"A Native Lad" by Sarah Hurst This abridged version is dedicated to Tatitlek Community School students Kristopher Kompkoff, Tracy Totemoff, Cynna Evanoff and George Vlasoff, and their teacher Debbe Lancaster, who took on the responsibility of the world premiere. Written with a grant from the Alaska Humanities Forum Approximate running time: 100 minutes Second verse of the Alaska flag song copyright 1985, the University of Alaska Foundation. All Rights Reserved. Licensed for use in this play. 2009 Sarah Hurst 260 Deerfield Drive Anchorage, AK 99515 (907) 248-1150 Email: [email protected] PLAYWRIGHT’S NOTE: THIS PLAY IS INTENDED PRIMARILY FOR USE IN ALASKA SCHOOLS, SO SCENES MAY BE TAKEN OUT AND PERFORMED SEPARATELY. IF THE ENTIRE PLAY IS PERFORMED, SOME ACTORS WOULD PLAY MULTIPLE PARTS. THERE IS A TEACHERS’ AND STUDENTS’ GUIDE THAT GOES WITH THE SCRIPT, AVAILABLE ON REQUEST FROM SARAH HURST. LIST OF CHARACTERS AND THEIR APPROXIMATE NUMBER OF LINES, NOT INCLUDING THE SONG AT THE END SUNG BY THE WHOLE CAST Benny Benson - 228 lines Ernest Gruening - 142 lines Charlie Edwardsen, Jr. - 95 lines Abigail - 85 lines Bob Bartlett - 66 lines Bob Atwood - 60 lines Winton C. Arnold - 56 lines James Wickersham - 43 lines Edna Ferber - 40 lines Tom Marshall - 40 lines Emil Notti - 38 lines Lyman Knapp - 34 lines Edward R. Murrow - 34 lines Mary Winchell - 34 lines Phil Holdsworth - 33 lines Sarah Palin - 29 lines Evangeline Atwood - 28 lines Eduard de Stoeckl - 28 lines Charles Sumner - 27 lines William Paul, Sr. - 26 lines Elizabeth Robins - 26 lines Younger Benny Benson - 25 lines Willoughby Clark - 25 lines George Malone - 23 lines Dwight D. Eisenhower - 22 lines Irene Jones - 22 lines Mrs. Bergstrand - 21 lines Anthony E. Karnes - 20 lines Frank Peratrovich - 20 lines Sam Rayburn - 20 lines Margaret Chase Smith - 18 lines Bill Egan - 18 lines George Kousty - 17 lines Mrs. McKay - 15 lines Government employee - 13 lines Jim Hagerty - 13 lines Paul - 12 lines L. V. Ray - 12 lines Lyndon Johnson - 11 lines Elwood Bruner - 10 lines 2. Mildred Hermann - 10 lines Mr. McKay - 10 lines R. Rolland Armstrong - 10 lines John Butrovich - 9 lines Cannery man - 9 lines George Grames - 9 lines Nettie Jones - 9 lines Server - 9 lines William Seward - 9 lines Carlie Benson - 8 lines Donawak - 8 lines John Frame - 8 lines Dancer 2 - 7 lines Dancer 1 - 6 lines Walter J. Hickel - 6 lines Mr. Lancaster - 6 lines Mrs. Lancaster - 6 lines Arthur Miller - 6 lines Leo Rogge - 6 lines Seaborn Buckalew - 5 lines Charles Ingersoll - 5 lines Old woman - 5 lines Dancer 3 - 4 lines John Marin - 4 lines Justin W. Harding - 3 lines Man - 3 lines Norman "Doc" Walker - 3 lines Servant - 2 lines Danish man (voice) - 1 line Reporter - 1 line 3. ACT I SCENE 1 (13-year-old BENNY BENSON and his 11- year-old brother CARLIE BENSON are walking across the stage slowly, wearing 1920s-style clothes. BENNY is carrying a basketball and bouncing it occasionally. It is night time.) Optional information for the person playing the role of Benny Benson: Olive Smith, the matron at the boys' dormitory, wrote, "Such a sturdy little man he is. Whistles through his teeth when he talks, and he uses good, almost classical English which he has learned, apparently, of Dr. Newhall and Miss Winchell." CARLIE I miss Unalaska, Benny. Seward is too big for me. BENNY I know what you mean. CARLIE Can we go back to Unalaska? BENNY No, little brother, we can't. The Jesse Lee Home is here now and we have to get used to it. But, hey, look up in the sky. Carlie looks up. CARLIE OK, I'm looking. BENNY You see those stars over there, in a long line, with a curve at the end? CARLIE Uh - yes, I see them. BENNY They're called the Big Dipper, see, because they look like a giant ladle. CARLIE Wow! Yes, they do. 4. BENNY And you see the brighter star over to the right? CARLIE Yes. BENNY That's the North Star, watching over us. Remember, mom used to tell us it was there to guide fishermen like dad home. The Big Dipper and the North Star are the same stars we could see in Chignik and in Unalaska. Wherever we are in Alaska, we can feel safe with those stars above us. CARLIE Have they been there for a long time, Benny? BENNY They've been there for millions of years. Maybe billions of years. They're the same stars that our Aleut ancestors lived under. [If preferred, Benny can add, "and the other Alaska Natives like the Tlingit/Haida/Inupiat/Yupik" - insert local group's name.] (A group of people in traditional Aleut [or local group's] clothing enters, dancing and drumming. BENNY and CARLIE watch them.) DANCER 1 The hunters are safe back from the sea! DANCER 2 And they bring meat and furs for the winter! DANCER 1 The spirits have been kind to us! DANCER 2 Txin qagatada! (http://www.apiai.com/word_of_the_week.asp?ID=119) [or equivalent in local language] ALL DANCERS Txin qagatada! CARLIE What are they saying? BENNY They are saying, be joyful! ALL DANCERS Txin qagatada! 5. BENNY Txin qagatada! CARLIE Txin qagatada! (The dancers gesture to BENNY and CARLIE to join them. BENNY puts the basketball down on the stage and the two boys start to dance. Gradually the dancers and the boys make their way off the stage, leaving behind only the basketball. A teenage girl in modern clothes enters, talking on a cell phone. She is ABIGAIL.) ABIGAIL (on phone) Did you get your PFD? It's huge! I can't wait to buy some new clothes. Why do they give it to us, anyway? I love this state. Who's gonna complain about free money? (ABIGAIL almost trips over the basketball. She picks it up and looks at it.) ABIGAIL (on phone) Some dork left their basketball lying around and I nearly tripped on it. Oh - maybe it's that kid over there. Hey, I gotta go, see ya. (ABIGAIL puts her phone in her pocket. BENNY wanders back on stage.) BENNY Excuse me - that's my ball. Could I have it back, please? ABIGAIL Come and take it from me, dude. (ABIGAIL dribbles the basketball skillfully. BENNY tries to take the ball from her, but he can't.) BENNY You're not bad. ABIGAIL School captain. BENNY I overheard you talking about the Permanent Fund Dividend. 6. ABIGAIL Yeah, isn't it awesome? BENNY It sure is. If you give me my ball back, I'll tell you all about why Alaskans get a PFD check every year. ABIGAIL And how do you know so much about it? BENNY You won't believe this, but I'm from another time. I saw how Alaska became the 49th state, and I was part of that, in a way. Now I've got here somehow - maybe to meet you. ABIGAIL Another time? Yeah, right. Sounds like you're into drugs. BENNY Well, let me show you a few things, Abigail, then you might be convinced. ABIGAIL You know my name? BENNY There you go, you're impressed already. Now, I can explain about the PFD, but it's a long story. Just watch. (The dancers return to the stage, not dancing this time, but walking in single file, shoulders slumped, subdued. They sit down in a circle.) ABIGAIL Wow, who are those dudes? DANCER 1 The people who call themselves Russians have made us sick. DANCER 2 Too many of us have died from their strange diseases. DANCER 3 They want our furs and our women. DANCER 2 Soon it will be hard to tell our children apart from them. BENNY My grandfather was Russian. My mother was part Aleut and part Russian. Her name was Tatiana. She died when I was three years old. 7. That's why my dad sent me and my brother Carlie to boarding school. He couldn't work as a fisherman and take care of us at the same time. ABIGAIL When did you go to boarding school? BENNY That was back in 1917. But we're jumping ahead. I haven't finished telling the story of the Russians. DANCER 1 The people who call themselves Americans are here! DANCER 2 Do you think life will be better now? DANCER 3 Only if they see this place is too cold for them and they leave. BENNY The Americans gave our land the Aleut name Alaska. Before they bought it in 1867, they called it Russian America. 8. SCENE 2 (BENNY is sitting at a desk off to the side of the stage, sketching on a large white piece of paper. He is using pencils, crayons and watercolor paints. From time to time he scratches his head, frowns or smiles. He continues doing this in all the other scenes before he starts speaking. ABIGAIL is sitting next to BENNY, watching what he's doing and occasionally chatting on her cell phone. When the action in the scenes begins, BENNY stops drawing and watches what's happening, and ABIGAIL also pays attention. Secretary of State WILLIAM SEWARD, aged 65, is sitting at a card table at his home in Washington in March, 1867 with cards dealt as if he and three other people are in the middle of a game. There is an open bottle of French wine on the table and several glasses with different amounts of wine in them, one or two empty. SEWARD is smoking a cigar.) Optional information for the person playing the role of Seward: His face was scarred from an attack by an assassin who was part of the plot that killed Abraham Lincoln.