Welcomeby Richard Stuart Dixon
© Richard Stuart Dixon, 2009
(Note: Performance of this play requires the author’s permission. Please contact Good School Plays for details.)
Production Notes:
• running time: approx. 40 minutes
• style: political tragedy
• suitable for general audiences
• 12 characters (7 female, 5 male)
• black-box staging (no set required)
Summary of Script Content:
• “The Red Flag” is the story of a group of people who get drawn into the machinations of a revolutionary movement in a country in which oppressive political and economic institutions force difficult moral choices, with tragic results.
(This play was first performed in November 2009, at Heritage Woods Secondary School in Port Moody, British Columbia, Canada.)
∗Published Online by Good School Plays, April 8, 2016.
Go to:
Scene 1
Scene 2
Scene 3
Scene 4
Scene 5
Scene 6
Scene 7
Scene 8
Scene 9
Scene 10
Scene 11
Scene 12
Scene 13
Scene 14
Scene 15
Scene 16
Scene 17
Scene 18
CHARACTERS:
Heidi Krause , teacher
Lenny Rostov, “Red Flag” party functionary
Maria Covello, student
Estelle Covello, mother of Maria Covello
Pierre DeCasa, businessman
Emanuelle DeCasa, daughter of Pierre DeCasa
Bridget Christensen, nurse for Emanuelle DeCasa
Dusko Govic, “Red Flag” terrorist
Juanita Chavez, “Red Flag” terrorist
Angelica Duval, classmate of MARIA COVELLO
Eddie Heizmann, “National Unity Party” secret policeman (alias SASHA PESHKOV)
Gus Morantz, school principal
The Red Flag by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Scene 1:
(The CAST is seated upstage in a comfortable tableau, waiting in a neutral state. MARIA COVELLO is standing downstage.)
MARIA COVELLO
(to audience)
You take one step. Then another. And another. And the steps take you further and further away from sanity and closer and closer to madness. Then one day you find yourself with a gun in your hand, a smoking gun, and you don’t know how it got there. The gun is heavy and oily, and you’ve used it to kill a man.
(ESTELLE COVELLO rises from the upstage tableau and goes downstage to join MARIA.)
ESTELLE COVELLO
Maria, I must work late again tonight.
MARIA COVELLO
But Mother, you’re exhausted! You’ve worked overtime every night this week!
ESTELLE COVELLO
It’s the only way I’ll be able to pay the rent this month.
MARIA COVELLO
Mother, let me quit school and get a job. Then I can help you pay.
ESTELLE COVELLO
No. You must go to school. Education is the only way you will have any chance to have a better life in this country. Now go to school, you’re late.
MARIA COVELLO
Yes, Mother.
(MARIA steps away so that ESTELLE can deliver a monologue to the AUDIENCE.)
ESTELLE COVELLO
(to audience)
You fall in love with a man who speaks with the voice of a poet. You marry him, and have a child. The man uses the beautiful poetry of his words to describe the suffering in his nation. Many people listen. Some become angry. Then, like others who anger the powerful, he disappears, and you are left alone to raise a daughter by working in a clothing factory. You become tired. You go into debt to make ends meet. You live only for your child, your beautiful child, the only light in your world.
(ESTELLE returns to the upstage tableau.)
End of Scene 1.
The Red Flag by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Scene 2:
(ANGELICA DUVAL goes downstage to join MARIA.)
ANGELICA DUVAL
Are you ready for class, Maria?
MARIA COVELLO
Yes, Angelica, I’m always ready for class.
ANGELICA DUVAL
I don’t like Miss Krause. She talks too much about politics and the government.
MARIA COVELLO
She’s a history teacher, Angelica. That’s what she’s supposed to talk about.
ANGELICA DUVAL
My dad says it’s dangerous to talk politics.
MARIA COVELLO
Why is everyone so afraid of the truth, Angelica?
ANGELICA DUVAL
Quiet, Maria, here she comes.
(HEIDI KRAUSE goes downstage and speaks to the AUDIENCE as if they were her students.)
HEIDI KRAUSE
What is the population of our country, Carlos? Twenty million. That is correct. And what is the name of our president, Eleanora? Arlan Kinzer. That is correct.
(to ANGELICA DUVAL)
And Angelica Duval, what is the name of our ruling party?
ANGELICA DUVAL
The National Unity Party, Miss Krause.
HEIDI KRAUSE
Very good, Angelica. The National Unity Party. Now Maria Covello, do you know the name of the party that has been outlawed for advocating the violent overthrow of the government?
MARIA COVELLO
Yes, Miss Krause. They call themselves the Red Flag. Miss Krause, if the Red Flag were to overthrow the government, what would they replace it with?
HEIDI KRAUSE
(turning to audience)
Class is over. You are dismissed.
(ANGELICA DUVAL and MARIA COVELLO begin to return to the tableau.)
HEIDI KRAUSE
Maria, please remain behind. I want to speak with you.
MARIA COVELLO
Yes, Miss Krause.
(ANGELICA DUVAL looks at MARIA and HEIDI KRAUSE briefly, then returns to the tableau.)
HEIDI KRAUSE
(to MARIA COVELLO)
Come here.
MARIA COVELLO
(approaching HEIDI KRAUSE)
Yes, Miss Krause.
HEIDI KRAUSE
You asked me what kind of government the Red Flag party would institute.
MARIA COVELLO
Yes. How would it be different from the National Unity Party?
HEIDI KRAUSE
The Red Flag party says it would redistribute the wealth of our country so that the workers and peasants would receive a fair share.
MARIA COVELLO
But why do they want to use violence to get rid of the government?
HEIDI KRAUSE
Come with me to my office, Maria. I will explain it to you there.
(They return to the tableau.)
End of Scene 2.
The Red Flag by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Scene 3:
(LENNY ROSTOV , DUSKO GOVIC, and JUANITA CHAVEZ leave the tableau. LENNY ROSTOV stands downstage centre. DUSKO stands upstage right, and JUANITA upstage left. EDDIE HEIZMANN leaves the tableau and stands in the background.)
LENNY ROSTOV
We of the Red Flag party welcome death.
DUSKO GOVIC and JUANITA CHAVEZ
(together)
We welcome death.
LENNY ROSTOV
The death of some of us means the liberation of all of us.
DUSKO GOVIC and JUANITA CHAVEZ
(together)
Death for some, freedom for all.
LENNY ROSTOV
How must we die?
DUSKO GOVIC and JUANITA CHAVEZ
Fighting our enemies.
LENNY ROSTOV
Who are our enemies?
DUSKO GOVIC and JUANITA CHAVEZ
The National Unity Party and all who support them.
LENNY ROSTOV
(to audience)
I thank you for joining the Red Flag party. I know how difficult the decision must have been. It is no easy thing to cross the line from legal to illegal, from citizen to outlaw, from safety to danger. I know how you have suffered. Some of you have seen your closest relatives disappear, taken by the government’s secret police. Some of you have been driven from your farms and villages by landowners and businesses who are protected by the government and the army. And some of you work long hours for wages so low you cannot feed your families. But now you are a member of the Red Flag party. Now you have found hope. Now you can take up arms in the struggle against oppression and tyranny. We welcome you.
(DUSKO GOVIC and JUANITA CHAVEZ return to the tableau. LENNY ROSTOV returns to the tableau. EDDIE HEIZMANN moves downstage for a moment, surveys the audience, then exits.)
End of Scene 3.
The Red Flag by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Scene 4:
(PIERRE DECASA leaves the tableau, goes downstage with a newspaper, and sits down. He reads the paper. EMANUELLE DECASA enters with her nurse, BRIDGET CHRISTENSEN.)
BRIDGET CHRISTENSEN
Here she is, Mr. Decasa, safe and sound!
PIERRE DECASA
Ah, Emanuelle!
(He puts down his paper, goes to EMANUELLE, and gives her a hug.)
PIERRE DECASA
I’m so happy to see you!
EMANUELLE DECASA
Hello, Daddy. We made butterflies out of paper. Mine was red.
PIERRE DECASA
Wonderful, Emanuelle! Did you bring it home with you?
EMANUELLE DECASA
I don’t know, Daddy. Miss Christensen, did I bring the butterfly home?
BRIDGET CHRISTENSEN
No, dear. You put it up on the wall at the school, remember?
(to PIERRE DECASA)
She did very well today, Mr. DeCasa. She even managed to write a little story about a puppy.
EMANUELLE DECASA
About a puppy! A little funny puppy!
PIERRE DECASA
You’ve been a great help to her, Miss Christensen.
BRIDGET CHRISTENSEN
Thank you, Mr. DeCasa.
PIERRE DECASA
Before I hired you, Emanuelle would just sit and stare out the window. Now, innocent things like puppies and butterflies make her eyes shine with joy.
EMANUELLE DECASA
(goes and picks up the newspaper)
What’s this, Daddy?
PIERRE DECASA
It’s a newspaper, Emanuelle. It’s full of stories about the world.
EMANUELLE DECASA
Are there stories about puppies?
PIERRE DECASA
No, Emanuelle…
(EMANUELLE sees a photograph of a burning car and is disturbed.)
EMANUELLE DECASA
Why is there a picture of a burning car, Daddy?
BRIDGET CHRISTENSEN
(going to EMANUELLE and taking the newspaper)
It’s all right, Emanuelle; it’s just a picture.
PIERRE DECASA
No, Bridget, she must hear the truth. Emanuelle, bad people burned the car.
EMANUELLE DECASA
Bad people?
PIERRE DECASA
Yes, Emanuelle. The car was owned by one of my friends, an important man in our government.
EMANUELLE DECASA
One of your friends?
PIERRE DECASA
Yes. The bad people put a bomb in his car, and when he started the engine, the car exploded and he was killed.
EMANUELLE DECASA
Killed?
BRIDGET CHRISTENSEN
Mr. DeCasa, I’m don’t think Emanuelle can cope with this sort of information…
PIERRE DECASA
Please, Miss Christensen, I know what I’m doing. Emanuelle, you must watch out for the bad people. If you see someone you don’t know watching you, tell Miss Christensen right away. Do you understand?
EMANUELLE DECASA
If I see someone watching me, I must tell Miss Christensen right away.
PIERRE DECASA
That’s right, Emanuelle. You must be careful. You see, the bad men might try to hurt me by hurting you.
EMANUELLE DECASA
Why do the bad men want to hurt you, Daddy?
BRIDGET CHRISTENSEN
(worried)
Mr. DeCasa…
PIERRE DECASA
Please, Miss Christensen. Emanuelle, I am a businessman. I have a lot of money. The bad men don’t think that is fair. They want to punish me for having money.
EMANUELLE DECASA
I don’t understand, Daddy. I’m scared. I don’t understand…
PIERRE DECASA
I’m sorry, Emanuelle. I didn’t mean to scare you. I just want you to be very careful. If you see someone watching you, tell Miss Christensen right away.
EMANUELLE DECASA
I will, Daddy, I promise.
PIERRE DECASA
1Good. Now Miss Christensen will help you get your supper.
BRIDGET CHRISTENSEN
Come on, Emanuelle, your favourite treats are waiting for you in the dining room.
(She and EMANUELLE return to the tableau.)
PIERRE DECASA
That was by far the hardest thing I had to do today.
(He picks up the paper, looks at the picture, rolls up the paper, slaps it against his leg, and returns to the tableau.)
End of Scene 4.
The Red Flag by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Scene 5:
(EDDIE HEIZMAN leaves the tableau and goes downstage.)
EDDIE HEIZMANN
When you’re a kid, you live in poverty. You hate the bad food, the dirty rooms, the noisy neighbours, the sickness and disease. You swear to yourself to get out of this hell any way you can. So you join the army. The officers want volunteers for the torture squads. You do it. The officers are pleased with your enthusiasm. They train you to be a member of the secret police. They pay you well to spy on the poor, to look for troublemakers. They expect you to kill the enemies of the government.
(taking out a gun)
And you do what they expect, because you are determined never to be poor again. You join the Red Flag party using a false identity. You attend their meetings. You gather information. The Red Flag leaders learn to trust you, which makes them easy to use.
(He puts his gun away. LENNY ROSTOVE leaves the tableau and joins EDDIE.)
LENNY ROSTOV
You have proven yourself to be a loyal member of the Red Flag party, Sasha.
EDDIE HEIZMANN
Yes, Comrade Rostov.
LENNY ROSTOV
I value loyalty above all other virtues, because those who are not completely loyal can be made to betray us.
EDDIE HEIZMANN
I was tortured by the government, comrade. But I did not betray you.
LENNY ROSTOV
Yes. I have a mission for you, Sasha.
(offering EDDIE a gun.)
You are to deliver this gun to Miss Heidi Krause, a teacher at Public School 21. You are to instruct her to arrange for the assassination of businessman Pierre DeCasa. He is closely linked to the government, and we want him eliminated as a message to others of his kind. They must understand that supporting the National Unity Party makes them targets for assassination. Then perhaps they will rethink their loyalty to a government that tortures and kills its own people.
EDDIE HEIZMANN
Perhaps. I will do as I am ordered.
(EDDIE returns to the tableau.)
LENNY ROSTOV
(to the audience)
Your parents are immigrants. They come to this country in search of something better. But the best opportunities are reserved for members of the ruling party. Your parents join the party, and begin to climb the ladder of social and financial success. Then someone in the party becomes jealous. They deposit government money in your parents’ bank account, and make it seem as if the money was stolen. The government puts your parents in jail. You are left to struggle alone in poverty, with no hope for the future. You meet young radicals who convince you to join the Red Flag party. You demonstrate talent as a leader. Soon, you are in a position of power. You find yourself ordering the assassination of members of the government and their friends. This is the result of your political choices. There is no going back.
(He returns to the tableau.)
End of Scene 5.
The Red Flag by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Scene 6:
(ESTELLE and MARIA COVELLO leave the tableau and go downstage.)
ESTELLE COVELLO
You are spending more time at the school, Maria.
MARIA COVELLO
Yes, Mother. I’ve been helping Miss Krause.
ESTELLE COVELLO
What with?
MARIA COVELLO
With her research.
ESTELLE COVELLO
What kind of research, Maria?
MARIA COVELLO
Just things about the government, Mother; she’s a history teacher.
ESTELLE COVELLO
About the government? What is she trying to find out about the government?
MARIA COVELLO
Mother, Miss Krause asked me not to talk about this.
ESTELLE COVELLO
Why not?
MARIA COVELLO
She says she wants to be a good teacher, so she has to get lots of research material, but the government might not like it if they knew she was gathering facts about them.
ESTELLE COVELLO
I don’t like the sound of this, Maria.
MARIA COVELLO
We’re just gathering the names and addresses of officials in the government ministries, and the names of business people who donate money to the governing party. What’s wrong with that?
ESTELLE COVELLO
Maria, you are too much like your father. He disappeared because he wrote poetry that angered the government. You could disappear too if you do things that upset our rulers.
MARIA COVELLO
Let them be upset! It’s not fair that we can’t find out the truth about the people who rule us!
ESTELLE COVELLO
Now we’re getting to the truth about you, Maria! You and that teacher are involved in anti-government activity!
MARIA COVELLO
Don’t be ridiculous, Mother. How can finding out names and addresses be anti anything?
ESTELLE COVELLO
Maria, I will do anything to protect you. If that teacher is influencing you to become a political radical, I’ll go to the principal and warn him about her!
MARIA COVELLO
No! Mother, don’t interfere! I’ll quit school if you do. I swear, I’ll run away. You’ll never see me again!
ESTELLE COVELLO
Maria, why are you so defiant, so blind to danger? What’s come over you?
MARIA COVELLO
I must know the truth, Mother. I must. I must make sense out of the death of my father, out of the suffering in this country. I must understand the government, and its enemies. That’s the only way I’ll ever find peace within myself.
(ESTELLE COVELLO ponders for a moment.)
ESTELLE COVELLO
All right, Maria. Understand, but don’t try to change the way things are. Because if you do, you will be destroyed, either by the government or its enemies.
MARIA COVELLO
Then you will allow me to keep doing research with Miss Krause?
ESTELLE COVELLO
Yes. For now.
MARIA COVELLO
Thank you, Mother.
(They return to the tableau.)
End of Scene 6.
The Red Flag by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Scene 7:
(GUS MORANTZ and HEIDI KRAUSE leave the tableau and go downstage.)
GUS MORANTZ
Miss Krause, as principal of this school one of my duties is to make sure that the teaching staff do not teach anti-government material.
HEIDI KRAUSE
We teachers are well aware of that, Mr. Morantz.
GUS MORANTZ
I’m sure you are. However, Miss Krause, sometimes a teacher might teach inappropriate material without knowing she is doing so.
HEIDI KRAUSE
Mr. Morantz, I know exactly what I am teaching, and none of it is anti-government.
GUS MORANTZ
Is it appropriate to discuss the Red Flag party with your students?
HEIDI KRAUSE
Yes. They need to know what the Red Flag party stands for, and why it is so dangerous.
GUS MORANTZ
Students are romantics, Miss Krause. They are attracted by danger, and they like simple answers to complex problems. What if one or more of them joins the Red Flag party because your teaching makes them vulnerable to Red Flag propaganda?
HEIDI KRAUSE
Very well, Mr. Morantz. I will avoid any discussion of the Red Flag party, other than to point out it is illegal because it advocates violence, and it’s members face arrest, jail, or execution.
GUS MORANTZ
Miss Krause, you are very close to losing your job here. You are not to mention the Red Flag party at all. Is that clear?
HEIDI KRAUSE
Yes Mr. Morantz, very clear.
(They return to the tableau.)
End of Scene 7.
The Red Flag by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Scene 8:
(JUANITA CHAVEZ and DUSKO GOVIC leave the tableau and go downstage. DUSKO stands apart and upstage from JUANITA.)
JUANITA CHAVEZ
(speaking to the AUDIENCE)
Your parents are wealthy. You go to a private school and wear fine clothes. Your father teaches you that the government protects people like you from the terrorists who hate you. He says the army and police have to be ruthless to suppress the radicals and revolutionaries who would take your land and business away from you. But when you go to university, you meet other young people who teach you that the government is wrong, that your parents exploit workers and peasants, and that the army and police are hired murderers who preserve the wealth of the few at the expense of the many. You join the Red Flag party. You learn to hate your parents, and to hate everything they stand for. You learn that acts of terror against the government weaken the system, and help pave the way to revolution. You became a terrorist because you believe in terror as a revolutionary weapon.
DUSKO GOVIC
(moving downstage to JUANITA)
What was it like to be rich, Juanita?
JUANITA CHAVEZ
There are two kinds of rich people, Dusko: the passionate, and the bored. I was bored.
DUSKO GOVIC
Why were you bored?
JUANITA CHAVEZ
I had too much of everything, and not enough of nothing. I never had to struggle, I never had to fight. And because I was a woman, I was not allowed to become passionate about business and profit like my father. And you, Dusko, what’s it like to be poor?
(JUNITA moves slightly apart and upstage from DUSKO and listens.)
DUSKO GOVIC
(to the audience)
Your mother dies of tuberculosis when she’s twenty-nine. Your father works as a field hand on a rich man’s estate. You have three sisters and two brothers, but one of your sisters dies from an untreated infection, and one of your brothers is shot dead by the police during a demonstration. Then your father becomes too ill to work, and your other brother joins the army to earn money to keep the rest of your family alive. Your two remaining sisters become prostitutes in the capital. They both disappear. You join the Red Flag party because it promises a way to stop the suffering of people like your family. And you will do whatever it takes to change the system. The Red Flag party is your family now, and you will die for the party.
(He and JUANITA CHAVEZ exit.)
End of Scene 8.
The Red Flag by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Scene 9:
(ANGELICA DUVAL leaves the tableau and goes downstage.)
ANGELICA DUVAL
(speaking to the AUDIENCE)
You are a student in a high school. Your history teacher tells you things about the government and its enemies. You feel uncomfortable. You tell your father. He talks to the principal. The teacher stops talking politics. But a girl in the class called Maria Covello spends more and more time with the teacher. You ask her why. She refuses to talk about it. Again you tell your father. And this time he goes to the police.
(GUS MORANTZ leaves the tableau and joins ANGELICA.)
GUS MORANTZ
Angelica.
ANGELICA DUVAL
Yes, Mr. Morantz?
GUS MORANTZ
I have something important to ask you. Think carefully before you answer.
ANGELICA DUVAL
Yes, Mr. Morantz.
GUS MORANTZ
Has your teacher Miss Krause stopped teaching you about the Red Flag party?
ANGELICA DUVAL
Yes, Mr. Morantz. She said that teachers are supposed to tell their students the truth about the world, but that she is no longer allowed to.
GUS MORANTZ
Does she invite any of her students to join her in her private office?
ANGELICA DUVAL
Only one person: Maria Covello.
GUS MORANTZ
How often does Maria Covello go to Miss Krause’s office?
ANGELICA DUVAL
Every day, Mr. Morantz. But she won’t tell anyone why.
GUS MORANTZ
Angelica, your father has spoken to me, and I have received a call from the police. They are very concerned about Miss Krause. And I know you are the one who complained about her to your father.
ANGELICA DUVAL
Yes.
GUS MORANTZ
You can help us, Angelica. We want you to watch Miss Krause and Maria Covello closely, and report to us anything that you see or hear.
ANGELICA DUVAL
I don’t want to get involved with them. That’s why I told my father about them.
GUS MORANTZ
You are involved with them, whether you like it or not. And as principal of this school, I’m involved with them too. You must do as I ask you, Angelica Duval, because the government wants you to, and the government is infinitely bigger and stronger than you, me, or your father. Do you understand?
ANGELICA DUVAL
Yes, Mr. Morantz. I will do as you say.
(She returns to the tableau.)
GUS MORANTZ
(to the AUDIENCE)
As a teacher, you want to improve education in your country, so you decide to become a school principal. But you cannot do so unless you join the National Unity Party. So you join, and eventually you are put in charge of a high school. You soon discover that your job is to spy on your staff and students. If you don’t, the government will put you in jail for aiding the enemy. You are compromised by your own unselfish ambition, and you yield to your despicable instinct for self-preservation.
(He returns to the tableau.)
End of Scene 9.
The Red Flag by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Scene 10:
(PIERRE DECASA and BRIDGET CHRISTENSEN leave the tableau and go downstage.)
PIERRE DECASA
Where is Emanuelle, Miss Christensen?
BRIDGET CHRISTENSEN
Painting pictures in her hobby room, Mr. DeCasa.
PIERRE DECASA
Have you noticed anyone watching her? Any strangers? Has she told you about anybody looking at her or following her?
BRIDGET CHRISTENSEN
No, Mr. DeCasa.
PIERRE DECASA
I’m worried about her, Miss Christensen. Even though you’re always with her, she’s still an easy target for kidnappers. I’m thinking of hiring a bodyguard for her.
BRIDGET CHRISTENSEN
That won’t be necessary, Mr. DeCasa. I can keep her under proper surveillance, and I would report any suspicious behaviour immediately.
(EMANUELLE DECASA enters.)
EMANUELLE DECASA
Daddy, I painted a picture of a bad man.
PIERRE DECASA
What bad man, Emanuelle?
EMANUELLE DECASA
A man who was looking at me today.
BRIDGET CHRISTENSEN
What are you talking about, Emanuelle? No one was looking at you.
EMANUELLE DECASA
Yes. In the garden. I saw his face through the bushes. Then he was gone.
BRIDGET CHRISTENSEN
You’re making it up, Emanuelle.
PIERRE DECASA
No, Miss Christensen; you know as well as I do that Emanuelle doesn’t make things up. Emanuelle, what did the man look like?
EMANUELLE DECASA
Like a shadow, Daddy.
PIERRE DECASA
I am going to hire a bodyguard tomorrow morning. And no arguments from you, Miss Christensen. Now take Emanuelle for her evening bath.
BRIDGET CHRISTENSEN
Yes, sir.
(She and EMANUELLE return to the tableau.)
PIERRE DECASA
(to the AUDIENCE)
You run a small business manufacturing pressed steel components for farm equipment. You know the government is spending more and more money on the police and army, so you join the National Unity Party and meet the right people. You receive a government contract to manufacture pressed steel parts for machine guns. You expand your factory and hire more workers at low rates of pay. You become wealthy. But your wife dies in childbirth, and your only child is born oxygen starved and deficient. You feel this is a punishment for your greed and ambition. But you have gone too far to turn back. You have chosen to be on one side, and that makes you the enemy of the other side. You keep on making munitions, you keep on getting rich, and you keep on worrying about your daughter, because you know you have enemies. And you know one day you’ll be punished again.
(He returns to the tableau.)
End of Scene 10.
The Red Flag by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Scene 11:
(BRIDGET CHRISTENSEN leaves the tableau and goes downstage.)
BRIDGET CHRISTENSEN
(speaking to the AUDIENCE)
You are a teacher but you can’t find a job. The public education system does not receive much funding from the government, and teaching positions are rare. You find out that a wealthy businessman named Pierre DeCasa is looking for someone to take care of his fragile daughter Emanuelle. You meet with him. He likes you, so he checks your references, and decides to hire you. You have a secret that you cannot tell him. Your lover is a member of the Red Flag party. It is difficult to keep this secret, but you must, or you and your lover will be arrested.
(DUSKO GOVIC and JUANITA CHAVEZ leave the tableau and join BRIDGET.)
DUSKO GOVIC
(embracing BRIDGET)
Hello, Bridget.Juanita and I need to speak with you about your boss.
BRIDGET CHRISTENSEN
Please, Dusko, I don’t want to put you and me at risk. Let’s not have any discussions about Mr. DeCasa.
JUANITA CHAVEZ
It’s not that simple, Miss Christensen. Mr. DeCasa is a wealthy businessman with ties to the National Unity Party, and you are very close to him. You could help us.
BRIDGET CHRISTENSEN
I’m not political, Miss Chavez. I don’t want to get entangled in all of that.
DUSKO GOVIC
But you are entangled, Bridget, just by being my girlfriend. Don’t you understand that?
BRIDGET CHRISTENSEN
Of course I do, Dusko. But Mr. DeCasa is my employer. He trusts me, and I care about his daughter. I wouldn’t want to do anything to hurt them.
JUANITA CHAVEZ
Who are you most loyal to, Miss Christensen, Mr. DeCasa or Dusko?
BRIDGET CHRISTENSEN
That’s not a fair question, Miss Chavez. Loyalty and love are complicated emotions.
DUSKO GOVIC
Unfortunately, Bridget, in this country you must be on one side or the other. Either you support the Red Flag, or you support the government. You must choose.
BRIDGET CHRISTENSEN
I will not choose. If I have to, I will quit my job with Mr. DeCasa, and end my relationship with you, Dusko, but I will not choose!
(BRIDGET returns to the tableau.)
JUANITA CHAVEZ
I told you, Dusko. She has become dangerous to us.
DUSKO GOVIC
Yes. It’s hard for me to accept, but, whether or not she knows it, she has chosen her side, and it is not ours. I should never have become involved with someone who is not in the Red Flag party.
JUANITA CHAVEZ
As of this moment, she stops being your lover and starts being your enemy. And she knows too much about us.
DUSKO GOVIC
If she is to die, I pray to God I’m not the one who must kill her.
JUANITA CHAVEZ
If God answered our prayers, there would be no need for a revolution, Dusko.
(They return to the tableau.)
End of Scene 11.
The Red Flag by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Scene 12:
(HEIDI KRAUSE and EDDIE HEIZMANN leave the tableau and go downstage.)
HEIDI KRAUSE
I will soon have to leave my position as a teacher at the high school, and go underground, Mr. Peshkov. I know that I’m being watched.
EDDIE HEIZMANN
Yes, it’s time for you to change your cover, Miss Krause. But we have one last job for you to do.
HEIDI KRAUSE
Tell me what it is, and I will do it as best I can.
EDDIE HEIZMANN
You are to arrange the assassination of a businessman named Pierre DeCasa. You must not carry out the action yourself. You are too valuable to the Red Flag Party to risk losing you. The one who does the killing must be expendable.
HEIDI KRAUSE
I see. I think I know who to use. She is a student I teach. Her name is not important. It’s better that no one but me knows who she is.
EDDIE HEIZMANN
Pierre DeCasa has a daughter named Emanuelle. She’s mentally deficient. You might use her to get to him. Dusko Govic and Juanita Chavez could assist you in this.
HEIDI KRAUSE
Yes, I will contact them. I tell you, Mr. Peshkov, our work for the Red Flag party is often ugly and terrible. It’s sometimes hard to continue the struggle.
EDDIE HEIZMANN
Nonetheless, Miss Krause, you are ordered to do this thing. And an order is an order. I am instructed to give you this gun.
(He hands her the gun.)
HEIDI KRAUSE
I will not hesitate to do my duty, Mr. Peshkov. Pierre DeCasa will be dead within twenty-four hours.
EDDIE HEIZMANN
Very good, Miss Krause. I will now report back to Comrade Rostov.
(He returns to the tableau.)
HEIDI KRAUSE
(to the audience)
When you are a little girl, you have a cat that you love very much. The cat has kittens, and you love each and every one of the little creatures. Then your father takes the cat and the kittens and puts them in a sack and drowns them in the river. You can never forget this. You learn that the world is a hard, cold place, and that loving someone or something does not keep them safe from harm. You learn that everyone is loved by at least one other, and yet people kill one another even though the killing always causes terrible grief to someone. And when you grow older, you see how your country is split into two camps. On one side there is the government, which protects a small and wealthy elite, and on the other side there is a revolutionary movement that claims to speak for the large mass of poor workers and peasants. And you must choose. Both sides use violence, both sides kill. Both sides cause pain and grief to those who love the ones who are killed. You think of your father, who killed the cat and the kittens because he could barely afford to feed his family. You know he knew how much pain the killing of the cats brought to his daughter. And you know that now you must do what your father did, you must kill too, only you will have to kill people, not cats, to help the revolution begin, in the dim hope of something better for the masses. You know you are living in hell, and you know that those who are lucky enough not to live in hell will never understand you or forgive you.
(MARIA COVELLO leaves the tableau and goes downstage to join HEIDI KRAUSE.)
MARIA COVELLO
You wanted to see me, Miss Krause?
HEIDI KRAUSE
Yes, Maria. I have something for you to do.
MARIA COVELLO
For the Red Flag party?
HEIDI KRAUSE
Yes, for the party. The time has come, Maria. Are you prepared to do what must be done?
MARIA COVELLO
Yes, Miss Krause. There is a line that divides this country. On one side are the powerful and privileged. On the other are the poor and the exploited. I have chosen to be on the side of the poor and exploited.
HEIDI KRAUSE
Maria, what you must do is terrible. To kill is terrible. It is the worst of sins. Do you understand this?
MARIA COVELLO
Yes, Miss Krause.
(to the AUDIENCE)
But many are killed every day by sickness, by accidents in unsafe working conditions, by starvation, and by the torture squads and the secret police. People die from contaminated water, from lack of hospitals, from hard labour in fields, factories, and mines. The government is a leach that draws blood from the bodies of the people so that it may become fatter and greedier and draw even more blood. When the government kills, thousands of the poor die. When I kill, a few of the rich die. And so I am willing to kill.
HEIDI KRAUSE
Take this gun. Tomorrow morning at 5 00 a.m., go to the Park of Angels. A man will be there standing at the statue of the Christian martyrs. He will be alone. Shoot him.
MARIA COVELLO
Yes, Miss Krause.
(MARIA returns to the tableau.)
HEIDI KRAUSE
No matter how much I suffer, no matter how terribly I die, I shall remain unclean. I am covered in blood eternal.
(HEIDI KRAUSE returns to the tableau.)
End of Scene 12.
The Red Flag by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Scene 13:
(ESTELLE COVELLO and MARIA COVELLO leave the tableau and go downstage.)
ESTELLE COVELLO
I had to work very hard today, Maria. I have never felt so tired.
MARIA COVELLO
I know, Mother. I know how hard you work.
ESTELLE COVELLO
Perhaps when you have finished school, when you have a good job as a doctor or a teacher, I will not have to work so hard, Maria.
MARIA COVELLO
Mother, I will never be a doctor or a teacher. It’s not possible.
ESTELLE COVELLO
I know that it’s hard for people like us to succeed in this country, Maria, but we must never give up hope. Things can’t continue to be as bad as this for ever and ever.
MARIA COVELLO
Men are given more opportunities than women, Mother, and even then they have to be from the most powerful families with the right political connections.
ESTELLE COVELLO
You sound so old, Maria. You are only seventeen.
MARIA COVELLO
Mother, I must go to bed now. I have something to do early tomorrow morning.
ESTELLE COVELLO
What must you do?
MARIA COVELLO
I have to meet someone and give him a message from one of my teachers.
ESTELLE COVELLO
Why must you do it early in the morning?
MARIA COVELLO
Because he will be gone right afterwards.
ESTELLE COVELLO
You do too much for your teachers. They are supposed to teach you, not use you to carry their messages.
MARIA COVELLO
Yes, Mother. Let me hug you, Mother.
(She does so.)
ESTELLE COVELLO
Good night, my daughter. I love you.
MARIA COVELLO
Good night, my mother. God bless you.
(They seperate and circle away from each other as they return to the tableau.)
End of Scene 13.
The Red Flag by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Scene 14:
(BRIDGET CHRISTENSEN and EMANUELLE DECASA leave the tableau and go downstage.)
BRIDGET CHRISTENSEN
Your father is in his study, Emanuelle. Let’s play with the ball here in foyer.
EMANUELLE DECASA
I like to play with the ball.
(DUSKO GOVIC and JUANITA CHAVEZ enter with a gun.)
BRIDGET CHRISTENSEN
Dusko! What are you doing?
DUSKO GOVIC
Don’t make a sound, Bridget, or we’ll have to shoot.
JUANITA CHAVEZ
Come with us, and bring Emanuelle.
EMANUELLE DECASA
Where are we going, Bridget?
DUSKO GOVIC
We’re just going to take you for a ride in our car, Emanuelle.
EMANUELLE DECASA
A car! Miss Christensen, I like cars!
BRIDGET CHRISTENSEN
Dusko, how could you do this?
JUANITA CHAVEZ
He has no choice, Bridget. None of us do. Now let’s go.
(They all return to the tableau. As they go, JUANITA CHAVEZ drops a note on the floor. PIERRE DECASA leaves the tableau and goes downstage.)
ENTERS.)
PIERRE DECASA
Emanuelle? Miss Christensen?
(He sees the note and picks it up.)
PIERRE DECASA
(reading the note out loud)
“To get your daughter back, bring two hundred thousand American dollars in unmarked bills to the Park of Angels at 5:00 a.m. Wait by the statue of the Christian martyrs.” They’ve taken Emanuelle, before I could hire a bodyguard. I am to be punished, the worst kind of punishment. If my daughter suffers, I will kill her torturers! One sin leads to another and another and another. But Emanuelle is innocent. She is the only one who is innocent. She must not be made to suffer.
(He exits returns to the tableau.)
End of Scene 14.
The Red Flag by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Scene 15:
(GUS MORANTZ leaves the tableau and goes downstage. HEIDI KRAUS rises from her seat in the tableau
GUS MORANTZ
Miss Krause? Miss Krause?
(HEIDI KRAUSE goes downstage.)
HEIDI KRAUSE
Yes, Mr. Morantz?
GUS MORANTZ
There are several policeman here, Miss Krause. You are to surrender yourself to them immediately. There is no escape. We know what you have done.
HEIDI KRAUSE
I see. Let me get my coat. It’s just in the back room.
GUS MORANTZ
Please hurry. And don’t try anything stupid, Miss Krause. You will be shot dead if you show any sign of resistance.
HEIDI KRAUSE
I don’t want to resist anything, Mr. Morantz.
(She crosses away from GUS MORANTZ, as though going into another room. She faces the audience, and swallows a pill.In a few moments she is dead.)
GUS MORANTZ
(after a brief pause)
Miss Krause? Miss Krause, you must come along now.
(He crosses and finds HEIDI KRAUSE’S body. He takes out a small radio device and speaks into it.)
GUS MORANTZ
This is Morantz. Heidi Kraus is dead. Yes, dead. She poisoned herself. I think she swallowed a cyanide pill. You better come and deal with the body. Thank you.
(He stops speaking into the radio and speaks to HEIDI KRAUSE as if she was alive.)
GUS MORANTZ
You were far more dangerous to me alive than dead, Heidi Krause . Thank you for choosing to die before they put you to death.
(He returns to the tableau. ANGELICA DUVAL leaves the tableau and goes downstage.)
ANGELICA DUVAL
Your father asks you to sit down. He says he has something important to tell you. You ask him if it’s about your teacher. He says yes. He tells you she committed suicide to avoid arrest for treason. He says you did the right thing when you told the police about her, and that you should feel proud for helping the government fight the terrorists. His voice goes on and on, but you can’t hear him. You feel sick. You want to be somewhere else, anywhere that is not this moment. You are suffocating in a black flood of guilt. You never want to look into a mirror again.
(She crosses and looks briefly at the body of HEIDI KRAUSE, who rises and faces ANGELICA. Then they both return to the tableau.)
End of Scene 15.
The Red Flag by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Scene 16:
(PIERRE DECASA leaves the talbeau and walks downstage right and stands, waiting, with a case. MARIA COVELLO leaves the tableau and walks downstage left, then points her gun at PIERRE.)
PIERRE DECASA
Where is my daughter?
MARIA COVELLO
I know nothing about your daughter.
PIERRE DECASA
I have the money, here in this case. Now where is my daughter?
MARIA COVELLO
Money?
PIERRE DECASA
Yes, the ransom money, for my daughter. Stop playing games. Where is she?
MARIA COVELLO
Shut up.
PIERRE DECASA
What?
MARIA COVELLO
Shut up. Shut up. SHUT UP!
(She shoots. PIERRE DECASA falls to the ground. As he falls he pulls out a gun, but is too weak to use it. He is dead before he hits the ground. EDDIE HEIZMANN enters and shoots MARIA COVELLO,who dies immediately. Then he takes the case with the money and exits. The lights dim and ESTELLE COVELLO leaves the tableau and enters a spotlit area. She speaks
out to the audience.)
ESTELLE COVELLO
My daughter, I will tell you a poem your father wrote for you:
The heart is an innocent child, my love.
Be careful what stories you tell her,
For she is eager to believe
And quick to anger.
The heart is an innocent child, my love.
See how easily she takes up the gun and fires
Before the last echoes of the story fade,
And she remembers who she is.
(She remains still, holding the focus of the audience, while MARIA and PIERRE carefully return to the tableau, then returns to the tableau herself.)
End of Scene 16.
The Red Flag by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Scene 17:
(DUSKO GOVIC goes downstage with EMANUELLE DECASA.)
DUSKO GOVIC
Do you know the way home from here, Emanuelle?
EMANUELLE DECASA
Yes. Bridget and I used to walk here. Where is Bridget?
DUSKO GOVIC
She had to go with the nice lady who gave you a ride in her car, Emanuelle.
EMANUELLE DECASA
Where did she take Bridget?
DUSKO GOVIC
Far away, Emanuelle…
EMANUELLE DECASA
Will I ever see her again?
DUSKO GOVIC
No, Emanuelle, never again.
EMANUELLE DECASA
Will I ever see my Daddy again?
DUSKO GOVIC
(after a pause)
Someone will look after you, Emanuelle. You’ll be all right.
EMANUELLE DECASA
Can I stay with you?
DUSKO GOVIC
No. You must forget about me. Now go on home, Emanuelle, go on home.
EMANUELLE DECASA
Goodbye. Thank you for the car ride and for the chocolate.
(She returns to the tableau.)
DUSKO GOVIC
Goodbye, Emanuelle. God keep you safe.
(He returns to the tableau.)
End of Scene 17.
The Red Flag by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Scene 18:
(EDDIE HEIZMANN and LENNY ROSTOV leave the tableau and go downstage.)
EDDIE HEIZMANN
The assassination of Pierre DeCasa has taken place, Comrade Rostov. The will of the party has been carried out.
LENNY ROSTOV
You have performed a valuable service for us, Sasha Peshkov. On behalf of the Red Flag party, I thank you.
EDDIE HEIZMANN
As I said before, Comrade Rostov, I do not hesitate to do my duty.
LENNY ROSTOV
One day this will all be over, and there will be no more killing, Sasha.
EDDIE HEIZMANN
Do you really think so, Comrade?
LENNY ROSTOV
(after a brief hesitation)
In truth, Sasha, I can no longer see an ending. I feel as though we have always been killers, and will continue to kill forever. There is no end, really, to what we have brought upon ourselves, we humans. We love, and we hate, and we kill to protect those we love from those we hate. Always our monotonous passions betray our brief moments of peace.
EDDIE HEIZMANN
You don’t sound like a revolutionary, Comrade. You sound more like a priest.
LENNY ROSTOV
Do you say that out of kindness or cruelty, Sasha?
EDDIE HEIZMANN
I am neither kind nor cruel. I cannot afford to be either.
LENNY ROSTOV
Yes. You may go now, Sasha. I must rest.
(EDDI returns to the tableau.)
LENNY ROSTOV
(to the AUDIENCE)
You are all members of a revolutionary party. You have agreed to use violence to create change. Having done so, you cannot ever go back to the time when you were free from the weight of such a decision. Your choices have led you here, and there is blood on your hands. When the revolution is won, your only hope of redemption is to be better than the people you have replaced. Much better. Do not forget this, no matter what the future holds. Do not forget.
(The CAST steps forward to join him.)
FULL CAST
(speaking in unison)
The heart is an innocent child, my love.
See how easily she takes up the gun and fires
Before the last echoes of the story fade,
And she remembers who she is.
END OF THE PLAY.
Return to Scene List
Published online by Good School Plays, April 8, 2016.
Additional Resources for “The Red Flag”:
Scene Breakdown:
Scene 1:
Maria Covello
Estelle Covello
-Introduction to Maria and Estelle’s relationship. Estelle insists that Maria go to school.
-Estelle’s monologue in which she reveals she is a single mother whose poet husband was killed by the government or their supporters.
Scene 2:
Maria Covello
Angelica Duval
Heidi Krause
-Angelica Duval expresses disapproval of teacher Heidi Kraus, who “talks too much about politics and the government”.
-Heidi Krause leads the class with questions about the country, and then about the two opposing parties, singling out Maria to identify the Red Flag Party.
-Heidi Krause dismisses the class and invites Maria into her office to discuss the Red Flag Party’s agenda.
Scene 3:
Lenny Rostov
Dusko Govic
Juanita Chavez
Eddie Heizmann
-Lenny Rostov talks to the audience as if they are new members of The Red Flag Party, revealing the life situations that lead people to join the revolutionary movement.
-Eddie Heizmann watches, taking note of who is present, so as to inform on them to the government.
Scene 4:
Pierre DeCasa
Emanuelle DeCasa
Bridget Christensen
-DeCasa warns Emanuelle to watch for strangers spying on her, as she could become a kidnap victim in an effort by his enemies to get to him.
Scene 5:
Eddie Heizmann
Lenny Rostov
-Eddie Heizmann reveals his past of poverty, his time in the army as a torturer, and his current role as a spy for the government.
-Lenny Rostov instructs Eddie to arrange the assasination of Pierre DeCasa through Heidi Krause.
-Lenny Rostov reveals his reasons for joining The Red Flag Party.
Scene 6:
Estelle Covello
Maria Covello
-Estelle questions Maria about her involvement with Miss Krause. This provokes an argument, with Maria winning by forcing her mother to accept Maria’s decision to help Miss Krause with research about the government.
Scene 7:
Gus Morantz
Heidi Krause
-Gus Morantz warns Heidi Krause to stop teaching anything about The Red Flag Party.
Scene 8:
Juanita Chavez
Dusko Govic
-Juanita and Dusko reveal their reasons for joining The Red Flag Party.
Scene 9:
Angelica Duval
Gus Morantz
-Gus Morantz forces Angelica to spy on Miss Krause and Maria.
-Gus Morantz reveals his past, and his reasons for spying on his staff and students.
Scene 10:
Pierre DeCasa
Bridget Christensen
Emanuelle DeCasa
-Pierre questions Bridget about the possibility of Emanuelle being spied upon.
-Emanuelle claims that a man has been watching her.
-Pierre decides to hire a bodyguard.
-Pierre tells his story about his business and his increasing involvement with the ruling party.
Scene 11:
Bridget Christensen
Dusko Govic
Juanita Chavez
-Bridget reveals her story, relating how she was an unemployed teacher who found work as a nurse for Emanuelle, and also revealing that her boyfriend is a member of The Red Flag Party.
-Dusko and Juanita attempt to involve Bridget in the plan to assassinate Pierre DeCasa. She refuses.
-Juanita convinces Dusko that Bridget is now their enemy.
Scene 12:
Heidi Krause
Eddie Heizmann
Maria Covello
-Eddie gives Heidi the orders to arrange the assasination of Pierre DeCasa, and gives her a gun.
-Heidi Krause tells the story of her childhood, and her reasons for becoming a member of The Red Flag Party.
-Heidi gives Maria orders to kill Pierre DeCasa. Maria agrees to do so, explaining her motives.
Scene 13:
Estelle Covello
Maria Covello
-Estelle expresses hope that Maria will one day succeed through education. Maria disagrees.
-Maria explains she has to “meet someone” the next day and give him a message.
-Estelle accepts Maria’s decision and the two part forever.
Scene 14:
Bridget Christensen
Emanuelle DeCasa
Dusko Govic
Juanita Chavez
Pierre DeCasa
-Dusko and Juanita kidnap Emanuelle and Bridget.
-Pierre DeCasa discovers the ransom note and swears to kill the kidnappers.
Scene 15:
Gus Morantz
Heidi Krause
Angelica Duval
-Facing arrest for treason, Heidi kills herself.
-Gus Morantz expresses gratitude that Heidi chose death before she was interrogated.
-Angelica Duval expresses deep guilt for the death of Heidi Krause.
Scene 16:
Maria Covello
Pierre DeCasa
Eddie Heizmann
Estelle Covello
-Maria Covello assassinates Pierre DeCasa.
-Eddie Heizmann kills Maria and takes the briefcase full of money.
-Estelle Covello recites a poem for Maria, written by Maria’s father.
Scene 17:
Dusko Govic
Emanuelle DeCasa
-Dusko abandons Emanuelle, telling her to go home. He reveals that Bridget and Pierre are gone.
Scene 18:
Eddie Heizmann
Lenny Rostov
-Eddie reports that the assassination has taken place.
-Lenny Rostov expresses doubt that the killing will ever end.
-Lenny talks to the audience, warning them to “be better than the people you have replaced”.
FULL CAST then recites the second verse of Maria’s father’s poem.
Number of Cues per Character:
1. Maria Covello 42 cues
2. Estelle Covello 25 cues
3. Angelica Duval 15 cues
4. Heidi Krause 25 cues
5. Lenny Rostov 15 cues
6. Dusko Govic 21 cues
7. Juanita Chavez 14 cues
8. Eddie Heizmann 14 cues
9. Pierre DeCasa 27 cues
10. Bridget Christensen 22 cues
11. Emanuelle DeCasa 25 cues
12. Gus Morantz 19 cues
End of “The Red Flag” resource section.