The lights went low. The audience stirred from their restless chatter to settle into their seats.
A single child -Jack- walked out onto the stage in front of a cranberry colored curtain. He had a proper little suit on, despite his black disheveled hair and a large, puffy bandage covering his eye. "Thank you all for attending the Vigilant Light's Middle School production of the First Thanksgiving." He stopped for a second to adjust his wire rim glasses.
"Our journey begins on September sixteenth, sixteen..." He takes a deep breath. "Sixteen twenty."
The curtain opened and there was the rough replica of the inside of a ship's hold. About ten children dressed in various pilgrims outfits stood on the stage.
One of them steps out and addresses the audience. He's skinny but bright, with impeccably combed hair under his cardboard hat. Out in the audience, Mick's parents held hands and beamed with pride. "We have come abord this, the Mayflower, to seek religious freedom in the New World. We are set to travel to the Jamestown Settlement."
Here a little girl with sharp features and quick eyes steps up. Streaks of red hair hang out from under her bonnet. Isabella snaps her gum before starting. "So, the trip takes us sixty-six days, right? And like, for a while everything was ok. It was boring. No TV, no iPods, NOTHING. It sucked." She snapped her gum again before turning her back and going back to stand with the rest.
The curtain closed and the boy with the eyepatch stepped back up. "After battling hunger, sickness, and storms for the sixty-six day journey, the pilgrims finally read the new world. Although the winter storms threw the Mayflower off course - and instead of reaching the the.... the.... Virginia Colony, they instead reached Plymouth, Massachusetts."
The curtain opened again and in the distance a large cardboard cutout of the ship was seen. There were also a few large cardboard trees.
A tall boy with a mousy brown haircut was the first to look out onto the stage. "Behold! The new world!" Dominic made a sweeping gesture with his arm. "But what is thisth? Thisth land isth clear! Thisth plath is suppoth to not have anyone in it!"
Another boy walked up to him, and robotically put his hand on Dom's shoulder. He was a big, robust boy with a british-accented voice that filled the room. "Don't you remember, my friend?" Sebastian asked, although he faced the audience. "Indiuns live here! I wonder if we'll see any! I've never seen one of them before!"
Jack stepped forward. "But they didn't see any. In the days to follow, they started building their common house. But then, tragedy struck."
Isabella put the back of her hand on her head and pretended to faint. Mick followed.
"The pilgrims started to fall ill due to the three months of confinement on the ship and the oncoming winter." As Jack continued, the curtain closed. "By early March, only about half of the original crew and colonists had survived. At this time, the Pilgrims faced a dire decision. Either stay at the colony or return to England with the Mayflower."
The curtain opened again. Now the scene was one of a few rough cardboard houses. The "Pilgrims" were seen having a serious council. Damien, a bright little greek boy, speaks up."We should go back! The crew of the Mayflower is leaving, and we should leave with it!"
"We should sthay!" Dominic countered. "The twip home will be twith as dangerouth!"
"Just then, a miracle happened!" Jack announced. A slender girl who only looked vaguely Native but wore a man's mock-suede native costume and a traditional headband with the feather in the back walked right up to the Pilgrims.
"How!" Said little Lakota as she held up her right hand in greeting. "I am Samoset. I come in peace. My people welcome you to our land!"
Just then, two wolf pups ran onto the stage, nipping at Lakota's pant legs. One was almost the size of a labrador, with copper fur and bright green eyes. The other was slightly smaller with a coat that had more of a brown hue. There was a collective "Awwwww!" from the audience at the sight of the frolicking pups. During this interlude Damien looked out into the audience and waved to his Mum.
Sebastian strode up to Lakota. "Well hello there, Mister Indun!" He held out a hand for a friendly shake. "Where'd you learn to talk English??"
"English Fishermen many miles North teach me speak English. But I go, I get Squanto. He speak BETTER English!"
Lakota left the stage. A few moments pass before she came back, this time with a taller boy - almost tall enough to be in Junior High. He had an unsmiling expression and dark eyes. "This Squanto!" Lakota said happily. shoving the reluctant PEBE forward. There were a few giggles from the back of the audience and a teacher turned around - staring at the offenders with three steel eyes. The laughter died immediately.
"My name is actually Tisquantum." PEBE says miserably. "I was kidnapped by the English and sold into slavery. Isn't that awesome? I had to find religion and steal away with a bunch of monks. It took me years to get back home. And you wanna know what I found when I got home? That my WHOLE tribe, who lived and cleared this land, died because of diseases they caught from the white man. So. Thanks."
There was an uncomfortable pause.
"Oh," PEBE said, after little Patrick Solomon mouthed him the words to his next few lines. "But I would like to stay here in the land of my people. And If you choose to stay, then I will help you survive."
Jack stepped up. "Over the next few weeks Squanto-"
"Tisquantum!"
"Tis...quan...tum. Helped the Pilgrims to catch fish-" On stage, the children went through the motions of throwing nets.
"We call the fish 'Alewives'." PEBE said with a roll of his eyes.
"And when to plant the corn..."
There was another long pause. The children started to look from one to the other to see whos line it was. Eventually all eyes fell on a slip of a girl who had plucked some threads from her costume was was now making a cat's cradle. "Shulamith!" Dominic hissed, and the girl snapped out of her daydream.
"Huh?"
"The corn!" The little boy whispered.
"What about it?" She asked. PEBE facepalmed.
"AND WHEN IT WAS TIME TO PLANT THE CORN." Jack said again, only louder.
Shulamith thought for a second, then remembered. "When the oak leaves are as big as a mouse's ear." She whispered, looking out frightfully over the audience.
"Over the next few months, Tis..quan...to also introduced the Pilgrims to the great Indian chief, Massasoiet."
"Ousamequin!" PEBE chimed grouchily. But a young Latino boy in a plastic and feather headdress walked on confidently.
"How!" Jerry said, putting his arm up. "I am Chief Massasoiet."
"Ousamequin!"
"I welcome you to this land. I can see that Squanto - or Tisquantum, helped you bring about a bountiful harvest. My people would like to welcome you with a bounty of out own!"
Another dozen children all dressed as Natives ran onto the stage - all carrying bowls of apples, corn, squash, pumpkins.. and short little Benjamin ran on in a large Turkey costume.
"And all the Pilgrims and the Indians had a great feast of Thanksgiving!" Jack said happily. "To honor their harvest, their health, and the peace treaty that the Pilgrims entered into with the indians that would last for over half a century!"
Here all the children lined up on the stage. "Thank you for watching our play about-" Jack said. And here the rest of the children chimed up with him.
"THE FIRST THANKSGIVING!"
They all took a bow.
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