Copyright held by the Manhattan Experimental Theater Workshop
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Written by Katie Barkley, Ashley Donnert, Camille Sultana, & Ellen Welti
Performed by Ellen, Ashley, and Katie
Directed by Ashley Flinn
Under the influence of Gertrude Stein
GOD’s people
Reuben
Simeon and Levi
Judah
Issacha
Zebulun and Benjamin
Naphtali
Dan, Gad, and Asher
70 descendants of Joseph
All dead
PHARAOH daughter pick up baby basket boy
MOSES MOSES here I am
Scared MOSES scared GOD
Staff snakes PHARAOH
PHARAOH snakes back
GOD fingers GUHnats
MOSES talks
Talks to PHARAOH warning
Warning warning of death
oh PHARAOH
oh obdurate PHARAOH
after six is seven! blood is cleaned on the seventh day
the seventh day soon bloodied people cleaned blood
After six is seven
is seven six after seven is not six before six is not seven after what is six
before before before
separation creation multiplication add add add oppression
thus it was so
thus they were smote
The Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzities, Hintities, and Jebusites, their land of milk and honey shall be your land they will move out
they will move out
You shall move in.
Land filled with honey milk
Milked honey land
flows down
flow downs down flows sounds like honey and milk
now.
pause on this day.
After six before eight
this day of seven
this is the seventh day
the end
Who migrated with Jacob into EGYPT
these households of Jews
Jews fill fill these households these jewhouses
seven end
end of seven
GOD GOD GOD GOD
burning boiled boils boil
festered boils fester EGYPT
GOD! GOD! GOD! GOD!
nothing to cover my glory
rain comes raining balls
thunder peals flashing lights
people people
short sweet live animals
I am I AM’s servant and I am your GOD.
my hand! spoketh the Lord
my mighty hand.
MY RIGHT HAND
magnificent in power
who is like you, magnificent in holiness, who, but you oh lordy has a right hand.
oh oh oh oh
your right hand
your hand power
power righteous hand so right
so hand so righteously right
oh oh oh oh
Golden calf
Molted calf
Molted gold calf
Feast for calf
Offerings made for calf
The lord smote the people for gold
not black blue
not black gray
not black red or black yellow or black green
but black
black black
are we agreed
we
GOD MOSES PHARAOH Aaron
they sit sit down, high!
they watch, watch from above.
they watch sit down high above
“do not reduce it. they are lazy, that is why they are crying.”
homes and thoughts and mules and bones.
EGYPT’s full of itself
ISRAEL you take take take take those bones
give the sun dried bricks greater consistency
came to the sea
the red sea
the red, redder then red sea
the red, so red everything is dead, red sea
Aaron said for MOSES said for GOD said,
“let my people go”
40 years and not years
GOD passed to Time and time passed away
GOD passed right over ISRAEL and said this shall not pass
but the claim was unclaimed when the lord unclaimed it
the EGYPTIANS ran swiftly but what they had not seen
the sand not sinking
the sand not soft
the sand not under their feet
wet as wet as wet as wet as wet
as promise
a promise land
I will promise a promise a promise land
I will promise a promise a promise a promise a promise a promise a promise; of a promise land
EGYPT eats crackers and barley water
ISRAEL eats milk and honey
thus it was so
thus they were smote
their hall-joys were hushes
they were into the midst
locked up where the laughter-makers
Thusly they were smote and thusly they departed.
“now now now now MOSES”
spoketh GOD
“now MOSES MOSES MOSES MOSES MOSES,
is I not I, the lord, is it not I, the lord. go then. go then MOSES. now MOSES go.
pause.
Pause.
pause for now until now we go.
yes there be blood abounding
six days it trickles into
trickle
trickle
the rivers
your rivers
your wicker hats
your wicker huts
your wicker hut hat huts
your wicker rivers
Fish river die said lord is blood
came from a cane
came from a can.
came came from Aaron came from a mountaintop
hail brother
hail sister
hail river
hail mountain
hail I AM
never is the lord’s song round
neither round nor wrong
pause.
now pause.
The PHARAOH was at hand behind
behind at hand
at foot behind
behind at toe
in front at foot
in front a foot
a foot to right
to right, to right, to left, to left
to left above
to left below
below behind
behind
the PHARAOH was behind
natives, strangers, native strangers, foreigners, foreign natives, Levites, Mennonites, Dans, tribes, tribal clans, and father, brother, lover, father in laws all with Jews.
GOD’s people
people people jews
short sweet live animals
turn your staff into a snake.
stretch out your staff.
You shall not eat unleavened bread. bread without leven shall you eat. leave leavened bread lest you die. Not leavened unleavened bread eat except accepting unleavened leavened leavenless bread left.
flows down
flies forever
Lo! She was born and she was not free
Lo! He was born and he was killed!
I am free to kill as long as I am dead. I am free to live but not freed. II I was killed I would have been free to live. Freed, and free to kill. If freedom had not killed me.
Me meets I am me meets you. not me meeting me not me meeting am I? I am!
EGYPTian magicians
o-press pressing down down with
bricks straw bricks and mud holes
downdowndown
GODGODGOD
do not not not do not kill 1st born the first born child
live through death of the first born
one dies one lives die first born die live first born live
they did a lot of digging when there was blood
all over
all over is magic not GOD
GOD is not
fish is dead
all over is dead is all over blood
death is all blood is dead is all dead
all is all is all is all is over and dead.
