ACT 2: Eden
Scene 2: Eden in Practice
(The CONTRA jungle encampment where the remnants of JOMORRA's old GUNMEN prepare for war. Their stilts are gone. The white, expressionless masks remain, perhaps still scarred and stained by their defeat. Many have lost their weapons. Other guns are in disrepair. Leading the motley and tired bunch is SANTIAGO. They have a guest who towers over them on six-foot stilts.)
"War"
MISSIONARY: HE'S DEAD.
SANTIAGO: HE ESCAPED WITH YOU.
MISSIONARY: HE'S DEAD.
THERE WAS NOTHING I COULD DO.
HERE'S HIS WATCH
IF YOU'RE WANTING PROOF.
SANTIAGO: KEEP IT, I BELIEVE YOU.
WHAT DOES IT MATTER?
THE DEATH OF A TYRANT
MEANS NOTHING TO US.
MISSIONARY: HOW TRUE.
THAT'S REALLY GOOD NEWS
'CAUSE I BROUGHT YOU SOME THINGS
THAT I THOUGHT YOU COULD USE.
(The MISSIONARY reaches down to pull up his voluminous pant leg. The pant cuff rises to reveal a multitude of weapons strapped to his wooden stilts, entwined with red, white, and blue streamers. He's showing leg and it goes all the way to the top. The CONTRAS swarm beneath him, claiming the weapons.)
MISSIONARY: YOU WANT GUNS, I GOT GUNS,
JUST A START, THERE'LL BE MORE.
SNUCK IN THE BACK DOOR OF CONGRESS.
IT'S LIKE THEY'RE RUNNING A STORE.
WE'LL MINE THE HARBORS,
YOU FIGHT THE WAR.
WE'VE ALL GOT HATREDS TO HARBOR
THAT EAT AT OUR CORE.
WAR, WAR, WAR.
WAR, MORE WAR.
They're calling you Freedom Fighters. Get a load of that, huh?
SANTIAGO: WHY ARE YOU GIVING US
ALL OF THESE THINGS?
WE'LL BE YOUR PUPPETS
BUT SHOW US THE STRINGS.
MISSIONARY: THANKS FOR THE OFFER
BUT THERE'S NO STRINGS ATTACHED.
WE'RE JUST SCRATCHING AN ITCH
THAT NEEDS TO BE SCRATCHED.
JUST DO WHAT YOU'RE DOING
AND CALL US A FRIEND
AND KEEP IT ALL QUIET
'CAUSE WE'VE GOT MORE TO SEND.
THIS HERE'S THE TICKET
INTO THE CLUB
OF MUTUAL BENEFIT
(AY, THERE'S THE RUB).
TAKE CARE OF THESE REDS,
BLEED THEM 'TIL THEY'RE DEAD.
JUST KEEP OUR HANDS CLEAN
AND DON'T LET IT GET TO YOUR HEADS.
MISSIONARY: I'LL MIND THE HARBOR, // CONTRAS: -----
YOU'LL START THE WAR // -----
AND YOU'LL DO WHAT I SAY // -----
'CAUSE THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE FOR: // -----
WAR, WAR, WAR. // YOU PLAY THE FATHER,
WAR, MORE WAR. // WE'LL PLAY THE WH*RE.
WE'LL MINE THE HARBORS, // WE ARE ALL LOVERS
YOU FIGHT THE WAR. // WHO KNOW NOTHING MORE.
WE'VE ALL GOT HATREDS TO HARBOR // WAR, WAR, WAR.
THAT EAT AT OUR CORE. // WAR, MORE WAR.
WAR, WAR, WAR. // -----
WAR, MORE WAR. // -----
(In a flurry of guns, SANTIAGO and the CONTRAS melt back into the jungle. EL SEÑOR enters from the other side, atop his high stilts.)
MISSIONARY: Ah, Señor, you sought me out.
EL SEÑOR: I did. I... I can't stay here, amigo. It's not safe in Montepío... The climate isn't good.
MISSIONARY: Patience, patience. The Communists won't last long. God knows, they never do.
EL SEÑOR: Your 'Communists' just offered me a preferential tax break.
MISSIONARY: And you believed them? It's just a ploy to take over your lands and turn them into a co-operative, old friend... You should know that.
EL SEÑOR: They said they don't care how much land I own, as long as it's in production.
MISSIONARY: They what?
EL SEÑOR: Ah, perdón, mi hermano... I never meant to be born in Montepío. It just happened that way.
MISSIONARY: The world is changing too fast for old men like us. Gracias a Dios there'll always be Reds in Russia, at least...
EL SEÑOR: Mmm... I think it's time I retired.
MISSIONARY: Ugh. Where would one retire to around here? The jungle like everyone else?
EL SEÑOR: No, no! I think I'll retire to America.
MISSIONARY: To America?
♩♫ ♬ MUSIC ♬ ♫♩
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YOU ARE READING
montepío - the musical
General FictionThe libretto for a 2-act Broadway-style musical about a revolution that plays out on a fictional Latin American coffee plantation. And Diego, the revolutionary leader, is in love with the Dictator's daughter... Love, politics, violence, and conseque...
