#27: THE FABLE OF TEAR VALLEY

A PUPPET SHOW
Written by
Joseph Frost
Draft
8/28/16
written for the 2016 31 Plays in 31 Days project

Joseph Frost, 2016

4550 Normandy Dr
Jackson, MS 39206
FrostJosephD@gmail.com
* member, Dramatists Guild of America

An empty stage.
A backdrop of mountains with a valley between.
NARRATOR
In a place not high in the mountains, nor by the sea, a place between the two, there was a
land. And the land was lush and green, with rains and rivers, and all the water it could
hold.
A river is shown, emerging though the mountains.
NARRATOR (CONTD)
And the green fields fed many flocks.
Sheep graze.
NARRATOR (CONTD)
And they drank at the banks of the flowing river.
Sheep drink.
The sheep scurry off.
A girl appears.
NARRATOR (CONTD)
And in this land, there lived a girl. And she loved the land. She loved the sight of the green
fields, and the sound of the water at the rapids.
The girl visits those places.
NARRATOR (CONTD)
But the girl. She was afraid. She was afraid - of water.
(beat)
She was afraid of the river.
(beat)
She was afraid of the morning dew.
A storm cloud emerges.
NARRATOR (CONTD)
She was afraid when it fell from the storm clouds.
(beat)
She would cry and cry.

2.
The girl sits down and cries.
The cloud goes away.
NARRATOR (CONTD)
And she would continue to cry, as tears, water from her eyes, streamed down her face.
The girls tears are fabric coming out of her eyes.
NARRATOR (CONTD)
And she became afraid of her tears. And it made her cry more.
She does. More fabric.
NARRATOR (CONTD)
Each tear that rolled made her cry all the more, until the tear water piled up around her.
The fabric water fills the area.
NARRATOR (CONTD)
And the rivers were flooded. And they filled the fields, and the entire valley became a salt
lake of tears. With the girl at the center, sitting on the lake bed, face frozen in fear, without
peace, until she drowned.
The fabric covers her.
She stops crying. She stops doing anything.
NARRATOR (CONTD)
It took years before the tear waters righted themselves, and flowed in proportion to the
needs of the valley again.
The waters begin to go.
NARRATOR (CONTD)
And as they did, away went any trace of the girl, and her fears, down the stream.
The girl goes away with the water.
NARRATOR (CONTD)
And there was peace in the valley again.
The mountain backdrop establishes again.

3.
Lights down.
End.