The Short Tree and the Bird That Could Not Sing

The Short Tree and the Bird That Could Not Sing By DEN NIS FOON Dra matic Pub lishing Woodstock, Il li nois Eng land Aus tra lia New Zea land

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for Rebecca

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The Short Tree and the Bird That Could Not Sing was jointly com mis sioned by Mer maid Thea tre of Nova Sco tia and Young Peo ple s Thea tre of To ronto. The Mer maid Thea tre pro duc tion took place in Sep tem ber 1994 on tour in Nova Sco tia with the fol low ing: Pup pe teers...mike Pe ter son and Bill Forbes Di rected by...jim War ren De signed by...jim Mor row Mu sic by...paul Cram Stage Man ager...mi chael Wallace The Young Peo ple s Thea tre pro duc tion was first pre sented in To ronto on March 5, 1994, with the fol low ing: SHORT TREE....An drew Akman BIRD....Eileen O Toole FLOWER, SEC OND BIG TREE, BAL LOON, TOUR IST, SHADOW, BIG DIPPER... Lindsay Col lins JACQUES, ARAGULA, GREEN BAL LOON, BIG DIPPER, BRIDE, MATE...Paulette Sinclair FIRST BIG TREE, BOA, YEL LOW BAL LOON, SQUIR REL, TOUR IST, FISH, BIG DIPPER, MIN IS TER, BABY TREE... James Fagan Tait JACK, BLUE BAL LOON, NORTH WIND, TOUR IST, AL LI GA TOR, BIG DIPPER, GROOM... Mar tin Villafana Di rected by...jim War ren Set, Props and Cos tumes de signed by....teresa Przbyiski Lighting de signed by....paul Mathiesen Mu sic com posed and per formed by...rick Sacks Pup pet and Mask con sul tant...trish Leeper Stage Man ager...wil liam Jamie son 5

PLAY WRIGHT S NOTE In 1986, I came to To ronto from Van cou ver to be the writer-in-res i dence at Young Peo ple s Thea tre. I en joyed my stay at the thea tre but found that I was pin ing for my daugh ter Rebecca, who was only five at the time. I wrote her ev ery day, fill ing my let ters with puz zles, jokes and sto ries. One of the sto ries turned out to be The Short Tree and the Bird That Could Not Sing, which in its own strange way was a per fect re flec tion of how I was feel ing at the time. The story was later il lus trated by John Bianchi and pub lished by Groundwood Books, a lit tle pub li ca tion that has given me a great deal of plea sure over the years, in part be cause I was thrilled to have fi nally writ ten some thing that was n t about any thing. Just a whim si cal fan tasy. But my bub ble was popped by a child psy chol o gist who in - formed me that I had writ ten a com pel ling tale about sep a - ra tion anx i ety. And af ter think ing about it, I was forced to ad mit that the story was in deed about go ing away and com - ing back again. When I was asked, in 1992, by Young Peo - ple s Thea tre and Mer maid Thea tre to adapt this lit tle story into a full-length play I was filled with ap pre hen sion. I wrote the story for a whim si cal lit tle girl who was now a grunge-lov ing teen ager. How could I find that feel ing again? It seemed an im pos si ble task. But once I sat down and started work ing, I be gan to re lax. And be gan to re - mem ber the lit tle girl I wrote the story for so long ago. The pe cu liar world of this Tree and Bird be gan open ing it self up to me and a larger tale be gan to emerge, a story not just about fear of loss, but about con front ing that fear. Lone li - ness can be come a self-ful fill ing proph ecy if we cling to it 6

and ig nore the world around us. The Tree grad u ally dis cov - ers that it is only as alone as it wishes to be, for a whole uni verse is just wait ing to be in vited in. This play, in its own way, is about open ing that door. STAGING NOTES The play was orig i nally con ceived to be per formed by a com bi na tion of pup pets and live ac tors. I have now had the ben e fit of see ing nu mer ous pro duc tions of The Short Tree and the Bird That Could Not Sing, all with greatly var ied ap proaches. The two orig i nal pro duc tions pro vide an in ter - est ing jux ta po si tion. Both di rected by Jim War ren, they were tre men dously successful and to tally dif fer ent. The Young Peo ple s Thea tre pro duc tion had six ac tors who used a com bi na tion of pup pets and masks. The Mer maid Thea - tre s tour ing pro duc tion was done en tirely with pup pets and was per formed by two puppeteers with an oc ca sional as - sist from a back stage crew mem ber. Bear in mind, this was a tour-de-force by two mag nif i cently tal ented pup pe teers, Mike Pe ter son and Bill Forbes. In the case of mere mor tals, I would guess that the show would be more eas ily per - formed by at least three pup pet ma nip u la tors. In the Young Peo ple s Thea tre ver sion, the ac tor, An drew Akman, was in side the tree, his face ap peared in the trunk and he used his arms as mo bile branches. The Bird had a few dif fer ent man i fes ta tions. Eileen O Toole played Bird in cos tume and mask when in ter act ing with Tree. But when Bird flew, Eileen would ma nip u late a small winged pup pet. Af ter the Bird s mi gra tion to Florida, Eileen op er ated a very ex pres - sive hand pup pet. Then upon re turn ing to Tree, Eileen re - 7

turned as an ac tor in cos tume and mask. In the Young Peo - ple s Thea tre ver sion, the Bal loons were papier-mâché and worn by the ac tors, with their faces pro trud ing from the center. Mer maid sim ply used real bal loons con nected to rods. I have n t heard if one ever ex ploded dur ing a per for - mance! The Young Peo ple s Thea tre pro duc tion used a wide va ri ety of pup petry styles, ev ery thing from pa per cut-outs to hand-and-rod pup pets. All of the an i mals were por trayed by pup pets, which I think was very wise, given their brief ap pear ances, and the mag i cal ef fect pup pets have on a young au di ence. Nei ther pro duc tion went to great lengths to hide the pup pe teers. The tra di tion of the ex posed pup pet op er a tor is a long one and rather than dis tract ing, seems to add to the magic. 8

The Short Tree and the Bird That Could Not Sing CHAR AC TERS SHORT TREE FIRST and SEC OND BIG TREE FLOWER JACK and JACQUES, two lum ber jacks BIRD BOA CON STRIC TOR ARAGULA, the Snake Woman BAL LOON, named No body GREEN BAL LOON BLUE BAL LOON YEL LOW BAL LOON SQUIR REL, and his MATE TOUR IST, a voice off stage SHADOW FISH NORTH WIND AL LI GA TOR BIG DIPPER, a con stel la tion of stars BRIDE, GROOM and MIN IS TER, three snow peo ple BABY TREE 9

ACT ONE AT RISE: The scene opens on a for est. Two BIG TREES fill the stage. Dwarfed be low them is a very short, very sad tree. FIRST BIG TREE. Oh my, will it ever end? All those peo - ple, rush ing around, liv ing their tiny lives. SHORT TREE. Where? SEC OND BIG TREE. So ded i cated, hur ry ing to work, clean ing the streets, de liv er ing the mail. SHORT TREE. I can t see! FIRST BIG TREE. There s an other post man walk ing down the street, ev ery day, over and over. SEC OND BIG TREE. Hu mans like jobs, they like to work. FIRST BIG TREE. And does this post man like the vi - cious-look ing dog wait ing for him be hind the gate? (The SHORT TREE strains un suc cess fully to look.) SHORT TREE. Is it a dog? Oh no! SEC OND BIG TREE. The faith ful post man be lieves that hun gry dog won t bite and chew him. FIRST BIG TREE. I dis agree! Dogs al ways bite post men. Hu mans never learn. They just keep mak ing the same mis takes. 11

12 The Short Tree Act I SHORT TREE. Tell the post man not to open the gate! FIRST BIG TREE. Too late. It s chew ing the post man s leg. SHORT TREE. Oh, dear! Poor post man. FIRST BIG TREE. Hu mans never learn. Their brains stop grow ing too soon. SHORT TREE. Has he got ten away from the dog yet? SEC OND BIG TREE. You talk about hu mans as if they re wood bee tles. SHORT TREE. Peo ple aren t like bugs. FIRST BIG TREE. Very good! Wood bee tles are far more in tel li gent and cre ative than hu mans SHORT TREE. Please, what s hap pen ing to the post man? FIRST BIG TREE. I can t be lieve we re dis cuss ing hu mans again. SEC OND BIG TREE. I agree, it s time to med i tate. SHORT TREE. No, wait, tell me! FIRST BIG TREE. You should med i tate too. SHORT TREE. I don t want to! Please, tell me what you see! (The BIG TREES have shut down.) Why do you al - ways ig nore me? You re tall so you can see things over the hill and far away. You can see fire people squirt ing each other with hoses and car crash der bies but I can only see the dirt, green stuff grow ing around me and a scrawny lit tle flower. (The ever-happy FLOWER makes its one cheer ful sound.) Whee! SHORT TREE. For get it, I m not in ter ested.

Act I and the Bird That Could Not Sing 13 SHORT TREE. Oh no, I can see things. I m just not tell ing you! SHORT TREE. Sorry, I m not talk ing to you, you re too small. SHORT TREE. Oh, so you like wood bee tles too? SHORT TREE. Very good! Wood bee tles are in tel li gent and cre ative. SHORT TREE. I dis agree! Dogs al ways bite post men. SHORT TREE. Why do I have to be so short. I hate it. I want to be tall so I can see some thing! SHORT TREE. I ve had it with this con ver sa tion. It s time to med i tate! SHORT TREE. And you should too! FLOWER. Whee? Whee, whee! (The SHORT TREE shuts down as dark ness falls. Morn - ing co mes with a crash ing sound and the SHORT TREE wakes up. Two lum ber jacks ap pear pull ing the two BIG TREES away. One of the lum ber jacks, JACQUES, stops.) JACQUES. Oh, ow, my back hurts. JACK. I m tell ing you, you don t stand straight. JACQUES. I stand straighter than you. You slump, you slouch like one of those inch worms. JACK. Yeah, but I slouch right. You slouch all wrong.

14 The Short Tree Act I JACQUES. You know why my back hurts? Be cause you give me a pain. Now ex cuse me while I do my job. (He bends over to pick up the BIG TREE again.) JACK. You hold it all wrong. JACQUES. I been hold ing it this way for twenty years. This is how I do it. JACK. Okay, it s your back, not mine. JACQUES. Thank you. (JACK picks up the ax and looks at the trem bling SHORT TREE.) JACK. What about this one? JACQUES (turns). Are you crazy? This tree s too lit tle. You want it for tooth picks? JACK. It would be better for your back if we cut smaller trees. JACQUES. And if we cut all the lit tle trees, where would the big ones come from? What a pain you give me. What a pain! (The lum ber jacks exit, drag ging away the trees. The SHORT TREE, stunned, can only ut ter a sti fled scream.) BIG TREES. Noooo! SHORT TREE. Where are they tak ing them? How can they do that? SHORT TREE. I did n t want that! Please, bring them back! SHORT TREE. Stop it! Don t you see what hap pened? They ve been cut down! They re gone!

Act I and the Bird That Could Not Sing 15 SHORT TREE. Quiet! (JACK en ters, and the SHORT TREE watches him, terrified.) JACQUES (off). Hurry up! JACK. I m coming, I m com ing! I just for got some thing! JACQUES (off). What? JACK. There it is! (He picks the FLOWER and puts it in his shirt.) What s a day with out flow ers? (He ex its.) SHORT TREE. Nooo! Not the flower too! I m sorry, come back! Please! They re gone. All of them. My eyes barely open and they re all gone I m alone. Very alone. Very, very alone. Why did n t they cut me down too? Be cause I m only good for tooth picks. I think I d be hap pier as a tooth pick. At least I d have com pany. I d be with hun dreds of other tooth picks in a jar at a res tau rant. And then some one would lift me up af ter a nice meal and use my point to pick food from be tween their teeth. And then they d chew me up and spit me out. It would be better that way. It s what I de serve. Come back, you lum ber jacks! Come back and take me too! Any thing s better than be ing all alone. (There is a hor ri ble squawk, off stage.) Oh no. Did they hear me? Are they corn ing back? (The noise is heard again. The SHORT TREE winces.) I can take it. I m not afraid. (The noise co mes closer and the SHORT TREE trem bles. The noise be gins to take shape into a kind of song. The SHORT TREE winces again. The BIRD en ters, with a suit case on her back.)

16 The Short Tree Act I BIRD (sing ing). On top of spa ghetti, all cov ered with peas SHORT TREE. Ow, ow, ow, ouch! BIRD (sing ing). I met a poor snow ball, then some body wheezed. SHORT TREE. Please, stop, please! BIRD. Stop what? SHORT TREE (opens its eyes). You re not a lum ber jack. BIRD. No, I don t be lieve so. SHORT TREE. Then what was that hor ren dous noise? BIRD. That was not a noise. That was my song. I was sing ing On Top of Spa ghetti. SHORT TREE. But you were sing ing out of tune. And you had the words all wrong. BIRD. In what way did I have the words wrong? SHORT TREE. It s not I met a snow ball. It s I lost my poor meat ball. BIRD. Oh. (She sings.) I smelled my poor meat ball, then some body wheezed. SHORT TREE. Ow ow ouch! Stop it, please! BIRD. If I stopped sing ing, would you mind if I rested un - der your branches for a lit tle while? SHORT TREE. Not one bit. As long as you do not sing. BIRD (sighs). I m not used to get ting this kind of crit i cism. (The BIRD takes the suit case off her back and un packs.) SHORT TREE. I m sorry. It s just I m hav ing a very bad day. BIRD. How un for tu nate. What kind of very bad day are you hav ing? SHORT TREE. You see those stumps? BIRD. Lum ber jacks. How ter ri ble.

Act I and the Bird That Could Not Sing 17 SHORT TREE. They even picked the flower that only said, Whee whee. BIRD. And now you re alone. SHORT TREE. I m not ready to face the world by my self. The big trees pro tected me. Mostly they ig nored me but at least they were there. I don t know what to do. BIRD. Did you know you have ex cel lent branches? SHORT TREE. Par don me? BIRD. Most tree branches are too high up to keep the sun out of my eyes and the rain off my head. Yours are just the right size. SHORT TREE (blush ing). Pshaw. (Af ter a beat.) Really? BIRD. I mean it. I like your branches But I don t know if I like you. I have n t known you long enough. SHORT TREE (disappointed). Oh. BIRD. But I do think it is safe to say that I will soon grow to like you and we shall be come friends. SHORT TREE. Oh, good! (The BIRD sees some thing small squiggling in the ground.) BIRD. What s this I see? SHORT TREE. Are you look ing in that hole? BIRD. Oh, my sal i vat ing taste buds! A most scrump tiously shaped, per fectly brunch-sized, plump-lus cious worm! (The BIRD starts pull ing on the worm. It turns into a ma jor tug of war.) SHORT TREE. Don t strain your self, Bird. BIRD. Strain? It s fun! (The BIRD loses grip of the worm and slams into the ground.) SHORT TREE. Are you all right, Bird?

18 The Short Tree Act I BIRD. Of course! I m just work ing up an ap pe tite! (The BIRD grabs the worm again, and again slams into the ground.) SHORT TREE. Oh, Bird, don t let the worm hurt you. BIRD. Hurt me? A worm? I eat four dozen of these creepy crawl ers ev ery day! I m just play ing with it! SHORT TREE. Be care ful. BIRD. Ha! This bird al ways gets its worm! (The BIRD grabs the worm with to tal de ter mi na tion, be gins to suc - ceed, and speaks through its closed beak.) I told you! A cinch! (Ever so slowly the worm emerges. And emerges. And emerges.) SHORT TREE. You eat four dozen of those ev ery day? (The BIRD is soon dwarfed by a BOA CON STRIC TOR.) BIRD. Well they re not like that. (To the BOA.) Ex cuse me, but I do not be lieve you are a worm. BOA. I am not a worm. I am a gi gan tic snake. I am a boa con stric tor. BIRD. Well it was ex tremely rude of you to dis guise your - self as a worm in or der to eat me. BOA. I was not dis guis ing my self. I was peace fully slum - ber ing in that hole, hav ing a si esta when some thing started pull ing at my tail. BIRD. You hap pen to have a de li ciously ap peal ing tail tip. It s the rest of you that is in di gest ible. BOA. Let s see how di gest ible you are. (The BOA lurches at the BIRD, who deftly leaps away. Af ter a few tries, the BOA gives up in frus tra tion.) BIRD. Are you giv ing up? BOA. No. I don t do chases.

Act I and the Bird That Could Not Sing 19 BIRD. You hardly even tried. BOA. I m not hun gry. SHORT TREE. Then why did you at tack Bird? BOA. Be cause it s the serpenty thing to do when some one at tacks the tip of your tail. BIRD. You mean you re not even in ter ested in eat ing me? (The BOA starts wind ing around the SHORT TREE.) BOA. Not in the slight est. BIRD. You don t even want a taste? SHORT TREE. Bird! BOA. Any way I don t eat birds. BIRD. Not even a nib ble? BOA. I m a veg e tar ian. SHORT TREE. What s a veg e tar ian? BIRD. Some one who only eats veg e ta bles. SHORT TREE (to the BOA). Make your self right at home. BOA. Thank you. Your trunk is quite com fort ing. BIRD. I ve never met a ser pent like this be fore. What is a boa con stric tor do ing in this part of the world, any way? BOA. I was with the Flying Sven gali Cir cus, the star of Aragula the Snake Woman s show. One day, in front of a sold-out au di ence, I crawled into a loop for our great - est act: the liv ing lasso. She spun me and spun me, fast faster! The crowd cheered! But then she lost her grip. I flew through the air, right past the tent top and I kept go ing! SHORT TREE. And then what hap pened? BIRD. It did n t sprout wings so it must ve crashed. BOA (nods sadly). When I woke up, I was in the mid dle of no where. I looked and looked for Aragula in vain.

20 The Short Tree Act I Finally I gave up. I crawled into that hole and swore I d never come out again until you pulled me out. SHORT TREE. This is very sad. You must be the lone li est snake in the world. BOA. Aragula the Snake Woman may have been merely hu man, but she was the only mommy and poppy I ever had. SHORT TREE. If I was tall, I could see far away and find her for you. I can t help you at all. BOA. My mommy-poppy is gone for ever. SHORT TREE. I know what it s like to lose some one. If only you could find her. BOA. If only (The BOA and the SHORT TREE slowly turn and look at the BIRD. Pause.) BIRD. I sup pose I could have a look. BOA. Could you? BIRD. Don t ex pect any mir a cles. SHORT TREE. Good luck. BOA. Thank you. (With great fan fare, the BIRD takes a run ning start and launches off into the air. The SHORT TREE and the BOA watch the BIRD dis ap pear into the loom ing sky.) I could n t sur vive an other day above the ground with out my Aragula. She saved my life when I was a weak, aban doned and sickly snakeling. SHORT TREE. What hap pened to your par ents? BOA. They were made into travel bags. Aragula saved me. Ev ery thing I am to day I owe to my fos ter mommypoppy. Will I ever see her again? (The BOA be gins crawl ing into the hole.)