Go Back to Nature
Topic: Nature and preserving the environment
Scene: in an clearing in the first behind Lily’s house in the Spring
Cast:
Lily: She is a little girl around the age of 7 or 8 who finds herself walking around her backyard and wanders off into the little forest behind her house.
Tree: A large tree that stand in the clearing in the small forest behind Lily’s house. He can talk and in fact speaks ti Lily when they encounter each other.
Costume:
Lily will be wearing normal clothes as any 7 or 8 year old girl would wear. Shorts and a t-shirt because the story does take place in the Spring and it is warm outside.
The Tree will the standing tall, full with long branches and big leaves
Stage Sets:
The opera is set in a small forest behind Lily’s house. The play begins with Lily walking around her backyard equipped with swings and a slide. She then finds herself walking into the forest which calls for a scene change. The new set consists of many full green trees with long branches. There is a small clearing in the middle where one large tree stands tall.
Music:
Waltz of the Flowers by Tchaikovsky
The Four Seasons by Vivaldi
Lighting:
In the first scene while Lily is still in her backyard, there should be a lot of lighting, it is a cheerful Spring day. There should be a lot of light but an even stronger light shining on Lily.
In the second scene when Lily walks into the forest, there should be less light. The trees surrounding her should be gradually fading into the dark with the clearing with the Tree in the middle lit well.
Synopsis:
Scene I:
Waltz of the Flowers by Tchaikovsky plays
Lily is seen walking around her backyard, there are swings and a slide but none of those toys interest her. She continues to walk around taking notice of the flowers and trees around her. She slowly wanders into the woods behind her house where her and her Father have walked many times before.
End of Scene
Scene II:
Waltz of the Flowers by Tchaikovsky plays followed by Four Seasons by Vivaldi
Lily walks into the forest and enters a clearing where a large magnificent tree stands. Lily walks around the tree multiple times and chooses to sit down on the side of the the tree. As she sits and thinks Lily starts to pull at one of the leaves on the tree. A soft “Ow!” is heard soon after. Lily looks up startled. On the tree have appeared a face! The Tree apologizes to her and introduces himself as “Tree”. Lily is still startles but introduces herself as well. The tree goes on to apologize again for scaring her but she did indeed hurt him. Lily apologizes then as well for hurting him and is shocked that such a small thing like picking off a leaf could hurt such a big strong tree like him. He reassures her that the smallest of things can hurt him, so when humans do things like pollute the air or chop trees down, the pain he feels is unbearable!
From here on Tree and Lily continue to have a conversation about that pain that he feels that is inflicted on him by humans. Lily constantly apologizes for everything but he reassures her its is not solely her fault or her fault at all. Tree explains to Lily how pollution works and how with every car we drive and air condition we blast, we are hurting the environment. He tells her about how all of the harmful chemicals that humans use everyday eventually end up back in the soil and hurt him. Tree therefore cannot work as hard and fast as he once could to clean the air so that humans can use it. Lily is confused and upset because she finds it so easy for people to change and simply recycle to make the world a better place. Tree tells her that if all people were as kind and thoughtful as her that they could truly save the planet. Lily tells Tree all about how she has a blue and black garbage can outside her house but her neighbors don’t and asks Tree if that will help. He tells her than any little thing that she does will help him and all her friends. Lily then thanks Tree for all that he has taught her and vows that she will help save his home as much as she can and runs off to tell her neighbors to recycle.
Conclusion:
The cute little story that this opera would show is the simplicity of understanding the problem that faces each and every one of us which is the destruction of our natural world and environment. The dialogue that the Tree and Lily share shows how easy it is to understand the problem and how small things can eventually make a huge difference. Lily’s frustration also shows this because she realizes how easy it could be to make a change while we the adults take no such initiative to truly help our environment. The opera is a simple one but it would be made this way to send a message to the audience that the answer to our environmental problems is simple, we just need to commit to changing and follow through with what we know has to be done. I think that the state of our environment is a very hot pressing issue today that is confronted with a lot of protest and frustration. Because of this, I believe a calming simple opera like this one would provide a change of pace that might actually speak to some people and get my message through to hopefully inspire environmental change in some peoples hearts.
