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The Theatre Made in Paradise

At sea in a storm in 1619, Rebecca Stanford, the wife of an abusive Puritan leader, discovers an actor, Nathan Field, on board who she knew in London as a girl.  He is sailing to the new world disguised as a Pilgrim to start a theatre in Jamestown after the Globe Theatre didn’t hire him to replace Burbage.  Rebecca’s husband, the Puritan leader, finds the copy of The Tempest they are reading.  Believing the storm is conjured by the actor using spells from the play, he accuses them of being witches and threatens to denounce them.  In the storm, Rebecca is washed overboard, and floats ashore on Cape Cod where her husband has left her actor friend and Stephano, her servant from Africa, to force them to confess that they are conjurers.  Hiding in the woods, Rebecca is befriended by a woman from a Wampanoag village and together they gain the freedom of Rebecca’s friends and the Wampanoag’s husband.  Nathan, Stephano and Rebecca are invited to stay in the Native village for the Winter, where they plan to start their Paradise Theatre and do their day jobs planting corn and digging out canoes. 

Cast: 
Requires a multi-ethnic cast of 4M and 2W. JOHN STANFORD – A Puritan leader. His right ear is cropped. 35 years old. STEPHANO AFRICANUS – A devout Christian who has been raised and served in Lord Pembroke’s house and a Puritan household. 20 years old. GEORGE GREENE – An actor from the Globe Theatre who had to escape London as times grew worse for the theatre. Modeled on Nathan Field. 32 years old. MASSASOIT – A nephew of the great Chief of the Wampanoag. 25 years old. REBECCA STANFORD – John’s wife, who wanted to be in the theatre, of gypsy descent. 25 years old. FERDINAND – Bosun (double-cast with Massasoit). ASKAMABOO – Massasoit’s wife, young matriarch. 28 years old. PURITANS – offstage singers (double-cast with Askamaboo, Rebecca, and John)
Authors: 
Jonathon Ward
Script: