“The heart of the plays is the transformative power of the imagination. You are about fearless creativity.”—Roger Holzberg, former VP / Creative Director, Walt Disney Imagineering, and founder of Reimagine Well
The Hero/ine’s Journey
The following three plays explore Joseph Campbell’s Journey Wheel.
Gates In and Out
Following the path of Joseph Campbell’s Hero/ine’s Journey Wheel, Every Soul leaves Home and meets the Old One, who has advice for passing through the Gate In. Inside another world, the Temenos, Every Soul and Companion walk the Road of Trials, meeting a Dragon and a Witch. To reach the Gate Out, Every Soul must survive the Nigredo – the place of complete transformation. This play is a dramatic enactment of the journey central to every story ever told. Individuals can read it and understand the Hero/ine’s Journey. Family, friends, reading groups can read through it and discuss. It can be performed alone, or with one or both of the other plays, and/or incorporated into a workshop.
Characters: Six characters
Time: 40 minute production
Skills: Mime skills will be useful.
Performances
First Performance: St. Louis Jung Conference
Second Performance: Kansas City, Friends of Jung
Third Performance: Joseph Campbell’s 25th anniversary conference, Hudson, NY
The Water of Life
The King is ill and only the Water of Life can cure him. The two elder sons leave Home to try, but end up trapped. The youngest son manages to avoid the traps. He receives the Water of Life from a lovely woman who will be free in a year and a day.
Characters: Five characters
Time: 40 minute production
Skills: Mime skills will be useful.
Performances
This play toured with both the Colorado Caravan and the Overland Stage Company theatres to Colorado and Wyoming towns and schools.
Waiting for Baba Yaga
The Russian version of Cinderella tells a very different story. Here the heroine, Vasalisa, is forced by the stepmother and sisters to leave Home, and enter the dark forest near her father’s house. She is to fetch a light from Baba Yaga, the witch who lives in a house that turns with the sun on a chicken leg, and whose porch posts hold human skulls. Baba Yaga gives Vasalisa three tasks to complete, threatening to eat her if she can’t finish. Once through this Road of Trials, Vasalisa returns home. She has the light she needs, and a personal gift from Baba Yaga which she uses to transform her life.
Characters: Up to ten characters if not doubling
Time: 40 minute production
Skills: Mime skills will be useful.
Performances
First reading: Hilo, Hawaii playwriting group, Summer 2016
Second reading: Colorado Caravan reunion June, 2018
Mummer’s Plays
These two Mummer’s plays are from a thousand-plus year old tradition where the people of a specific area enact a play to honor a particular time of year. The parts are held in oral memory, and passed down the generations. St. George and the Knightmare Knight is our version of one of the most widely preserved plays. Much more research was required to reconstruct the Lady Marion and Robin Hood play.
St. George and the Nightmare Knight
St. George and the Nightmare Knight is our version of the traditional mummers’ play performed for centuries in the British Isles and colonies. We have performed it for forty-five years; the fourth generation is now riding the swords.
Lady Marion and Robin Hood
An older version of this play would feature Lady Marion as the Queen of the May and Robin Hood as the Green Man. There are many tales about these two and their adventures in Sherwood Forest. This play includes some of the most traditional.
Transformation
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