

The white man's coming next--while curiously A youthful Indian, pausing, peers to see What strangers tread the sh.o.r.es that he calls home, What white-winged ships have braved the wild sea-foam.

Prows of the Nors.e.m.e.n, etched against the blue!

Helmets agleam! Faces of wind-bronzed hue!

On roll the years, and in a forest green The Princess Pocahontas next is seen; And then in prim white cap and somber gown Lovely Priscilla, Maid o' Plymouth Town.

Benjamin Franklin supping at an Inn, A 'prentice lad with all his world to win.

Then Washington encamped before a blaze O' f.a.gots, swiftly learning woodland ways.

Next the brave times of 1773 When Boston folk would pay no tax on tea.

And then with urge of fife and roll of drum In shadow silhouette behold them come-- The Patriot lads who for their country died, Who rose and followed when my name was cried--!

Leaving the farm and forge and village street-- Our hearts still echo to those marching feet!

Spirit of '76! Thy deathless fame Burns for us yet, a sacrificial flame!

Years pa.s.s. Behold a cabin in the West Where on an Autumn night, with mirth and zest, Lincoln's companions take their simple cheer.

These are the scenes to be enacted here.

Shown to you straightway in a simple guise: Youthful the scenes that we shall here devise On which the beads of history are strung.

Remember that our players, too, are young.

All critic knowledge, then, behind you leave, And in the spirit of the day receive What we would give, and let there come to you The Joy of Youth, with purpose high and true.

DRAMATIC SILHOUETTE: LORDS OF THE FOREST

A white curtain of sheeting, or other similar material. A strong light placed behind the curtain throws into high relief the figures as they pa.s.s in significant procession. They are shadow silhouettes of a time long gone, of a race who now are shadows. Care should be taken that they move in exactly the right s.p.a.ce, so that the shadows will not vary greatly in height or in bulk. First a chieftain pa.s.ses, wonderful in feathers. Next a young brave, who, standing alone a moment, tries the taut string of his bow. Next an Indian maid, with a basket poised on her head. Then two young braves with fish slung on a pole between them.

Then a group of Indian maidens. An Indian child or two. A squaw with f.a.gots on her back. Another with a papoose. Then two Indians with a canoe, representing the portage of a canoe. Then a final group of young braves. The music, which begins as the chief pa.s.ses, continues throughout the procession until the last Indian has pa.s.sed, then ebbs and dies, growing fainter and fainter, till it ceases. Mac-Dowell's "From an Indian Lodge" is suitable for this.

THE COMING OF THE WHITE MAN: TABLEAU

This tableau represents a woodland scene, and is supposed to symbolize the coming of the Norseman. A young Indian brave, with skins about his shoulders and hips, his black hair flying, his brown arms barbarically braceleted, stands poised, listening, and looking at a spot where the Nors.e.m.e.n are supposed to be making a landing, off stage. With one hand he shields his eyes. With the other he holds his bow. The tableau should suggest the wild freedom of an untamed spirit. For music, some bars of Grieg's Norse airs.