AMITY’S JOURNEY OF LOVE
‘ARE YOU ONLY BUT A FANTASY OR DID YOU MAKE IT ON THROUGH?’
So, how do you fix a world at war with itself?
Her name is “Amity.”
When we meet Amity, during a visit by the angel, Gabriel, in Scene 2, she lives in an elysian garden in Paradise, where she is the representation of love’s purity, but she has nowhere to take it.
Amity is the daughter of Abel, the son of Adam and Eve, and his wife, Aclima. For the most part, she is missing from the scriptural backstory, which involved God favoring an offering by Abel and rejecting that of his brother, Cain. When God rewards Abel with the hand of Aclima, this rejection infuriates Cain, who takes it out on his brother by committing the first murder.
According to the story related by Elena, in Scene 11, Aclima is pregnant with Amity, when Cain murders Abel. Since God favored Abel, his daughter, Amity, should have been mother at what would have been the origin of the human family tree, misdirected by Cain’s murder of her father. As a result, she lives in an eternal present in Paradise, within her garden.
Meanwhile, the resultant human race is all descendent of a murderer, ripping itself apart through an endless
succession of wars, so ubiquitous, over so many years the combatants change sides, with friends becoming enemies and enemies becoming friends, over and over again in a seemingly unquenchable blood lust. When God has had it, He sends his messenger, Gabriel, to Amity, to explain God needs her to begin the establishment of her family tree on Earth.
As a result, her transformation will be complete with her assumption of her human persona. To allay her concern about an earthly life of loneliness, as a result of her mission, she is promised a soulmate, who will be powerfully drawn to her, whom Gabriel describes as “the keeper of your heart.”
With Amity’s descent to her mountaintop on Earth, the pure essence of her love transforms into the human component of romantic love, and she begins her quest for her soulmate to complete her transformation as the Earth Mother.
This quest is at the heart of her three songs. The first, “Other Side of the Moon,” expresses her need to find her soulmate, with the moon as their connective medium. In the second, “Keeper of My Heart,” she longs for the mate promised to her at her meeting with
Gabriel. She expresses her growing desperation to find him through the lyrics of her song. In the third, “Journey of Love,” she celebrates their connection and outlines the path ahead for the two of them. To confirm the establishment of their union, they sing the final verse of the song as a duet.
T HAT M ATCH M ADE IN H EAVEN
How do you overcome the seeming acceptance of people that a world of conflict is the destiny of humankind?
His name is “Navi.”
Navi’s day job is creating his “LOVE Brigade,” and expanding the movement. His dedication, against all odds, borders on delusion. At the same time, he expresses his quest for his soulmate with his songs.
Navi is the proverbial voice crying in the wilderness. He goes around preaching his message of love to people who just view him as little more than a nice young man with a message of little impact . . . until he finds his platform in the group of protestors he molds into his LOVE Brigade.
In addition to what Navi sees as his mission of spreading love, he has a recurring dream about a soulmate, via a vision planted by Gabriel, which even includes her name, “Amity.”
Amity is, at this point, just a figment of Navi’s imagination. Yet, when he has moments to himself, he expresses his quest for his soulmate with his songs: “Navi’s Dream,” revealing his image of how he sees his life connecting to Amity’s; “Where Are You Now,” expressive of his search for her; “Soul Mates,” revealing how he views her as his destined companion. When they finally connect, he joins in singing her song; “Keeper of My Heart.”
Key scenes in the play are set up by the busker, Freda, a wandering street musician. She introduces us to a 21st Century in perpetual conflict. When Amity assumes her position on her mountain top, Freda sings of the descent of a gift from God in her song, “Amity.”
LOVE B RIGADE R ANK AND F ILE
Elena is the Brigade’s resident religious scholar. Her particular fascination is the Apocryphal Gospels, wherein she claims to have discovered the foretelling of the coming of Amity. “If you play a word game with ‘amity’ and uppercase the ‘A’ in a number of the rejected passages,” she explains to Sophia and Vita in Scene 11, “she seems to be trying to fight her way out of the texts to claim her place in human history.”
Villain of the world in conflict is Marshall Cain, direct descendent of the murderer Cain. His concentration on endless war with his nephew, Enos, becomes disrupted by the growing influence of the LOVE Brigade, and its charismatic leader, Navi.
Other principal players in the LOVE Brigade are Major (commander of the growing “Army of Peace”), Penman (the group’s journalist), Sophia (source of its wisdom), Vita (the younger gen’s resident skeptic), Deacon, (spaced-out connective to the coming of a heavenly fixer), Homer John (the resident poetic voice), and Constantine (ever the doubter and persistent nay-sayer).
So, love’s reawakening is Amity’s mission. To accomplish that, she needs her soulmate and a band of believers in the ultimate healing power of love. Through the unfolding drama, song and dance, we follow her on her journey of love.
“The Earth Mother down from her mountain top retreat To assume her place where the gentle people meet And lay hatred down at the vanquished leader’s feet.”
�
We’re here at the dawn of love’s reawakening.
The redefined family of man, of thee I sing.
Love lost along the way
Is reborn at the base of this hill today.
So, sing, sing children
Sing hallelujah today. �
THE BACK STORY FOR A MUSICAL PLAY
By Tony Tedeschi
She settled into the empty seat to my right at the bar on the Caribbean island of Tobago. We were on a fam tour of the twin islands of Trinidad and Tobago in June of 2000. Tobago was the final stop on the six-day tour. Our host owned a marketing company with clients in the travel industry. I wrote about travel for special sections in the magazine of the National Audubon Society. Phil was also a colleague and a good friend. We unwound after dinner each evening with a drink at whatever small hotel was hosting that portion of the trip. The fam group was a large one and, to that point, I had only exchanged the occasional pleasantries with Linda BrookshireLovell, during our journeys around the islands. Now she had become the third member of a casual conversation that was about to change my world in a profound way. That evening Linda put the music back into my life.
Amity is a musical play whose evolution began that evening in Tobago. It is the culmination of a friendship, which has endured the more than two decades and the 840-mile distance between my home on Long Island and the farm Linda runs with her husband, Glenn, in northern Georgia.
One of the aspects of what I had initially thought of as the interruption of a final one-night chat over a drink with a good friend – although a pleasant interruption, nonetheless – was how Linda could grab onto a scrap of an interchange and somehow find a relevance there, which had not been allowed to develop fully. The previous, convoluted run-on sentence is to say, when she said she played piano and guitar, I mentioned I had once been the teenaged singer and rhythm guitarist in an early rock ‘n’ roll band. The comment stopped her for a moment. She stared at
me intently, then said, “you should do that.”
“Do what?” I replied. “Music.”
“What about music?”
“Play. You’re a writer. Write songs.”
“I haven’t played the guitar in more than 30 years,” I countered. “I wouldn’t know where to put my fingers.”
She continued to stare at me, as if seeking some gesture unsupportive of my resistance. “Music.” she repeated. “You need to do that. You need to write songs. You need to do that.”
The look on her face was having a destabilizing effect. My reaction questioning: Who is this person? What does she know about me? Why are we even talking about dragging up a remnant of my distant past.
She continued to stare at me. “Music,” she said again. “You need to put the music back in your life.”
When we parted company at the end of the fam tour, I was sure our barstool acquaintanceship would go the way of most I’d had during similar junkets over my decades-long writing career. Several weeks later, however, a packet arrived in my business mailbox. In it was a CD of a song Linda had written and recorded, clearly to demo what could be done creatively and that there were now ways to bring that to life using the technology making its way onto computers everywhere.
Over the ensuing 23 years, I retaught myself the guitar, then joined a song-writing organization, began writing songs, improving my art via the critiques of more accomplished members and began performing at the organization’s open mics. Bar bands throughout the clubs on Long Island, where I live, are among the best I’ve enjoyed through my
travels writing for magazines and newspapers. I continued to hone my skills watching the singer-songwriters in those bands, then graduated to playing in local clubs. I wrote songs, then performed, and recorded an album, “Stuck in the ‘60s, Vol II.”
Next, I turned my writing skills to the creation of a musical play, “Leaving Pleasantville.” I met, Alex Freeman, my collaborating director for both my musicals, after we connected via Amazon, when Alex did the audiobook for my novel, “Unfinished Business.”
While “Leaving Pleasantville” was making the rounds of community theatres across the country, I couldn’t let go of something Linda had once told me. If she and her husband had had a daughter, they would have named her “Amity,” because it means, “friendship,” even, “love.” Almost instinctively, I imagined a character that embodied the word’s concept, then wrote a song about her standing apart from a world wracked with violence and awaiting the moment when she would step in and turn the tide.
I opened a folder on my computer and began scoping out the book for a play. Three months later, I had a solid first draft and a handful of partially completed songs. It was time to call Linda and challenge her to create the songs to bring the Amity character to life, while I worked on the other two principal characters for the play: Amity’s soulmate, Navi; and a busker called Freda.
So . . . when you’re sitting at a bar engaged in a conversation with a friend on your left and a woman takes the empty barstool on your right and starts a conversation, don’t be dismissive. Who knows? Twenty-three-odd years later there may be a musical play in your future, and she joins you, once again, to finish the conversation.
AMITY
Alex and Me and Linda Makes Three
Shortly after Alex Freeman had finished the audio for my novel, “Unfinished Business,” in early 2022, I turned to something I’d noted on the bio he’d sent to audition for the assignment. It listed plays he had directed in theatres around the country. I had a musical I’d begun writing 10 years before, sitting in folders on my computer. After a number of failed attempts to get anywhere with the play, I had no real clue how to move forward.
Alex and I had worked together seamlessly on his wonderful audio for my novel, so I figured what the hell, maybe we could create an association into a whole new creative endeavor. Welcome to the beginning of my journey from the computer screen to the stage.
The play that drove me to reach out is called, Leaving Pleasantville. It is a musical covering the 15-year period from 1955, when “Rock Around the Clock,” introduced rock ‘n’ roll to the world, through 1970 when The Beatles had lent their refined stylings to the genre.
I had been co-editor of the NYU newspaper in Greenwich Village in the early ‘60s, when Bob Dylan and Joan Baez were adding the folk music touch to songs, jazz combos were taking that music to “progressive” levels, and beat poets were stretching
the limits of free verse. Campus unrest about the war in Vietnam and Freedom Rides to push integration in the deep south were dominating the news cycles. All of this is reflected in the book and music of “Leaving Pleasantville.”
Alex guided me in molding my work for theatrical presentation. Again, we worked together seamlessly. Leaving Pleasantville has gone out to local theatres around the country. However, the marketplace was thinned by the pandemic. Those that remained feature know entities and reaction to our collaboration has been slow.
I don’t do well with inaction, so early last September I opened a file for a musical I called, Amity. It rose from an idea, which had been planted with me years before by my musical collaborator, Linda Brookshire-Lovell. At the end of November, I sent a draft of the book to Alex with rough recordings of songs I had written, and others contributed by Linda. So, welcome to the birth of Amity, ladies and gentlemen. Enjoy.
Tony Tedeschi
P.S. Alex and I have added my short story collection, Nine Women, Nine Stories, to our Audible collaborations.
Alex Freeman Director
Seth Farber has played and conducted more than 20 Broadway shows, including Hairspray, Fosse, Ain’t Too Proud, Hair, Smokey Joe’s Café, Soul Doctor, Catch Me If You Can, Elf, Shrek, Promises, Promises, 9 To 5, On Your Feet, A Bronx Tale and Paramour. Seth has worked with numerous artists, including: Billy Joel, Jon Bon Jovi, Odetta, Gregg Allman, John Prine, Neshama Carlebach, Joan Osborne, Phoebe Snow, Lucinda Williams, The Staples Singers, Willy DeVille, Ben E. King, Chip Taylor, Alejandro Escovedo, among many others.
He has played on, produced and arranged more than 100 CD's, most notably two for Odetta, and three for Brady Rymer, which were nominated for Grammy Awards.
Alex Freeman is a director, writer, and voiceover artist, absolutely thrilled for this latest collaboration with Tony Tedeschi. As a director, he's worked across the country, on original pieces, big musicals, and various plays by William Shakespeare. Favorite directing credits include, King Lear (at Ozark Actors Theatre), The Tempest, As You Like It (both Sugarloaf Mountain Amphitheater), Romeo and Juliet (Theatre Ensemble of Nashville), Big Fish, Spamalot, Something Rotten (all at Firehouse Theatre).
He has had two previous plays in the New York Theater Festival: Love and When Johnny Comes Marching Home
As a voiceover artist, his voice has been heard by millions across more than 150 audiobooks (including two by Tony Tedeschi), countless YouTube videos, and a national commercial.
You can learn more about Alex at his, asfreeman.net. Love to his wife, Hollyn, for her endless support. Philippians 4:6.
SETH FARBER
Conductor/Arranger/Keyboards/Accordion Local 802
Music Director
Laura Park Choreographer
Laura Park is a choreographer, performer, and writer based in NYC and is grateful to be a part of this Amity team. Some of her previously choreographed musicals: Elf, Mamma Mia, Titanic, Schoolhouse Rock, and Peter Pan. Laura is also a performer, with some favorite roles being Liesl in The Sound of Music, Sophie in Mamma Mia, and Sarah Brown in Guys & Dolls. Many thanks to Tony, Linda, Alex, Seth, Zee, Heather, Mark and the cast for all of their work on this project. All my love & gratitude to Travis.
Heather Nolting Associate Choreographer
Heather Nolting is thrilled to join the cast of Amity! Previous credits include: Music Man, Scrooge! Wizard of Oz, My Fair Lady (Fireside Theatre), and 42nd Street (Fulton Theatre). She is a graduate of Marist College with a B.S. in Chemistry. She would like to thank her family and friends for their continuous support.
Amity
D
evan DeLugo is a BFA Musical Theatre graduate of Texas Christian University. Since moving to New York, Devan has played Natalie 2.0/Ensemble in Columbia University’s production of Next to Normal She has starred in The Mid-Night Driver, a feature film by Alex Cherney, premiering later this year.
Other favorite credits include Miss Janet Conover/Helena Landless in The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Helene in Sweet Charity, and Francisca in West Side Story Devan wants to thank her family, friends and Pantera/Murphy, The Agency for helping support her dreams of being a New York actor!
Navi
Andrew Hamilton is a graduate of the NYU/Tisch School of the Arts, having spent his time training in the Experimental Theatre Wing and the Department of Drama’s New Studio on Broadway.
Previous credits include: David Kingsley (Stagedoor), Aaron Schultz (Legally Blonde) and Oliver (Music Man). This is his first NY Theatre Festival Production.
He is very excited to be a part of it and is extremely grateful for his family and friends who have supported him.
Devan DeLugo
Andrew Hamilton
Freda
Kat Scherer is thrilled to be making her New York Theatre Festival debut in Amity Born and raised outside of Boston, she now calls NYC home. Regional credits include Steel Magnolias and Spring Awakening at the Roxy Regional Theatre, 9 to 5, Mamma Mia, The Wedding Singer, and SpongeBob the Musical at Barn Theatre, and Sleeping Beauty at Argyle Theatre and North Shore Music Theatre. katscherer.com
Kat has also been a part of original works and cabaret performances in the New York area. She sends so much love and gratitude to her friends, family, Mom and Dad, and her cat, Harley. She has a BFA in Musical Theatre, University of Tampa.
Born in Slovenia, Europe, Michael studied acting at the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Zagreb, Croatia and the Vienna Musical School, Austria and singing in Conservatory of Music in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
He performed in highly acclaimed musical theatre, operetta and drama productions all over Europe: Cabaret (MC), My Fair Lady (Freddy) and City of Angels (Stine). His New York City credits include Mad Mel Saves the World (Mel) and Monkey King (Havac). Off Broadway –Frankenstein (Father), Wicked City BluesFilm Noir - Musical (Lars), Sign on the 6 O’clock Sky (CEO), The Boy Who Listened (Nick) concerts and films.
Kat Scherer
Michael A. Green
Marshall Cain
Caroline Colvin
Caroline Colvin is thrilled to make her NYC/off-off-Broadway debut in Amity. She most recently toured the country as Madeline in Have You Filled a Bucket Today? The Musical! with Virginia Repertory Theatre. Regional: Into the Woods (Baker’s Wife) with Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, Hugs and Kisses (Katie) with Virginia Repertory Theatre. Caroline holds a B.M. in Voice from the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University. www.carolinecolvin.com, IG: @caroline.colvin.
Deacon
Emma Glassman is delighted to be a part of this production of Amity. Recent credits include Girl Gone: or Before a League of Their Own at Actors' Temple Theatre and 12 Angry Jurors at Playwright's Horizons. She has a degree in English from Vassar College. More at emmaglassman.com
Emma Glassman
Major
B
ryce Hayden is elated to be making his festival debut in Amity. He has recently been seen as The Pigeon in Don’t let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! The musical. Bryce studied at Professional Conservatory of Musical Theatre at New York Film Academy. He would like to thank the creative team for this opportunity to showcase this story. He would also like to thank his parents for always supporting him in his passions!
Constantine
Collin Hendley is a New York City based Actor, Writer, and Composer. His original musical Brighter Than The Sun (Book, Music, & Lyrics) premiered Off-Broadway in association with Chain Theater this past winter. Select New York Theatre credits include Pizza Guy in The Sleepover Show at SoHo Playhouse (Off-Broadway), Carmelite Nun/Dance Ensemble in Beatrice at The Cell Theater, and Charlie in ain’t that the way love’s supposed to be? at The Tank. Collin is represented by Resolute Artists Agency. @crhendley
Collin Hendley
Bryce Hayden
Lianna Klinger
Mark Newman is an ace stringman (guitar, lap steel, mandolin, dobro) and accomplished singer/songwriter. His work includes 2006’s “Must Be A Pony,” 2010’s “Walls Of Jericho” and just released, “Brussels,” a live solo EP (all Danal Music, LLC). “Empirical Truth”, his latest CD released in June 2018 (Danal Music, LLC, distributed by WBA Records) won best CD from the Long Island Blues Society.
He has shared the stage with such notables as soul legend Sam Moore (Sam & Dave), John Oates (Hall and Oates), Jim McCarty (Yardbirds, Renaissance),the late Willy DeVille (Mink DeVille), Bobby Whitlock (Derek and the Dominos), Sam The Sham and Darlene Love. His individualistic sound framed in straightfrom-the-hip rock’n’roll, simmering with the subtle flavors of blues, R’n’B, funk, folk and soul. Mark is currently touring with the reformed Blues Project. www.marknewman.us
Sophia
Lianna Klinger is originally from Kansas just like Dorothy. And yes, there is no place like home, but she is happy to call NYC her home for the past nine years. She’s been singing since she could open her mouth and will continue to do so for as long as she can. You can catch her as a singing bartender at the world-famous Piano Bar “Don’t Tell Mama” every Tuesday night! Some of her favorite roles include: principal vocalist on the Queen Mary 2 cruise ship, Evelyn Nesbit in Ragtime, Ernestina Money in Hello Dolly! insta: @lianna.klinger .
Mark Newman
Guitarist
Z
Zee Hanna Stage Manager
ee Hanna is a light designer originally from Florida and currently working in NYC. As a light designer, she aims to turn the atmospheric qualities of light into their own breathing character in support of, and conversation with, the rest of any performance. Zee holds an MFA in theatre and performance from Sarah Lawrence College and has designed shows at the Kraine Theater (Time's Up), The Tank (100 ft in the Air, Time's Up, I'm the monster, it's me *cries in shark*), The Chain (Hummingbirds), and University Settlement (Brought Up). While this is her first show designing for the Hudson Guild Theater, she will be back designing for Letters to Home next month
Choreographer Laura Park
The Company’s Chairwoman
Gently tapping her lower lip with her index finger, her eyes envisioning the placement of dancers about the rehearsal room, Choreographer Laura Park punches a button on her portable recorder.
“Once more,” she says as she begins snapping her fingers, “five, six, seven, eight.”
The dancers begin going through their routine, weaving among small black chairs, then repositioning the chairs before twirling between the new formation they’ve created.
With nothing for props but the chairs, Park begins to create her
choreographed movements that animate each scene of Amity for its debut performances during New York Theater’s 2024 Spring/Summer Festival.
Working with the score created by Music Director/Pianist Seth Farber and the guitar stylings of Stringman Mark Newman, she blends the notes of the score into the fluid movements of the play’s human contingent.
“I was originally a cast member in Amity,” Park says, “but our director, Alex Freeman, also brought me on to choreograph. Eventually, I transitioned fully to choreographer, and we brought on the amazing
Heather Nolting as cast member and associate choreographer.”
The goal in any musical is to have a creative team that works together to tell the story so that it is clear and impactful.
“A creative team working together well is also beneficial to the actors,” Park says. “They’re the ones responsible for carrying out the vision of several people wearing different hats. Working on Amity, I was immediately at ease with Alex and Seth, our music director. Not only do both of them have extensive experience, but we were all on the same page for collaboration and storytelling.”
Overall vision was key for Park, as she and Freeman first met to plan rehearsals going forward.
“Alex is a fantastic director with a keen eye for storytelling and he encourages creativity and spontaneity in his team and his actors,” Park says. “I wanted to know about the world he wanted to create, and the type of movement he was hoping to see. This is where we discussed the chairs as the set, and the scarves and lights as storytelling aids.”
Studying the charts she received from Music Director Farber, her vision of the choreography started taking shape. After she met the cast and began getting to know their movement styles and strengths, the choreography started to come together.
“Alex created the chair patterns for the scenes,” Park says, “and we got to work at figuring out how to transition them well. With our pared-
Associate Choreographer Heather Nolting with Collin Hendley
down, minimalist structure, Alex and I decided that if we could move the chairs within the choreography as much as possible, that would help to keep up the momentum and pace. So, I got to work creating the pieces. I noted where the chairs started and ended, and what parts of the choreography would be heightened movement versus pedestrian movement. Most importantly though, each piece had a purpose of moving the story forward through movement.”
The other element to choreography important to Park was working with the music director to make sure that the movement
supported the vocals, both in physical action and in storytelling.
“Seth is a master musician and a skilled director,” she explains, “and he made it easy for trial-and-error moments in the songs. For example, at one point, I had movement set that was making it harder for the actors to hold and sustain an "Ah" within a song, so we quickly changed the movement so that their diaphragms were supported, and we could hear their beautiful harmonies.”
Park says the pieces she worked on were all choreographed in her 400-square-foot apartment, with bits and pieces of inspiration in the subway and on the busy New York City streets. She played the music on a loop, improvising until a phrase would come out. Then she did that phrase over and over, until it felt right for the story and for the music.
“Once I have a few phrases,” she explains, “I piece together the patterns and shapes of the dancers, as well as adding layers of roll-offs and facing different directions. Some of this is to create interesting pictures for the audience, but most of it is to
help transition us in the story from the scene we just left toward the scene coming up.”
As she worked on patterns in her apartment, it often involved figuring out where the chairs started, where they needed to end up, and if she could use the movement to make that happen without it being distracting.
“I often used pennies to represent the dancers,” she explains. “This allowed me to move them around in trial-and-error patterns on my floor. Sometimes, I enlisted my very kind, non-dancer husband to act as the other dancers so I could try out a partnering sequence with him. In the rehearsal room, I liked to teach a phrase to everyone but then leave space for change and play. If something didn't feel right, we would cut it. If I had three ideas for a section, we would try them all and then get a feel for which made the most sense. This was a fast process, but the cast was amazing and flexible. They were willing to try new things and were incredibly quick learners.”
Musical Numbers
Lyrics & Music by
Linda Brookshire-Lovell & Tony Tedeschi
Musical Arrangements by Seth Farber
Guitarist: Mark Newman
Choreography by Laura Park
Associate Choreographer Heather Nolting ‘Soulmates’ & ‘Sci-Fi Movie Blues’ Choreographed by Heather Nolting
Welcome to the 21st Century…………………………………………Freda Other Side of the Moon…………………………………………………Amity Navi’s Dream………………………………………………………………...Navi Sci-Fi Movie Blues…………………………………………………………Freda Amity…………………………………………………………………………….Freda Where Are You Now?.............................................................................Navi Soulmates………….…………………………………………..……………….Navi Keeper of My Heart……………………………………………….Amity, Navi Journey of Love……………………………………………………………..Amity Love’s Reawakening…………………………………………….……Company
AMITY, THE PLAY
‘ARE YOU ONLY BUT A FANTASY OR DID YOU MAKE IT ON THROUGH?’
“There’s a man shoutin’ at me from my TV set. The gist of his words are man you ain’t seen nothing yet. We’re crankin’ our tanks for our big counterattack. When we’re done with those bastards, they won’t have a stone to throw back.”
Scene 1
Curtain rises as the busker, Freda, makes her way to Center Stage where there are sounds and light flashes of an artillery attack. She sings, “Welcome to the 21st Century.” Lines like, “There’s a man over there who wants to see me dead, although he’s unaware of anything may have done or said,” “Hatred hangs from the crosses we all bear, when did we trade our love for a daily dose of fear.”
“The Lord needs you to tend to something, Amity. T’is a weighty one and it needs a woman’s touch. More specifically, it needs your touch.”
In her elysian garden, Amity is tending to her flowers. The Angel Gabriel walks into the scene and outlines God’s mission for her to return love back to Earth, which has descended into what has become an endless war of battles between rival forces. To address her concern about her loneliness on Earth, Gabriel promises a soulmate, “who will be powerfully drawn to you, the keeper of your heart.”
“Bring me the head of my nephew or some other heads around here will pile up in his place.”
Scene 3
Scene 3
The dictator Marshall Cain’s army is battling the army of his nephew, Enos. Cain is determined to destroy Enos who is challenging him for political control.
“If wings could fly me away, I’d be with you today, On the other side of the moon. ”
Scene 4
A gathering of community members arrives at the base of a mountaintop, where they have stationed “listeners” to provide intelligence on a woman, who has taken up residence there and singing her songs. They have convinced themselves that she is some kind of omen of better things to come. But they interpret her new song, “Other Side of the Moon,” as her growing discouragement and create a sense that somehow, she is preparing to leave them, with lines in the song like “If wings could fly me away.” Amity sings “Other Side of the Moon.”
“Where are you, Amity, where on Earth are you? Are you only but a fantasy or did you make it on through?”
Scene 5
Intro Navi, Amity’s soulmate. He walks onto the stage and sings, “Navi’s Dream,” about how he perceives his lover is out there, somewhere. This has caused him to wander about, endlessly, playing some quixotic part to reestablish love on Earth, somehow represented in his connection to Amity.
“I’ve been on the road for a very long time, trying to spread the message of sisterhood and brotherhood. It’s a very receptive message; you can see it in people’s eyes. But they are leery, terrorized really, to show they are ready to accept it.”
Scene 6
LOVE Brigade demonstrators, drift back into their office after their confrontation with Marshall Cain’s thugs. Navi, who had been watching the demonstration and impressed with what the participants were doing, drifts into the office with them. He manages integrate himself into the group.
“Yes, that group is small and relatively powerless. And they’ve lacked a leader. Leaders, on the other hand, tend to attract an ever-expanding following when they continue to step to the podium ”
Scene 7
LOVE Brigade member, Constantine, revealed as a Marshall Cain plant, receives a tongue-lashing from his boss about concerns for the Brigade’s growing influence.
“I’ve got these young kids, they still know how to smile. Was kinda hopin’ it would stay that way for a while. . .”
“I tell ya, folks, you do what you choose, but for me this ain’t no pleasure cruise. I need a stiff belt of some much better booze, ‘cause I got the ‘Sci-Fi Movie Blues.’”
Scene 8
The busker, Freda, sings “Sci-Fi Movie Blues,” about the state of the world citizens must contend with on a daily basis. The company dances to her song.
“I was detained elsewhere . . . My escorts? They seemed to know where I was headed but had other ideas for my afternoon.”
Scene 9
After another demonstration, this time with their leader MIA, LOVE Brigade members are in their office licking their wounds, mostly psychological, when Navi shows up, ragged. He explains he was detained by Cain’s goons, who surprisingly knew where he was and where he was headed.
“Marshall Cain had us walk away from these cannisters,” Major explains to Navi. “He couldn’t see the point in disabling and disarming soldiers who would just come back to fight him.”
Scene 10
Navi and Major are on the battlefield watching as Major’s forces are using stun grenades to disable members of “Marshall’s Marines,” who are prospects for turning on Cain and joining, LOVE Brigade’s “Army of Peace.”
“If you play a word game with ‘amity,’ in the books of the Apocrypha,” Elena explains, “then upper case the ‘A’ in a number of the rejected passages, she seems to be trying to fight her way out of the texts to claim her place in human history.”
Scene 11
Vita, Sophia and Elena are in the LOVE Brigade office prepping for the next demonstration. Vita pushes them into a conversation of how disenchanted she is with the state of the world. Elena explains how she has read deeply in ancient texts and says those excluded from the canon held the answers to a world the way it was supposed to be. She hints at a salvation in the form of a woman called, “Amity.”
“So, Amity breathe your song to us On the breeze that blows down from your hill. The song of a new dawn for us, Of all those things to cherish still Amity, come down from your hill.”
Scene 12
Busker Freda sings of Amity revealed as the songstress at the top of her mountain, Amity’s songs reflecting how concerned she is by what she sees below.
“In a world that lives on calamity, reclaim the world with amity.”
Scene 13
LOVE Brigade member Deacon recites at the weekly poetry slam she attends with fellow member, Homer John, who follows with the introduction of her work-in progress, “Love’s Reawakening.”
“Shut up! Stop talking! Get rid of your LOVE Brigade. Cut off the head or I’ll cut off yours. Now get out! GET OUT!”
Scene 14
Marshall Cain reads Constantine the riot act, blasting the latter’s excuses and making no bones about his minion’s need to solve the problem of the LOVE Brigade and its charismatic leader, Navi.
“Where are you now, for without you my world’s a colorless affair.
The leaden air pressed to my chest in a time gone dead with you not here.”
Scene 15
Navi’s soliloquy about his dream love. “I feel your connection out there, somehow, but how, how do I connect my end. Tell me please, where . . . where are you now? Then he sings, “Where Are You Now.”
“My, God! My God! It’s her!
I’ve got to get up there. There’s got to be a way.”
Scene 16
Navi and Penman are finishing an inspection of the latest demonstration site, when Penman gets a call about, “the lady on the mountain.” Navi expresses ignorance about her, but when he gets to the base of the mountain and hears her song, he is convinced she is the soulmate he has been seeking. He insists upon finding a way up the unscalable mountain, but Penman convinces him there is no way up, for now. Navi concludes the scene singing, “Soulmates.”
“You were right, you bastard! Hell was already here. This is how we do things in hell.”
Scene 17
Navi addressing a crowded demonstration getting rowdy with anti-LOVE Brigade Cain goons. Constantine forces his way through the crowd raises a gun and fires at Navi. But Major has stepped in front of Navi and takes the bullet in the chest. A doctor tends to fallen Major but cannot revive him. Elena beseeches Navi to place his hand over Major’s chest wound, whereupon Major coughs once and revives. The doctor leads him away to an awaiting ambulance.
“I press my hand to the grass. The Earth responds that I am gone. I left with the breeze, The soft breathbreeze.”
Scene 18
Navi sits at the base of Amity’s mountain, listening to the wordless guitar fingerings filtering down from above. He crouches down touching the earth and recites, “The Soft Breathbreeze.”
“You’re my light that the night can’t steal. Written in the stars, God knows who we are. You’re my light, You’re my love. Oh, I love you, I do Keeper of my Heart.”
Scene 19
Amity, recognizing Navi’s voice as that of the soulmate promised her, rises into view at the top of her mountain and begins singing, “Keeper of My Heart.” The ever-moreintensifying moonlight illuminates her. As she approaches the final chorus, she floats down, steps lightly onto the stage and walks toward her lover, her soulmate. They embrace and kiss, as the stage becomes bathed in the brightening moonlight. Together they sing the song’s final chorus.
“Our army is in the midst of mass defections, as they lay down their arms. Those who are left are coming for you.”
Scene 20
Marshall Cain sits on this throne-like chair in his meeting hall, staring at the floor. His top general approaches and informs him that his army is crumbling everywhere. When the general leaves, a shot rings out.
“Where is the answer? Wherein the light? What of the moon that lights up the night? What of the children who’ll live what we’ve wrought? Are the hopes we’d hoped for all gone for naught? Where is the song we were all meant to sing? Wherein the path to love’s reawakening”
Scene 21
LOVE Brigade’s eminence grise, Homer John, finishes reciting her long-poem, “Love’s Reawakening” at the poetry slam. Then, she heads out to join the wedding festivities for Amity and Navi.
“If tired, you I’ll carry ‘til the journey’s end, and the body breaks and falls to Earth, and Earth returns again. Our love will carry us. Forever we are one.”
Scene 22
Amity sings “Journey of Love.” As she is finishing, Navi joins her for the final lines. They kiss, then walk off hand-in-hand to join the celebrants and their wedding ceremony.
“Come forward children, leave behind all doubt. Come forward children let your joy ring out. The Earth Mother down from her mountain top retreat To assume her place where the gentle people meet And lay hatred down at the vanquished leader’s feet. Sing, sing children, sing hallelujah today. . .”
Scene 23
The busker, Freda, leads the company in the musical version of “Love’s Reawakening.” The song ends in celebratory “hallelujahs” as they walk to Stage Front and the play ends.
