1492 THE PLAY: THE CONQUEST THROUGH NATIVE EYES
Written by Marilyn Harris
EXCERPT FROM THE SCRIPT
ACT I – Columbus is Discovered
Scene I – The Court of Ferdinand and Isabella in Spain.
AT STAGE LEFT, FOUR RAPPERS STAND IN A LINE. THE SPOTLIGHT HITS THEM AT THE SAME TIME THAT A RAP BEAT BEGINS. THESE RAPPERS, ALONG WITH THE ‘CHORUS’ AT STAGE RIGHT, PROVIDE THE NARRATION THAT WILL TIE THE SCENES TOGETHER AND FILL IN THE HISTORY.
Rappers: In nineteen hundred ninety two
folks everywhere were fixing to
celebrate the tale of discovery,
how Columbus sailed the unknown sea.
You read about it in your history book,
and now we’re going to take a closer look.
SPOTLIGHT SHIFTS TO STAGE RIGHT WHERE THE CHORUS, ALSO FOUR, SING IN MOURNFUL TONES TO THE TUNE OF “HEIGH, HO, NOBODY HOME”.
Chorus: Fourteen hundred ninety-two,
a grievous year to be a Jew.
Isabel and Ferdinand
have forced them out of Spain’s fair land.
A LIGHT APPEARS AT THE REAR OF THE STAGE, CENTER, WHICH SILHOUETTES THE OUTLINES OF THE KING AND QUEEN ON THEIR THRONES. WE CANNOT SEE THEIR FACES. THEY SIT IMMOBILE. SPOTLIGHT UPON A LONE JEW WHO STRUGGLES ACROSS THE STAGE, A LARGE PACK ON HIS BACK, STOOPED. HE SPEAKS TO THE AUDIENCE.
Jew: Oi vey! ¡Qué pena! What did I do?
THE VOICES OF THE MONARCHS ECHO FROM THE THRONES, BUT WE STILL DO NOT SEE THEIR FACES.
King and Queen: You are a Jew!
Jew: STILL SPEAKS TO THE AUDIENCE, AS IF THE VOICE CAME FROM THEM
A member of a brilliant race!
To have a brain is no disgrace.
King and Queen: (VOICES STILL ECHO, NO FACES YET)
Only Christians live here now.
All before the cross shall bow!
SPOTLIGHT ON THE CHORUS, STAGE RIGHT.
Chorus: Muslims, Moors, and now the Jews
are leaving Spain, but who shall lose?
Queen Isabel? King Ferdinand?
Or those who toil on Spain’s rich land?
LIGHTS GO UP ON THE MONARCHS, STAGE CENTER, AND A SLOW RAP BEAT BEGINS. THEY RISE FROM THEIR THRONES AND COME SLOWLY TO STAGE CENTER. UPON ISABEL’S THRONE IS ‘CASTILLA’, AND UPON FERDINAND’S THRONE IS ‘ARAGON’.
Isabel: My Lord, ‘tis a brilliant thing we’ve done:
Your kingdom and mine have joined as one!
Ferdinand: How strong and brave our armies fight!
We put the Moors and Jews to flight.
(PUFFS OUT HIS CHEST WITH PRIDE)
Our cannons are a wondrous sight!
Isabel: They prove our military might.
And our Spanish navy, mi amor!
Ferdinand: Technologically superior!
THEY DO A SHORT CONGRATULATORY DANCE TO THE RAP BEAT.
PERHAPS SLAPPING EACH OTHER FIVE. THEY ARE DELIGHTED WITH THEMSELVES. ENTER A COURTIER TO THE SOUND OF TRUMPETS. THE MONARCHS RESUME THEIR REGAL AIRS AND RETURN TO THEIR THRONES.
Courtier: If it please your Royal Highnesses, one Christopher Columbus wishes to see you.
Ferdinand: Show him in, my good man!
COLUMBUS ENTERS WITH TWO SAILORS, HIS COMIC SIDEKICKS WHO
ALWAYS REMAIN BEHIND OR TO THE SIDE OF COLUMBUS. ALL THREE BOW LOW
BEFORE THE MONARCHS.
Columbus: My name is Cristobal Colón.
I’m a captain and trader of some renown,
with a skill at sailing the ocean seas.
I can reckon my course from the northerly breeze
Sailors I & II: He can steer a ship’s course with marvelous ease!
Isabel: (WHISPERS TO FERDINAND AND THEN TURNS TO COLUMBUS)
But tell us, señor, where do you call home?
Do you sail for Spain?
Ferdinand: (WORRIED, STRAINS FORWARD)
Or for an enemy throne?
Columbus: I’m glad you asked. Take a look at me.
Would you say I’m Portuguese? Or from Italy?
Well both are true! I’ll serve the monarch who
has the money to pay my voyage to
Sailors I & II: China! India! The mysterious East!
Land of the Great Khan (now deceased).
ALL THREE LOWER THEIR HEADS AND PLACE THEIR HATS ACROSS THEIR CHESTS IN REVERENCE. THE MONARCHS EXCHANGE QUIZZICAL LOOKS. FERDINAND PICKS UP ON THE IDEA, HOWEVER.
Ferdinand: The land of precious gold and spices?
COLUMBUS IMMEDIATELY SEES HIS OPPORTUNITY AND RUSHES UP TO THE THRONE.
Columbus: Yes! A way to forestall your financial crisis!
Your cannons surely cost a lot,
Armies, Navies, and what-not,
Ministers of foreign affairs,
Nobles with their fancy airs…
Sailors I & II: Cristobal Colón in ninety-two!
The sailor with chutzpah and derring-do!
MORE PRIVATE LOOKS BETWEEN THE MONARCHS, AND ISABEL RISES FROM HER THRONE AND APPROACHES COLUMBUS. SHE SPEAKS CONDESCENDINGLY.
Isabel: By the way you speak, one would think you’d seen
a land to the west. But I, your Queen,
have it on high authority:
there’s nothing to the west but endless sea.
THE MONARCHS AGAIN CONGRATULATE EACH OTHER WITH GESTURES ON ‘ONE-UPPING’ COLUMBUS.
Columbus: Most sovereign Lords, come look with me,
at Marco Polo’s diary.
Right here it says, on page fifty-three:
“The wealth of the Orient waits for thee!”
MONARCHS SHOW INTEREST, STRAIN FORWARD TO SEE THE DIARY.
COLUMBUS AGAIN SEES HIS OPPORTUNITY.
Columbus: And furthermore, wouldn’t it be grand
to Christianize the Great Khan’s land?
SAILORS I & II PRODUCE A LARGE CROSS WHICH THEY GIVE TO COLUMBUS. HE HOLDS IT FORTH AND DROPS TO ONE KNEE.
Columbus: In the name of the powers invested in me
by your Holy Catholic Majesties,
I’ll bring to China the faith of the Cross!
Millions of heathen souls now lost
will fall to their knees…
Sailors I & II: And the Portuguese…
Columbus: Will get there first if we don’t act fast!
COLUMBUS AND THE TWO SAILORS LISTEN ANXIOUSLY FOR THE MONARCHS’ REPLY, BUT ISABEL AND FERDINAND IGNORE THEM, STEP DOWN FROM THEIR THRONES AND APPROACH STAGE CENTER FOR A ‘POWWOW’.
Ferdinand: This sailor fellow Colón is mad!
His map of the ocean is worse than bad.
Whoever heard of reaching the East
by sailing West? His mind’s diseased!
Isabel: Oh bother me not with mundane things.
But think! What if the Portuguese kings…
Ferdinand: Steal the gold and glory from Spain?
Isabel: Yes! Nothing ventured, and there’s nothing to gain.
ISABEL SINGS A SOLO TO THE TUNE OF ‘AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL’,
JOINED BY FERDINAND ON THE CHORUS.
Isabel: Oh beautiful and bounteous land
across the western sea.
Oh how I long to sing a song
of your discovery!
Ferdinand and Isabel: A mariner! A mariner
will conquer all for Spain.
Our nation’s might, will make it right.
Long may our glory reign!
Ferdinand: Summon the royal money man!
MINISTER OF FINANCE APPEARS BALANCING A LARGE SACK OF COINS ON HIS HEAD. ON TOP OF THE SACK HE WEARS A CROWN MADE OF DOLLAR BILLS. WHEN HE BOWS BEFORE THE KING, THE SACK FALLS, KING CATCHES IT AND PASSES IT TO COLUMBUS, WHO PASSES IT TO SAILORS I & II.
Columbus: Your Graces won’t regret this day.
I promise I’ll return and pay
my debt to you a thousandfold.
Onward for Spain!
Isabel: For Christ!
Whole cast: And for gold!
LIGHTS OUT. SPOTLIGHT ON RAPPERS AT STAGE LEFT.
Scene II – Guanahani —- The Island of Hispaniola
Rappers: Now, Chris was one ambitious man.
He was no fool, he had a plan
To make himself rich for eternity
as Admiral of the Ocean Sea.
But far away, in Guanahani,
living very peacefully,
the native people are holding a dance.
Let’s listen to the sacred chants.