Sample - In The Desert

These are the opening two scenes of my first full-length play, "In The Desert."

If you're interested in reading and/or staging the full script, contact me at ryan.jaime99@gmail.com

Cast of Characters

Meniy (Meh-NEE): A Midianite woman.

Sheila: An Israelite woman.

Narrator: A woman.

Scene:

The desert wilderness of the Levant.

Time:

1,410 years before Christ.

Act One

Scene 1

SETTING: The Levant. Desert.

AT RISE: The NARRATOR, wearing a plain

earth-colored shift, stands center

stage with a Bible. She is

backlit——her face is invisible to

the audience. White light

backlights her. The NARRRATOR

opens her book and begins to read.

Mystical music is heard throughout

the reading.

NARRATOR

The book of Numbers, chapter thirty-one: The Lord said to Moses,

“Take vengeance on the Midianites for the Israelites. After

that, you will be gathered to your people.” So Moses said to the

people, “Arm some of your men to go to war against the

Midianites so that they may carry out the Lord’s vengeance on

them. Send into battle a thousand men from each of the tribes of

Israel.”

(The sound of swords clanging and

men yelling is heard.)

NARRATOR

So twelve thousand men armed for battle, a thousand from each

tribe, were supplied from the clans of Israel. They fought

against Midian, as the Lord commanded Moses, and killed every

man. The Israelites captured the Midianite women and children

and took all the Midianite herds, flocks, and goods as plunder.

(Women cry and scream, children

wail, and animals low in the

background.)

NARRATOR

They burned all the towns where the Midianites had settled, as

well as their camps. They took all the plunder and spoils,

including the people and animals, and brought the captives,

spoils, and plunder to Moses and Eleazar the priest and the

Israelite assembly. Moses was angry with the officers of the

army. “Have you allowed the women to live? They were the ones

who followed Balaam’s advice and enticed the Israelites to be

unfaithful to the Lord in the Peor incident, so that a plague

struck the Lord’s people. Now kill all the boys. And kill every

woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every

girl who has never slept with a man.”

(The sound effects and music fall

silent.)

NARRATOR

The plunder remaining from the spoils that the soldiers took was

675,000 sheep, 72,000 cattle, 61,000 donkeys, and 32,000 women

who had never slept with a man.

(BLACKOUT)

(END OF SCENE)

---

Scene 2

SETTING: Desert pasture, early evening. A

tree stump table is covered in

bloody knives.

AT RISE: MENIY is stationed at the table,

cleaning knives with a leather

hide. She has impeccable posture.

SHEILA, a plump middle-aged woman,

enters and approaches MENIY.

SHEILA

Meniy!

(MENIY stops what she’s doing and

bows to SHEILA three times. SHEILA

raises her hand in opposition of the

formality, but this doesn’t change

MENIY’s polite behavior. MENIY

speaks well and with perfect

manners, but not with warmth.)

MENIY

Good evening, Madam Sheila.

(MENIY resumes her work and never

breaks concentration from it

throughout the conversation.)

SHEILA

Blessings on you, child.

MENIY

Blessings on your household, Madam Sheila.

SHEILA

I thought of you the other day.

(MENIY does not acknowledge SHEILA’s

statement.)

SHEILA

I thought of how much your Hebrew has improved since we first

met.

(Again, no response from MENIY.

SHEILA keeps prodding.)

SHEILA

Now, who in the past four years could have possibly talked and

talked and talked to you endlessly enough for you to learn so

well?

MENIY

You have taught me well, madam, and I thank you for it.

SHEILA

I prattle on during my visits to Rivkah that much, hmm?

MENIY

No, madam.

SHEILA

It’s alright, I’m proud of the voice El Shaddai has given me.

(At ‘El Shaddai,’ SHEILA raises her

arms to heaven in a moment of

praise. She quickly returns her

focus to MENIY.)

SHEILA

He works through me to teach you His ways.

MENIY

Yes, Madam Sheila.

(SHEILA examines the bloody knives

on the table over which MENIY

sharpens.)

SHEILA

What happened here?

MENIY

Slaughter.

SHEILA

Did you use a different knife for every sheep?

MENIY

The hides were tough today. I must sharpen the blades.

(SHEILA again laughs.)

SHEILA

The sheepskin put up enough of a fight to dull all these blades?

Meniy, you are a polite servant, but don’t make yourself a liar

to preserve your master’s pride. Yochanan’s knives are almost as

perpetually dull as he is.

(MENIY says nothing. SHEILA smirks.)

SHEILA

Oh Meniy, you know I adore Yochanan. Rivkah is blessed to have

such a wonderful husband who appreciates my harmless quips.

Won’t you someday join me in mocking your master? Join the

family.

MENIY

Master Yochanan is a fine craftsman and master.

SHEILA

That’s enough flattery. I’ll bring you to my side soon enough,

just you wait.

(MENIY responds with silence once

again. SHEILA scans the horizon.)

SHEILA

They aren’t back yet?

MENIY

No. In fact, Rivkah told me they were going to visit you. Now

that you’ve returned and they have not, perhaps I should be

concerned unless you know where they went after seeing you.

SHEILA

They went to buy Yakov’s bull.

(MENIY, for the first time in the

conversation, pauses her work. She

turns to SHEILA.)

MENIY

Yakov’s bull?

SHEILA

Are you surprised?

MENIY

I am. Rivkah mentioned that Yochanan has coveted that bull for

his own herd, but I thought Yakov refused to trade for sheep.

SHEILA

You’re absolutely right, Yakov did refuse his flocks, but Yakov

has a fascination with foreign spices. He’s willing to trade

anything for new herbs.

MENIY

Where did Yochanan get such herbs?

SHEILA

From me. I have a relative in Zoar who keeps me well stocked.

MENIY

You gave my master these spices as a gift?

SHEILA

No, in exchange for the spices I’ve acquired——

MENIY

——Me.

SHEILA

Surprise! Except you figured it out, clever girl. So clever.

(MENIY, as at the beginning of the

conversation, puts down her knife

and bows to SHEILA, but now she

prostrates herself on the ground and

bows ten times. SHEILA again

contests.)

SHEILA

Meniy, enough. I am not worthy of your praise. Enough I said!

(After her bows, MENIY kneels before

SHEILA.)

SHEILA

For heaven’s sake.

(MENIY is still just as cold toward

SHEILA as before, but knows her

place and adheres to its demands.)

MENIY

If I had known I was in the presence of my master all this time,

I would have given you the required respect and service.

SHEILA

Enough, girl. Rise.

(MENIY obeys.)

SHEILA

Do you understand why I traded my spices for you?

MENIY

Out of generosity toward Yochanan and Rivkah so that they may

have the bull that will increase their herd and make them

prosperous.

SHEILA

No. Yochanan doesn’t need any more prosperity puffing up his

head.

MENIY

You have seen my skill as a butcher during your visits to

Rivkah, and you wish for my gift to serve your household.

SHEILA

That is a benefit, but no.

MENIY

Do you intend to trade me for something else?

SHEILA

No, girl. Meniy, it is no secret that you have been resistant to

Rivkah and her bondswomen. Why won’t you join their circles and

be a sister like they are to one another? Even your fellow

Midianite women, when they accompany their masters’ wives to

visit Rivkah, they seem almost frightened of you. What do they

fear, Meniy?

(MENIY is quiet and still, standing

tall.)

SHEILA

I give you two choices: I grant you your freedom from bondage,

and you may leave this nation. You can continue to live in

solitude as you do now. Or you may be my daughter and become a

woman of Israel. You will learn our ways and worship our God,

who brought you here to us. We are a mighty people, devoted to

one another as we devote ourselves to Yahweh. I will teach you

what I know of Him, though He is mysterious even to me, but I

can’t force you to listen. Do you want freedom or family, Meniy?

You have to choose.

(MENIY turns away from SHEILA and

stares at the soil, contemplating.

They are silent for a moment.)

SHEILA

Thank you for considering. I see you are in thought. I was

almost sure you’d run off the moment you heard ‘freedom.’ But

there’s a lot of freedom in family too, of course. And a woman

of your talent, God must have sent you to be a blessing to a

Hebrew man as his wife. You remind me of my son Zimran. He and

my husband assist Eleazar and Moses in the tabernacle.

(at ‘Moses’, MENIY perks up. All the

stage lights go to black except for

one spotlight on MENIY. Glee washes

over her face. She stares up at the

heavens and smiles.)

MENIY

Queen Mother Asherah, Lord Baal, the gods of my people Midian.

After four long years of enslavement to these wretched people,

you have heard my prayer and smiled upon me. Has the time

finally come to exact revenge on the evil of evils, Moses the

Israelite? He who took our glory and smothered it in the dust of

our ruined cities? Oh gods of Midian, gods of my destroyed

ancestors, allow me to do your bidding so that Moses may suffer

the same fate that he inflicted upon us: pain. Humiliation.

Death. And please, my lords, allow me to fulfill my destiny and

let my sacrifice be pleasing to you...Adonai, El Shaddai, God of

the Israelites, I know you’re listening. Listen well. You have

not won the war. Through your simple daughter Sheila’s family I

will infiltrate your temple and make a mockery of your prophet.

I will turn kindness to chaos in her household and in yours. To

the gods I say Amen.

(Lights snap back up and MENIY

resumes her stoic expression. SHEILA

prattles on.)

SHEILA

Yes, I remember when Elihu taught Zimran how to slaughter and

clean a bull. Funny, he used to just slice our animals’ throats,

but now he’s slicing the throats of the most perfect cattle and

sheep Israel has to offer! All for the glory of God. And the

priests have excellent knives, the sharpest. Not like Yochanan’s

shoddy——

MENIY

——I will stay with you if you will have me.

(SHEILA is taken aback momentarily,

but she quickly smiles and laughs.)

SHEILA

Yes! Joy of joys! Thank you, Meniy. Let’s pack up your mat and

your——

MENIY

But you must keep your word and teach me of your God El Shaddai.

And since you yourself just admitted a level of ignorance to his

ways, I request to be instructed by the most learned member of

your clan.

SHEILA

I assure you I am the most learned woman in the clan.

MENIY

So there are men more learned than you who may instruct me.

SHEILA

Meniy, I’m sure your people are not so different from us that

they permit women to learn from prophets or priests or——

MENIY

I studied under the high priest of Midian all my life.

SHEILA

Can you read?

MENIY

In my nation’s script, yes. And I expect to learn the Hebrew

script if I am to properly——

SHEILA

Who were you there?

(A very quick pause from MENIY.)

MENIY

An observant child. Nothing more.

SHEILA

You were the priest’s daughter?

MENIY

No.

SHEILA

His slave?

(MENIY takes offense at this.)

MENIY

No.

SHEILA

(gently)

His concubine?

MENIY

(even more offended and repulsed)

No!

SHEILA

I’m sorry to pry into the past, which I’m sure you do not wish

to relive, but it couldn’t have been common in Midian for girls

to study under priests.

MENIY

It was not common.

SHEILA

Then please explain the circumstances.

MENIY

I am exceptional.

(SHEILA chuckles)

SHEILA

I knew you were a wonder, but this is unheard of. I see you had

status of some kind in Midian, you don’t have to tell me what it

was exactly, but here in the Israelite camps such exceptions

simply aren’t made. Besides, there isn’t much to read about El

Shaddai anyway. Moses’s scribes have only just begun recording

his prophecies.

MENIY

I would rather have my freedom than live here worshipping a god

unknown to me.

SHEILA

He won’t be unknown! Adonai doesn’t only reveal himself to those

who can read or write or who have great wealth or any of that.

He is known to all who listen. We will go to the temple and hear

teachings. You will learn well.

MENIY

I cannot be in a family that denies my potential.

(SHEILA falls silent. She thinks for

a moment, then sighs.)

SHEILA

If you will let me teach you what I know, and if you will

demonstrate this remarkable potential of yours to me as my

pupil, I will discuss the possibility of such an exception with

Elihu. I pray he doesn’t cast me out for even suggesting it.

This is the best I can offer. Please take it.

MENIY

Alright. I accept.

(SHEILA breathes a sigh of relief

and laughs.)

SHEILA

Yes! Yes, Meniy, I knew you were a wonder, and now I know you’re

a fighter! You will fit very well among us. Now let’s get your

mat from your quarters and begin the——

MENIY

——I have no mat. I’m ready to leave now.

SHEILA

Oh please, whatever you have I will help you carry.

MENIY

I have nothing. I’m ready to leave now.

SHEILA

Well...alright! Oh, I can’t wait to introduce you to my son. The

instant Zimran hears that sharp tongue of yours he will fall in

love.

(SHEILA leads the way home, speaking

as she walks offstage. MENIY trails

behind her with a sinister grin on

her face.)

(BLACKOUT)

(END OF SCENE)