Nantahala:Drama:R. Rex Stephenson

In the early 1980s I had heard some rumors that there was once a witch in the Redwood area of Franklin County. I finally persuaded two elderly women in that area to talk with me about the alleged witch. The information that they provided assisted me in the creation of Mrs. Tate, the central character in Wicca. Roddy Moore, the Director of the Blue Ridge Institute, also assisted me with books and other materials from its archives. And finally, my daughter, Janice Lynn, who knew a white witch that could blow fire, helped me draw the character of Mrs. Anderson. Some of the plot of the drama comes from the English Ballad “Little Massie Grove.”

Production Notes:

Wicca is an extremely versatile play that may be done as a simply staged play; however, it can also be staged as elaborately as the theatre can afford. A variety of levels and partial sets can enhance the mystical nature of the production. Furthermore, the use of fog machines, strobe lights, and a mirror ball will all aid in creating a magical quality to the piece.

Craig ……………………………….an unsympathetic orderly in the nursing

Mrs. Tate……………………………an old women at the opening of the play who

turns into the young witch, Susanna

Dr. Simpson……………………….a psychologist who is in charge of the

Rachel………………………………a girl of thirteen who visits Mrs. Tate

Anderson…………………………..a young white witch in Mrs. Tate’s

recollections and an elderly patient, Mrs. Anderson, in the nursing home

Lord Darnold……………………… a tall, handsome Virginia aristocrat who

Sara…………………………………an attractive, flirtatious young woman

Carrie………………………………. a friend of Sara’s

Little Massie Grove………………. a short, but appealing young man

(Mrs. Tate is sleeping in a wheelchair, center, with her back to audience. Craig enters, and crosses to her.)

CRAIG: Mrs. Tate, it’s time for your afternoon nap. Are you awake, Mrs. Tate? (He shakes her arm.) Time to wake up.

MRS. TATE: It’s 1:30. Rest period isn’t until 2:30.

CRAIG: (Checking his watch) That’s true and I realize that changing time schedules on the elderly always causes confusion. However,…

MRS. TATE: I’m not confused. (She swings the wheelchair around and rolls it over his foot. Craig screams in pain.) And why is it, whenever you say “elderly,” you make it sound four heartbeats away from death?

CRAIG: I need to wheel you off for your naptime. I have some medication that will put you to sleep and make you feel better. Okay, Mrs. Tate? (He begins to wheel her off, but Mrs. Tate puts on the right wheelchair brake, causing the chair to go around in a circle.).

MRS. TATE: No! No! No!

CRAIG: Now we need our nap. (He unlocks the brake.)

MRS. TATE: Are you going to take one, too?

CRAIG: Let’s not be difficult.

MRS. TATE: Yes, I am going to be difficult!

CRAIG: (Crossing around in front of the wheelchair) We all have rules and we must all obey them.

MRS. TATE: I obey all your silly rules. I get up when you say so. I eat when you say so. I even go to the toilet when you say so, but my rest period is not for another hour. (She puts the wheelchair brake on again.)

CRAIG: Flexibility, Mrs. Tate. We should all learn to flow with the tide. (He takes the wheelchair brake off again.)

MRS. TATE: You flow! I’m dropping anchor. (She puts on the brake again.)

CRAIG: Now, now, we’re being feisty today, aren’t we?

MRS. TATE: I will not go until 2:30. I am expecting someone.

CRAIG: Isn’t everyone around here always expecting someone? After our nap, if someone comes, you can visit all you want. (He takes the brake off again.)

MRS. TATE: Nope. I’m waiting for a child. She’s coming to visit me today. I feel she’s on her way.

(Mrs. Tate and Craig fight back and forth over the wheelchair brake. Dr. Simpson enters stage right and crosses towards them.)

SIMPSON: Some trouble?

CRAIG: No. Well, Mrs. Tate just feels “something” again. It’s awful

when senility sets in.

SIMPSON: Is that the problem?

CRAIG: Yes… No. Not exactly. I was trying to get her to take her nap.

SIMPSON: It’s a bit early, isn’t it?

CRAIG: I thought she could take her nap early.

SIMPSON: Well, Craig, wait until 2:30. Aren’t you always amazed at how these old folks have such an accurate sense of time? And most of them don’t even own a watch.

CRAIG: Yes, weird, isn’t it? (Dr. Simpson exits; Craig crosses back to Mrs. Tate.) I’ve persuaded Dr. Simpson to let you stay up an hour longer. I hope your visitor arrives in time.

MRS. TATE: (She mumbles an incantation; sound effect.)

CRAIG: (He grabs his leg in pain.) Oh, there’s that pain again!

MRS. TATE: Damned nursing home orderly! They’re all alike! Treat you like you were twelve years old. Well, if I had my full powers, I would turn that boy into a toad. A big, ugly, brown, warty toad. (She addresses the audience.) I could, you know…or at least forty years ago I could have. I live here in the Sunny Acres Home for the Aged. We are called senior citizens, veterans, mature adults, old timers, the elderly. Why don’t they just say old people? When people ask, I say I’m 85 – I’m older than that, but 85 is enough.

(Lights fade; Mrs. Tate freezes; spot up on Dr. Simpson. The following speeches are said to the audience.)

SIMPSON: Gerontologists would say that the elderly suffer from disengagement from society and decreased interaction. Many have retired to nothing and need useful activities to occupy their time. These activities make them want to live.

CRAIG: We provide painting by numbers, crocheting, jigsaw puzzles, checkers, television, and Bingo!

SIMPSON: It is difficult for the elderly to make changes in their living arrangements. They need help in establishing new friendships and assuming a new role in society. Social interaction is the key. (Mrs. Tate comes out of the freeze.)

MRS. TATE: You understand nothing! All your studies and all your sociologists’ big invented words are about two things: to be needed, that’s one; and to be able to share, that’s the other.

CRAIG: We used to try to have dances here, but the old people kept falling down, and then it really wasn’t fair to those in wheelchairs. But Bingo is something challenging; they can all do it and win candy bars!

MRS. TATE: What they don’t understand is that even though I’m old, there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t feel young again. The body is wrinkled and the hair is silvered but some part of every day, I feel eighteen again. (She freezes.)

SIMPSON: Our most pressing problem is that of senility. The state is caused by increasingly accentuated sclerosis of the organs…the body becomes mummified, so to speak. The memory begins to suffer lapses, intellectual effort produces fatigue, and the imagination becomes blunted. (Simpson and Craig freeze.)

MRS. TATE: (She moves toward Dr. Simpson.) Oh, there are things I could tell you, Doctor. Things that would mummify your heart and other things that would terrify your imagination. (To the audience) I know Rachel will visit me today.

RACHEL: (She enters.) I hope, Mrs. Tate, that you don’t mind me dropping in on you unexpectedly. Mrs. Tate? (Rachel touches her gently and she unfreezes, as do Simpson and Craig.) I said I hope you don’t mind me dropping in on you unexpectedly.

CRAIG: (He crosses to them.) Why, how nice, Mrs. Tate. You have a visitor.

SIMPSON: (She crosses to them.) Just what the elderly need: interaction with the young.

MRS. TATE: Delays senility! And generally is much more exciting than Bingo!

CRAIG: Remember, forty minutes until naptime.

MRS. TATE: (She mumbles an incantation; sound effects.)

CRAIG: Ouch, that hurt! (He grabs leg in pain. Craig and Simpson exit.)

MRS. TATE: Stay with me, child.

RACHEL: I came back today for you to tell me more old stories.

MRS. TATE: I will.

RACHEL: Don’t laugh at me or think that this is silly because I’m so young, but I think you can teach me things, things that I want to learn from you. I think that they are evil, and I know that I shouldn’t want to know…

MRS. TATE: No, you shouldn’t. But you can’t get them out of your mind, can you? You have to know what I know.

RACHEL: Yes. Are they evil?

MRS. TATE: Evil, like beauty, is in the mind of the beholder.

RACHEL: My mother says I’m already pretty wicked.

MRS. TATE: Shall I teach you?

RACHEL: From the book?

MRS. TATE: What book?

RACHEL: The book that’s always by your side.

MRS. TATE: What an observant child you are. (She holds up a small, tattered leather bound book) You have the gift for it, you know.

RACHEL: Will you teach me from the book?

MRS. TATE: Once we start, there’s no turning back.

RACHEL: But I have to know.

MRS. TATE: Yes, you do. The book has all powers.

(Rachel kneels by Mrs. Tate and takes her hand. Both freeze)

SIMPSON: (Spot on Simpson) Therefore, senility causes the most brilliant intellect to flounder. However, in some of the elderly, intense concentration throughout a lifetime tends to expand the powers of that mind, giving it a more defined focus and, in rare instances, awesome powers… freakish, one might almost say. (Simpson exits)

RACHEL: Tell me about the book.

MRS. TATE: It’s the Sixth and Seventh books of Moses.

RACHEL: From the Bible?

MRS. TATE: They were in the Bible, but they were taken out.

RACHEL: Read to me from Moses…

MRS. TATE: I will, but first…

RACHEL: But first you must show me things.

MRS. TATE: Yes. You do have the gift for it. We must show them all. (She points to the audience)

RACHEL: (She’s oblivious to the audience.) All?

MRS. TATE: Yes, we are never alone! They have all come to see… to judge… to learn the power of Moses. Some of you are thinking -- don’t tell her -- it’s wicked.

VOICE: (Offstage) Wicca. W*I*C*C*A. Old English word meaning wicked; also derived from the word, Wicca, is the noun, Witch.

MRS. TATE: (To the audience.) She has the gift. If not from me, from somebody. (To Rachel) Child, believe with me. Concentrate. Extreme concentration. Let me show you what I know. (Lights dim; Rachel rises and begins to spin Mrs. Tate’s wheelchair around slowly.) We’ll go back, back in time, to when I was a young girl, not much older than you.

(Explosion goes off and then a blackout. Magical color lights spin. During the darkness Mrs. Tate takes off wig and shawl and becomes a young woman.)

VOICE: (Offstage) The Sixth and Seventh books of Moses were revealed by God to his faithful servant, Moses, on Mount Sinai, and in this manner they also came into the hands of Aaron, Joshua, David, Solomon, and their high priest, Shadrock. They provide the procedure to invoke the aid of demons and to cast hexes and spells. They are the mystery of all mysteries.

MRS. TATE: It is the mystery of all mysteries.

RACHEL: And are you going to teach me from the book, now?

MRS. TATE: First, I must show you the story of Little Massie Grove.

RACHEL: Is that a person or a thing?

MRS. TATE: He was a young man. But this is not really about him; it’s about Mr. Darnold. They always called him Lord Darnold around here. He was very handsome, so gallant with all the ladies. Why, there wasn’t a girl in Franklin County that didn’t wish to be his wife.

RACHEL: Including you?

MRS. TATE: You shall see. He was especially attracted to Sara.

DARNOLD: (Rachel and Mrs. Tate fade back into shadows. He enters following Sara.) Sara, why do you tantalize me so?

SARA: I tantalize you? The most sought after man in the entire county?

DARNOLD: Sara, please, will you accompany me to the picnic?

SARA: (She bows sarcastically.) Me, my Lord Darnold? Poor Sara Carpenter? Why, if I accompany you, there would probably be so many females about you, that you would hardly notice me.

DARNOLD: Why do you toy with me? You are well aware that I care for you more than any woman in Virginia.

SARA: Perhaps it’s because you are always so sure of yourself.

DARNOLD: It is true that I am confident in all aspects of my life but one, and you, my pet, are that one.

SARA: My Lord (teasing), if a man can have his pick from all the women, can one woman ever be sure she completely has his heart?

DARNOLD: Sara, you have my heart. You could make me the happiest man in this Commonwealth if you…

SARA: Oh, now. I bet you say those things to every woman. I mean, there’s always so many of them fluttering about you.

DARNOLD: Sara, you are a profound mystery to me. I am ready to spend my entire life with you and you won’t even accept an invitation to a picnic.

(They pantomime action as Mrs. Tate and Rachel step forward.)

RACHEL: Mrs. Tate, I don’t think you have much of a chance.

MRS. TATE: We’ll see.

RACHEL: You wouldn’t use the book, would you? Not magic?

MRS. TATE: Pay attention, my child. There are things to be learned from this story. Things I learned.

(Mrs. Tate and Rachel step back into the shadows.)

SARA: If only I could be sure, Lord Darnold. To speak of love is easy; to commit to love -- that is the test.

DARNOLD: Sara, if you only knew how much I love you.

MRS. TATE: (She crosses between them.) Oh. Am I interrupting something?

SARA: No, not really. I never seem to be able to talk to him without some feminine interruption.

DARNOLD: Please leave us alone, Susanna.

MRS. TATE: I didn’t want to interrupt anything. Actually, I wanted to talk to Sara.

DARNOLD: I beg your pardon, ladies. (He bows.) I’ll excuse myself. Sara, I will return shortly. (He exits.)

SARA: I’m surprised, Susanna. You’ve never sought me out before.

MRS. TATE: I thought it was a good time.

SARA: It wasn’t a good time. I think he was about to ask me…

MRS. TATE: To be his wife? He had pledged undying affection.

SARA: (She is confused) Yes. I…I didn’t see you standing near.

MRS. TATE: And are you going to accept his proposal of marriage?

SARA: Yes. He’s so tall and handsome, and let me tell you the silliest thing. He has the most adorable chin. I have always loved that chin. Oh, he has those silly whiskers on it now, but he’ll shave for me.

MRS. TATE: I somehow thought you’d like shorter men.

SARA: My goodness, why would you ever have thought that?

MRS. TATE: I don’t know. You are not attracted to short men?

SARA: I’m attracted…Oh, no. It’s more than that! I’m in love with Lord Darnold.

MRS. TATE: Isn’t that the way of the world? I came over purposely to tell you that I am also in love with Lord Darnold.

SARA: My dear, I am afraid that Lord Darnold and I will wed.

MRS. TATE: This is a foolish thing for you to do.

SARA: I am being foolish? I have received gifts, letters and innumerable visits from him, and I don’t recall Lord Darnold ever paying you any mind at all.

MRS. TATE: That’s because you have enchanted him. He’s never been aware of me. You never gave the rest of us a chance. Oh, you were clever. You played the part of the coy woman until he could stand it no longer, and then you, you snatched him up.

SARA: Susanna, I cannot see any need for the continuation of this conversation. If Lord Darnold asks me to marry him, I will, and there is no doubt in my mind that he will be faithful only to me.

MRS. TATE: I have no doubt about that, either. He will be faithful to you, but this is a dangerous thing you do. You should relinquish his heart, and give it to me.

SARA: Why dangerous?

MRS. TATE: There are certain things in this world that are beyond the grasp of most mortals. Things old that can bring misfortune and doom on those who try to take what is not rightfully theirs.

SARA: Are you threatening me?

MRS. TATE: Threatening? Threatening the feline who possesses Lord Darnold’s heart? No. A pledge! The path upon which you tread can lead to your destruction and maybe to your death.

SARA: Are you trying to scare me? Make me believe that you are a witch? Well, I’ve heard all those stories about you, but I don’t believe them. Lord Darnold loves me and you don’t have the power to destroy that love.

MRS. TATE: I, lack power?

SARA: I’m not afraid of your books or your magic!

DARNOLD: (He enters.) Have I returned at a bad time, ladies?

SARA: (She crosses to Darnold and takes his arm.) Oh, no. As a matter of fact you have arrived at the perfect moment.

DARNOLD: For what, my dear?

SARA: I think you were about to ask me, before Susanna arrived, to be your wife. If that is the question you were going to ask, I will.

DARNOLD: It was the question, Sara. At this moment, I must be the happiest man in all of Virginia. (They embrace; Mrs. Tate mumbles something; sound cue -- Sara gets pain in her leg and jumps away from Lord Darnold.) Susanna, isn’t this wonderful news? (Darnold crosses to Mrs. Tate.) And you are the first to hear it.

MRS. TATE: Yes, how fortunate. Sara has selected a most interesting path. When will you be wed?

SARA: As soon as possible.

MRS. TATE: I must be leaving. I have innumerable “deeds” to do. I must announce that the captivating, flirtatious, irresistible, (She takes a strand of Sara’s hair and pulls it out.) enticing Sara has set her destiny in motion.

DARNOLD: Yes, and her destiny is mine, too. Come, dear. We have wedding plans to make.

(Lord Darnold and Sara exit. Rachel steps out of the shadows.)

RACHEL: You’re not really going to do this? It’s evil what you’re planning. It’s wicked. You can’t use Moses to do her harm just because Lord Darnold doesn’t love you. It’s not right.

MRS. TATE: You are forgetting that she really does like short men. (She plays with the strand of Sara’s hair.)

RACHEL: Be serious with me. I’m here to learn.

MRS. TATE: And learn you shall. Learning is a process that never stops. Consider, my dear child, that maybe Sara doesn’t know what she really wants.

RACHEL: Do you know what she wants?

MRS. TATE: We shall see.

RACHEL: But if Moses contains the power, couldn’t you just enchant Sara now?

MRS. TATE: That is too easy. It lacks style. Nothing would be learned. The body grows slow but the mind quickens.

(Simpson and Craig enter. Mrs. Tate and Rachel freeze.)

SIMPSON: Senility often distorts the perceptions of our elderly. They lose touch with reality and dwell in the past. What happens today, they may not remember, but they can, in fact, be able to focus on events that happened in their childhood. These events will become crystal clear. To help counteract this loss of reality, we have learned to rely on the most modern theories of psychology. We dissipate this loss of reality with group therapy. (She freezes)

CRAIG: Basically, every Friday afternoon I have to wheel all these old people into a circle and talk about how they feel about themselves. But every time I get one of these sessions started, someone has to go to the toilet. It happens every damn time. It’s not like they don’t know on Friday it’s group therapy. And what do they talk about? Mostly they complain about the nursing home. If I was running Sunny Acres, I’d eliminate group therapy and add more Bingo!

(Craig and Simpson exit.)

MRS. TATE: We must go. Now, you will learn your first lesson from Moses.

(Mrs. Tate and Rachel move into shadows.)

SARA: (Sara and Darnold enter hand in hand.) And you have not tired of me yet?

DARNOLD: Woman, will you always tease me?

SARA: We have been married for a week. For seven days I have teased you and loved you. You can’t have one without the other, my Lord.

DARNOLD: Sara, I would not change one thing about you. You are the perfect lady for this lord.

SARA: Are we a perfectly matched couple?

(They embrace. Little Massie enters.)

MASSIE: Uh. Uh…excuse me, Lord Darnold, Miss Sara…

DARNOLD: Yes, Little Massie.

MASSIE: I’m sorry if I came when you were…I mean…well, I could…

DARNOLD: Get to it, Little Massie. What do you want?

MASSIE: I have a letter for you, The postmaster said it was urgent.

(Darnold crosses to him and takes the letter.)

SARA: Is it bad news? Is there some problem?

DARNOLD: I’m afraid I have to go to King’s Mountain. I must leave today.

SARA: I don’t understand. Why did you do this, Little Massie?

MASSIE: It wasn’t me…you see the postmaster told me…

DARNOLD: Sara, it has nothing to do with Little Massie. Don’t be angry with him.

SARA: Little Massie, you have done more than enough damage for one day. Please leave.

DARNOLD: Maybe you’d best be going. She’s just upset now. (Massie exits; Darnold crosses to Sara.) Sara, you must try to understand.

SARA: Surely you could postpone the trip.

DARNOLD: No, it is impossible.

SARA: How long will you be gone?

DARNOLD: A month, maybe more. If there was any way, my dearest, you know I would be here with you.

SARA: And will you be faithful while you’re away?

DARNOLD: You should know better than to ask that question. I love no one else but you. But I swear, as Jesus is my Savior, to be faithful.

SARA: Please don’t go. There is something… almost ominous about your leaving.

DARNOLD: Nonsense. I’ll hurry back to you as quickly as I can.

(As they exit, Rachel and Mrs. Tate step from the shadows.)

RACHEL: Is this the magic?

MRS. TATE: What?

RACHEL: You caused him to leave?

MRS. TATE: Nonsense. He was called by another.

RACHEL: And when you do this thing, will he love you?

MRS. TATE: There’s more to it than that. Listen and you will learn.

RACHEL: Are you going to conjure for his love?

MRS. TATE: No, for conjured love is not lasting love. This enchantment is for Sara and for Little Massie Grove. (Wondrous lights fill the stage.) I conjure thee, spirit Ofel, that ye will obey and appear before me and fulfill my desire, thus in and through the name Elion, which Moses named, which Moses named.

RACHEL: Will it work now?

MRS. TATE: First, we must return to Sunny Acres.(They exit.)

CRAIG: (Craig enters and meets Dr. Simpson.) I can’t find Mrs. Tate.

CRAIG: I left her with this young girl and when I came back she had disappeared. Her wheelchair is here but she is gone!

SIMPSON: Ridiculous! Mrs. Tate hasn’t been out of that wheelchair in ten years.

CRAIG: Do you think that girl could have helped her escape?

SIMPSON: Who would want to leave Sunny Acres Rest Home? Mrs. Tate is perfectly happy here.

ANDERSON: (She enters using a cane.) What’s all the commotion? It’s nap time.

CRAIG: Mrs. Tate has disappeared!

ANDERSON: The old woman vanished?

SIMPSON: She hasn’t gone anywhere. The little girl probably took her out on the grounds…

ANDERSON: The devil has been whispering in her ear again, and she’s teaching another young one. But she’ll be back. She can only stay away a little time now.

SIMPSON: Thank you very much, Mrs. Anderson. You have enlightened us all immeasurably. And now, Craig, I think Mrs. Anderson is tired and needs a nap.

(Craig guides her out quickly and then returns. Dr. Simpson points in several directions as if giving instructions. Several others, dressed as orderlies, enter and join in the search. There is a grand commotion. Mrs. Tate and Rachel enter and start watching the general ruckus.)

RACHEL: They’re all worried about you.

MRS. TATE: Not about me.

RACHEL: Yes, they are. See how they run about?

MRS. TATE: No, it’s called liability. It’s an invention of the twentieth century. They’re all worried that I have a long-lost cousin who’s a shyster lawyer and he’ll sue them for every Medicaid cent that they’ve managed to obtain.

WICCA

Cast of Characters

WICCA