A History of US

(The Play )

**Scene 1: A Sign in the Sky**

Characters: Villagers, Narrator

(Nighttime. Villagers are gathered outside, looking up at the sky.)

Villager 1: "Look, a comet, a comet!"

Villager 2: (Pointing at the sky) "There, next to the dog Sirius!"

Narrator: "In those days, everyone could name the bright stars and planets. They knew the constellations and the mythical stories of their forming. Mothers and fathers showed their children the stars named for the dog Sirius, or Draco the Dragon, or Cygnus the Swan."

Villager 3: (Looking worried) "A comet is a bad omen. It's a messenger sent to foretell danger and dire change."

Narrator: "These were times when most questions were answered by religious faith or superstition. Modern science was just being born. Stars were thought to be the lights of heaven, and comets were said to be messengers sent to foretell danger and dire change."

Villager 4: (Looking at the comet) "I heard this is the same comet that was seen when the Norman kings invaded England from France. Those French conquerors changed England, and the English language, for all time."

Narrator: "But you didn't need a comet in 1607 to see that Europe was changing. The old religion - Catholicism - was being questioned. England had become Protestant, then Catholic, then Protestant again. Now some people, called Puritans, were saying that the country wasn't Protestant enough. It was all very disturbing to people used to a secure faith. To make matters worse, there were economic problems, too."

Villager 5: (Looking worried) "And what about Spain? They're bankrupt. And with Queen Elizabeth gone, who knows where England is heading?"

Narrator: "In this world that had once seemed orderly, ideas were changing. New thinkers, like the Italian scientist Galileo Galilei, were actually saying that Aristotle, the greatest of scientists, had some ideas that were wrong! Galileo even whispered that Nicholas Copernicus might be right. Copernicus, a Polish astronomer, had said the sun, not the earth, was the center of our universe. How could that be?"

Villager 6: (Shaking head) "If that idea is wrong, then the Pope and all of Europe's rulers are wrong."

Narrator: "Of course, that disturbing idea got Galileo into a lot of trouble. It ended up changing everything people believed. Change is troublesome, especially to those in power. And yet the new ideas, like germs, seemed to travel on invisible wings. The epidemic of thought was soon out of control."

Villager 7: (Looking at the comet) "The message that some people read in the comet was right: the world was in for astonishing changes. Would they be changes for the better? Not for those people called Indians, who would soon meet the pale-skinned English. For them the changes were tragic."

Narrator: "But for England, and the rest of the world, 1607 marked the beginning of what turned out to be an awesome, momentous, earth-shaking experiment. An experiment that would lead to democracy and to a government dedicated to liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Let's watch the United States happen. Take yourself to the beginning of the 17th century, to England, where some brave men are getting ready to travel to a place they call the New World. They have no idea what is ahead of them. They'll bring along their Old World ideas - good and bad. Pack a bag, we're going to join them."

Scene 2

**Title: Across the Ocean: The Virginia Quest**

**Characters:**

1. **Captain:** Leader of the Englishmen, ambitious, courageous and a visionary.

2. **Gentleman 1:** A well-dressed Englishman, eager for adventure.

3. **Gentleman 2:** Another well-dressed Englishman, driven by dreams of riches.

4. **Commoner:** A hardworking Englishman, looking for a new beginning.

5. **Narrator:** The story teller.

**Act I: Departure**

*(Scene opens at the docks of river Thames. Men are bustling around, loading cargo onto a ship. Captain stands at the forefront, gazing at the horizon.)*

**Narrator:** (Voiceover) On the docks of the River Thames, near London, a group of Englishmen readied themselves for a trip across the vast ocean. Brave men, embarking on an adventure to a New World.

**Captain:** (Looking out at the horizon) There lies our future, men. A world where the wild roams free, where forests run deep, and where gold is as common as copper.

**Gentleman 1:** (Looking at Captain) Gold you say? As common as copper?

**Captain:** (Turns towards Gentleman 1) Indeed, sir. A land where even their chamber pots are pure gold.

**Gentleman 2:** (Laughs) I wouldn't mind using a chamber pot made of gold.

**Commoner:** (Shaking his head) Riches aren't everything. I seek a fresh start, a new beginning.

*(They continue to load the ship, preparing for the voyage.)*

**Narrator:** (Voiceover) And so, these brave Englishmen, fueled by dreams of a New World, prepared to set sail. Their destination: Virginia. Their goal: unimaginable riches and a new life.

SCENE THREE

(Scene: A cozy English home, a mother and father are telling stories to their children by the fire.)

Narrator: (voiceover) "When English parents told stories to their children, they often spoke of monsters, trolls, wild beasts, and witches. Those were savage stories, strange and disturbing."

Mother: (animatedly) "And then, the troll roared, shaking the entire forest with its fury..."

Narrator: (voiceover) "But those weren't the only stories they told. There were tales of splendor and goodness, too. Every child heard the Bible's first story, which is of a Garden of Eden."

Father: (softly) "In the Garden of Eden, everything was in harmony. The animals, the trees, the rivers... everything was in perfect balance."

Narrator: (voiceover) "So when English men and women learned of a land of great beauty, where people lived close to nature, many of the English thought of that land as paradise."

(Transition to a scene with the Powhatan tribe)

Narrator: (voiceover) "They called the natives 'savages,' but meant the word kindly. The first English visitors to the New World described the Indians as 'courteous' and 'gentle' and 'great.'"

Powhatan Leader: (to his tribe) "We live in harmony with the land, we take only what we need, and we respect all creatures."

Narrator: (voiceover) "But, later, when others met those great savages, they found they didn't always act as people do in storybooks. Soon some were calling them worse names than 'savages.' They called them 'beasts.'"

(Transition to a scene with the Powhatan tribe hunting)

Narrator: (voiceover) "It was the men who hunted, fished, and fought. Women farmed. Men and women had set roles in this society and rarely changed them. Children helped their parents, played, and didn't go to work until they were young adults."

(Transition to a scene with the Powhatan leader)

Narrator: (voiceover) "The great Powhatan had a beautiful deerskin sewed with designs in lustrous pearls. Powhatan had stacks of deerskins and a storehouse of corn, and he had copper and pearls. The tribes brought all this and more to him. It was tribute given to a ruler."

Powhatan Leader: (to his tribe) "We are strong, we are united, and we will protect our land."

Narrator: (voiceover) "Powhatan didn't yet know that three small ships were heading for his realm. They were coming across the ocean from an island far to the east."

(End scene with the image of three small ships on the horizon)