Act Three: River of Dreams

Scene One: Suspended Step Exhibition illustrating Europe’s Refugee Crisis

Bobby

Well I’m on the Downeaster Alexa

And I’m cruising through Block Island Sound

I have charted a course to the vineyard

But tonight, I am Nantucket bound

We took on diesel back in Montauk, yesterday

Left this morning from the bell in Gardiner’s Bay

Like all the locals here, I’ve had to sell my home

Too proud to leave, I worked my fingers to the bone

So I could own my Downeaster Alexa

And I go where the ocean is deep

There are giants out there in the canyons

And a good captain can’t fall asleep

I got bills to pay and children who need clothes

I know there’s fish out there, but where? God only knows

They say these waters aren’t what they used to be

But I got people back on land who count on me

So if you see my Downeaster Alexa

And if you work with the rod and the reel

Tell my wife I am trolling Atlantis

And I still have my hands on the wheel

Now I drive my Downeaster Alexa

More and more miles from shore every year

Since they tell me I can’t sell no stripers

And there’s no luck in swordfishing here

I was a bay man like my father was before

Can’t make a living as a bay man anymore

There ain’t much future for a man who works the sea

But there ain’t no island left for islanders like me

Yeah, yeah, yeah, oh

Yeah, yeah, yeah, oh

Yeah, yeah, yeah, oh

Yeah, yeah, yeah, oh

SUSPENDED STEP SOLIDARITY SCENE:

Bobby (Ciaran McEnroe) Leyna (Hana Tatsutani) James (Thomas Phelps) Laura (Eshani Chakrabarti)

Bobby

I guess it’s hard to wrap my brain around. Thousands are met with these violent conditions and left stranded to struggle for their lives.

Leyna

To my understanding after the EU signed that deal with Turkey, it effectively ended the summer of migration and allowed the state to reclaim its monopoly on violence. 

James

They collectively punish thousands of economic and political refugees whose only crime is trying to reach safety in Europe.

Bobby

 I mean the camps are practically prisons for migrants.

Laura

 In our class on Mobility and Mutual Aid with the Oak Fellow, we’re interviewing activists and refugees and organizing materials for an online archive. It’s tag taught by my Global Studies professor, who also moonlights as a documentary filmmaker, and The Oak fellow this semester. 

Leyna

He’s an Afghan-Greek refugee/activist who helped found City Plaza Hotel.“No Pool, No Minibar, No Room Service, But Still the Best Hotel in Europe” . 

James

It was a hotel?

Leyna

 Activists and refugees squatted the hotel and turned it into a refugee accommodation space, housing thousands of stranded people from 2016 to 2019. 

Laura

My favorite professors have always been the ones who led interesting lives and decided a teaching stint was in the cards in place as magical as Maine. Plus, it’s really refreshing to have an in person class. 

James

The walls of the Dining Hall were totally bare before the political cartoon exhibition. Hopefully it will start a conversation in the community on the crisis 

Bobby

I guess I just wish that we could do something more. I think Suspended Step really got people thinking after the fires in Moria.

James

 My professor put it really well in class, he said the tragedy is not that Moria has burned again; the tragedy is that places like Moria exist at all. 

Laura

I just wish there was something tangible we could do. 

Leyna

We could sell tshirts in the dining hall?

James

I don’t know how inclined students would be to invest in another tshirt. 

Bobby

Why don’t we make masks? 

Laura

I am perpetually running out of masks. 

Leyna 

Selling something that everyone needs supporting refugee solidarity. Seems like a really meaningful way to show our support amidst social distancing. 

James

Maybe we could get Colby to match the money we make from masks?

Laura

Sure! This is a student led initiative inspired by the Oak Fellow. I’ve increasingly begun to think we make the college look good anyways 

Leyna

Sure and with ten million dollars committed to Covid it feels as if there are funds to be found.

Bobby

How much should we charge for the masks?

James

We should charge at least 12 so we break even.

Leyna

That’s too high. The double digits will dissuade people from buying.

Laura

What about $9 a mask?

James

That’s less expensive than the masks in the bookstore. 

Bobby

We’ll table in Foss outside the exhibition and send all the proceeds to solidarity efforts in Lesvos.

Leyna

We’ll send along a google doc to sign up for different collectives dedicated to tabling, mask masking and promotion.

Laura

Excellent work team! 

My Life: Act Three River of Dreams

Scene Two: Sung by James. He picks up a letter at the post office with Leyna, from a friend who has taken the semester off to drive across the country. It makes James question if he’s made the right decision returning back to school. He reads the letter aloud.

James

James, we were always friends

From our childhood days

And we made our plans

And we had to go our sep’rate ways

I went on the road

You pursued an education

James, do you like your life?

Can you find release?

And will you ever change?

Laura

Hey tune in Still Rock and Roll To Me WMHB 89.7FM!

James

Back in the booth? 

Laura

My electric chair.

 James 

Last week was the best of the british invasion? What have you got in store for us this week?

Laura

Wow you tuned in?

James

Well I actually heard it playing the shuttle

Laura

That’s so exciting! In theory my show should play in the dining halls too. 

James

You are single handedly spreading the rock and roll gospel through the college! 

Laura

This week I’m going track by track through Act One of my Billy Joel Musical.

James

How’s the musical coming?

Laura

There are so many great characters in his songs, it practically writes itself. 

James

Well what’s it about?

Laura

What do you mean? It’s about Billy Joel

James

Gotta jet. Best of luck in your electric chair.

James

When will you write your masterpiece?

Do what’s good for you

Or you’re not good for anybody

Are you still in school?

Living up to expectations?

James, you were so relied upon

Everybody knows how hard you tried

Hey – oh, look at what a job you’ve done

Carrying the weight of family pride

James, you’ve been well behaved

You’ve been working hard

But will you always stay

Someone else’s dream of who you are?

Do what’s good for you

Or you’re not good for anybody

James

I went on the road

You pursued an education

James, how you gonna know for sure?

Everything was so well organized

Hey, oh now everything is so secure

And everybody else is satisfied

James, do you like your life?

Can you find release?

And will you ever change?

When will you write your masterpiece?

Do what’s good for you

Or you’re not good for anybody

Angry Young Man

Angry Young Man: Musical Stylings Will Oliver

My Life: Act Three// Downeaster Alexa 

SCENE 3: James returns back to his room lamenting over being stuck in rural Maine, rather than recognizing the best parts of being on campus during Covid. Prelude/Angry Young Man sung by all the men in the show.

Tony

There’s a place in the world for the angry young man

With his working class ties and his radical plans

He refuses to bend, he refuses to crawl

He’s always at home with his back to the wall

And he’s proud of his scars and the battles he’s lost

And he struggles and bleeds as he hangs on the cross

And he likes to be known as the angry young man

James

Give a moment or two to the angry young man

With his foot in his mouth and his heart in his hand

He’s been stabbed in the back, he’s been misunderstood

It’s a comfort to know his intentions are good

And he sits in a room with a lock on the door

With his maps and his medals laid out on the floor

And he likes to be known as the angry young man

Mr Cacciatore

I believe I’ve passed the age of consciousness and righteous rage

I found that just surviving was a noble fight

Sergeant John O’Leary

I once believed in causes too

I had my pointless point of view

And life went on no matter who was wrong or right

Bobby

And there’s always a place for the angry young man

With his fist in the air and his head in the sand

And he’s never been able to learn from mistakes

So he can’t understand why his heart always breaks

James

But his honor is pure and his courage as well

Tony

And he’s fair and he’s true and he’s boring as hell

Bobby

And he’ll go to the grave as an angry old man

Mister Cacciatore

There’s a place in the world for the angry young man

With his working class ties and his radical plans

He refuses to bend, he refuses to crawl

He’s always at home with his back to the wall

And he’s proud of his scars and the battles he’s lost

And he struggles and bleeds as he hangs on the cross

And he likes to be known as the angry young man

My Life: Act Three River of Dreams

Scene Four: Mary Low Coffee House Scene exploring how students have navigated the campus culture amidst Covid. With New York City about to enter a second lockdown, Josephine is still in a New York State of Mind.

Musical Stylings: Sydney Ku

My Life: Act Three// Suspended Step 

Scene Five: All You Want To Do Is Dance. James hears Laura on the radio and visits her in the booth. Show glimpses of different places the show is playing on the radio on campus (Brenda and Eddie driving around with the radio on/ Leyna Dancing)

My Life: Act Three

Scene Six: River of Dreams: The gang (James and Laura/Johnny and Bobby) run into Johnny after he realizes Rosalinda has a serious girlfriend. They are going to Moxie Falls and encourage him to tag along and enjoy the magic of Maine.

Percussion (NKS) Vocals (Eshani, Anisha and Manny Fresh)

Johnny

I’m so embarrassed 

James

What did you expect you never spoke to her 

Bobby

But ohhhh Rosalinda! 

Johnny

I don’t know if there’s anyone right for me at this school 

Laura

There are 15 people at this school 

Bobby

I’ve had just about enough of these Covid couples 

James

Bitter Bobby!

Laura

This is a small enough school that you can meet everyone and decide who your people are

James

Tag along why don’t ya?

Johnny

Where to?

Laura

 to the River of Dreams!

Bobby

Or Moxie Falls rather and experience the magic of Maine

James

It is one of the best part of going to school in this part of the country and I didn’t notice until senior year 

Johnny

Why not?

Group Number

In the middle of the night

I go walking in my sleep

From the mountains of faith

To the river so deep

I must be looking for something

Something sacred I lost

But the river is wide

And it’s too hard to cross

Even though I know the river is wide

I walk down every evening and I stand on the shore

I try to cross to the opposite side

So I can finally find out what I’ve been looking for