1. |
Act 1
15:38
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ACT 1 SCENE 1
A small frontier village.
NARRATOR
There was a town
There was a pilgrim pasture
The quiet town
Had never seen disaster
They went to work
They went to town hall meetings
They went to church
They exchanged smiles; and waves; and pleasant greetings
But in the night
There is an evil presence 'round
That comes and bites
They come to kill the peasant town
There was a witch
She lived upon a moonlit hill
An alchemist,
she could heal and she could kill
She was alone,
but for a single lover
a gentle soul
who hides a secret hunger
One night at the butcher's
The night the leaves were turning red
There was a feast
a family dreaming in their beds
ACT 1 SCENE 2
(Max MSP triggered silent film)
Sheriff's office, the sheriff napping with his boots on his desk
SHERIFF
I woke up to earnest screams
TOWN CRIER
(bursting in)
“Sheriff the Butcher's were all slaughtered in their dreams!”
SHERIFF
(awoken)
I grabbed my badge and colt revolver
and said, “Son, would you lead me to the slaughter”
Montage of Sheriff and Townsperson running.
They arrive at the butchers house and enter into a dark room.
It was the bloodiest scene that I'd ever seen
A family of skeletons lay on the crimson sheets
The copper air made it hard to breath
I turned and I made for the door in hopes of some relief
Sheriff exits to the street outside of the butchers house
It seems the whole town they had gathered outside
and they cried
ENSEMBLE
“Sheriff!”
SHERIFF
“Yes?”
ENSEMBLE
“SHERIFF!”
SHERIFF
“YES?!”
ENSEMBLE
“Are the rumours lies? Or were they eaten alive!”
SHERIFF
“Now everybody please calm down”
ENSEMBLE
“Calm down when there are monsters eating our neighbours at night?”
SHERIFF
“Now, we've never had any of those folks around”
ENSEMBLE
“We've heard of evils that stalk around town in the night”
TOWNSPERSON
“I've heard of dogs of doom
who hunt for humans under the moon
but in the daylight, they walk in plain sight
and I can tell you there are some folk who'd I'd like to see locked in a tomb”
SHERIFF
“Now who are these creeps of whom you're unsure?”
TOWNSPERSON
“Well there is that recluse upon the hill”
LAWRENCE
“That's a very dangerous pot to stir
you're awfully quick to place the mark on who we should kill”
(The bookkeeper proceeds to recount himself witnessing the suspicious activities of said townsperson the night before. The crowd begins to chant “Kill!” and the bookkeeper accuses the townsperson of killing the Butcher's)
ENSEMBLE
Lynch him
Save your skin
Lynch him
Save your skin
SHERIFF
So we took him to the gallows
There in the valley of Miller's Hollow
We sent that evil man to hell
and hoped our suspicions served us well
but who can tell
ACT 1 SCENE 3
The house on the hill.
NARRATOR
Lawrence the bookkeeper
galloped the ascending road
to the witches abode
said,
LAWRENCE
“Baby can you open the door,
I'm not sure if we are safe anymore”
NARRATOR
He'd kept his secret too long
It corroded him like an ulcer
and sped his pulse for
hours and hours and hours
Those lies devour
Gretchen the witch was concerned
she could feel that Lawrence was troubled
so as the cuddled
she says,
GRETCHEN
“Baby, what's bringing you down?
Why the frown?
What happened today in the town?”
LAWRENCE
“Gretchen understand,
that an innocent man was hung today
and I had a large hand
in taking that man's life away
but I didn't have a choice
his voice would have endangered you
what could I do? I endangered you too
But if they took their pitchforks and torches
and climbed this hill to rip you apart
I would match their violent horrors
Cause without you what good is my heart
I have no heart, I have no heart, you know you're my heart”
GRETCHEN
“Lawrence! What the fuck!
An incomprehensible story
Why come for me?
What do they think that I did?
I'm not a kid,
I think I can handle the truth”
NARRATOR
The truth burned through his mouth
He knew it was him they had wanted
but she would be hunted
with no one else better to blame
if this happened again
LAWRENCE
“Gretchen I'll come clean
I'm not a simple bookkeeper
I am the creeper, who murders the town in their sleep
I play the sheep
but the moon brings a wolf out to eat”
NARRATOR
Gretchen looked into his eyes
the love inside of them remained
together they were ostracized
and in their difference they felt the same
she says,
GRETCHEN
“Babe, can't you see that this place is not for you and I
and if we remain here than sooner or later we die
so pack up the wagon, lets take off for some place that's new
live on the road with no one else but me and you
Cause if they took their pitchforks and torches
that would be the end of our lives
but I would exhaust all of my resources
for one more day just to gaze in your eyes
I don't want to die, I don't want you to die,
why should we have to die?”
NARRATOR
And inside Lawrence wished that he could
but he knew if he did there would be no explaining
if only she had understood
him being with her was already betraying
the laws of his fellow wolf pack
the fate of the two would be equally gruesome
he could feel their weight on his back
and knew that eventually he'd be forced to
do something to end their threat
and free him from their net
than they could love
like you're supposed to love
and not have to be distraught
so he turned to her back and he thought,
LAWRENCE
“If we take their pitchforks and torches
and set the whole town upon themselves
there would be no one left to harm us
our love could ring out as loud as the bells
They'll murder themselves
Our love rings like bells
There'll be no one else
but us”
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2. |
Act 2
16:15
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ACT 2 SCENE 1
Snowy village
NARRATOR
Winter's gown
it has slipped down
around the town
a chill set in
perhaps the wind has heard
the silent screams
of frightened beings
the town won't sleep
they fear their dreams
they fear their neighbour's eyes
eighteen necks squeezed
and with the leaves
no longer breath
the trees in town are bare
yet evil holds its lair
ACT 2 SCENE 2
(dance)
A small cabin in the town, where the little girl rocks back and forth holding her knees
LITTLE GIRL
these days in my town you can't go and play in the snow
the forest is dangerous, chock-full of murder you know
so i spend my childhood locked in the cabin; my home
it is the only place safe from where the wolves roam,
that we own
the adults are crazy with fear and they meet once a day
to round up the ones they deem dangerous and take them away
despite all their efforts the fear atmosphere seems to stay
and one day my parents they didn't come home i'm afraid
oh christ i'm afraid
so i broke a window and made my way out to the road
walked past the streetlamps and storefronts with trinkets of gold
walked through the valley and into the forest of old
seeking the safety and comfort of grandfather's home
i walk through the cold
ACT 2 SCENE 3
(Max MSP visualisations)
Forest at night
NARRATOR
the frightened child
stumbling in the wild
forest is lost, she can't
seem to find her way through
the light of flame
flickering from a cave
a beckoning beacon
it's pulling her closer to...
*howls
she crept so slow
lying there in the snow
quiet, her eye is alight
by the fire inside
her gaze revealed
what caves only once concealed
the chant and the dance
of four men dressed in wolven hide
*howls
froze with hear
fixed like a startled deer
terrible terror ensnared her
to where she lay
with every word
of secrets she overheard
loosened her will to
creep backwards and run away
(set reconstruction)
Little girl running
run
run
run
run
run
run
run
run
run
ACT 2 SCENE 4
(Dramatic actualization)
Cabin in the woods
THE HUNTER
My dear granddaughter; what brings you to my door?
Come in from the winter, let the fire warm your core
Why are you alone? You still haven't uttered a word
Your wide eyes tell me horrible things have occurred
NARRATOR
She stuttered through her rattled jaw as clear as it allowed
Recounting all the terrors that the forest had endowed
She cried for her parents. She cried at the thought of the woods
and, seeing her fear, her grandfather understood
He knew of the evil that had stalked the souls in town
He knew of the fear that had fertilized the ground
and let darkness bergen its way into every man
Consuming all traces of innocent life that it can
THE HUNTER
Rest my child, don't let darkness take your mind
We're safe in the woods here where no ones going to find
Speak not a word dear forget all the horrors you've seen
Mourning will transform these memories into a dream
ACT 2 SCENE 5
(Dramatic actualization and projection)
Outside the cave
NARRATOR
We now travel over the forest footsteps backwards and at breakneck speed
The glow of the fire subsides neath the damp sweaty cave, the perspiration cooling on its walls
coagulating as it trickles into the blood mucky earth below the rocky arcade
femurs and phalanges scattered and gnawed in last glisten of the coals expiring
four men dressed in their human hide
breath the melting frost that suspends itself in the air outside where they speak
shortly
then, turning away from each other, duck under the low limbs into the darkness
snapping twigs and rustled detritus slowly fading into dark silence
two lovers embrace on a moonlit hill
the wind shrouds the sound of their moving lips
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3. |
Act 3
08:18
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ACT 3 SCENE 1
(DramaticActualization)
The village
NARRATOR
The witch went into town
Walked the streets until she found
the sheriffs door
GRETCHEN
“May I come in, sir,
from the winter?”
“I know why you're wary of me
the mystic paranormal makes the town so frightened
but I can see those things you can't see
I know who you search for and I know where they're hiding”
SHERIFF
“Tell me right now, is there truth to what you're saying
More then half the town's dead and the other half is waiting for the slaying
Tell me right now, is there truth to what you're saying
I can't find the the truth for them, and they need some explaining”
GRETCHEN
“I swear to you my dear
there will be nothing more to fear
just follow me to the den
unhitch your horses
alight you torches
Follow me now to where the murderous ones are staying
To take back the town from the one's you fear is not morally betraying
When they wanted blood it was you who did the paying
Now its their neck neath the blade and you can do the draining”
ACT 3 SCENE 2
(Max MSP visualization)
The mob travels around the village
ENSEMBLE
Somewhere on the west side of town
The first wolf is laying down
Mister Wolf, Mister Wolf, you around?
We have come to blow your door down
Somewhere on the East Side of town
The second wolf he is sound, asleep
Mister wolf. Mister wolf. We will pound
Down your door, on to the floor before we throw you in the ground
In a house down the block, somewhere south of where the town still stands
the fourth sneaky wolf, who is waiting on the porch, demands
to the mob, “Go away! I am not the wolf, do you understand?!”
“Dirty wolf! On your knees. It is us who place the judging hand”
You die!
ACT 3 SCENE 3
(Mac MSP visualizations)
The gallows
ENSEMBLE
Lynch them
Take their skin
Lynch them
Take their shin
quarter their remains
drain and dry their veins
burn their meat to ash
grind their bones to mash
scatter to the wind
cleanse your soul of sin
tire to your beds
lay your fear to rest
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4. |
Act 4
13:36
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ACT 4 SCENE 1
Gretchen and Lawrence pack their bags, knowing they can proceed safely now that the other wolves cannot avenge Lawrence's betrayal. Their wagon ready they take off into the snowy night. The snow becomes treacherous (as gretchen gazes left right left right a projection of her POV is displayed behind her, possibly controlled by MSP and a headset) and the two are forced to turn back.
Meanwhile, the cabin in the forest is crippling under the storms power. It breaks and, after trying to rebuild it in the storm,the Hunter and the Little Girl are forced to return to the town in search of shelter
Back in the town, the Lovers make it back to the house on the hill. They enter, and shortly after Lawrence emerges and takes off towards the town in search of flesh.
Feasting Montage.
ACT 4 SCENE 2
NARRATOR
Enter the town
It's a pile of husks that once held lives
A short time ago when life was once ordinary
The house on the mound
Is a alight with a candle once again
Shivers in the wind as they wait in purgatory
The doors that still stand
in the town that are locked around the clock
all are paralyzed with terror and moratory
But one that remains
in the town that is open, holds a man
holds a gun, holds a bullet, holds a point that holds its post
SHERRIFF
I have been stuck in winter for too long
The snow, it has made so there's no where I can go
My mind has been tangled like a thread
My head can't get it figured out. it's liked I'm dead
already cause there's not a dozen left inside the town
we haven't killed
and still the farmer with his sickle wanting something comes around
and reaps its fill
NARRATOR
Enter the town
where they once had a family
comes the hunter with the little girl in from the blizzard
as they break down the door
and go inside of the house they left behind
comes the feeling that they're back in the prison of the town
THE HUNTER
I have been hiding too long from what I fear
I've steered, as clear as I could and it lead me here
My granddaughter is ravaged by it too
and soon, if the wolf don't get her fear it will consume
her soul until theres not a trace of life inside her eyes
so come, my sweetheart we must tell the sheriff where the evil lies
ENSEMBLE
and where evil lies
Lawrence watches Gretchen slumber
itching as if flies
burrowed underneath his skin
feels the hunger rise
the thought of it just makes him shudder
losing his disguise
feels the monster giving in
ACT 4 SCENE 3
LAWRENCE
You know I want to eat you
Thats just the way I feel
It's a chore to control it
what comes naturally
is that not who I should be?
Release me
It is haunting me all the time
These days not even love can numb the pain
It's as if I am intertwined
Inextricably
To something I don't want to be
Release me
And I try to contain
the inferno that lies inside
but how can I expect to restrain
An instinct I know that I must abide
Release me
It the hunger thats keeping me here
as much as the blizzard outside
The thought of leaving this place brings me fear
For I need human souls to survive
Cause with out them I would physically change
into an unrecognizable hide
their would be no reverse to this curse of mine
ACT 4 SCENE 4
SHERIFF
Awake and another bloody sunrise
swaddles the town
smothering breath
delivering death
to the grocer, who had seen the night before
accusing the witch
he thought it was her
but I wasn't sure
now he's dead and now its stuck inside my head
could I have been wrong?
Was it her all along?
Leading me on
not a chance, cause shes the only one I trust
of the four or five
of us left alive
i owe her my life
i owe her my life
i'd give her my life
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5. |
Act 5
11:30
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ACT 5 SCENE 1
HUNTER
In the morning I took a gander outside
and seeing nothing I then proceeded with my gun
My granddaughter followed closely by my side
And our ears, they listened for pierce in the silence
finding none, we chose to run
to the sheriff's office
with the desperate promise
he was there
and he was there
we've travelled all this way
to escape our graves
now you must share
my little fair
your secret name
LITTLE GIRL
I have a secret you'd like to hear
Lean close to me and lend me your ear
Listen intently to what I say
For what I tell you makes me afraid
Making it hard to slip off the tongue
Some
For many macabre moons you've minded a malevolent mystery
bequeathing brutal gibbets has been your blunder benevolent bursary
redeem your righteousness rearrange your abhorrence
the parasite in our midsts name is
Lawrence
SHERIFF
Ring the church bell summon the town to the square
Let it chime let it sing justice rings through the air
ACT 5 SCENE 2
SHERIFF
Is this really all that's left of us living in the town before my eyes?
I see five
One of you among us is the thief who's stealing lives
and they must die
Lawrence it appears your are accused of being guilty
LAWRENCE
Really?
There must be some mistake for I am clean and not some filthy
HUNTER
Liar! You've conspired and now you'll taste our righteous fire!
GRETCHEN
Wait for just a minute have we not spilled enough
Blood in our search for who we can trust
LAWRENCE
And what justification brings my neck to the noose
it seems these allegations are a trifle obtuse
HUNTER
Silence you fiend for the flesh of the innocent
Oh the obscenity of your crimes is salient
My granddaughter she has seen through your mask
I cannot wait to hammer nails in your casket
LAWRENCE
Who? This girl who stands by your side
Is she not the child of parents who were tried and found guilty
of murder can't you see, she is
the missing link in a murderous family
HUNTER
Quiet you dog, I think I've heard enough
Lets see how this bullet will hold up agsinst your bluff
Hunter shoots Lawrence
Sheriff shoots Hunter
ACT 5 SCENE 3
The two bodies lay dead. The Sheriff, Gretchen and the Little Girl gaze in shock at the two dead. Gretchen falls into the Sheriffs arms.
GRETCHEN
(to the Sheriff)
Is this the end?
Has evil left?
How can we tell
If we can rest?
Tell me, how can we be sure the disease has been removed
Look at me Sheriff, you know what you must do.
Sheriff turns to the girl with a horrified look on his face.
Gretchen Kisses the Sheriff.
Sheriff turns to the Little Girl.
Pulls out his gun.
Shoots.
Drops Gun.
Drops to his knees, staring at the lifeless child.
Gretchen backs away.
Gretchen turns to Lawrence's lifeless body
Begins Resurrecting him.
Sheriff turns to see Gretchen, and stands in horror
Sheriff begins to back away realizing what he has done.
Eyes no longer fixed on Gretchen turn to the audience.
Expression grows on face, absolute despair
collapsing slowly until he his face down dead on the floor
Lawrence's eyes open into Gretchen's
They kiss passionately.
All the dead rise, becoming ghosts.
Ensemble of ghosts joins.
Gretchen and Lawrence spin ending in an embrace with Gretchen's back to the audience.
Over her Shoulder
LAWRENCE
In the setting sun
At last the wolf has won
And love escapes the trawl
but still my stomach growls
fade to black
FIN
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The Wolf Toronto, Ontario
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