Para Tener Las Alas

Summary: About the disappearances, rapes, and murders in Juarez, Mexico...as well as human trafficking around the world

Scene: Mientras que tú dormías…
The stage is poorly lit. The audience should be able to se figures in the dark but shouldn’t be able to make it what is happening clearly. None of the scene should be perfectly clear. It should always be ambiguous what is happening on stage. During the scene, slow music should be playing on either a guitar or piano. It should be consistent with the theme of the music so far in the piece. While Adriana talks, the audience should see the following. A woman and a man on stage although they should not be able to make out who it is. The man should walk up to the woman and get her to dance with him.

ADRIANA
They say what happens in the dark eventually comes into the light. That’s how it’s supposed to work right? Good always triumphs over evil. The lost will be found. All will be made right. Right? Huh. Where? Not in Italy. Not in Spain. Not in China. Not in Brazil. Argentina. Colombia. Japan. Thailand. India. The Phillipines. Russia. Austria. Not in Germany. Greece, or Switzerland.

The man and woman in the background begin to fight. The man throws her on the ground and starts to hit her continuously. The woman fights back.

ADRIANA
Not in Mexico. Not even in the United States of America. It’s everywhere. What’s more valuable than life? Sex, apparently. Oh and drugs. Animal abuse and cockfighting. And abortion. And immigration. Legislators around the world are fighting over international affairs. How do we all get along? Fighting over equality and equal opportunity. (lets out an incredulous laugh) Equality? My ass.

The man pins the woman down. He begins to rape her. She yells in Spanish. (Again it should not be entirely clear what he is doing. Also the woman’s yells should be heard but Adriana should still be clearly understood)

ADRIANA
It’s not safe anywhere. Not for your wives. Your daughters. Your sisters. Your friends. It’s everywhere. And no one’s listening. Women across the world—crying, begging, yearning—no one’s listening.

The man exits the stage leaving the woman on the ground. She should crawl around on the floor trying to get up but can’t. The man returns with a gun in his hand. A gunshot is heard. The woman falls still.

ADRIANA
It’s been happening for years. Decades. Centuries. We keep pretending like we’re surprised. We’re not surprised. No one’s surprised. Not really.

Blackout.


Scene: Split stage. Blanca is preparing the dinner table on one side of the stage. On the other, Lucia wanders through the desert. She should look exhausted but determined. In this scene, again a guitar should be playing

LUCIA
Dios, si usted está escuchando
Touch the earth with your grace.
Call us back into your realm.
Hear her heart beat against the desert sand
And breathe peace into her beaten core

BLANCA
Dios, si usted está escuchando
Send your angels down and guard our lost souls.
Send down your soldiers and fight for our girls.
Hear our steady heartbeats praising you—eternally.
Grant us heaven on earth, a moment of peace.

LUCIA
Dios, si usted está escuchando
Hear a modest woman’s prayer, bless me with your wisdom
That I may bleed your wine and land in your palms
That she may live another day, just another moment to breathe
Another inhalation of hope, of trust, of faith

BLANCA
Dios, si usted está escuchando
Desert us not in these wretched times.
Grant us mercy for we are only lost souls
Searching for Canaan.

LUCIA and BLANCA
Dios, si usted está escuchando
Send our prayers to our mother

Both women sit down helplessly. Blanca sits down in a chair and Lucia sits down on the ground, exasperated. Lucia speaks in Spanish while Blanca speaks in English.

LUCIA/BLANCA

Santa María, Madre de Dios, 

ruega por nosotros, pecadores, 

ahora y en la hora de nuestra muerte.

Holy Mary, mother of God, 

pray for us sinners,
now, and in 
the hour of our death