Blog post 2 due on sample poetry analysis due by midnight -- Choose any one of the sample questions but apply them to Emily Dickinson's poetry. Do not use the same question as you did for Nye.

2. “The language of a poem is often that of one thing compared to another.” In the work of at least

two poets you have studied, explore how poets have made their subjects come alive through

different means of comparing them.

In poetry poets often use one thing to represent another thing. This is shown in the poem by Emily Dickinson, “Hope” is the thing with feathers. In this, she uses many comparisons to show what hope is.

In the first stanza, she compares hope to a bird. She describes it as perching in the soul. In this, she paints a symbolic picture of a bird perching in the soul, but it represents hope resting in the soul. Then she goes on to talk about how birds sing tunes without words. This is symbolic for how you can be optimistic for the future, even though you may not know what will happen. Then she says the bird's song never dies which represents hope never dying.

In the second stanza, the author continues comparisons to describe hope. She continues to talk about how the song is heard in the storm but this is purely symbolic for hope pursuing even when times are rough. Then it goes on to talk about how the storm must be angry because the storm tried to hurt the little bird, that helped so many people. This is a comparison for hope. It is saying that some angry people will get in the in the way of hope (aka the bird) and try to stop it and put it down.

However, in the last stanza, the reading continues to take a more optimistic approach. It talks about how the song of the bird can be heard in the chillest land and strangest sea. This is compared to hope, and how it can be found anywhere. Then it continues to talk about how the bird has never asked the author for a crumb in the worst of times. This is metaphoric in the sense that it means hope has never asked anything of her or cost her anything even in the worst of times.

This poem has made hope come alive by comparing it to other things, where hope is represented by the bird and it’s songs. Meanwhile, the storm is compared to people who try to bring her down. Perhaps this story is symbolic of her own life where hope has helped her overcome challenges and other people have tried to bring her down and crush her dreams, but hope continued, and she made it through. The moral of the story is that you will always be able to hear the birds singing even on the roughest of days or that there will always be hope for you even on the roughest of days. In this text the author made hope come alive by painting it as a bird.

Blog post on sample poetry analysis due Monday by midnight. Questions are on the class blog. Choose ONE question only to answer in a short essay. On the IB test, you will need to discuss TWO poets, but for this assignment, only talk about Naomi Shihab Nye

Blog post on sample poetry analysis due Monday by midnight. Questions are on the class blog. Choose ONE question only to answer in a short essay. On the IB test, you will need to discuss TWO poets, but for this assignment, only talk about Naomi Shihab Nye

3.

Poet's often withhold information from the reader and imply things that are not necessarily certain. This is shown in much of Naomi Shihab’s work. This is shown in much of her work and is especially portrayed in the poem Grandmother in the stars.

This poem can be interpreted in many ways. An important concept for interpreting this poem is that these poems are non-linear. In my opinion, in this poem, the Grandmother is both dead and alive at times. The title implies that she is dead, “Grandmother in the stars.” However, in the first line, it says that it is possible they will not meet again. This means that the grandma could be alive or dead, and we cannot be certain. This is one of the many parts in this poem that could have a duel meaning.

When it talks about her bowing to her rugged feed this could mean a few things. One interpretation of this is that she is praising her dead grandma, at her grave. This is less likely but is possible. Another interpretation is that the Grandma is poor and has traveled a lot. We can think this because it says rugged feet.This means that her feet are worn down. Hence she has traveled a lot. Additionally, her feet could be worn down because she doesn’t have shoes. This shows how she lives in poverty and is poor. Although this interpretation is more probable, the author has a way of making both of these interpretations seem plausible with her word choice.

Lastly, at the end, it continues to make the reader question whether the grandma is dead or alive. The last line could be interpreted as a flashback or it could be seen as a current event. It talks about how memory makes them rich which makes it seem like it’s a flashback. This statement also leads me to believe the grandma is dead. However, I have a different interpretation of this scene. I think this scene takes place in the present. If you connect it with the title it can have an entirely different interpretation. The title is Grandma in the stars, so when she’s on the roof at sunset her grandmother is in the stars of the night. She is dead and in the sky and when the sun sets the grandmother is there in the sky. With this said, all they have is the memory that makes them rich. The reader can take both of these perspectives when analyzing the poem.

Poetry is not straightforward. It’s about looking for the underlying meaning of the poem. There is a deeper meaning to every line, and this meaning is not always blatantly shown. Often in poetry, this meaning will be unclear. Yet, this allows the reader to think about the reading on a deeper level and analyze what’s going on. Poetry is all about the interpretation and finding the words under the words.

Staging proposal due on blogs by 11pm -- 500 words. Describe how you would stage MLML or TPG as a play, your vision of it. What does it look and feel like? Talk about how the stage is set up, color, characters, lighting, etc. Drawings optional.

A scene I would stage in my love my love would be the helicopter scene. However, I would create an adaptation of the helicopter scene. I would exaggerate how the rich do not like the poor. I would put a more modern spin on the play to make the rich seem like they had more power. This play would take place in a black box theater, where the lights were on because it is daytime.

In the first scene, the wealthy would come flying down on ropes. They will be descending in the upstage right, and the villagers will be in the upstage center. In the background, there would be helicopter noise. There would be a crowd of poorly dressed men and woman below them. The villagers will be mumbling about a bird, and jibbering about the strange thing in the sky. As the people on the rope descended, you would be able to see that they were nicely dressed. The people in the helicopter would all be taller than the people in the crowd to show their power. Additionally, to show their power they would all be holding weapons.

When the rich descended they would land and shout, “Silence! Where is my son!” He would do this while firing a gun in the air. This will add exaggerated anger to the play. Meanwhile, all the peasants will be trembling in fear. Then the rich make will grab a villager by his clothes and shout, “Peasant, take me to my son!” The poor will be quivering in fear. All of them will look scared. Then a villager will take the rich man to the downstage left stage where there will be a small hut.  The man will see his son and threaten to kill several villagers for what they did to his son. Then a villager will frantically try to exclaim that she was helping him. The rich man will call over his men and instruct them to carry him to the plane.

The rich men will walk back to upstage right, past the villagers who are still surrounding the helicopter. Then the rich men will throw a handful of pennies at the poor. This will be symbolic to show how the rich see the peasants as less than them. The peasants will swarm to pick up these pennies. The rich men will attach themselves to the ropes, and leave without saying thank you. This will show how the wealthy completely disregard and disrespect the poor.

In this scene, the villagers will be dirty and skinny to show that they’re starving. Their clothes will be tattered, and they will be barefoot, in addition to having long shaggy hair. In  the downstage right stage, there will be brown dead crops to show the current famine. Additionally, in downstage center there will be peasants in the background curled in a ball and tattered blankets. These will be homeless people and will help show the class difference.

The purpose of this adaptation will be to show the imbalance between the poor and the rich. It will show how they are completely different and that the rich will never care for the poor. This adaptation will be important in introducing the tainted relationship between the rich and the poor. Also, this scene will foreshadow the future of the play where the man falls in love with another woman. This scene will be crucial to the overall plot of the play.

M. Bienconnu vs. Ti moune

On page 60 of the book, my love, my love, M. Bienconnu has a very different opinion from Timoune. Timoune's concerns are ones that have been proven again and again throughout the entire book. In this book there are two sides. There are the rich and the poor. These classes are not meant to be mixed they live in different area's on the island. Timoune says that fate will prevail and that the poor cannot be with the rich. It is just history acting.

This is more than just speculation in this book there is a curse between the rich and the poor. They cannot be together, and will not be able to. They are just living out history. There is nothing they can do. If they make it with each other bad things will happen. Timoune is smart enough to see this and this is why he says this. It is just a class issue. The rich barely see the poor as human. This adventure is bound to end in a tragedy. How can they be together if they can't even show each other common respect?

Chapter 4-5 Notes + The Five Senses

Chapter 4

• The woman is taking care of the rich man
• God’s don’t like it, she’s playing with life and death
• God’s send a ferocious storm that takes off roofs
• People want to just let the man die but the woman protects him and keeps him warm with her bosom
• A demon comes to attack her, and take possible vengeance
• Woman prays to the god of love and claims that she loves the man
• The goddess of love answers the prayers and sends the god away

Chapter 5

• Rain stops, and the storm ends
• The poor is left to starve
• Rich people come in a helicopter to save the wounded man.
• They pay the woman five coins
• They describe the man as a rich man they had never seen before.
• Use coins to buy seeds.

The Five Senses

Taste

• Puny? True. Dry? True. 15 (Talked about how peasants had dry, bad, and insufficient food.)
• They had curled from the lack of moisture. 15
• Dry, then dryer. 22 (Taste the dryness)
• Seeds they were forced to eat. 22 (Shows how gross the food is.)
• Hungry cattle. (Shows how even the animals are starving.) 22
• The food the poor eat is very bad and is often very dry

Smell

• A smell of death invaded the cabin through festering sores. 44
• Smelling the stench of his rotting flesh. 51
• She brews teas. 35 (Nice smells of teas)
• Villages amid flamboyants, poinsettias, azaleas, ficus, eucalyptus, and magnolias. 10 (The smell of the flowers)
• Pushed a wilderness of herbs, of the bush to thicken the underbrush, keeping the trees forever green. 11 (The world around them would smell like the outdoors and spring when the trees are fresh making an outdoorsy smell.)

Feel

• Bracing themselves against the hard-hitting rain. 42
• The air was wet. 43
• Crashed into a tree with a force that might have killed a dozen men. 50
• Dry black skin in mud hardened strips. 52
• How tenderly he treated the voluptuous Asaka. 11
• It ran through his fingers like sand. 13

Hear

• Shrieks of terrified infants rose up in the cabin. 42
• Her words created a silence. They stilled even the cries of frightened babies. 43
• The hammering of the rain. 43
• She cried out in anguish. 46
• The bird sang. 52
• The noise of the storm, thunder,,, etc.

See

• Raindrops pounded leaves. Gusts of wind-bent trees. The ground dampened, then was covered by a rush of water. 40
• Needles of water drilling down into the earth softened it to mud. Houses and mud slid downhill, taking with them those who had been clinging to slippery rocks for support. 42
• They looked at the mountains where stones gleamed in the clear day. They looked at the woods, where standing trees supported those that had fallen, and. 48
• The passengers who emerged from the big bird were city men dressed in rain slickers and hip boots. 50
• It stands on a high hill surrounded by the Black Mountains. 53
• Trees reached up to the tops of the mountaintops to touch the heavens. 10

My Love My love notes

Setting island

Gods effect lives of people

Prediction happy gods become angry

God's rule peasants not the rich

The rich live far from the poor people and rely on poor people to live

Ironic no water on island

Peasants are tribal-like

Drought > Torrential rain destroy crop land > then famine?

Make wished and pray to gods

Desiree found a car - rarity amoung poor

man severely injured from car crash

They pray for the wounded rich man

Reflection on oral due on blogs -- 300-400 words

Overall, my oral presentation was done well. It took around a week in total to do and involved an abundance of editing, revising, and practice. Although I thought I had the criteria met, I was not as prepared as I thought.

I used my notes from class to help me create my presentation. The first step of this project was to create an outline. My outline began with just the title of each subgroup and I added information to each subgroup as I continued to reflect on my work. Generally, I would have one or two words to remind me of a thought or topic to talk about. Then, I would elaborate on this thought in the heat of the moment. I chose not to follow a specific script and to talk based off memory about specific topics. The only lines that I set up in advance were the quotes I had in the presentation.

After writing the script, I learned it. Practice makes perfect. I would practice my script over and over again until I got it right. While doing this I would say it out loud. As I practiced my script I would often come up with a new idea or something to add. Through repetition, I was able to learn my script. Except, when it came down to the actual presentation I was quite nervous.

When I sat at the desk I was nervous that I would forget something. Sadly, my intuition wasn’t wrong. I remembered most of the points but I went too fast to remember all of them. However, this was not the end of the world because I made all of my crucial points. At the end of my presentation, I thought I did an outstanding job until Ms. Guarino told me the news. I had missed a crucial concept.

It was my understanding in the beginning that we were not supposed to summarize the book. This was correct but I interpreted this information the wrong way. I thought we were supposed to talk about the literary features in the play but not the book. This was wrong. I talked about the themes of corruption, oppression, and fear that are found in the book and relate to my adaptation. Additionally, I talked about how foreshadowing in my adaptation relates to the book, except I didn’t add enough information that related to the book. Although for the most part, my presentation was solid and well performed, that criteria could have been improved a great deal more.

Written draft of Oral Presentation

Our first step in creating our play was to take the short story, children of the sea, in the book, Krik Krak, and adapt it to our interpretation. We based our script off of children of the sea. Except we changed the time period of the story. We made our adaptation occur one year before the girl tries to escape the Haiti and flee to America on the boat, in the short story. We took the woman and man from the story and described how they met in Haiti. We tried to give the characters in our adaptation the same characteristics they had in the original story. Except, for the father who we added to the story. We decided to make him a strict father to further the plot of the story. We made a love story to show how the met and how they got separated. Additionally, we incorporated foreshadowing into the play by talking about boats in the water on the beach. This was a clever way of connecting our version to the story. We did a good job at creating the script and changing it to be in a Haitian setting.

One problem with the play was that as we worked on the it my opinion of my character shifted. I was a 19 years old working at a radio station. At first I thought my character was quite educated and charming. This was what I imagined when I was writing the script. Except I did not write the whole script and had my disagreements on my lines. Later in the play I began to see my character in another way. I saw him as a desperate man later on in the play because of his lines. Yet, I still continued to portray him as confident to keep up his character. Which could have caused my acting to conflict with my subconscious thoughts. As the play went on finding my character's personality would continue to be a problem.

When performing my first draft, my first mistake was my picture of who my character is. Part of the problem is that I pictured him as two different people. There is the professional radio broadcaster, and there is a young adult who had a crush on a girl. One of these characters was boring, respectful, and plain while the other one was a very lively person. When at work my character would be more proper and with the girl it wouldn’t be formal. From the feedback, I realized that this logic was tragically flawed. First off, the girl I have a crush on came to the radio place. I could not be professional and respectful while hitting on a girl at my workplace in an utterly awkward manner. I needed to completely reconstruct who my character is as a person. Yet, I never quite figured this out. I learned that I am not talented enough to do two different personalities. I ended up merging them giving it a creepy vibe.

Additionally, my first draft was way too short. Our play was around eight minutes. We involved more action and hesitations to make it longer. Our play had all talk and there was no silence. Yet, there were perfect opportunities for silence. When I wrote my letter I could pause at times for dramatic effect. We added non-verbal parts where we walk on the beach and don’t say anything but have fun. This helped extend our scenes that already existed. Additionally, we added new scenes. In addition to increasing the duration of the play, there was a petty problem in the script that needs to be fixed. In the radio broadcast, I used the town of Riverdale which is an American name. I needed to make the themes in our play more Hadian. This was a challenge coming from american writers perspective. Although we fixed some of the mistakes in the rough draft we still made many more.

After making the script we decided to learn to act it. This was our first mistake. It is hard to act something when you don’t know the lines. We acted it out before we knew the lines in order to work better on our rough draft. We should have done it in the opposite order. It would have been smarter if we learned the lines first.

With this said, I struggled to learn the lines. It turned out to be a lot for me. This tempered with my ability to ask. Try patting your head, rubbing your stomach in a circle and jumping up and down. It’s pretty hard to multitask. It was hard for me to remember to act when I was focusing on remembering my lines. Even at the end, I failed to remember all of my lines leading to the next mistake.

Regardless, at the end our group made significant progress since the beginning of the play. Throughout the past few weeks, we have worked on creating a script based on the story and learning how to act it. Throughout this period of time, our group had many ups and downs. Yet, from the beginning, we have made remarkable progress.

In my final draft, I tried something I had little to no experience with. I had never acted in a play where if you didn’t know the lines or someone said the wrong thing you would have to improvise. In our final, we had to improvise and I was not prepared for it. When we practiced it we always had the lines in from of us. This was a mistake. We should have learned to act it without the lines in front of us and learned to improvise in our rough draft.

Another challenge we faced was my tone of voice. I decided to act out the first draft in another voice. I had planned on using two different voices in the play, but I ended up combining them and it became creepy. Yet, I think somehow when I used that voice I was able to remember my lines better. When I switched voices back to normal, somehow I struggled to remember my lines.

Overall, the main problem with our performance revolved around memorization. Memorization is the base of a play and without it, the whole thing falls down. You can’t build the second floor until the first floor is finished. This was our problem. We build the play without the foundation, and it collapsed the whole project. This was our major flaw. Next time we do a play I will be sure that the first thing I do is memorize it.

Reflection on your final due -- talk about your acting, your progress, and the things that you illuminated from the text in your adaptation. Also discuss anything you could have improved. This is a precursor to the oral assignment. 500 words. Due Friday

Our group has made significant progress since the beginning of the play. Throughout the past few weeks, we have worked on creating a script based on the story and learning how to act it. Throughout this period of time, our group had many ups and downs. Yet, from the beginning, we have made remarkable progress.

Our first step in creating our play was to take a story from the book and adapt it to our interpretation. We based our script off of children of the sea. Except we changed the time period of the story. We made our adaptation occur one year before the short story takes place. We took the woman and man from the story and described how they met in Haiti. We made a love story to show how the met and how they got separated. Additionally, we incorporated foreshadowing into the play by talking about boats in the water on the beach. This was a clever way of connecting our version to the story. We did a good job at creating the script and changing it to be in a Haitian setting.

After making the script we decided to learn to act it. This was our first mistake. It is hard to act something when you don’t know the lines. We acted it out before we knew the lines in order to work better on our rough draft. We should have done it in the opposite order. It would have been smarter if we learned the lines first.

With this said, I struggled to learn the lines. It turned out to be a lot for me. This tempered with my ability to ask. Try patting your head, rubbing your stomach in a circle and jumping up and down. It’s pretty hard to multitask. It was hard for me to remember to act when I was focusing on remembering my lines. Even at the end, I failed to remember all of my lines leading to the next mistake.

In my final draft, I tried something I had little to no experience with. I had never acted in a play where if you didn’t know the lines or someone said the wrong thing you would have to improvise. In our final, we had to improvise and I was not prepared for it. When we practiced it we always had the lines in from of us. This was a mistake. We should have learned to act it without the lines in front of us and learned to improvise in our rough draft.

Another challenge we faced was my tone of voice. I decided to act out the first draft in another voice. I had planned on using two different voices in the play, but I ended up combining them and it became creepy. Yet, I think somehow when I used that voice I was able to remember my lines better. When I switched voices back to normal, somehow I struggled to remember my lines.

Overall, the main problem with our performance revolved around memorization. Memorization is the base of a play and without it, the whole thing falls down. You can’t build the second floor until the first floor is finished. This was our problem. We build the play without the foundation, and it collapsed the whole project. This was our major flaw. Next time we do a play I will be sure that the first thing I do is memorize it.

School of Rock Review due on blogs -- 500 words

Overall I would say that school of rock was a success. Although I was forced to watch it last night, to my disbelief I actually enjoyed it. There were many good parts that I enjoyed and a few parts that I didn’t like as much as the others.
The actress last night did a phenomenal job. I especially enjoyed John Jang performance with the guitar. His facial expressions were stupendous. That actually got me to laugh. Additionally there were some other things that I found humorous. All of the characters did a good job expressing their emotions with facial expressions. Additionally, it seemed to me that everyone memorised their lines and spoke it so that it was easy to follow. Yet, Perhaps this was because I had already seen the original movie before.

One thing that helped me like the movie is seeing it before. I think I actually liked this version more than the original. The original play version didn’t have the humor that this play had. I found that watching the original helped me follow and better understand the plotline of the play. Without the struggle to understand it, the play was much more enjoyable.

In addition to this the props were outstanding. The background for the school of rock was done quite well. Every seen seemed to have a stage that fit the scenario, which is impressive considering the limited things that they had. There outfits fitted them well too. Even though girls were dressed up as guys it seemed obvious to me what gender they were in the play and they did a good job of expressing this through both costuming and dialogue. The staging really helped me understand the setting and what was going on in the play. Next there was the singing.

The singing really helped me follow along in the play too. The singing was engaging and often funny. On top of this it was quite good. Not only did each song have a good singer, but each song was backed up by a chorus of instruments. Although I could not see all of these instruments being played I saw the conductor in the back so I knew there was a band going on at the same time of the play. It looked like they had there own task to do and own songs to learn.

Lastly, this play had a solid plot. This play had a plot that was both unique, creative, and funny. At times I would find myself laughing or smiling or even worried. This plot really seemed to suck me into it. When the kids couldn’t get to perform I was worried. When the principle was close to catching the teacher I genuinely felt anxious. This play was able to give me an emotional spin, which says a lot about the play. If the play was boring then it would have no impact on my emotions. So in this retrospect they did a good job at that.

Overall I would give this play a 9.5 out of 10. (Popcorn would have made it a 10/10, just a tip for next time.) This was an outstanding play where the only flaw was that there was no food. It was genuinely worth my time and one of the best plays I have ever seen. Everyone who worked in this play did an excellent job!

Blog post due -- discuss your progress (500 words) -- think about the feedback you have received from your peers -- how will you change your scene to address that feedback? This can be due over the weekend. You shouldn't do it until after you get feedback

Blog post due -- discuss your progress (500 words) -- think about the feedback you have received from your peers -- how will you change your scene to address that feedback? This can be due over the weekend. You shouldn't do it until after you get feedback

This week my group performed our first draft of our play where we learned many things and where we learned that our play is far from perfect. There are still many improvements we need to make to the script and with my own individual acting.

My first mistake was my picture of who my character is. Part of the problem is that I pictured him as two different people. There is the professional radio broadcaster, and there is a young adult who has a crush on a girl. One of these characters is boring, respectful, and plain while the other one is a very lively person. When at work my character would be more proper and with the girl it wouldn’t be formal. From the feedback, I realized that this logic was tragically flawed. First off, the girl I have a crush on came to the radio place. I cannot be professional and respectful while hitting on a girl at my workplace in an utterly awkward manner. I need to completely reconstruct who my character is as a person. I still haven't quite figured this out, but I definitely need to give him one personality. I learned that I am not talented enough to do two different personalities. I will end up merging them giving it a creepy vibe. So I will need to figure this out. On top my own individual work, that needs to be improved our script needs to be improved. There are many things that need to be done.

First off our script is way too short. Our play was around eight minutes which means we have a lot of work to do. Not only do we need to make new scenes but we need to learn them in a short notice. There are some small things we can do to help lengthen the play such as speak slower. We can also involve more action and hesitations. Our play is all talk there is no silence. Yet, there are perfect opportunities for silence. When I am writing my letter I can pause at times for dramatic effect. We can add non-verbal parts where we walk on the beach and don’t say anything but have fun. This will help extend our scenes that already exist. Additionally, we will need to add scenes. Perhaps we can add another date scene where we are eating dinner. This can add time because people don't often talk fast at dinner. They may take their time to enjoy the food, and enjoy the moment. All of this should help prolong our play. In addition to increasing the duration of the play, there is a petty problem in the script that needs to be fixed. In the radio broadcast, I used the town of Riverdale which is an American name. I need to some up with a name in Hadi that would be used and we have to make some of the themes in our play more Hadian. This is a challenge coming from american writers.

Mastering my character's personality should be a tremendous help in addition to increasing the length of the play. Our play still has a lot of work that needs to be done, but with hard work we should accomplish it to form an amazing final product.

Updated script

Children of the Sea

It starts when they meet while her father is going for a meeting for his job and brings his daughter and she recognizes his voice. They spend more time together; go to the market and have a picnic near the water (he then gives her the nickname of daffodil) and she later sits in on one of his broadcasts. The father finds out and takes her away and takes her radio away for a week. He gives it back and she get a message from him to meet her at the station that night, (the daffodils should bloom tonight outside the station, waiting for them is beautiful) and she sneaks out to meet him. She goes but he isn't there, instead there's a note on the ground telling her that he knew he was going to be taken to jail and he left on a boat to escape but he wanted her to write to him every day and he would do the same so they would s

till be together.

Scene 1 opens and Gia is standing with her arms crossed on stage left, Zony pacing back and forth in front of her.

Gia: “Please Papa, I won’t bother you during your meeting. I just want to tag along!”

Zony: “No, I know why you want to come and it’s not appropriate. He’s too old for you and a bad influence. Besides, the chances of you actually meeting him is very slim.”

Gia: “Papa, I promise. I’ll stay in the background, you won’t even know I’m there.”

Zony: “There is no way I am letting a child come to a very important meeting such as this one.”

Gia looks appalled and storms off to stage right. Zony sighs and thinks for a moment then follows her.

Zony: “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to call you a child.”

No reply from Gia

Zony: “Will you stop being mad at me if I let you come?”

Gia gets up excitedly and walks/skips past Zony and exits stage left.

Gia: “Thank you so much, Papa! You”

Exuent.

Scene opens with Gia standing behind Zony stage right, waiting. Zony turns around and addresses Gia

Zony: “Now remember, you cannot repeat any of the things said at this meeting. It’s strictly confidential.”

Gia nods in response and Zony turns around. Jack enters from stage left and Zony holds out his hand and they shake hands.

Zony: “Ah! You must be the man to show us around.”

Jack: “Yes I am, shall we get started?”

Gia gasps, recognizing his voice. She covers her mouth and Zony turns and gives her a stern glare.

Jack: “And who might this be?”

Zony: “This is my daughter, pay no attention to her.”

Jack turns to Gia and holds out his hand to her.

Jack: “Nice to meet you.”

Gia just shakes his hand and nods.

Zony: “So shall we get started? I’m very curious about this place.”

Jack: “Yes, let’s continue this way.”

They slowly walk towards stage left and Zony breaks off to look at some things.

Jack: “Does your dad always take his beautiful assistant with him to meetings?”

Gia: “Pardon?”

Jack: “Do you usually come with him to meetings?”

Zony: “These walls seem very thick, was that purposeful?” he says this in the background and they ignore him.

Gia: “Oh, no. I asked him if I could come.”

Jack: “Why was that?”

Gia: “Well, I actually listen to your broadcast and was hoping I would meet you…”

Zony: “There are no pictures on these walls, we need to liven it up!”

Jack: “We don't get many visitors, let alone any as beautiful as you.”

Gia: “Thank you.”

Jack: “This may be a bit forward, but would you like to go out with me?”

Gia: “Me? Really?”

Jack: “I'm sorry, it was inappropriate of me to-”

Gia: “Yes. I can think of no better way to spend my time.”

Zony walks over to the two and interrupts them.

Zony: “There’s a lot of work to be done but we can do it.”

Jack: “Thank you for your time sir.”

They shake hands.

Jack: “I hope to be seeing you again.” He directs this towards Gia.

Gia: “As do I.”

Lights fade to black.

Scene 2 opens Jack standing center stage with a blanket on the ground. Gia enters from stage right and walks over to Jack.

Jack: “Hey, I’m glad you’re here. You look beautiful.”

Gia: “Thanks! I like the flower.” Jack smiles and hands it to her.

Jack: “Daffodil’s are my favorite, second to you.”

Gia: “You're so sweet.”

He takes her hand and sits on the beach.

Jack: “Do you see those boats over there? They travel for thousands of miles just to get to another country. Sometimes I wonder, what it’s like… if it’s worth it? It seems people are always looking for something better, but when does it end? Every second of our lives is meant to be cherished and right now I can’t think of anything I'd love to do more than sit here on the beach with you.”

Gia: “Yes, you're right, but sometimes I think about it. Do you ever wonder what it’s like to live in America? What it’s like to not live in fear?”

Jack: “Of course I do, but realistically, that’s never going to happen so we should just enjoy the moment now, my Daffodil.”

Gia: “Yeah, I will truly cherish every moment I have with you.”

Lights fade to black.

Scene 3 opens with Jack and Gia sitting in chairs across from each other at center stage, Gia facing stage left and Jack facing stage right and Zony enters from stage left.

Gia: “Papa! Why are you here?”

Zony: “That is my question, what are you doing here?” (To Gia )

Zony: “You are not allowed to be around my daughter.” (To Jack)

Jack: “What do you mean? With all do respect, sir I love her. And she loves me!”

Zony: “My daughter doesn't love you, she will meet someone who is going to give her happiness which means a stable life. And that man is not you.”

Jack: “How do you know I cannot treat her well? Please trust us and bless our love.”

Zony: “I am not the old fogey but I oppose you guys definitely.”

Gia: “Why? He has a steady job, a home. He can support me and we can have a family! He kind and loving, he will treat me well and we can be happy.”

Zony: “It is not that I don't trust him to treat you well, it is because he might bring trouble to you.”

Gia: “Papa, please trust him, we can solve any problems when we are together. I love him, and love can conquer anything. You don't understand, he can protect me and we can have a good life.”

Zony: “My girl, you are too young to realize how dangerous this world is. Listen to me this time, leave him.”

Gia: “I’m sorry, I promise to come back for you, my love!”

Zony and Gia exit stage left.

Lights fade to black.

Scene 4 opens with Gia sitting at stage left with a radio next to her, a blue light cast over her. Jack stands with a microphone next to him at stage right, a red light cast over him.

Jack: “Good evening ladies and gentlemen. I hope everyone is having a glorious day. The sun is shining upon the town of Riverdale. Spring is here and the flowers are almost in full bloom. By noon on sunday all the daffodils will be in full bloom. The garden outside the station will truly be a phenomenal sight to see. With this outstanding weather everyone should get outside and explore the world, and remember kids don't forget to sunscreen up. Unless of course you want to look like a lobster. Yummm. Anyways I’ve got to hand off the mike to my boy Jeff here to give you the daily updates. Jeff do you want to take it over?”

The red fades to black and Gia gets up and exits stage left, the blue goes black after she leaves.

Scene 5 Jack is writing on stage right while Gia enters stage left and picks up a note on the ground.

Jack: “My Daffodil,

I’m hoping this message reaches you in time. I’m sorry I couldn’t be there to see you, I was chased off by the government. I had to flee the country in order to survive. I wish I could have taken you with me, but that would have been selfish. I did not want you to be in the danger I am in. You have a life to live, and it shouldn't be one driven by fear. Once I have escaped I will send for you. I will find you and find a way to get you to my safe haven. I will write to you every day, and I hope you do the same. I will see you again soon, my Daffodil. I hope my love is enough to keep you from wilting in my absence.

Forever yours,

Your one love.”

Lights fade

Props/Costumes:

Zony: Collared shirt, black tie, black pants, blazer.

Gia: Sweater and jeans w/ sneakers.

Jack: Khakis and a t shirt. (daffodil)

Set:

Scene 1- nothing

Scene 2- blanket

Scene 3- two chairs

Scene 4- radio, microphone and stand