Copyright held by the Manhattan Experimental Theater Workshop
View Permission for Production Policy
Written by Chris Auten, Amanda Paez, and Elizabeth Uthoff
Directed by Blake E. Bolan
Under the influence of Jerzy Grotowski
The Prologue: Burning Bush, Etc.
God: Turn from my face, for you are in the presence of the Lord. Do not stray from the path I’ve lit for you.
Moses: I burn in three ways for you, Lord.
Israelites: Our hearts are stricken with fear in the presence of you.
Chapter 29
This is the rite you shall perform in consecrating them as my priests.
(The scrubbing of the alter and selves, which transitions into the ceremony of placing hands on an animal and killing it, then splattering selves and alter with blood; a communal ritual.) There Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on its head. Take some of its blood with your finger. All the fat that covers its inner organs, as well as the lobe of its liver and its two kidneys, together with the fat that is on them, you shall take and burn on the alter. Then take one of the rams, and after Aaron and his sons have laid their hands on its head, slaughter it. Its inner organs and shanks you shall first wash, and then put them with the pieces and with the head. A sweet-smelling oblation to the Lord. Some of its blood the tip of Aaron’s right ear the tips of his sons’ right ears the thumbs of their right hands the toes of their right feet. Take some of the blood sprinkle this on Aaron as well as on his sons that his sons and their vestments may be sacred. Now, from this ram you shall take its fat: its fatty tail, the fat that covers its inner organs, the love of its liver, its two kidneys with the fat that is on them, and its right thigh, since this is the ordination ram. You shall burn them on top of the holocaust.
(One person lights the others and themselves on fire. Once lit as a sacrifice, each person begins burning and repeating some section of the above text, all speaking different sections at the same time; an individual cataclysmic event.)
(Ashes to ashes.) This is the rite you shall perform in consecrating them as my priests.
(The scrubbing process begins again.)
This is the blood of the covenant.
Fear
(God is hidden; the Israelites transition from pose to pose detailing their fear of the Lord.)
God: You are stiff-necked people
Israel: Tell him that you’re never gonna leave him
God: They have soon turned aside from the ways pointed out to them
Israel: Tell him that you’re always gonna love him
God: Making for themselves a molten calf and worshiping it
Israel: If you want him to be the very part of you that makes you want to breathe
God: Sacrificing to it…
Israel: Tell him that you’re never gonna leave him
God: And crying out “This is your God, O Israel”
Israel: Tell him that you’re always gonna love him
God: Who brought you out of the land of Egypt
Israel: Tell him, tell him, tell him, tell him
God: My wrath may blaze up against them to consume them
Israel: Tell him, tell him, tell him, tell him right now!
God: Him only who has sinned against me I will strike out of my book.
The Idol Worshippers
Person 1(Broken Record): Commandment number five- Thou Shalt Not Kill.
(This line is repeated by this person throughout the entire scene.)
(Person 2 is on top of the stairs)
Person 2(“Characters”): I am the God your father. The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt and have heard their cry and complaint against their slave drivers, so I well knew they were suffering. Therefore …(Change from light and casual tone to heavy and angry tone) my wrath blaze up against them to consume them. Then I will make you a great nation…Go down at once to your people they have become depraved. Making themselves a molten calf and worshiping it, sacrificing to it and crying out, ‘This is your God, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt’.
(During Person 3 monologue, Person 2 comes down from stairs and explores set)
Person 3 (The Omniscient Narrator): Moses then turned and came down the mountain with the two tablets of the commandments, tablets that were written on both sides, front to back;(Beat to allow person one to give line with no overlapping) tablets that were made by God(Beat) As he drew near to camp, he saw the calf and the dancing. Moses’ wrath flared up, so that he threw the tablets and broke them. He stood at the gate of the camp and cried-
(Line carries to next Person 2)
Person 2: Whoever is for the Lord, let him come to me! (Beat) Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: put your sword on your hip, every one of you!(Beat) Now go up and down the camp, from gate to gate, and slay your own kinsmen,(Person 2 screams this line, while simultaneously, Person 3says their line)-
Person 2: THOSE WHO WERE ESPECIALLY GUILTY OF IDOL WORSHIP!
Person 3: That day there fell about three thousand of the people. (Person 3 repeats line throughout rest of scene)
(Person 2 pause, while Persons 1 and 3 continue with lines)
Person 2: You have committed a grave sin. I will go up to the Lord, then; perhaps I may be able to make atonement for your sin.
(After Person 2 says there last line, they slowly make there way back up to the steps while Persons 1 and 3 continue with lines)
Person 2: Him only who has sinned against me I will strike out of my book. When it is time for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin…but I myself will not go up in your company, otherwise I might exterminate you on the way.
Person 2: Otherwise I might exterminate you on the way. (This line, and all of the other lines currently being repeated are said for about 15-20 seconds longer all together. Once they have all come to a stop they say-)
All: Thus the Lord smote the people for having the calf.
(*Character Notes:
Person 3 should get up in the faces of the audience. Move around a lot and play with the set. Person 1 should move very slowly along the ground but should try to cover the entire set while also trying to avoid the rest of the cast. Person 2 should be slowly coming back towards the stairs during the Moses portrayal. So that it doesn’t take to long for them to get back up the stairs. But just long enough. Person 2 should have different voices for God (on stairs) portrayal, and Moses (not on stairs) portrayal, but not different masks.)
The Land of Milk and Honey
Person 1 makes smacking, eating and chewing sounds
Person 2 repeats “Milk and Honey” in a low growl
Person 3 repeats Ex. Ch.13 Verse. 19:
Moses also took Joseph’s bones along, for Joseph had made the Israelites swear solemnly that, when God should come to them, they would carry his bones away with them.
Bricks Slash Building
(Person 1 is on top of the stairs, acting as Pharaoh. Persons 2 and 3 are down on the pushing/lifting/moving a large block; every time they have to rest they say * )
*Persons 2 and 3: O Lord; God of Israel, come and rescue us from the land of Egypt!
Person 1: Let them go and gather straw themselves! Yet you shall levy on them the same quota of bricks as they have previously made. Do not reduce it. They are lazy; that is why they are crying, ‘Let us go to offer sacrifice to our God.’ Increase the work for the men, so they keep their minds on it The day you appear before me you shall die!
Persons 2 and 3: One more plague will I bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt. He will not merely let you go; he will drive you away.
(After this line is said, Persons 2 and 3 knock there blocks over and do not start again)
Person 1: Leave my people at once, you and the Israelites with you!
Person 2 and 3: I will send before you an angel to the land of milk and honey.
(Persons 2 and 3 start to build up there blocks again, but before they finish they knock them down and start over, but instead of saying * they sing #, and sing that for the rest of the scene over and over)
#Persons 2 and 3 (a dirge or the song of chain gang)-
2: Well we're Movin' on Up
3: Movin' on Up
2: To the east side
3: Movin' on Up
2: To a dee-luxe apartment in the sky, We're movin' on up
3: Movin' on Up
2: To the east side
3: Movin' on Up
2& 3:We've finally got a piece of the pie
(Person 1 is now God instead of Pharaoh, still on the stairs)
Person 1: (quick and matter of fact) The various experts who were executing the work built…The Altar of Holocausts…made of acacia wood, on a square, five cubits long and five cubits wide; its height was three cubits. At the four corners horns were made that sprang directly from the altar. The hole was plated with bronze. All the utensils of the altar, the pots, shovels, basins, forks and fire pans, were likewise made of bronze. A network of bronze grating was made for the altar and placed around it, on the ground, half as high as the altar itself. Four rings were cast for the four corners of the bronze grating, as holders for the poles, which were made of acacia wood and were plated with bronze. The poles were put through the rings on the sides of the altar carrying it. The altar was made in the form of a hollow box…This is what the lord commanded, everyone…shall bring, as a contribution to the Lord, gold, silver, bronze; violet, purple, scarlet yarn, fine linen and goat fur; rams’ skins died red, and tahash skins…
(Person 1 stops talking, but Persons 2 and 3 continue laboring and singing for 10 more seconds)
The Land of Milk and Honey Part II
Person 1 makes smacking, eating and chewing sounds
Person 2 repeats “Milk and Honey” in a low growl
Person 3 repeats Ex. Ch.13 Verse. 19:
Moses also took Joseph’s bones along, for Joseph had made the Israelites swear solemnly that, when God should come to them, they would carry his bones away with them.
Darkness
(The lights that shine directly on the actors begins to fade, and the weight of the darkness crushes them. It presses down harder and harder until it is almost unbearable.)
All: There was light where God’s favorites dwelt. Where the completely innocent dwelt.
Person 1: Well a burnin’ bush told me just the other day
Person 2: Moses saw an Egyptian striking an Israelite, on of his own kinsmen. Looking out and seeing no one. . . .
All: He slew the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.
Person 1: That I should come over here and stay
Person 1 and 2: And get God’s people out of Pharoah’s hand
All: And lead them all to the promised land
Person 2: Go, and slay your own kinsmen.
(The weight is too much to bear; it crushes everyone completely.)
All: I will never appear before you again.
Israel and Amalek
(Moses, Aaron and Hur begin on opposite end of the space from the stairs, Moses with his back to the stairs. Aaron and Hur begin to drag Moses across the space and up the stairs, with Moses’ resistance growing stronger as they travel. Moses should be trying with all his strength to put his arms down and the other two trying to keep his arms up while still dragging him. While this happens, each has text that will grow and vary until end of scene.)
Moses: Amalek
Aaron: Support his hands so that his hands remain steady till sunset.
Hur: As long as Moses had his hands raised, Israel had the better fight
Once at the top of the steps, all stop but Moses pants/recovers
Aaron, Hur: Blot out the memory of Amalek from under the heavens
Chapter 29 Revisited
(The image of scrubbing the alter and selves is replayed.)
This is the blood of the covenant.
The Epilogue: Burning Bush, Etc. (The Prologue: Burning Bush, Etc.)
God: Turn from my face, for you are in the presence of the Lord. Do not stray from the path I’ve lit for you.
Moses: I burn in three ways for you, Lord.
Israelites: Our hearts are stricken with fear in the presence of you.
Chapter 29
This is the rite you shall perform in consecrating them as my priests.
(The scrubbing of the alter and selves, which transitions into the ceremony of placing hands on an animal and killing it, then splattering selves and alter with blood; a communal ritual.) There Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on its head. Take some of its blood with your finger. All the fat that covers its inner organs, as well as the lobe of its liver and its two kidneys, together with the fat that is on them, you shall take and burn on the alter. Then take one of the rams, and after Aaron and his sons have laid their hands on its head, slaughter it. Its inner organs and shanks you shall first wash, and then put them with the pieces and with the head. A sweet-smelling oblation to the Lord. Some of its blood the tip of Aaron’s right ear the tips of his sons’ right ears the thumbs of their right hands the toes of their right feet. Take some of the blood sprinkle this on Aaron as well as on his sons that his sons and their vestments may be sacred. Now, from this ram you shall take its fat: its fatty tail, the fat that covers its inner organs, the love of its liver, its two kidneys with the fat that is on them, and its right thigh, since this is the ordination ram. You shall burn them on top of the holocaust.
(One person lights the others and themselves on fire. Once lit as a sacrifice, each person begins burning and repeating some section of the above text, all speaking different sections at the same time; an individual cataclysmic event.)
(Ashes to ashes.) This is the rite you shall perform in consecrating them as my priests.
(The scrubbing process begins again.)
This is the blood of the covenant.
Fear
(God is hidden; the Israelites transition from pose to pose detailing their fear of the Lord.)
God: You are stiff-necked people
Israel: Tell him that you’re never gonna leave him
God: They have soon turned aside from the ways pointed out to them
Israel: Tell him that you’re always gonna love him
God: Making for themselves a molten calf and worshiping it
Israel: If you want him to be the very part of you that makes you want to breathe
God: Sacrificing to it…
Israel: Tell him that you’re never gonna leave him
God: And crying out “This is your God, O Israel”
Israel: Tell him that you’re always gonna love him
God: Who brought you out of the land of Egypt
Israel: Tell him, tell him, tell him, tell him
God: My wrath may blaze up against them to consume them
Israel: Tell him, tell him, tell him, tell him right now!
God: Him only who has sinned against me I will strike out of my book.
The Idol Worshippers
Person 1(Broken Record): Commandment number five- Thou Shalt Not Kill.
(This line is repeated by this person throughout the entire scene.)
(Person 2 is on top of the stairs)
Person 2(“Characters”): I am the God your father. The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt and have heard their cry and complaint against their slave drivers, so I well knew they were suffering. Therefore …(Change from light and casual tone to heavy and angry tone) my wrath blaze up against them to consume them. Then I will make you a great nation…Go down at once to your people they have become depraved. Making themselves a molten calf and worshiping it, sacrificing to it and crying out, ‘This is your God, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt’.
(During Person 3 monologue, Person 2 comes down from stairs and explores set)
Person 3 (The Omniscient Narrator): Moses then turned and came down the mountain with the two tablets of the commandments, tablets that were written on both sides, front to back;(Beat to allow person one to give line with no overlapping) tablets that were made by God(Beat) As he drew near to camp, he saw the calf and the dancing. Moses’ wrath flared up, so that he threw the tablets and broke them. He stood at the gate of the camp and cried-
(Line carries to next Person 2)
Person 2: Whoever is for the Lord, let him come to me! (Beat) Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: put your sword on your hip, every one of you!(Beat) Now go up and down the camp, from gate to gate, and slay your own kinsmen,(Person 2 screams this line, while simultaneously, Person 3says their line)-
Person 2: THOSE WHO WERE ESPECIALLY GUILTY OF IDOL WORSHIP!
Person 3: That day there fell about three thousand of the people. (Person 3 repeats line throughout rest of scene)
(Person 2 pause, while Persons 1 and 3 continue with lines)
Person 2: You have committed a grave sin. I will go up to the Lord, then; perhaps I may be able to make atonement for your sin.
(After Person 2 says there last line, they slowly make there way back up to the steps while Persons 1 and 3 continue with lines)
Person 2: Him only who has sinned against me I will strike out of my book. When it is time for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin…but I myself will not go up in your company, otherwise I might exterminate you on the way.
Person 2: Otherwise I might exterminate you on the way. (This line, and all of the other lines currently being repeated are said for about 15-20 seconds longer all together. Once they have all come to a stop they say-)
All: Thus the Lord smote the people for having the calf.
(*Character Notes:
Person 3 should get up in the faces of the audience. Move around a lot and play with the set. Person 1 should move very slowly along the ground but should try to cover the entire set while also trying to avoid the rest of the cast. Person 2 should be slowly coming back towards the stairs during the Moses portrayal. So that it doesn’t take to long for them to get back up the stairs. But just long enough. Person 2 should have different voices for God (on stairs) portrayal, and Moses (not on stairs) portrayal, but not different masks.)
The Land of Milk and Honey
Person 1 makes smacking, eating and chewing sounds
Person 2 repeats “Milk and Honey” in a low growl
Person 3 repeats Ex. Ch.13 Verse. 19:
Moses also took Joseph’s bones along, for Joseph had made the Israelites swear solemnly that, when God should come to them, they would carry his bones away with them.
Bricks Slash Building
(Person 1 is on top of the stairs, acting as Pharaoh. Persons 2 and 3 are down on the pushing/lifting/moving a large block; every time they have to rest they say * )
*Persons 2 and 3: O Lord; God of Israel, come and rescue us from the land of Egypt!
Person 1: Let them go and gather straw themselves! Yet you shall levy on them the same quota of bricks as they have previously made. Do not reduce it. They are lazy; that is why they are crying, ‘Let us go to offer sacrifice to our God.’ Increase the work for the men, so they keep their minds on it The day you appear before me you shall die!
Persons 2 and 3: One more plague will I bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt. He will not merely let you go; he will drive you away.
(After this line is said, Persons 2 and 3 knock there blocks over and do not start again)
Person 1: Leave my people at once, you and the Israelites with you!
Person 2 and 3: I will send before you an angel to the land of milk and honey.
(Persons 2 and 3 start to build up there blocks again, but before they finish they knock them down and start over, but instead of saying * they sing #, and sing that for the rest of the scene over and over)
#Persons 2 and 3 (a dirge or the song of chain gang)-
2: Well we're Movin' on Up
3: Movin' on Up
2: To the east side
3: Movin' on Up
2: To a dee-luxe apartment in the sky, We're movin' on up
3: Movin' on Up
2: To the east side
3: Movin' on Up
2& 3:We've finally got a piece of the pie
(Person 1 is now God instead of Pharaoh, still on the stairs)
Person 1: (quick and matter of fact) The various experts who were executing the work built…The Altar of Holocausts…made of acacia wood, on a square, five cubits long and five cubits wide; its height was three cubits. At the four corners horns were made that sprang directly from the altar. The hole was plated with bronze. All the utensils of the altar, the pots, shovels, basins, forks and fire pans, were likewise made of bronze. A network of bronze grating was made for the altar and placed around it, on the ground, half as high as the altar itself. Four rings were cast for the four corners of the bronze grating, as holders for the poles, which were made of acacia wood and were plated with bronze. The poles were put through the rings on the sides of the altar carrying it. The altar was made in the form of a hollow box…This is what the lord commanded, everyone…shall bring, as a contribution to the Lord, gold, silver, bronze; violet, purple, scarlet yarn, fine linen and goat fur; rams’ skins died red, and tahash skins…
(Person 1 stops talking, but Persons 2 and 3 continue laboring and singing for 10 more seconds)
The Land of Milk and Honey Part II
Person 1 makes smacking, eating and chewing sounds
Person 2 repeats “Milk and Honey” in a low growl
Person 3 repeats Ex. Ch.13 Verse. 19:
Moses also took Joseph’s bones along, for Joseph had made the Israelites swear solemnly that, when God should come to them, they would carry his bones away with them.
Darkness
(The lights that shine directly on the actors begins to fade, and the weight of the darkness crushes them. It presses down harder and harder until it is almost unbearable.)
All: There was light where God’s favorites dwelt. Where the completely innocent dwelt.
Person 1: Well a burnin’ bush told me just the other day
Person 2: Moses saw an Egyptian striking an Israelite, on of his own kinsmen. Looking out and seeing no one. . . .
All: He slew the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.
Person 1: That I should come over here and stay
Person 1 and 2: And get God’s people out of Pharoah’s hand
All: And lead them all to the promised land
Person 2: Go, and slay your own kinsmen.
(The weight is too much to bear; it crushes everyone completely.)
All: I will never appear before you again.
Israel and Amalek
(Moses, Aaron and Hur begin on opposite end of the space from the stairs, Moses with his back to the stairs. Aaron and Hur begin to drag Moses across the space and up the stairs, with Moses’ resistance growing stronger as they travel. Moses should be trying with all his strength to put his arms down and the other two trying to keep his arms up while still dragging him. While this happens, each has text that will grow and vary until end of scene.)
Moses: Amalek
Aaron: Support his hands so that his hands remain steady till sunset.
Hur: As long as Moses had his hands raised, Israel had the better fight
Once at the top of the steps, all stop but Moses pants/recovers
Aaron, Hur: Blot out the memory of Amalek from under the heavens
Chapter 29 Revisited
(The image of scrubbing the alter and selves is replayed.)
This is the blood of the covenant.
The Epilogue: Burning Bush, Etc.
God: Turn from my face, for you are in the presence of the Lord. Do not stray from the path I’ve lit for you.
Moses: I burn in three ways for you, Lord.
Israelites: Our hearts are stricken with fear in the presence of you.
