Spring Musical

Sample poetry analysis

A famous classical poet has said that the aim of literature is ‘to teach and to delight’. In the work ONE poet you have studied, examine some poems where both of these aims (instruction and something that pleases the reader) have been included, and show how that has been achieved.

Poetry was widely used before to help poets express their emotions and tell stories. It is shorter and more lively than a normal prose; in my opinion, it is another form of song, due to its strong beats and ambiguous form of expression. Overall, reading a poem is delightful because it is same as enjoying a music or a piece of art work, and another wonderful thing is many poetries can always teach readers a lesson and even guide their way. 

The style of Emily Dickinson’s poetry is simple but powerful which fits the “to teach and to delight” description perfectly. She is one of the greatest and most original poet in America. Sometimes, her poems are kind of abstract but brings sharp views, which attacks the limitation of their societies directly. Therefore, her poetry is usually full of educational values.   Also, her poetry is enjoyable to read; as far as I know, she was famous for using unexpected metaphors, which will definitely bring surprises to readers. 

In “Hope” is the thing with feathers, the title itself is an very important metaphor, which tells the characteristics of hope---free, joyful and unreachable. The object “hope” is described as a bird by the speaker through the entire poem, but it is not even mentioned directly. However, the reason why we get it is the brief but precise metaphor. When I read this poem, many images are floating in my head; I, as a reader, could follow poet’s steps entering the world she describes: a beautiful bird is singing around me in the stormy chilly land. 

“ And sings the tune without the words

And never stops - at all -”

“I’ve heard it in the chillest land-

And on the strangest Sea” 

It can clearly tell that the vivd descriptions bring joys while reading the poem. And also the “-est” reputation creates the beat and heats up the emotions, which emphasizes the harsh condition the speaker is facing. In spite of this, the hope bird is still accompanied with the speaker, which shows the great and selfless of hope. 

“Yet - never - in Extremity,

It asked a crumb - of me.” 

The tone of three stanzas’ rises steadily from peaceful and cheerful to strong and fearless. Readers are attracted by this delightful little poem, but also they are learning from it.

One of the main themes of this poem is the importance and selflessness of Hope. 

“ And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -

And sore must be the storm -

That could abash the little Bird

That kept so many warm -”

It tells the readers that no matter how terrible life is, hope is always there, and it can cheer people up and give people warm. No one should give up hope even “in the chillest land”. It will always guide the way and light up the future. However, it costs no money and no payback, people just need to believe it from the bottom of their hearts. This is the life philosophy the poet was trying to tell us. 

“Hope” is the thing with feathers is a typical example of Emily Dickinson’s work, which influences thousands of people all around the world. They are taught by it and cheered by it. 

Sample Poetry Analysis

Ancestors, parents, children. The connections and oppositions among these groups often provide interesting material for poets. In the work of ONE poet you have studied, examine the means by which such relationships have been explored.

Normally, parents are the first teacher of children, and they are children’s models. Parents have tremendous influences on their children during their entire growing procedures. So the connections between parents and children are usually lifted out by the poets to portray deeply, and this theme is easy to arouse readers’ sympathy. Moreover, one of the most charming characteristics of poetry is it can express a concentrated meaning in a brief way, so the feelings are strong and powerful. Those variable emotions flowing in the poem creates the beauty of it.

Due to the constitutes of Naomi Shihab Nye’s family, the combination of Arabic culture and American culture can be reflected in her poetry. Some of her poems are aimed to break the stereotypes of the impression of Arabians in American people’s eyes, so they have historical and educational values. She did not express her emotions directly in her poems but use her father and her childhood memories very frequently. 

In Naomi Shihab Nye’s poem, her father is a character, who is always longing for the connections between himself and his homeland, and he influences poet a lot because he is the person who taught the poet to reexamine her heritage brought from Arabia. He brings poet happy childhood memories, and he is a gentle and nice father in poet’s eyes. In My Father and the Fig Tree, the fig tree symbolizes the gift of nature and father’s homeland, so father loves the fig tree so much. 

“In the evening her sat by my bed 

weaving folktales like vivd little scarves. 

They always involved a fig tree.”  

Here shows the close relationships between poet and her father. Also, starts to tell poet about the “fig tree”, when poet is just a little girl. It can be interpreted as her father naturally tells poet about the element in Arabian culture in normal daily life. Undoubtedly, those memory pieces build up poet’s identity and personality. Since her father does not want the man-made view to ruin his far but warm dream, he never plants a fig tree himself; however, finally he finds a place where he can place his drifting heart, and poet can definitely understand this happiness. 

“ ‘It’s a fig tree song!’ he said,

Plucking his fruits like rip tokens,

emblems, assurance

of a world that was always his own.”

Because of her father, poet relies so much on her family and he belonging. According to the descriptions of his father chanting the fig tree, we can see her father’s emotions passes down on her, and she keeps them carefully, which is the power of the connections between generations. 

Also, in Blood, Naomi Shihab Nye shows this connection even more obviously. At that time period, Americans had many misunderstandings of Arabians, such as they were violent and radical. The poet feels terrible about that, and she sees her as part of Arabia because her father. She chooses to accept and stand for Arabians’ position especially in the fourth stanza, and her father teaches her become to a “true Arab” step by step.

“Today the headlines clot in my blood. 

A little Palestinian dangles a truck on the front page. 

Homeless fig, this tragedy with a terrible root 

is too big for us. What flag can we wave? 

I wave the flag of stone and seed, 

table mat stitched in blue.”

She tries to rise voice for Arabs in all her mind because she wants to embraces this gift and blood given by her father. Through the tight bonds between poet and Arabian culture, her close relationships between she and her father can be clearly seen. She learns to live in “true Arab” way from her father, who is the person she loves so profoundly. 

In a conclusion, children learn a lot from their parents, including heritage, self-identity and personality. They mirror their parents all the time. Poets express what they have learned from their parents and what they have developed themselves in poetry. This unbreakable connection will always be the focus no matter how time changes.

staging proposal for MLML

MLML for me is like a fairy tale, if I am the director, I would like to give audiences the feeling similar as listening to an old nursery rhyme. It is a long and dramatic bed-time story. The characters should seem like imaginary. 

Firstly, I need a pretty big stage, which is bigger than the black box. A changeable back wall, which is easier to show the place changes. One back wall should be painted on “forest” images, with many trees, flowers and a stream. And also the Black Mountain should also be drawn on this wall. That is the village where DDD lives in. Another back wall should be painted with the view of the city and Daniel’s hotel(put some little bulbs on the painted buildings, which are used to decorate the Christmas tree). This two back walls are the main places where the play take place. One row of ground lights will be placed in front of the back walls in line. 

Secondly, the main sound effects are also separated into two different parts. One is in the quiet village, and the other one is in the busy city. For village’s part back ground music, it should have sound effects of “birds’ singing in the morning”, “river floating” and other “animals”, in order to create the feeling of nature and fresh. And also it should have some happy lively tone background music (flute can be a perfect instrument to play it). For the city part, we should prepare “car noises”, “noisy crowds” and also “party music” sound effects, and also use more modern style back ground music(I think piano can do this job), in order to show the audiences how busy and crowd the city is and to emphasize the contrasts between two different scenes. Generally, the sounds of “rain”, “storm” and “thunder” are also needed for both parts. 

Thirdly, lighting choices are very important as well. It is not only affected by different scenes, but also by different weathers, time and emotions. Basically, I would make the lights as colorful as possible, for creating the atmosphere of “fairy tale”. The variable of lighting colors can also catch audiences attentions, so it is one of my focus. 

Fourthly, costume is another one of the biggest parts. The main characters DDD would wear a light yellowish dress with little colorful flowers embroidered on the edge. And she also makes herself and shiny pebble necklace to let her stand out among other peasants. She is bare foot when she lives in the village. Her hair worn in a bun with a pure white flower on it. Other villagers would wear brown and grey clothes with some patches on it, and also some of them could wear a straw hat. Their skins are dark, and their trouser are rolled up. And also they can hold some farming tools in hand. The other main character, Daniel, should wear suits to symbolize his high social status and also his family’s wealth. And also people in the city will wear shoes and more expansive colorful clothes. Then talking about the four gods. PPG should wear all black, and mainly he wears a cloak with bat patterns on it because he is the massager of death. Erzulie wears nearly white long dress, but it has red rose patterns on the bottom of the dress. She has a white and yellow flower roll on her head, and she also has long golden curly hair to show that she is very beautiful and graceful. Asaka is in green, orange and brown because she symbolizes the ground and plants. She could wear some tree branches and birds on her shoulders. She has a scepter in her hand which shows her power. And she should wear gold eye shadow. And for Agwe, he is in dark blue, and he has long hair. He wears a huge pearl ring on his thumb in order to show his status. He also has a cloak but it is much similar like a hard jacket. He wears many shell necklaces and bracelets. He has a tattoo (maybe shark pattern) on his shoulder.

In a conclusion, MLML is a very lively play for me. It should be bright, dramatic and colorful, and it is able to give audiences strong visual impacts. Everything happens in an unspecified time period and places. It should let audiences feel free and relax.  

Inclass writing

MB vs. TM

In page 60, TM wants to leave the village and to find Daniel, and she didn't tell her mother about that. She meets MB, and MB tells her some life philosophies. It is surprised that TM listens to MB’s words so easily because in the book TM is a very stubborn and selfish girl, and she always follows her own wish. But when pay a close attention to the dialogues, “To be tranquil, one must hang one’s hat where one can reach it. Keep one’s heart where one can feel its beat”, where he indicates that people should be wisdom of self-knowledge. “Tranquil” means “good ending”, and “hat” and “heart” are kind of the same thing, which represents TM’s “desire” and her “love”. MB says that TM gives her love to the wrong person, and because of that, she might not have a good ending.  And he believes in “fate”, which TM believes in a lot. “ History has cast our fate in stone.” I believe that’s why TM listens his advice. He is the one TM listens to, rather than her own mother.   

DDD's costume

Other peasants wear grey and brownish clothes and pants. 

DDD wears a simple light yellowish dress, and at the edge of the dress, her mother embroidered some little colorful (red, pink, white, blue, purple) flowers for her. She doesn't wear shoes, which is same as other peasants. But she made a little shiny pebble & shell necklace by herself (gathering beautiful pebble along the stream/Agwe’s area)

Notes Chapter 6-9

Chapter4&5notes + five senses chart

Reflection of the oral presentation

Reflection of the oral presentation:

To be honest, this oral presentation was a very challenge task, and I was nervous about it. Actually, I think keep talking about 12-15 minutes is pretty long. And listening to others practice in class was very useful for me I think, and they provided great example for me.

When I listened to my recording, I found a very awkward mistake. At the beginning of the presentation, I supposed to say “the relationships between parents and children”, but what I said was “the relationships between parents and student”. That was a so unforgivable mistake, and I even didn’t realize that after I said. And through the entire oral presentation, my voice volume I think was fine, but the talking speed was so not stable. Sometimes I talked really fast, and sometimes I stopped and hesitated a lot. I think that was because I was too nervous. Besides, I found it was very useful to practice not only myself but also with Ms. Guarino because she gave me many good advises, and I revised my notes after that practice. I practiced by myself several times, and I recorded the time every time because I wanted me to know how much time will each part take. The official presentation lasted only 11’58’’ which means I actually spoke faster than my practices. Usually, it should take about 13 minutes. 

Overall, I think my oral presentation was ok. I did take my time practicing, I was pretty satisfied with it. However, compared with other classmates, I know I still have I lot needed to improve. The better I want to become, the harder I should work. The IB literature and performance was a pretty challenge class, but I can feel that my English improves a lot because of this class. 

oral presentation

Introduction: 

The story we chose was Caroline’s wedding from AUTHOR’s book Krik Krak. It was about Caroline, a disable girl, married an American instead of following her mother’s wish marrying a Haitian. This story contains many thoughtful thesis like the relationships between parents and children, the tight bond with their belongings, and culture difference. Caroline’s wedding was one of the core stories in the book and also was a perfect story to choose. As both a director and a performer, I see Caroline’s Wedding as a pure jade which has much space to carve. 

Characterization in the story:

I was performing Caroline, who lost her forearm when she was born. In the story, she symbolized American culture because she was born in US, and the only connection between she and Haiti was her family. She grew up in American-like environment, so she had large culture difference with her mother. She was a strong character because she disobeyed her mother and chose to chase her happiness. Readers can simply imagine that Caroline depended a lot on her sister and her mother because she was disable person, and she always needed someone to take care of her during her entire growing procedure. Marrying Eric was the biggest decision she made, and it also represented her independence. Her father died when she was very young, so he barely contributed to build her personality and characterization. Her mother rise her up, and she was influenced by her mother. Caroline and her mother could not understand each other all the time, but they finally got agreement on Caroline’s wedding showed the deep love between them. 

Characterization in our own adaptation:

As I mentioned before, Caroline’s father died early and she did not get much love from him while she was growing. However, she and her sister sometimes met their father in dreams. I think that was because they missed their father so much, so in our adaptation, we focused on portraying how dad interact with two daughters in their dreams. Dad left at the beginning of the story, and Caroline sat in her room alone, crying, which showed that she was a sensible girl, and she didn’t want tell everyone her sadness, so she didn't yell and cry infant of her mother and her sister. But she still felt lost for sure, she chose to bare it by herself because she didn’t want to add extra burden to her family. She was a naive girl. She believed in Grace easily that she could meet her dad in dream, if she didn't wear the red pant. In the first dream, she listened to her father’s advice and decided to be strong because she understood that was her father’s wish, and she didn’t want to let him down. In the other dream ten years after, she was beautiful and mature, but she still wanted to get permission for her marriage from her dad, which showed that she was a concerned person, and she cared about her family in her truly mind. She exposed her softness in front of her father, and she was ready to say goodbye to her past and welcome her new life. Through the entire play, she didn’t mention her disability in person, in order to show that she was a positive and optimistic person rather than a complaining person. 

Difficulty in transitioning:

In the book, Caroline’s Wedding was told in Grace’s perspective, and it was important to bring up Caroline’s voice. Since the origin story didn’t talk much about how was her childhood like and how would she do if she meets her dad, it was challenging to decide her lines and actions just by imagine and deduce from the text. And our job was actually fill some of the blank parts of her life step. 

Staging choice: 

We separated the stage into three parts: stage left--reality, middle stage--dream, and stage right--heaven. Caroline’s moving areas were stage left and middle stage because she was an alive person. And on the stage left, was Grace and Caroline’s bedroom, and we used normal yellow light to light up that part of the stage. We used normal white lights to light up the right stage, heaven part, and we didn’t put anything right there in order to show the emptiness and quiet of the heaven. In the middle was the special area between alive and death, and it was magical and variable, so we used blue and red lights to indicate. During the first dream, the color choice for the middle part was blue and later changed to red to show the dead father was blocked outside her wife’s dream because she wore the “red pant”, when she slept. In the dream before Caroline’s wedding, the lights were both red and blue, which meant to create the atmosphere for the characters to talk about the “marriage” topic. This dream was the last chance for dead father to come back, so the complex light choice was also used to show the specialness of the dream. 

Possible improvements:

Firstly, we need wiser staging preparation. For example, due to lack of practice, the lighting part was not completely following the directions, such as the red lights did not light up when the dead father was trying to entire his wife’s dream, which would confuse the audiences.  

Secondly, more body languages. When I, as Caroline, was talking to Grace and father, sometimes I was standing still for more than five seconds, and that was not a good way to fully develop the character because audiences could only know about her by her lines. Because Caroline and Grace were not able to touch their father in the first and half part of the second dream, then we need to add more body interaction between Grace and Caroline to enhance their relationships. 

Conclusion:

Caroline’s Wedding was one of my favorite stories in the book, and our own adaptation was creative because it started from more than one person’s perspective and even gave a position for the dead people. And it was focusing on portraying the relationships among characters in the imaginary world. Overall, I think we did a pretty good job on this task. Every group member contributed a lot, and we worked well together. The play held us tightly together, and honestly, I learned a lot not only from the task but also from my partners. Performing an American character and writing more than two thousand words script were very changeling for me as a non-native speaker. And when I finished all the work, I was very proud of myself.   

School of Rock review

School of rock review

This was a wonderful musical!!! First of all, I liked the story a lot because I though it was very attractive and positive, and it could inspire many people who was chasing their dreams no matter the dreams were about music or their future in general. This musical was very suitable for students to watch. And it also contained the spirt of rebellion, self-recognition, power of youth and the relationships between parents and children. It was very thoughtful and meaningful. School of rock was one of the best musical I have even watched. To be honest, moved a lot. 

Moreover, I learned many things from the actors about how to portray their characters. Dewie Finn was truly a rebellious character; she could sacrifice any thing for her dream-rock music. She was poor, and she even could afford the rent, but she still did not give up her guitar like Ned Scneebly did. She was straight forward and strong, but actually, she was struggling with the life she chose. She was actually talent but lack of opportunities. I believe there are tons of this kind of people in the world; they are stubborn but admirable. Through Lexi’s body languages and her voice, I was pulled into the story naturally. She successfully made me feel like she was not acting Dewie; she was Dewie. I felt like Lexi, as an actor, somehow fit in this character perfectly, and I was so impressed because of this. 

Ned Scneebly was a memorable character also. I have to say John Jiang was very good at acting, and I like every character he act. He was very focused and skillful. He knew how to control his character’s changing emotions and personalties. Ned was not like Dewie because he had been shaped by life already. He needed to work hard and make his girl friend happy, so he could not do whatever he wants like Dewie. But in his deep mind or in his soul, rock music was always his love. I really like the scene he played the guitar and sang with Dewie which showed his true face. Also when he was wearing the colorful wig yelling on Patty’s face, not only me, other audiences sit behind me cheered for him very loudly. Undoubtedly, the character truly touched the audiences. 

The other character who was similar with Ned was Principal Rosalie Mullins. She hided herself because she had to be perfect in school, in front of children and parents. However, she was always hoping for friendships and freedom. She defiantly had more than two personalities, and Sam did a really good job. We can clearly see the change of the characters by her facial expressions and her outlooking. When she pulled her hair down, that was her inside her mind, and I was very glad to see that at the end of the scene, when parents and teachers all went to see the competition, she pulled her hair down and helped Dewie. She received both freedom and friendship at the end. 

First Draft Reflection

Reflection:

Our group haven’t practiced that much time before we acted out our first draft. We were unfamiliar with the blocking and some lines. And we didn’t cooperated very well. It was quite a failure. I was very unsatisfied with it. There were so many things needed to be improved which made me feel overwhelmed. Especially when I saw Chantelle, Nancy and Johnny’s group, they did a very good job, and I just wanted to trash our script. 

Classmates gave us many good suggestions. Basically were asking us to be louder, and make the story clearer. I felt quite lost because I wrote it, and I actually don't know how to fix those flaws. To be honest, that’s a really tough mission. I think we really need to try to separate the work more wisely in order to push our team to move forward. 

According to the suggestions, we need to separate the stage into three parts more clearly in order to let the audiences can distinguish the home(reality), heaven, dream(some place between reality and heaven). Actually I thought a lot about this, and I think we can solve the problem by practicing more and reading carefully of the script. Secondly, our adaptation was not that understandable without the lighting staff. And our stage model showed the lighting choices, but we didn't fully explain it. Such as blue light for the first dream, and pink light for the second dream. Besides, one thing I want to explain more is the red light and the red pants part. At first, Grace should hold those red pants given by Ma entering Caroline’s room (however, we didn’t show it clearly when we acted), and then in the book it says the red pant could protect the widows from being taken away by the dead husband; and Caroline and Grace look a lot like their mother, so Ma asks them to wear those red pants as well just for protecting them. And I used the original texts from book, but it seems not clear enough to explain this concept to the audiences. So we need to think about adding more information to let it make more sense. And because Ma herself was wearing the red pant all the time for preventing dead father’s returning, dead father was not able to get close or even see his wife. When he tried to enter his wife's dream, he was blocked by the red pant. And he also can’t see his wife in heaven that’s why there’s no “Ma” this character.  

We will ask Johnny, the god, to read the note part. 

“kevin, point to other side (stage left) to show eric waiting -- other side is "heaven" and stage left is real world so keep those the same always.”

Answer: he supposed to point at the audiences, but he did it wrong. But if he points at the audiences, will it make sense?  

Some suggestions also say that we need to add more body contacts to show the close relationships between the two sisters and some how connect with the father. In fact we planed to let Grace to sit next to Caroline and pat her shoulders to comfort her, but because of our lack of practices, we were not able to show that. And we even drove it further from the plan. But there actually are many places needed to add more body languages such as when Grace and Caroline first meet their father in dream, as Kat said, they should react more surprised and exaggerated to express their miss. But I have no idea what kind of actions is appropriate because I am not very good at developing the characters on stage. And none of us in our group figured that out. 

script + list

Scene 1:

Beginning:

(In the hospital room, Caroline and Grace are standing over the bed crying, silently watching their father struggling to breathe.)

Dead Father (Peterson): *Grabs Caroline's hand and then Grace’s hand* I will always be with you…..

Everything pause, the lights shut down. *Only one white light shoot on the bed*, after a second, dead father slowly get out of the bed and roam around (keep the white light on him). and then leave.

(white light, holy background music)

Now Entering Heaven

Dead father( peterson) *wakes up very confused*  What the…. * stands up but falls back down again* Let me try that again *stands back up*  *starts to looks around*

(lights only on hum, left center stage. )

*Voice speaks* : Peterson we have been waiting for you. I am sorry to inform you, but Your’e dead, Welcome to Heaven!

Dead Father: Who’s there! Where am I?

Dead Father(Peterson):

(*wonders around worries and touches hair*)

M-My hair (*long pause* )...Its back!

(*looks down and sees family and shouts*) HONEY! KIDS! ITS ME! PAPA!! (*pause*) HELLO! IM RIGHT HERE! (*sigh*) Can’t they here me?...Oh…Everything is gone... I guess I really am dead.

At the right part of the stage, lights up.

--------At home--------

Grace:( head looks back, body walks forward)  Mom, I’m ok. I’ll just go to check Caroline. I believe she’s crying right now.

Grace: Knock~Knock~ Hey little sis, may I come in? (knocks the door, slightly opens the door and enters)

(*No answer*)

(*Grace slowly approches caroline*)
Grace: Are you ok? mom and I are worried about you. (sits next to Caroline)

Caroline: *Sniffles*I’m ok. Just leave me alone! I don’t feel like talking right now.

Dead father: Wait..Are they Grace and Caroline?..Oh..my daughters. (sigh) So glad I can still see you here.

Grace: (*Puts arm around caroline*)Okok, but you didn’t eat anything. Don’t treat yourself like that. I believe dad also doesn’t wanna see that. Right?

Dead father: Oh, Caroline, my little trouble maker, go and have dinner with mom!

(right after dead father’s line. )

Caroline:(hands cover ears)  I don’t know. I miss him!! How can he just leave us?!

(wants to say something but stop) Peterson (Dead Father): (*sigh and looks down at his feet*) I’m sorry, dear. I never wanted this to happen. Trust me! I love you and your mother.

Grace: (sigh, trembling sound but tries to calm down) You know sis. He fought long and hard, but the cancer spread too fast and he couldn't keep up anymore. If he had the chose to stay, he would have.

Caroline: But…...I still have many things want to tell him… He can’t listen to me any more. I want papa back!!(crying, puting head between legs)

Dead father: Oh no.. Don’t cry Caroline…. I need to go, I need to go, I need to go.. my daughters need me! (exit)

                                                       left side lights off.

Grace: Listen sis.. Do you really want to meet dad again? (serious)

Caroline: Yes! But how?

Grace: Maybe..that’s too risky..I doubt we should listen to Ma

Caroline: Tell me! Tell me! Grace! please…

(show her two red pants) Grace: Ma said, start from today, we need to wear these red pants every night. In Ma’s family, the widows often wore blood-red panties so that their dead husbands would not come back and lie down next to them at night. And daughters who looked a lot like the widowed mother should also wear those panties, so that if they were ever mistaken for her, they will be safe. You know.. because dad is gone..so...Ma gives me them...Maybe..maybe

Caroline: maybe if we don’t wear them… Dad could come back!!

(Grace nods)Grace: Are you afraid of ghost?

Caroline: I will never afraid of papa!

(Grace and Caroline go to sleep)

SCENE END

Scene 2:

Dad: Felt anxious to rush down. . Where am I ? ( touches his pocket) ah? What is this? ( Find out a note)

The note said: The penultimate. Or the last twelfth.

                      This is the dream of someone who misses you so strongly..

                   At the time when the bell rings three times is the time you need return.

                   Do not touch the person you are familiar with!  (Father read out)

(He sees Caroline and Grace figure far away, and he can hear their voice) ah. . Is their dream

(Very slowly approached)

Grace: Where am I? I’m not suppose to be here..I’m on my way home. (looks around)

Wait a minute.. Where - is - my - home ? Am I in Haiti right now? No..no..that’s impossible.

(flute music)

Caroline: Grace! Where did you go? I asked you to wait for me!

Grace: Caro..Caroline! You are Caroline!

Caroline: Of course I am! What’s wrong with you?

Grace: Your arm..is back!! Why? I mean.. I couldn’t believe my eyes!

Caroline: What are you talking about? My arm? Back? Come on.. it’s always there, sis. Are you ok? You might be sick…

Grace: I’m ok. I’m ok..

(turn around, bite on arm) It doesn’t hurt…….Now, everything make sense. It’s a dream.

Caroline: Hurry up! Hurry up! He is waiting for us! We don’t have that much time left!

Grace: Who? Who is waiting?

Caroline: See! Papa! He is right there! Papa! Papa! (waves)

(Father, waving his hands)

(Two daughters, felt joyful, ran up): Dad, we miss you. . where did you go?    ( Together)

(His father reached out, wanted to touch the two daughters’ heads, but suddenly remembered the phrase "You can not touch the person who you are familiar with." Hand stopped in the air, a few seconds, puts down)

Father (muttered): No. . I can’t do that.

(Her daughter step forward,  his father step down once, then  her daughter stepped forward, then father step back again. )

Father: No, you can not come!   … Silence  Daddy really had a good time with you, and dad missed you, too. Caroline, you little bastard, Did you cry in the midnight? That’s not good.  Listen to your mom’s advice,  the bone soup mom cooked every day you needed to drink it. Grace did well, you grew up a lot, papa was very pleased. More and more looks like a sister. You have to take good care of yourselves, also take good care of your mother. I'm sorry I can not protect you anymore, but you have to believe that I love you  forever . Dad will bless you. .

Grace: No!dad. We can not live without you.  We have a lot of words to say to you.

(Bells sounded three times)

Dad: Time to leave, remember stay safely, my dear!

Light out immediately.

Scene 3:

Grace: No! No!!Dad please don’t leave us! （struggle on bed. )

Caroline: Grace! Grace, wake up! ( Shake her sis)

Grace: Ah.. It’s a dream...Oh my god.. Dad…

Caroline: Did you also dream about dad?

Grace: Yeah.. You too?! And..and in my dream, your arm is back!

Caroline: I guess we must have the same dream

Grace: Probably.. Papa did came back..Do you remember what did dad say?

Caroline: Yes, but not all of them. He wanted us to be strong, and he will always be with us. Sis, that’s his wish!

Grace: You are right. We shouldn’t let him down. We need to take care of ourselves and Ma. And if we miss him, we can always call him back. Cause he’s always there! Caroline, don’t tell Ma about the dream. Otherwise, she will be mad with us. And remember to hide your red pants carefully.

Caroline: So glad we can see him again.

Scene 4：

Grace: Time to go to bed sis. Hope you can enjoy the last night before your wedding.

Caroline: I know, but I don't want to, I miss dad, Do you think Dad will agree me marry Eric?

Grace: Of course he will. Don’t you remember he has been always looking for us?

Caroline: Yeah. Time flies. You and me are no longer little girls. By the way, did you remember the game that dad taught us? Let's play it.

Grace: do you mean that free association game? Ok,sure

Darker light.

Caroline: who are you?

Grace: I am the lost child of the night.

Caroline: where do you from?

Grace: I come from the inside of the lost stone.

Caroline: where are your eyes?

Grace: I have eyes lost behind my head, where they can best protect me.

Caroline: who is your mother.

Grace: she who is the lost mother of all.

Caroline: who is your father?

Grace: he who is the lost father of all.

Silent…..

Caroline: ok I think I have nothing to ask.. So good night and have a nice dream sis. love you Grace: Good night. love you too.

-------Dream-------

Dad: Caroline..Caroline.. (wakes her up)

Caroline: Papa! You haven’t come to my dream for a long time. Oh my god! I’m wearing a wedding dress! (looking at her dress and surperised) Yes! Dad! I’m gonna marry! I really want to tell you that! (happy)

Dad: I know.. I know.. sweet heart. Eric? Right? Glad you can find your happiness! I have been waiting for this day for a long time. I am so impressed. Finally, there is another man who can take care of you! (smile and nod)

Caroline: Oh dad! Do you really think so! I’m so happy. I was afraid that you won’t agree my marriage. (nearly cry)

Dad: That’s impossible Caroline. The only shame is I can’t come to the wedding ceremony in person. You don’t know how much I want to attend it. I’m sorry Caroline. I’m sorry. (sigh)

Caroline: Oh, dad...you don’t need to apologize. It’s not your fault. I always remember you told me you will always be there.

Dad: Caroline….my girl, you are alway strong. Just go and chase your bright tomorrow. You deserve a better life. Once I thought god is unfair because he took your arm away and caused your disability. Me and Ma were very worried about you. But now everything is becoming better and better. It seems like your happiness is right around the corner.

Caroline: thank you dad. Thank you. I believe Eric will treat me well. (cry)

Dad: Yeah, I believe so. Well listen..This is dad’s last time come back.

Caroline: What? What do you mean? You… You won’t come to my dream again?

Dad: Yes

Caroline: Why? No...Are you gonna leave us?! （yell)

Dad: Sweet heart, I hope you can understand. This is the last time. That’s why I haven’t come for so long. I need to go. And actually I’m ready to go because I won’t be worried about you anymore. See? Eric is waiting for you. (walk forward and point to the audience side)

Caroline: Dad...don’t go.. (follow him)

Dad: (hug) I will alway love you.

Costume:

Betty (Caroline)- Pajamas, except red pants

Kat (Grace)- Pajamas except red pants

Kevin( Dead Father/Peterson)- All white, or grey is ok.

Props:

Clouds (Making at home)- Kat

Halo- Kevin

Pillows

Bed

Sofa

Light/ sound

- Kevin's side needs to me bright (white). But when Kevin's scene is done, his light should dim down to signify that he is done talking. And that his scene is coming to an end.

- Our side needs to be dark, maybe like a dark blue. But while Kevin is talking there should be no light shining near us because it's HIS "spotlight"

- For two girls, their lights can be blue or bright grey to show the night and in dream.

- When they went into dreams to find dad, the light shifts to bright yellow in order to show their happiness.

- On the last dream, when Caroline went into dream to share her marriage with dad, light shifts to bright pink.

- As for sound cues, Kevin's should have a holy sound to start off with, like angels singing when he wakes up on Heaven. Later on in the play, when Grace and Caroline wake up, their should be birds calling. That's to signify that is day time. Kevin or (dead father/Peterson) can only talk to the girls when they are asleep and dreaming. He can't communicate with them in the morning. So when he hears the birds singing and sees grace and Caroline starting to wake up, he has no choice but to leave.

Song Suggestions:

Dad died:

ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqUdcOfxfuw

Dream about marriage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKUaIsar8ds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ri3WsPDi4MY