Welcomeby Richard Stuart Dixon
© Richard Stuart Dixon, 2003
(Note: Performance of this play requires the author’s permission. Please contact Good School Plays for details.)
Production Notes:
• running time: approx. 55 minutes
• style: historical fantasy
• suitable for general audiences
• 27 characters (18 female, 9 male)
• roles can be split or merged, and are gender-flexible
• black-box staging (no set required)
Summary of Script Content:
• Real and imaginary people, places, and events are woven into this fictional and fantastical account of Laura Secord’s famous adventure during the War of 1812 in Canada. Laura must go into the forest on a journey to warn Lieutenant Fitzgibbon about the American plan to attack his troops. On her journey, she encounters spirits and apparitions who symbolize the Canadian wilderness, a place of deep mystery that both threatens and enchants her.
This play was first performed for the public on Wednesday, May 7, in the year 2003, at Gleneagle Secondary School in Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada.
Published Online by Good School Plays, February 9, 2018.
Go to:
Act One, Scene 1
Act One, Scene 2
Act One, Scene 3
Act One, Scene 4
Act One, Scene 5
Act Two, Scene 1
Act Two, Scene 2
Act Two, Scene 3
Act Two, Scene 4
Act Two, Scene 5
Act Two, Scene 6
Act Two, Scene 7
Act Two, Scene 8
Act Two, Scene 9
Act Two, Scene 10
Act Two, Scene 11
Act Two, Scene 12
Act Two, Scene 13
Act Two, Scene 14
Act Two, Scene 15
Act Two, Scene 16
Act Two, Scene 17
CHARACTERS:
Laura Secord
James Secord, husband of Laura Secord
Elizabeth Ingersoll, sister-in-law of Laura Secord
Elizabeth Ingersoll, the Ghost of Laura Secord’s Mother
Lieutenant James Fitzgibbon, Canadian Militia
Mrs. Charlotte Fitzgibbon, the Ghost of His Mother
Lieutenant Colonel Charles G. Boerstler, American Army
Mrs.Melissa Boerstler, the Ghost of His Mother
Dominique Ducharme, Ally of the Mohawk Warriors
Atonwa, Mohawk warrior
Nakaya, Mohawk warrior
Little Tommy the Lost Boy
Little Tilly the Lost Girl
Rancinella, the Black Witch
Lumpkin, the Black Witch’s Child
Bulk, the Rock Ogre
Chugga, the Rock Ogre’s Wife
Freezeheart the Forest Wraith
Soulchill the Forest Wraith
Rose Nightfog
Toffee Delite, Public Relations, Laura Secord Chocolates
Hazel Nougat, Public Relations, Laura Secord Chocolates
Damplocks the River Wraith
Droplet the River Wraith
The Moon
Miss America
Miss Canada
Laura Secord by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Act One, Scene 1:
(In this act, the full cast is on stage in various tableaux groupings which can be rearranged as needed. During the narration, characters sometimes move downstage to perform various moments. If desired, “full cast” chorale speech can be reassigned to smaller groupings.)
LIEUTENANT FITZGIBBON
The weather on the 22nd day of June, 1813 was very hot, and Laura Secord, whose person was slight and delicate, appeared to have been, and no doubt was, very much exhausted by the exertion she made in coming to me. And I have ever since held myself personally indebted to her for her conduct upon that occasion.
FULL CAST
The weather on the 22nd day of June, 1813, was very hot.
LAURA SECORD
I left early in the morning, walked nineteen miles in the month of June, over a rough and difficult part of the country.
LIEUTENANT FITZGIBBON
Mrs. Secord was slight and delicate and very much exhausted.
LAURA’S GHOST MOTHER
Slight, delicate, and exhausted my child walked over a rough and difficult part of the country.
ROSE NIGHTFOG
(formally)
An Account of Laura Secord’s Trek Through the Woods to Warn Lt. FitzGibbon, June 21 and 22, 1813.
FULL CAST
“Her Trek Through the Woods” by Laura Secord, born 1775, died 1868.
LAURA SECORD
I shall commence at the battle of Queenston, where I was at the time the cannon balls were flying around me in every direction.
RANCINELLA THE BLACK WITCH
No. You will commence at the very beginning.
FULL CAST
1775.
COLONEL CHARLES BOERSTLER
In 1775, The American colonies rebel against the tyrant King George 3rd. of England.
FULL CAST
Revolution!
FREEZEHEART THE FOREST WRAITH
Laura Secord is born in 1775 in Great Barrier, Massachusetts, the first child of Thomas and Elizabeth Ingersoll.
LAURA’S GHOST MOTHER
I gave birth to Laura in the same year as the revolution gave birth to America.
LAURA SECORD
Twins. America and me. I was an American girl.
MISS AMERICA
There she is, Miss America
There she is, your ideal.
FULL CAST
Oh she may turn out to be
The queen of femininity
There she is, Miss America
There she is, your ideal
DOMINIQUE DUCHARME
(French-Canadian accent)
Too bad your daddy didn’t stick around, eh? Always off fighting the damned British.
LAURA SECORD
Father was a patriot in the Massachusetts State Army.
FULL CAST
Her father fought for America.
MISS AMERICA
There she is, Miss America
There she is, your ideal.
DOMINIQUE DUCHARME
He came home sometimes, just long enough to have roll in the hay with Laura’s mama.
ATONWA, MOHAWK WARRIOR
Another pale-faced soldier with a just-long-enough musket.
NAKAYA, MOHAWK WARRIOR
A pale-face with a long musket and leaden balls.
ELIZABETH INGERSOLL
Sewing seeds of death on the battlefield and seeds of life in the bedroom.
FULL CAST
Life in the bedroom and death on the battlefield.
LAURA SECORD
Father came home and made mother pregnant. Four times. And I was given four sisters.
LITTLE TOMMY AND TILLY
And then in 1783…
LAURA’S GHOST MOTHER
Laura was eight years old and I…..
FULL CAST
What?
LAURA’S GHOST MOTHER
…And I…
FULL CAST
Spit it out!
LAURA SECORD
Mama died!
FULL CAST
And there she is
Walking on air she is
Fairest of the fair she is
Laura Secord’s mother.
LAURA SECORD
I was eight years old and mama died pale-faced in the bedroom.
LAURA’S GHOST MOTHER
I’m sorry Laura. You may have my slippers. Take care of them.
MRS. CHARLOTTE FITZGIBBON
A pair of soft slippers made of light kid with low heels and ties at the instep.
MRS. MELISSA BOERSTLER
A pale dead mother’s pale dead slippers.
LUMPKIN
If a wife dies, get a fresh one. If that wife dies, there’s always more, like chocolates in a box.
RANCINELLA THE BLACK WITCH
Laura Secord’s daddy had three wives. The first died. The second died. The third wife lived and he made her pregnant seven times and she had seven brats.
DROPLET THE RIVER WRAITH
Three wives. Three weddings. Eleven children. Like chocolates in a box.
TOFFEE DELITE
Your wedding is one of those celebrations in your life that calls for perfection. And no one knows how to make a celebration special like Laura Secord, Canada’s premier chocolate confectioner since 1913.
HAZEL NOUGAT
Laura Secord Chocolates…always in the best of taste. At the heart of why we have delighted so many people for so long is the quality of our chocolates and truffles. Laura Secord uses only the finest ingredients and our products are always guaranteed fresh.
LUMPKIN
If a wife dies, get a guaranteed fresh one.
FULL CAST
There she is, your ideal
Oh she may turn out to be
The queen of femininity
With her all-American face and form
LAURA SECORD
My pale-faced mother died so father married another pale-faced woman. She died too. So he married red-faced stepmother Sarah, and Sarah made seven rosy babies.
CHUGGA THE ROCK OGRE
Better red than dead.
BULK THE ROCK OGRE
Snow White’s dead. Long live Rose Red.
FULL CAST
American beauty.
COLONEL CHARLES BOERSTLER
1786. The revolution is over. America has won. Welcome to the U.S.A.
FULL CAST
America the beautiful.
FREEZEHEART THE FOREST WRAITH
Laura’s father makes babies with his new rosy-red wife in the baby land of the United States.
SOULCHILL THE FOREST WRAITH
Laura’s father makes babies for America, but America does not make him rich.
LAURA SECORD
By seventeen hundred and ninety five, Father no longer loves America.
FULL CAST
America: love it or leave it.
LIEUTENANT FITZGIBBON
Come to lovely Upper Canada. Free land and lots of it in the home of the maple leaf.
MISS CANADA
The maple leaf, our emblem dear.
FULL CAST
(singing)
The Maple Leaf
Our Emblem Dear,
The Maple Leaf Forever.
God save our King and heaven bless,
The Maple Leaf Forever.
Laura Secord by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Act One, Scene 2:
ROSE NIGHTFOG
In 1795, Thomas Ingersoll, his third wife Sarah, and their many children abandon Massachusetts and make their way to the loyal British colony of Upper Canada.
DAMPLOCKS THE RIVER WRAITH
The colonial government gives Thomas Ingersoll a large land grant on the Niagara Peninsula, between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie.
DROPLET THE RIVER WRAITH
There, Thomas Ingersoll’s eldest daughter Laura meets James Secord.
LAURA SECORD
I am 20 years old and James Secord watches me carefully.
JAMES SECORD
There she is, Miss America
There she is, my ideal
Oh she may turn out to be
My queen of femininity
There she is, Miss America
There she is, my ideal.
LAURA SECORD
I am his pale-faced ideal. He wants me to make babies with him but I remember my mother and I’m afraid.
LAURA’S GHOST MOTHER
I made five babies and died.
JAMES SECORD
Marry me, Laura.
LAURA SECORD No.
FULL CAST
Two years go by.
JAMES SECORD
Marry me, Laura.
FULL CAST
Marry him, Laura.
LAURA’S GHOST MOTHER
You must not confuse my death with your own death, Laura. Marry him.
FULL CAST
Marry him!
LAURA SECORD
Yes.
TOFFEE DELITE
No one knows how to make a celebration special like Laura Secord. Always in the best of taste. Laura Secord uses only the finest ingredients. Choose from heart-shaped chocolates, handmade almond swirls, or a variety of decadent handmade truffles in more than ten flavours.
HAZEL NOUGAT
Laura Secord sets the tone for every celebration. From baby showers and christenings, to weddings, anniversaries, and retirement parties. To place your order or to inquire about Laura Secord’s special occasions please visit one of our shops.
ELIZABETH INGERSOLL
1797. James Secord marries Laura Ingersoll. They move to the village of Queenston, build a house and open a shop. The pale-faced woman who is now called Laura Secord makes five pale-faced babies for JAMES SECORD
FULL CAST
Mary, Charlotte, Harriet, Charles, and Appalonia.
LIEUTENANT FITZGIBBON
As the son of a United Empire Loyalist who fought against the rebels in the American Revolution, James Secord distrusts Americans, even though he is married to one.
DOMINIQUE DUCHARME
James Secord joins the Canadian Militia, eh. He becomes a sergeant in the artillery, and gets his own little cannon. He plans to use it if any Americans come sniffing around his pretty little wife.
ATONWA, MOHAWK WARRIOR
The whitemen like big heavy guns, too big for shooting deer.
NAKAYA, MOHAWK WARRIOR
Whitemen like to kill ten men with every shot.
ELIZABETH INGERSOLL
Laura has relatives in the United States. But she loves James Secord, and James Secord hates Americans.
LAURA SECORD
I make Canadian babies for James, and learn to mistrust my twin sister America.
Laura Secord by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Act One, Scene 3:
LIEUTENANT FITZGIBBON
1812. Britain is at war with France.
MRS. CHARLOTTE FITZGIBBON
1812. The British stop American ships from trading with France.
MRS. MELISSA BOERSTLER
1812. The British board American ships and arrest American sailors, claiming they are deserters from the Royal Navy.
LITTLE TOMMY AND TILLY
1812. Indians in the Ohio Valley attack American settlers with British muskets.
FREEZEHEART THE FOREST WRAITH
1812. The American President James Madison persuades Congress to declare war on Britain.
SOULCHILL THE FOREST WRAITH
1812. The Americans want to make Canada part of America.
MISS CANADA
1812. The Americans Invade Canada!
FULL CAST
The Americans Invade Canada!
COLONEL CHARLES BOERSTLER
The Niagara River forms the border between the United States and Upper Canada. Canadian militia guard the Canadian side. They’re farmers and merchants…easy prey for the American army.
ROSE NIGHTFOG
Laura Secord’s home in Queenston is on the border. Laura is afraid.
JAMES SECORD
Laura, Americans are going to cross the river and attack us. I have to fight.
LAURA SECORD
What about the children?
FULL CAST
What about the children?
JAMES SECORD
If the cannon balls start to fly around you in every direction, take the children into the forest.
LAURA SECORD
I’m afraid of the forest. If the cannon balls fly, I’ll take the children to another house far from the battle.
JAMES SECORD
Goodbye, Laura.
LAURA SECORD
Take my locket. Goodbye, James
Laura Secord by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Act One, Scene 4:
ROSE NIGHTFOG
The Battle of Queenston Heights, October 13th., 1812.
LITTLE TOMMY AND TILLY
The Americans cross the Niagara river and storm Queenston Heights.
RANCINELLA THE BLACK WITCH
Sergeant James Secord and his men attempt to hold back the enemy.
LUMPKIN
Sergeant Secord is hit in the shoulder by an American musket ball.
BULK THE ROCK OGRE
Blood pours from James Secord’s wound as he stands pale-faced with shock.
FULL CAST
He stands, pale-faced with shock.
FREEZEHEART THE FOREST WRAITH
Another American musket ball smashes into James Secord’s knee.
CHUGGA, THE ROCK OGRE’S WIFE
James Secord collapses on the battlefield.
DAMPLOCKS THE RIVER WRAITH
He screams with pain. Blood gushes from his knee and shoulder.
FULL CAST
Red blood gushes.
DROPLET THE RIVER WRAITH
Gunpowder smoke is everywhere. Men lie dead and dying.
LIEUTENANT FITZGIBBON
Sir Isaac Brock, the fierce leader of the British and Canadian troops, rallies his men and charges the Americans.
DOMINIQUE DUCHARME
General Brock is shot dead by the fierce musket fire of the Americans. But the Canadians and British drive the Yankee soldiers from the heights.
MISS CANADA
James Secord, father of five and sergeant in the Canadian Militia, lies on the field in an agony of blood and broken bone.
LAURA’S GHOST MOTHER
Laura, James is dying on the battlefield. Go to him.
FULL CAST
Go to him.
LAURA SECORD
I leave my children and make my way to the smoky battlefield. Dead and wounded soldiers sprawl on the ground. James is bloody and on his back, staring at the sky.
JAMES SECORD
Laura.
LIEUTENANT FITZGIBBON
Two American soldiers appear through the smoke and yell at James Secord.
RANCINELLA THE BLACK WITCH and LUMPKIN
Bloody English bastard! We’ll beat you to death!
MISS CANADA
Laura Secord throws herself between the Americans and her wounded husband.
LAURA SECORD
For God’s sake, he is my husband and the father of five children!
DAMPLOCKS THE RIVER WRAITH
An American officer shouts at the men.
BULK THE ROCK OGRE
Leave that man alone. He’ll never fight again.
LAURA SECORD
The Americans disappear into the smoke. James is unconscious. Somehow I drag him across the field. Some Canadian militiamen come to my assistance. We take James to a house where other wounded men moan in the agony of their wounds.
JAMES SECORD
Laura, Laura…
LAURA SECORD
It’s all right, James. You’re safe now.
FULL CAST
It’s all right, James. You’re safe now.
LITTLE TOMMY AND LITTLE TIMMY
The Americans have vandalized James’ and Laura’s home and business. They have lost almost everything.
FULL CAST
The beginning of the story has almost ended.
Laura Secord by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Act One, Scene 5:
COLONEL CHARLES BOERSTLER
Eight months later, in June 1813, we Americans are back in Queenston. We arrest all the men over the age of 18 so they won’t make trouble for us. But we don’t bother with James Secord. He’s still too pale and sick to do us any damage.
JAMES SECORD
I have been rendered useless by these damn wounds.
ELIZABETH INGERSOLL
American troops live in James and Laura’s house and make Laura cook for them.
MRS. CHARLOTTE FITZGIBBON
On the night of June 20th, 1813, the Americans have too much to drink. They brag loudly about their plan to attack the Canadian military supply station at Beaver Dam.
BULK THE ROCK OGRE
We’ll sneak up on the buggers and kill them all!
CHUGGA, THE ROCK OGRE’S WIFE
James calls out for Laura.
FULL CAST
Laura, Laura, come to my bedside.
JAMES SECORD
Laura, if the Americans launch a surprise attack at Beaver Dam and capture our supplies, they’ll gain control of the whole Niagara Peninsula.
LAURA SECORD
Someone must warn Lieutenant Fitzgibbon at the supply station.
JAMES SECORD
You will have to get there somehow, Laura.
LAURA SECORD
Me? But it’s twenty miles away and I’m afraid of the forest.
FULL CAST
She’s afraid of the forest.
JAMES SECORD
You must do it, Laura. There’s no time to waste, and no able-bodied men in Queenston to do it for you.
MRS. MELISSA BOERSTLER
Laura Secord used to be an American. She was born the same year as America and her father was a patriot who fought for the Revolution.
MRS. CHARLOTTE FITZGIBBON
And now she must sneak away into the fearful forest to betray the bragging Yankees who shoot her husband, loot her home, eat her food and drink her wine.
LAURA’S GHOST MOTHER
Wear my slippers, Elizabeth…the ones I left you when I died. Though they are thin and delicate like your memory of me, perhaps they will comfort you on the journey.
JAMES SECORD
Tell the Americans you’re going to visit your sick half-brother in St. David’s. Then get his wife Elizabeth to go with you. She will keep you company in the frightening forest.
LAURA SECORD
I will do this for you, James. I will walk into the forest for you, my love, and for this land called Canada which for some reason you love.
FULL CAST
This is the end of the beginning.
(All exit.)
Laura Secord by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Act Two, Scene 1:
(Colonel Boerstler enters.)
COLONEL CHARLES BOERSTLER
I am an American officer. I have been ordered to attack the Canadian military supply station at Beaver Dam. If I succeed, I will be a hero. If I fail, my name will be disgraced.
(Mrs. Melissa Boerstler enters.)
MRS. MELISSA BOERSTLER
Charles, my son.
COLONEL CHARLES BOERSTLER
Mother? Am I dreaming?
MRS. MELISSA BOERSTLER
Perhaps. But a mother’s voice is always speaking quietly to her son, even after the mother is dead and gone.
COLONEL CHARLES BOERSTLER
I remember being held in your warm arms.
MRS. MELISSA BOERSTLER
And now the army has pulled you from my arms. You are hypnotized by its tidy, rhythmic routines as you march towards the chaos of violence.
COLONEL CHARLES BOERSTLER
Inside every man is a little boy who is both excited and afraid, curious and cautious, cruel and kind.
MRS. MELISSA BOERSTLER
Inside every man is a mother’s voice, a woman’s voice, the voice of a woman who has loved him perfectly.
COLONEL CHARLES BOERSTLER
It is just as well that you are not alive, Mother, to see what I must do in these bloody times.
MRS. MELISSA BOERSTLER
Do you know how to choose right from wrong, Charles?
COLONEL CHARLES BOERSTLER
I have chosen to live by the rules of the army.
MRS. MELISSA BOERSTLER
And if the army is wrong?
COLONEL CHARLES BOERSTLER
Then I have allowed myself to be marched straight into the forest of the damned.
MRS. MELISSA BOERSTLER
The army is no substitute for a mother.
COLONEL CHARLES BOERSTLER
But you are dead and I am grown, and I must find my purpose in this world on my own.
MRS. MELISSA BOERSTLER
Little child, you are afraid and alone, and I cannot protect you.
(She exits.)
COLONEL CHARLES BOERSTLER
I am an American officer. I have been ordered to attack the Canadian military supply station at Beaver Dam. I have chosen to march into the chaos of violence.
(He exits.)
Laura Secord by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Act Two, Scene 2:
(Lieutenant James Fitzgibbon enters. He is of Irish origins.)
LIEUTENANT FITZGIBBON
I’m Lieutenant James Fitzgibbon. I’m guarding the Canadian military supplies at Beaverdam. My troops are Indians and militiamen. We are called the “Green Tigers”, or, by those who fear us, the “Bloody Boys”. And bloody we are.
(CHARLOTTE FITZGIBBON enters.)
CHARLOTTE FITZGIBBON
James, my son.
LIEUTENANT FITZGIBBON
Mother, you’ve come to haunt my memories again.
CHARLOTTE FITZGIBBON
It’s been many a year since I died, but I know you remember me well. And do you remember what I taught you, James?
LIEUTENANT FITZGIBBON
Yes, Mother. “The difference between a brave man and a coward is not how he feels but what he does despite those feelings.”
CHARLOTTE FITZGIBBON
And you were a brave young man, Charles, an Irish lad joining the British army at the age of 18 and making your way up through the ranks.
LIEUTENANT FITZGIBBON
It’s thanks to General Brock that I’m a lieutenant.
CHARLOTTE FITZGIBBON
Aye. The man taught you how to walk and talk like a gentleman and an officer. And you were always a quick learner.
LIEUTENANT FITZGIBBON
I walk and talk like a gentleman, but I fight like a brawling Irishmen in a Dublin pub.
CHARLOTTE FITZGIBBON
Your father would be proud. And those “Green Tigers” of yours are a fine gang of lads.
LIEUTENANT FITZGIBBON
They’re wild and fierce, and have put the fear of God into the hearts of many a Yankee blue-coat.
CHARLOTTE FITZGIBBON
My son, if a Yankee musket ball should pierce your breast while you are riding in defense of the farmers of Niagara, remember to die with the joy of knowing you lived the life of a brave man.
LIEUTENANT FITZGIBBON
And if I die in this war, I will thank the good Lord for giving me a mother who knew how to let a boy grow up strong and true.
(CHARLOTTE FITZGIBBON exits.)
LIEUTENANT FITZGIBBON
Ah, Mother, I would not want you to see all that I must do in this fight. There is a need for cruelty in the treatment of the enemy that would make your great kind heart weep with pity.
(He exits.)
Laura Secord by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Act Two, Scene 3:
(ELIZABETH INGERSOLL enters.)
ELIZABETH INGERSOLL
I am Elizabeth Ingersoll, sister-in-law of Laura Secord. And like Laura, I am surrounded by the American enemy, who have taken away most of the Canadian men as prisoners. My husband has fallen ill, and so is still here.
(LAURA SECORD enters.)
LAURA SECORD
Elizabeth, the Americans are planning to attack the supply station at Beaver Dams. I must warn Lieutenant Fitzgibbon. Will you come with me?
ELIZABETH INGERSOLL
But the Americans are guarding the roads.
LAURA SECORD
We will have to travel through the forest.
ELIZABETH INGERSOLL
The forest is a dark and dangerous place, Laura. Who knows what will befall us there?
LAURA SECORD
No one but God.
ELIZABETH INGERSOLL
I’ll not let you walk there alone, Laura, so long as there’s strength in me to walk with you.
LAURA SECORD
Let’s leave now. The Americans will soon be on the march.
(They exit.)
Laura Secord by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Act Two, Scene 4:
(TOFFEE DELITE and CARAMEL NOUGAT enter.)
TOFFEE DELITE
Chocolates, chocolates, chocolates…that’s what Laura Secord is famous for. Our delicious melt-in-your-mouth treats are sure to help you get through the day in a happy way, even while slogging through a filthy swamp.
HAZEL NOUGAT
Planning on a lovely walk through nature’s delights? Laura Secord chocolates make the perfect companion, with each delicious treat nestled firmly in our sturdy but delightfully feminine travel box.
TOFFEE DELITE
Mmmmmm…sooooo goooood! And if you love to travel, why not take a trip to the Laura Secord Homestead on the beautiful Niagara Peninsula, where men were blown apart by cannonballs?
HAZEL NOUGAT
Restored and furnished with original furniture by the Laura Secord Candy Company in 1971, the homestead is located in the pleasant village of Queenston, just off the scenic Niagara Parkway, just minutes away from the People Mover bus stop in Queenston Heights Park, where men died horrible deaths.
TOFFEE DELITE
Qualified costumed staff provide guided tours of the historic house and provide information about the history of the area. And of course, light refreshments, nummy ice cream, delectable Laura Secord chocolates and a selection of quality souvenirs are available for you to enjoy as you stare at a facsimile of the bed upon which James Secord lay moaning in excruciating pain with a musket ball lodged in his bloody knee.
HAZEL NOUGAT
The same bed upon which Laura Secord lay moaning in the agony of childbirth as she delivered her five sweet, milky little babies with their adorable chocolatey poo-poo.
TOFFEE DELITE
Laura Secord special occasion chocolates set the tone for every celebration. From baby showers and christenings, to weddings, anniversaries, and funerals of butchered soldiers. To place your order or to inquire about Laura Secord’s special occasions chocolates please visit one of our shops.
(TOFFEE and HAZEL exit.)
Laura Secord by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Act Two, Scene 5:
(RANCINELLA THE BLACK WITCH enters with LUMPKIN.)
LUMPKIN
Why do we watch at the entrance to the Black Swamp, my awful mother?
RANCINELLA THE BLACK WITCH
We watch for the women, of course. They mean to penetrate the secrets of the Black Swamp.
LUMPKIN
Where are the women going?
RANCINELLA THE BLACK WITCH
Deeper and deeper into the dark and dangerous forest, deeper into the swamp they must go.
LUMPKIN
Deeper and deeper into the Black Swamp, perhaps to die, Mummy Rancinella my witch mother?
RANCINELLA THE BLACK WITCH
Hush your face, Lumpkin, you little skrag, or I will bash you into bits.
LUMPKIN
You would destroy me, even though I sprang from your loins, Mummy Rancinella?
RANCINELLA THE BLACK WITCH
You are mine, after all, and I will do with you as I please. Hide with me now.
(They scuttle out of sight as LAURA and ELIZABETH enter.)
LAURA SECORD
Here the trail ends, and the Black Swamp begins.
ELIZABETH INGERSOLL
Your shoes do not seem adequate for the sucking mud of the swamp, Laura.
LAURA SECORD
They were my mother’s slippers and they are a comfort to me on this perilous journey.
ELIZABETH INGERSOLL
And if you lose them in the filthy quagmire?
LAURA SECORD
I shall mourn for them as though they were my own pale-faced babies.
(They exit and RANCINELLA and LUMPKIN come out of hiding)
LUMPKIN
One of them is wearing magic slippers.
RANCINELLA THE BLACK WITCH
We shall have them off her dainty feet in no time, Lumpkin. And then…
LUMPKIN
What then? What then?
RANCINELLA THE BLACK WITCH
We shall bring upon her an agony of nastiness, Lumpkin.
LUMPKIN
What of the other skrag who drags along beside her?
RANCINELLA THE BLACK WITCH
Somehow the other one must be made to turn back. I will start with a temptation.
(She claps her hands and LITTLE TOMMY and TILLY, the lost children, enter holding hands.)
LUMPKIN
What are they, Mummy?
RANCINELLA THE BLACK WITCH
Apparitions, my nasty child. They are no more real than your capacity for kindness.
LUMPKIN
I would like to pinch and poke them, they look so insufferably nice.
RANCINELLA THE BLACK WITCH
Yes. They represent lost children. We will see what effect they have on the skrag called Elizabeth. Off they go!
(TOMMY and TILLY exit.)
RANCINELLA THE BLACK WITCH
Come along, Lumpkin, through the thick forest, to see what will happen.
(They exit.)
Laura Secord by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Act Two, Scene 6:
(LAURA and ELIZABETH enter.)
LAURA SECORD
It’s hot, the insects are legion, and already I tire.
ELIZABETH INGERSOLL
Perhaps we ought to rest, though the moment we become still, the infernal insects descend upon us for a good chew.
(TOMMY and TILLY enter.)
LITTLE TOMMY
Mama! Mama! Where are you, Mama?
LITTLE TILLY
Mother! Dear Mother! Why have you forsaken us?
LITTLE TOMMY
We wander through the awful forest with nothing in our bellies.
LITTLE TILLY
We grow pale from the terrible toil of our hopeless searching. Mother, where are you?
ELIZABETH INGERSOLL
Laura, I see two children…don’t you see them too?
LAURA SECORD
Do you tease me, Elizabeth? There is nothing but the thickening swamp.
ELIZABETH INGERSOLL
Laura, you know I lost two children.
LAURA SECORD
Yes, but they were claimed by illness, dear Elizabeth, and have for some years been in the grave.
ELIZABETH INGERSOLL
I swear these are my dead children who stand before me pale and lost.
LITTLE TOMMY
Mommy, Mama, Mother, I feel the chill of illness. Save me, my mother.
LITTLE TILLY
Mommy, Mama, Mother, Ma…I’m lost in the forest of my own death!
ELIZABETH INGERSOLL
Do you not see them, Laura!
LAURA SECORD
Nothing. You must be afflicted with a fever from this accursed swamp.
LITTLE TOMMY
I see monsters, Mama! They are sprouting from the forest floor and mean to devour me.
LITTLE TILLY
The wretched forest is full of vapours that choke my burning lungs, Mama.
ELIZABETH INGERSOLL
There, there, my children. I will take you from the horrors. Let me lead you homeward.
(TOMMY and TILLY begin to wander off.)
ELIZABETH INGERSOLL
Why do you walk away?
LITTLE TOMMY
Mama! Why are you hiding?
LITTLE TILLY
Mother, my Mama, it is a cruel game to hide from me as I slip into the endless darkness.
(They are gone.)
ELIZABETH INGERSOLL
My children…
(She follows them off.)
LAURA SECORD
Elizabeth! Elizabeth! She has slipped into some sort of madness and abandons me here in the Black Swamp.
(She exits.)
Laura Secord by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Act Two, Scene 7:
(RANCINELLA and LUMPKIN enter.)
RANCINELLA THE BLACK WITCH
So you see, Lumpkin, the foolish woman wanders off into the swamp following nothing more than the memory of her two dead children.
LUMPKIN
The other woman still wears the magic slippers.
RANCINELLA THE BLACK WITCH
Soon to be dealt with, my little skrag, soon to be dealt with, for I have summoned the forest wraiths, who will bring chills upon her, even though the air is as hot as the devil’s breath.
(They exit as LAURA enters.)
LAURA SECORD
The stinking swamp is thick with insects and the muck pulls at my feet. And yet, my journey has barely begun. Elizabeth is lost somewhere, but I plod onward to the west, following the hot orange sun.
(LAURA’S GHOST MOTHER appears.)
LAURA’S GHOST MOTHER
Laura, Laura, my slippers will perhaps comfort you. I made them myself from the finest kid leather and wore them on the day I was married. They are as soft as a mother’s love and will surely guide you through the Black Swamp.
(She exits.)
LAURA SECORD
I must not lose these slippers, but they are filthy with swamp muck and already have been sucked from my feet many times.
(FREEZEHEART and SOULCHILL enter, and begin their dance of enchantment.)
FREEZEHEART and SOULCHILL
Laura! Laura! We are Freezeheart and Soulchill, the forest wraiths!
FREEZEHEART THE FOREST WRAITH
Into the deep forest you have ventured, Laura Secord, and deeper still you must go.
SOULCHILL THE FOREST WRAITH
How tired you look, with your pale face and damp hair.
FREEZEHEART THE FOREST WRAITH
Perhaps you should rest a while, for the journey is long and you must conserve your fragile strength.
SOULCHILL THE FOREST WRAITH
You have worked much too hard, Laura Secord. You are worn out and pale, like a plant that struggles to find the sunlight but fails and dies on the cruel forest floor.
FREEZEHEART THE FOREST WRAITH
Rest now, and perhaps later you will awaken as though from an unpleasant dream.
SOULCHILL THE FOREST WRAITH
Why must you walk onwards? There is so far to go and nothing at the end but men who make war. Sleep now.
(LAURA sits.)
FREEZEHEART THE FOREST WRAITH
Yes, Laura, sit and rest. How cool it is becoming, and your pale cold skin is turning blue.
SOULCHILL THE FOREST WRAITH
We are forest wraiths, Laura, sent to help you slide into the cool mud that soothes the stinging insect bites that torment you.
(LAURA lies down. FREEZEHEART and SOULCHILL end their dance and approach LAURA.)
FREEZEHEART THE FOREST WRAITH
How peacefully she sleeps, and is quite pale and close to some sort of death.
SOULCHILL THE FOREST WRAITH
We have chilled her soul and now she shivers even though the hot swamp lies sweltering around her.
FREEZEHEART THE FOREST WRAITH
Upon her lies the burden of a woman’s life in a time of men. See how her lips tremble, as though trying to tell the story of her heart?
SOULCHILL THE FOREST WRAITH
It is a shame we must take from her these muddy slippers, and yet it must be done. The Black Witch would bestow endless agony upon us if we were to thwart her dark-purposed will.
FREEZEHEART THE FOREST WRAITH
Without her slippers she might still straggle through the Black Swamp, but the nasty rocks of the Mountain will tear her feet to shreds.
SOULCHILL THE FOREST WRAITH
To shreds, and yet we must pull the slippers from her white feet and bury them in the ooze and muck of this our swampy home.
(They each take hold of a slipper, but are immediately “blown” off their feet by the magic of the slippers. They land in a sprawl, and get up confusedly.)
FREEZEHEART THE FOREST WRAITH
My fingers are tingling and my arms are like lead.
SOULCHILL THE FOREST WRAITH
The slippers are not easily forced from her feet.
FREEZEHEART THE FOREST WRAITH
We will again try to pry them, for the Black Witch has ordained it.
(They try again, but this time find that they are “stuck” to her feet as though bonded by a powerful glue.)
SOULCHILL THE FOREST WRAITH
Now we are stuck to her and if we remain so, we will be dragged through the swamp as she proceeds on her journey.
FREEZEHEART THE FOREST WRAITH
That is perhaps the way in which we will claim the slippers. Hush, she stirs.
(LAURA awakens and gets up while the wraiths remain stuck to her slippers. LAURA tries to walk, but can’t with the wraiths attached.)
LAURA SECORD
My feet are suddenly as heavy as sacks of clay. I feel as though I am being sucked downwards into the bog.
(LAURA strains to move, and finally steps right out of her slippers and falls down.)
SOULCHILL THE FOREST WRAITH
We have them! Run, Freezeheart, run!
FREEZEHEART THE FOREST WRAITH
She is face forward in the muck, poor soul!
SOULCHILL THE FOREST WRAITH
Remember the Black Witch!
FREEZEHEART THE FOREST WRAITH
The Witch! We must run!
(They exit with the slippers.)
LAURA SECORD
My slippers!
(She scrambles around, searching.)
LAURA SECORD
Gone! Gone into the oozing muck of the bog, no more to comfort me. But I must go on, the sun is sliding ever westward and the Yankees will soon be on the march.
(She exits.)
Laura Secord by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Act Two, Scene 8:
(RANCINELLA and LUMPKIN enter.)
RANCINELLA THE BLACK WITCH
Now she has no shoes, and soon she must cross Twelve Mile Creek.
LUMPKIN
Perhaps she will fall in and drown in the black surging waters.
RANCINELLA THE BLACK WITCH
Idiot! The woman is resilient and plods onwards as though impervious to pain. I will summon the river wraiths.
(They exit.)
(MISS AMERICA and MISS CANADA enter.)
MISS CANADA
Who are you?
MISS AMERICA
Miss America, of course. The fairest in the land. And you?
MISS CANADA
Miss Canada.
MISS AMERICA
You’re not very pretty and your dress is ugly.
MISS CANADA
You look like a prostitute.
MISS AMERICA
If I could have just one wish, it would be for world peace.
MISS CANADA
You little liar. Why are you running around in my swamp as if you owned the place?
MISS AMERICA
Because I should own it. It’s right next door to my place, and it’s a mess.
MISS CANADA
I like it the way it is, all wild and empty.
MISS AMERICA
You don’t do anything useful with it, so I’m going to make you give it to me.
MISS CANADA
And if I give it to you?
MISS AMERICA
I’m going to turn it into a theme park and let you work there.
MISS CANADA
Forget it.
MISS AMERICA
(taking off her American flag sash and wrapping it around MISS CANADA’s neck and trying to pull off MISS CANADA’s Canadian flag sash)
Give it to me! Give it to me!
MISS CANADA
(kicking Miss America in the shins and breaking free)
Never!
(She runs off.)
MISS AMERICA
You have kicked Miss America, you terrorist! Now I must destroy you!
(She chases off after MISS CANADA.)
Laura Secord by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Act Two, Scene 9:
(The two lost children enter, followed by ELIZABETH INGERSOLL.)
ELIZABETH INGERSOLL
Children! Please try to see me!
(The children turn and stare at her.)
ELIZABETH INGERSOLL
How did you grow so big? You were only babies when you died.
LITTLE TOMMY
Mama, it’s lonely in the forest.
LITTLE TILLY
Mama, we search and search for you and still we are lost and alone.
ELIZABETH INGERSOLL
God in heaven, why did you take my children from me? Why must they wander endlessly in the dark forest?
LITTLE TOMMY
I want to go home.
LITTLE TILLY
Please find us, Mother, and take us home.
(They exit.)
ELIZABETH INGERSOLL
Why forever can’t I save my babies?
(She exits.)
Laura Secord by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Act Two, Scene 10:
(LAURA SECORD enters.)
LAURA SECORD
Here is Twelve Mile Creek at last. But how can I cross? It’s swift muddy water will sweep me away.
(DAMPLOCKS and DROPLET enter and begin their watery choreography.)
DAMPLOCKS and DROPLET:
Laura, Laura, we are Damplocks and Droplet, the river wraiths!
DAMPLOCKS THE RIVER WRAITH
Look at you, Laura Secord, all hot and sweaty and filthy from the swamp.
DROPLET THE RIVER WRAITH
Perhaps you should wade into the lovely watery creek with us river wraiths, and have a nice wash.
DAMPLOCKS THE RIVER WRAITH
No need to be afraid. Water is your friend. Without water, you would die.
DROPLET THE RIVER WRAITH
Water is your friend. In your earliest days, you lived a life of comfort in your mother’s watery womb.
DAMPLOCKS THE RIVER WRAITH
Your children too, all five of them, spent the first blissful months…
DROPLET THE RIVER WRAITH
…floating carefree…
DAMPLOCKS and DROPLET
…in the warm and comforting ocean of your womb!
DROPLET THE RIVER WRAITH
The creek welcomes you and wants you to lower yourself into her.
DAMPLOCKS THE RIVER WRAITH
She is like a mother to you.
DROPLET THE RIVER WRAITH
She wishes to embrace you with her soft warm arms.
DAMPLOCKS THE RIVER WRAITH
Don’t you remember the warm baths your mother would prepare for you?
DROPLET THE RIVER WRAITH
Don’t you remember how easy it was to sink into the soothing watery warmth?
DAMPLOCKS THE RIVER WRAITH
Don’t you remember how you washed away the blood from your husband’s wounds with warm soothing water?
DROPLET THE RIVER WRAITH Now you can wash the blood from your feet…
DAMPLOCKS THE RIVER WRAITH
…your poor feet…
DAMPLOCKS and DROPLET
Wade with us in the creek, Laura Secord. Wade away down the creek.
(They take LAURA by the arms and lead her into the creek gently, then try to drown her. She struggles free and goes up the bank. But they drag her back. She struggles free a second time, but before they can drag her back, LAURA’S GHOST MOTHER appears and stands between the WRAITHS and LAURA.)
LAURA’S GHOST MOTHER
My daughter, remember what I taught you when you were a little girl and I would take you swimming in the river? Don’t fight the current. Let it carry you down to the bend and you will find yourself on the other shore.
(She exits, and LAURA enters the creek, and once again the river wraiths take her arms. They move slowly to the opposite bank.)
DROPLET THE RIVER WRAITH
She does not struggle against us.
DAMPLOCKS THE RIVER WRAITH
She lets us carry her towards the other shore.
DROPLET THE RIVER WRAITH
She knows the secrets of the swiftly flowing streams.
DAMPLOCKS THE RIVER WRAITH
We cannot drown her.
(LAURA steps onto the opposite bank.)
DROPLET THE RIVER WRAITH
Fairwell, Laura Secord.
DAMPLOCKS THE RIVER WRAITH
We have failed to drown you, and now we will be drowned by the anger of the Black Witch.
(They exit.)
LAURA SECORD
I’m out of the swamp, but the sun is starting to plunge into the night, and still the Mountain must be climbed.
(She exits.)
Laura Secord by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Act Two, Scene 11:
(TOFFEE DELITE and HAZEL NOUGAT enter with MISS AMERICA and MISS CANADA.)
TOFFEE DELITE
The Laura Secord Candy Company is a proud sponsor of Miss Canada.
HAZEL NOUGAT
Our lovely fresh Miss Canada is provided with chocolates containing only the purest and freshest ingredients.
MISS CANADA
I would like to thank the Laura Secord Candy Company for showing me the importance of sweetness at all times.
MISS AMERICA
You dumb ass. Don’t you know that Laura Secord Candies is owned by Archibald Candies, an American corporation?
MISS CANADA
It’s a lie, Miss America!
(to TOFFEE and NOUGAT)
Tell her it’s a lie!
TOFFEE DELITE
Laura Secord has enjoyed a number of ownership changes over the years before being swallowed in 1999 by Archibald Candies, the company behind the U.S. Fanny May banner.
HAZEL NOUGAT
Fanny May Candies, the all-American gift of good taste, featuring the ever-popular “Colonial Assortment”.
MISS AMERICA
See? I own you! Ready to give up yet?
MISS CANADA
(kicking MISS AMERICA in the shins again)
Never!
(MISS CANADA stomps off.)
MISS AMERICA
Owww! You can kick all you want, but you know that you’ll have to give me this stupid old piece of swamp in the end, because I’m the fairest in the land!
(MISS AMERICA follows her off.)
TOFFEE DELITE
Our most popular chocolate assortment offers enough variety to please everyone. Coated in Fanny May, I mean “Laura Secord” milk and dark chocolate, it includes toffees, Pixies®, Trinidads®, buttercreams, crunchy nut clusters and more.
HAZEL NOUGAT
Our signature candy combines crunchy pecans enveloped in a rich, buttery caramel, then covered in luscious Fanny May, I mean “Laura Secord” milk chocolate.
(They exit.)
Laura Secord by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Act Two, Scene 12:
(RANCINELLA and LUMPKIN enter.)
LUMPKIN
The river wraiths did not drown the woman, Mother.
RANCINELLA THE BLACK WITCH
I know that, stupid Lumpkin! And now she makes her way up the Mountain.
LUMPKIN
Perhaps she will fall and smash on the rocks below.
RANCINELLA THE BLACK WITCH
Better still, she could be hurled down by a rock ogre.
LUMPKIN
Yes, my witchy Mummy! A rock ogre! A brute who will toss the fragile woman like a ragdoll onto the pointy jagged rocks!
RANCINELLA THE BLACK WITCH
You are a nasty, smelly thing, Lumpkin, that sprang from my loins for some reason that I do not even now understand. And yet here you are, growing larger and more loathesome every day.
LUMPKIN
I will grow and grow until one day I can step on you and squish you like a slug.
RANCINELLA THE BLACK WITCH
I will kill you long before that, Lumpkin. Now piggy-back me up the mountain.
(She jumps on LUMPKIN’s back and they exit.)
Laura Secord by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Act Two, Scene 13:
(LAURA SECORD enters.)
LAURA SECORD
This mountain is tearing my feet and the sun is almost gone. Lieutenant Fitzgibbon seems as far away as ever.
(BULK and CHUGGA, the rock ogres, enter.)
CHUGGA, THE ROCK OGRE’S WIFE
A tired traveller! Come over here, my dear, and sit with Chugga and Bulk on this rock ledge.
BULK THE ROCK OGRE
(galumphing over and grabbing LAURA)
Sit with us on the ledge, and we will give you comfort!
LAURA SECORD
I am delirious with exhuastion.
(She is led to the rock ledge.)
LAURA SECORD
I will sit here for a bit, and look back at the rough country over which I have traveled.
CHUGGA, THE ROCK OGRE’S WIFE
Such bloody feet! And such sunken, tired eyes!
BULK THE ROCK OGRE
Such a thin little body and such skinny little legs and arms!
CHUGGA, THE ROCK OGRE’S WIFE
You are not meant to climb mountains.
BULK THE ROCK OGRE
You are in the wrong place.
CHUGGA, THE ROCK OGRE’S WIFE
We will send you back where you belong.
LAURA SECORD
I must press onwards. The Lieutenant must be warned.
BULK THE ROCK OGRE
No, no, you must go home. We will help you go home.
CHUGGA, THE ROCK OGRE’S WIFE
Just move a little closer to the edge of the cliff.
BULK THE ROCK OGRE
How easy to just slide off the edge and fly free through the lovely air.
LAURA SECORD
I could end my journey now. I could fly free through the lovely air for a lovely moment, and then nothing.
CHUGGA, THE ROCK OGRE’S WIFE
Yes, it is time for you to end.
BULK THE ROCK OGRE
You must end now. There is no more for you on this mountain or any other.
LAURA SECORD
Perhaps I will join Mother. She will be happy to see me.
CHUGGA, THE ROCK OGRE’S WIFE
Go home to Mommy.
BULK THE ROCK OGRE
It’ll be over in an instant…just a little further towards the edge.
(JAMES SECORD enters, limping.)
JAMES SECORD
Laura, remember when we went to the falls together, and stood up on the edge of the cliff so we could see the water plunging to the rocks below?
LAURA SECORD
The water moved gracefully down the river, then tumbled to the rocks and turned to mist.
JAMES SECORD
You said that your life as a child was like the river, moving along in a state of grace, unaware of the approaching falls.
LAURA SECORD
I was a river, moving in a state of grace, until I was eight, and my mother died. That is when I slid over the edge of the falls, plunged to the rocks below, and turned to mist.
JAMES SECORD
And you said that when you met me, you settled somehow, and your mist became a river again.
LAURA SECORD
Yes. I had fallen in grief, but I arose again in love.
JAMES SECORD
And you said you would take the journey through the forest for me, and for this place called Canada which for some reason I love.
LAURA SECORD
I take the journey for you, James.
JAMES SECORD
No, Laura. Take the journey for yourself. Please. This is the journey that will take you to your own centre, to your own calm place of rest. I’m certain of it.
LAURA SECORD
Yes.
(She rises as James exits.)
BULK THE ROCK OGRE
No plunge?
CHUGGA, THE ROCK OGRE’S WIFE
No leap to the rocks below?
LAURA SECORD
This is not the moment of my death.
BULK THE ROCK OGRE
We will throw you.
(He and CHUGGA take her arms, but are unable to move her.)
CHUGGA, THE ROCK OGRE’S WIFE
It is as though she is part of the mountain.
BULK THE ROCK OGRE
She cannot be hurled.
CHUGGA, THE ROCK OGRE’S WIFE
It is your fault, Bulk.
BULK THE ROCK OGRE
My fault? No, no, my dear horrible Chugga, it is your fault!
(RANCINELLA and LUMPKIN enter.)
RANCINELLA THE BLACK WITCH
Why do you not toss her from the cliff?
BULK THE ROCK OGRE
She is immovable, Black Witch.
CHUGGA, THE ROCK OGRE’S WIFE
She will not be chucked.
LUMPKIN
Out of the way, stupid ogres. I will do it.
(The OGRES back away and LUMPKIN attempts to push LAURA, but fails)
LUMPKIN
Ugh! She is like a great tree rooted to the earth.
(She backs away.)
RANCINELLA THE BLACK WITCH
Her feet are a bloody mess, her hair is tangled and filthy, and she is as weak as a kitten, yet she cannot be moved.
(going to LAURA)
You have crossed the Black Swamp, and scaled the Mountain, and so you move beyond my influence, but your journey isn’t over yet, Laura Secord. Ogres! Back to your filthy stinking cave.
(the OGRES exit)
Lumpkin!
(seizing Lumpkin)
Someone must pay for this failure.
(She hurls the screaming LUMPKIN off the cliff)
RANCINELLA THE BLACK WITCH
Never have children!
(She exits.)
LAURA SECORD
The sun has been swallowed. How will I find my way by darkness?
(The MOON emerges.)
THE MOON
I am the moon. I will show you the way. The moon is the friend of night time travelers. Let me walk beside you, Laura Secord.
(LAURA and the MOON exit.)
Laura Secord by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Act Two, Scene 14:
(ELIZABETH INGERSOLL enters with the two children.)
LITTLE TOMMY
We are not real.
LITTLE TILLY
We exist only in your imagination.
LITTLE TOMMY
We are not even a memory.
LITTLE TILLY
Your two babies died long before they could walk in a forest.
ELIZABETH INGERSOLL
I know. I knew that when I first started following you. But you were a dream I had to have, a story I had to be part of. I wanted to search for my lost children one more time, here in the forest, where day is turning to night, and my friend Laura is searching for something else that is neither more nor less important.
LITTLE TOMMY
We are going to disappear.
LITTLE TILLY
But you will still be here.
LITTLE TOMMY
You are alive and able to live.
LITTLE TILLY
We are not even ghosts.
(They exit.)
ELIZABETH INGERSOLL
I must now return to my children who live. They are not lost, thank God. And yet this war might still take me from them, or them from me. How strange that our dreams are so much more persistently elaborate than our living relationships.
(She exits.)
(ROSE NIGHTFOG enters.)
ROSE NIGHTFOG
I am Rose Nightfog, creeping across this clearing beyond the mountain. I am the formless night air, misty and damp. I am everywhere, in every dip and hollow. I crawl and creep and seep and slide. I am a cool moist blanket as light as air across the dark landscape. All who pass through me appear as ghosts, and I swirl in the soft breezes of the midsummer night.
(LAURA and the MOON enter.)
LAURA SECORD
What place is this? Show me, Moon.
MOON
It is a misty clearing, Laura.
ROSE NIGHTFOG
Moon, my friend, I am made beautiful by your beams. And you have with you a ghostly companion. I would like to curl around her feet.
LAURA SECORD
A clearing, an open place beyond the mountain. Perhaps I am near the end of the journey.
ROSE NIGHTFOG
The night is an endless journey, a darkness that helps us to travel through our dreams, our misty endless dreams.
MOON
Someone is coming.
(The MOON and ROSE NIGHTFOG move away from LAURA, so she seems to be alone. ATONWA and NAKAYA enter)
ATONWA THE MOHAWK WARRIOR
Nakaya, the night air is cool and damp.
NAKAYA THE MOHAWK WARRIOR
It is a blessed relief after the heat of this long day, Atonwa.
ATONWA THE MOHAWK WARRIOR
Is that the shape of a woman over there?
NAKAYA THE MOHAWK WARRIOR
The night fog must be playing tricks on our eyes.
ATONWA THE MOHAWK WARRIOR
If so, it is a pleasant trick, for I like to look upon the shape of a woman.
NAKAYA THE MOHAWK WARRIOR
Think, Atonwa, of the real, warm woman you live with…is she not infinitely better than that cold dream-shape in the fog?
ATONWA THE MOHAWK WARRIOR
Yes, but no man commands his dreams. A man might dream of another woman’s shape, and not be to blame.
NAKAYA THE MOHAWK WARRIOR
So long as he remembers that the women in his dreams are only shapes and shadows.
ATONWA THE MOHAWK WARRIOR
(Saddened)
We dream of women constantly.
NAKAYA THE MOHAWK WARRIOR
And in our short lifetimes know so few.
ATONWA THE MOHAWK WARRIOR
That shape over there, that shape of a woman, is she not like our dreams?
NAKAYA THE MOHAWK WARRIOR
Yes. Beautiful but nothing more than a ghost of a notion.
LAURA SECORD
I’m not a shape. I’m a real woman.
NAKAYA THE MOHAWK WARRIOR
The dream is becoming more interesting, Atonwa.
ATONWA THE MOHAWK WARRIOR
Too bad there is only one woman in the dream, Nakaya. None for you to walk with through the moon-yellow mist.
NAKAYA THE MOHAWK WARRIOR
If she is a dream woman, perhaps she’ll turn into two women, and we’ll all walk together.
LAURA SECORD
You are teasing me.
ATONWA THE MOHAWK WARRIOR
Forgive us. It is amusing to find a woman out here on this misty clearing.
NAKAYA THE MOHAWK WARRIOR
Now I see you more closely, I would say you are a woman in need of help.
ROSE NIGHTFOG
(moving closer, in a graceful dance, while the MOON watches from afar.)
I am the Nightfog that sweeps around the quiet figures in the dark. Their peaceful words are carried on my breath and the woman is at rest at last.
ATONWA THE MOHAWK WARRIOR
Where are you from, Woman of the Night?
LAURA SECORD
From Queenston, by the Niagara River. I am searching for Lieutenant Fitzgibbon.
NAKAYA THE MOHAWK WARRIOR
You are not an American spy?
LAURA SECORD
My husband is James Secord, who was wounded at Queenston Heights fighting the Americans.
ATONWA THE MOHAWK WARRIOR
Nakaya and I were at Queenston Heights. A bloody battle.
NAKAYA THE MOHAWK WARRIOR
We will take you to Dominique, our ally. He will know what to do.
LAURA SECORD
I thank you.
(LAURA’S GHOST MOTHER enters.)
LAURA’S GHOST MOTHER
Laura, do you see how the slippers helped you part of the way, and then you finished the journey without them? The slippers were me, Laura. For eight short years I comforted you and then I died, and you had to journey onward without me. And even though your feet are bloody and bruised, you have reached the place that is the centre of yourself, the place where you can rest.
(She exits.)
ROSE NIGHTFOG
I shall swirl and sweep around the feet of this small party as they across the clearing. My misty arms are a blessing that embrace the night. I am yellow with the moon’s light and soft, so soft.
MOON
I am the Moon. My light is safer than the angry light of the sun that chases the night away.
ROSE NIGHTFOG
Come, Laura Secord, let the Mist and the Moon and the Night carry you to safety.
(LAURA, ROSE NIGHTFOG, and the MOON exit.)
Laura Secord by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Act Two, Scene 15:
(DOMINQUE DUCHARME enters.)
DOMINIQUE DUCHARME
I prefer to fight with the Mohawks. They are good warriors, not like the stupid soldiers in their stiff uniforms, marching straight into the bullets and bayonets. The Mohawks appear and disappear like mist, and after they are gone, the bodies of the enemy litter the earth. Freedom and discipline. This is how we win our fights.
(LAURA enters with ATONWA and NAKAYA.)
ATONWA THE MOHAWK WARRIOR
Dominique, this woman was in the clearing.
NAKAYA THE MOHAWK WARRIOR
She is looking for the Lieutenant.
DOMINIQUE DUCHARME
You look very tired, Madame. And your feet…you have no shoes. A white woman who walks with no shoes.
LAURA SECORD
You must take me to Lieutenant Fitzgibbon. The Americans are going to attack the supply station at Beaver Dam. They will be marching this way as we speak.
DOMINIQUE DUCHARME
Where did you come from?
LAURA SECORD
Queenston. I started out this morning.
DOMINIQUE DUCHARME
And you are telling me you traveled on foot faster than the American troops can march?
LAURA SECORD
They weren’t ready to march. I must have been ahead of them by several hours.
DOMINIQUE DUCHARME
It is twenty miles from here to Queenston. And there are American sentries on the road.
LAURA SECORD
I traveled through the Black Swamp, across Twelve Mile Creek, and up the Mountain. I lost my slippers…
DOMINIQUE DUCHARME
You were wearing slippers on such a difficult journey?
LAURA SECORD
My mother’s slippers. She gave them to me when she died. They comforted me…
ATONWA THE MOHAWK WARRIOR
The story is so fantastic it must be true, Dominique.
LAURA SECORD
My husband is James Secord, of the 1st. Lincoln Militia. He was wounded at Queenston Heights. Hh, damn it, I don’t want to have to go through all this again! Just take me to the bloody lieutenant!
DOMINIQUE DUCHARME
All right. We will take you. He enjoys chatting with ladies, especially strong, stubborn ones like you.
(takes her hand respectfully)
It’s unfortunate that you are married. In these times, it is an arrangement that brings more sorrow than solace.
(They exit.)
Laura Secord by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Act Two, Scene 16:
(LIEUTENANT JAMES FITZGIBBON enters.)
LIEUTENANT FITZGIBBON
(reprising his earlier lines)
The weather on the 22nd day of June, 1813 was very hot, and Laura Secord, whose person was slight and delicate, appeared to have been, and no doubt was, very much exhausted by the exertion she made in coming to me. And I have ever since held myself personally indebted to her for her conduct upon that occasion.
(DOMINIQUE DUCHARME, ATONWA, and NAKAYA enter.)
DOMINIQUE DUCHARME
Lieutenant Fitzgibbon sent me and the Mohawk warriors to ambush the American troops. We appeared like mist and inflicted heavy damage on their column. Then we disappeared.
ATONWA THE MOHAWK WARRIOR
Even though the Americans outnumbered us two to one, the Lieutenant warned them that they were surrounded, and asked them to surrender.
NAKAYA THE MOHAWK WARRIOR
But they refused. So we attacked them again, in several places, to make them think that there were many of us.
LIEUTENANT FITZGIBBON
We were able to keep the Americans occupied until reinforcements arrived. Colonel Boerstler surrendered to us. It was a complete victory.
DOMINIQUE DUCHARME
A complete victory for me and my Mohawk allies. We appear like the mist, destroy the enemy, and vanish. And the truth about us vanishes like mist too, with the glory and honour falling upon the white soldiers.
(DOMINIQUE, ATONWA, and NAKAYA exit. CHARLOTTE enters and stands beside her boy. COLONEL BOERSTLER enters, with MELISSA BOERSTLER following.)
COLONEL CHARLES BOERSTLER
(offering his sword)
Sir, on behalf of my regiment, the American 14th. Infantry, I surrender.
LIEUTENANT FITZGIBBON
(taking the sword)
All five hundred of your men, along with your arms and munitions, will be handed over to us.
COLONEL CHARLES BOERSTLER
Yes.
CHARLOTTE FITZGIBBON
My boy, you have done well. If I were alive, I’d be the proudest mother in the land.
LIEUTENANT FITZGIBBON
Ah, but Mother, you’re long since dead and gone, and it’s just as well. You would have cried like a baby at the sight of the butchered Yankees.
MELISSA BOERSTLA
My son, there is no dishonour in surrender if it saves even one mother’s son from needless suffering and death.
COLONEL CHARLES BOERSTLER
Mother, I am glad you’re not alive to see my name disgraced. When I surrendered, I chose life, nothing else. Life is my purpose.
(They all go upstage, and form tableaux.)
(MISS AMERICA, temporarily defeated, enters with MISS CANADA.)
MISS CANADA
What do you have to say for yourself, Miss America?
MISS AMERICA
I’ll never say sorry to you, Miss Canada.
MISS CANADA
You should lose your title for behaving in such a disgraceful manner!
MISS AMERICA
You’re being just as mean as me!
MISS CANADA
You started it!
MISS AMERICA
I’m the fairest in the land! Don’t you understand? Everyone should do what I say!
MISS CANADA
Why? Inside that haughty head, you’re just another pink, mushy brain like the rest of us!
MISS AMERICA
Wrong! My brain’s bigger, pinker, mushier! I invented the internet, remember!
(She goes upstage to her tableau position.)
MISS CANADA
(calling after her)
And now the internet’s re-inventing you, me, all of us!
(brandishing her smartphone)
See what you’ve done!
(She goes to her tableau position.)
(TOFFEE DELITE enters with HAZEL NOUGAT.)
TOFFEE DELITE
After a delightful evening of theatre, why not celebrate with Laura Secord Chocolates, made in Canada by Canadians for their American bosses!
HAZEL NOUGAT
Laura Secord, a sweet celebration of Canada’s sweetheart with all the sweet profits going to our American owners!
(They go upstage to their tableau position.)
Laura Secord by Richard Stuart Dixon, Good School Plays.
Act Two, Scene 17:
(The rest of the CAST enter and take up the tableau positions, as in the opening of the play.)
LIEUTENANT FITZGIBBON
(reprising his earlier line for a third time)
The weather on the 22nd day of June, 1813 was very hot, and Laura Secord, whose person was slight and delicate, appeared to have been, and no doubt was, very much exhausted by the exertion she made in coming to me. And I have ever since held myself personally indebted to her for her conduct upon that occasion.
FULL CAST
The weather on the 22nd day of June, 1813, was very hot.
LAURA SECORD
I left early in the morning, walked nineteen miles in the month of June, over a rough and difficult part of the country.
LIEUTENANT FITZGIBBON
Mrs. Secord was slight and delicate and very much exhausted.
LAURA’S GHOST MOTHER
Slight, delicate, and exhausted, my child walked over a rough and difficult part of the country.
ROSE NIGHTFOG
(formally)
An Account of Laura Secord’s Trek Through the Woods to Warn Lt. FitzGibbon, June 21 and 22, 1813.
FULL CAST
Her Trek Through the Woods by Laura Secord, born 1775, died 1868.
LAURA SECORD
I shall commence at the battle of Queenston, where I was at the time the cannon balls were flying around me in every direction.
(One member of the cast steps forward, and sings acapella.)
The maple leaf,
our emblem dear,
the maple leaf forever!
In peace and freedom’s
name we bless
the maple leaf forever!
END OF PLAY.
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