Shua: the Lamb of Freedom, set in the time of the first Passover,
the time of Moses, Pharoah, and the Ten Plagues, concerns a
Hebrew slave family and the lamb they bring home.  

SHUA: THE LAMB OF FREEDOM

CHARACTERS:

ADAM, 8, a Hebrew slave boy.
YEHUDA, 30s, his father.
CHAVA, 30s, his mother.
RACHEL, 6, his cousin.

LAMB/SHUA: LAMB is the non-speaking Shua, a live lamb,
puppet, or stuffed animal, life-sized.  SHUA is an 
actor--preferably a boy--dressed and behaving as a lamb,
except that SHUA speaks.

SPIRIT OF GOD--same actor as SHUA, non-speaking.
ANGEL OF DEATH, non-speaking.

RACHEL'S FAMILY:
AVRAM, father, non-speaking.
RIVKA, mother, speaks offstage.
TAMAR, sister, non-speaking.
SIMEON, brother, non-speaking.
BABY.
(One CHILD may speak offstage.)

HEBREW SLAVES, EGYPTIAN GUARDS, EGYPTIAN CITIZENS.

SINGERS, chorus, mostly offstage.

TIME:  early spring, during the time of the Exodus.
PLACE: ancient Egypt, in front of a Hebrew family's house,
       and in the street.

This play uses some African-American spirituals 
about the themes of slavery and freedom.

[Note: this play was performed as a puppet play at
New Life Fellowship during Easter services, April 23, 2000,
with new original music instead of spirituals.
You can hear that version at mp3.com]
**********************************************************************

Prologue

          (A puppet stage, with a flat full of Egyptian 
           hieroglyphics.  We hear an ARCHEOLOGIST offstage.)

                    ARCHEOLOGIST (O.S.)
...there rose up in Egypt a peculiar people, the Hebrews.
Pharoah, fearing their vast numbers, put them to slavery.
The slaves built our temples, our pyramids, our cities.  
Moses, a Hebrew raised in the royal palace, told Pharoah, 
"Let my people go!"  Plagues fell upon Egypt: blood, frogs,
gnats, flies, dead livestock, boils, hail, locust, darkness.
Still Pharoah would not release the slaves.  Then came upon
Egypt the worst plague of all...


Scene 1

          (Ancient Egypt, during the time of Moses.  Early
          spring, day, outside a one-room shack of a house.)
          
                               SINGERS (O.S.)
     When Israel was in Egypt land--
     Let my people go--
     Oppressed so hard they could not stand--
     Let my people go.
     Go down, Moses,
     Way down in Egypt land.
     Tell old Pharoah
     Let my people go.

     "Thus says the Lord," bold Moses said,
     "'Let my people go.
     If not, I'll strike your firstborn dead!
     Let my people go.'"
     Go down, Moses,
     Way down in Egypt land.
     Tell old Pharoah
     Let my people go.

          (As SINGERS sing, lights come up upon CHAVA
          [pronounced HAH-vah], 30s, kneading dough in a bowl,
          outside her home. YEHUDA, 30s, her husband, walks in
          with a year-old LAMB half-hidden from CHAVA's sight.)

                    CHAVA
Yehuda.  You're early.

          (SHE rushes to him and hugs him. LAMB BAAS in protest.)

What in heaven's name was that!
          
                    YEHUDA
I have forgot he was there!

                    CHAVA
A lamb!  Now the butcher's too lazy to chop our meat?

                    YEHUDA
Moses told each of us to bring a lamb home.  This 
little guy's going to be staying with us a few days.

                    CHAVA
A pet lamb?  Moses wants us to have a pet lamb?  Do
we have room in this house for a pet lamb?

                    YEHUDA
Chava, is there yeast in that dough?

                    CHAVA
Of course.

                    YEHUDA
You'll have to make a new batch soon. A batch
without yeast.  Moses said.

                    CHAVA
Moses again? And how does Moses expect bread to
rise without yeast?  A miracle?  It'll be another
miracle from the One Who Is.  Bloody water, frogs,
lice, plagues, darkness...bread rises by itself!
    

                    YEHUDA
The yeastless bread and this lamb are to be part 
of a special celebration.

                    CHAVA
Celebration...?  Yehuda--!

          (hugs YEHUDA.  To God:)

Oh thank you, thank you, you Wonderful One Who Is, 
you!

                    YEHUDA
Chava...

                    CHAVA
Free at last, free at last, thank God
Almighty, we're free at--

                    YEHUDA
Chava!

                    CHAVA
What...? No?

                    YEHUDA
No.  Not yet.

                    CHAVA
May Pharoah be cursed with a thousand plagues!


**          (ADAM, 8, enters carrying pile of sticks.)

                    ADAM
Mama!  Mama!  I got the firewood!

          (ADAM sees LAMB, drops firewood.)

Oh, Papa, a lamb!  Where'd you get it?

          (ADAM pets the LAMB.)

                   CHAVA
Adam!  You drop firewood inside the house, not
outside!

                   ADAM
Oh, Ma, I wanna see the lamb.

                    YEHUDA
Listen to your mother, son.

          (ADAM sucks his teeth, get the firewood and dumps
          it just inside the doorway.  HE casts an impish
          grin to his parents.)

Adam...

                    CHAVA
Do it right!

                    ADAM
All right, all right, already!

          (lower)
Shoot, aren' I slave enough to the Egyptians
without being a slave around here?

          (YEHUDA almost whack's ADAM's behind, but ADAM
          scoots ahead.)

All right, I'm going, I'm going!  Shoot!

                    YEHUDA
Hey.  Show some respect.

          (ADAM picks up firewood and goes inside.  YEHUDA
          turns to CHAVA.)

You let that boy get away with too much.

                    CHAVA
Well, it's tough, with you away days at a time.
You and my brother Avram, away!

                    YEHUDA
I can't help that!

                    CHAVA
I know you can't help that!  He needs a man
around, to show him how to be a man.  Hah!
The Egyptians are telling him how to be a
man.  To be bossy.  And cruel.

                    YEHUDA
          (indicates LAMB)
This little guy will change all that.

          (RACHEL, 6, enters carrying pile of wood so high
          SHE can't see.)

                    RACHEL
Adam?  Where do I put this?  Adam?  Adam?
Where are you?  Where am I?

                    CHAVA
Rachel, that's too much for you!

          (CHAVA goes to rescue RACHEL but YEHUDA stops
          her.  HE steadies RACHEL.)

                    RACHEL
Aunt Chava?  Hi, Uncle Yehuda.

                    YEHUDA
Adam, come out here.

          (ADAM comes out.)

                    ADAM
Now what did I do?

                    YEHUDA
          (indicating RACHEL)
Is this fair?

                    ADAM
So?

                    YEHUDA
What do you mean, "so"?  She's smaller than
you, Adam.

                    ADAM
There's teenaged boys in Potiphar's house.
They make me do all the heavy work all the
time.

                    YEHUDA
Adam, we're going to be free of those
slavedrivers soon.  It's time we stoppped
acting like them.  Now take that bundle off
your cousin's arms.  You should have taken
the bigger bundle.

                    ADAM
          (under breath)
"You should have taken the bigger bundle."

          (YEHUDA gives ADAM one swift whack to the behind.
          ADAM takes RACHEL's bundle.)

                    YEHUDA
Now when you come back, freshmouth, I've got
something to tell all of you.

                    RACHEL
Oo, a lamb!

          (ADAM takes bundle into the house.)

                    YEHUDA
This little guy is going to be living with
us for a while.

                    CHAVA
A pet lamb?  Moses wants us to have a pet
lamb?  Yehuda, do we have room in this house
for a pet lamb?

         (ADAM comes out and sits.)

                    YEHUDA
Four nights from now, on the fourteenth day
of Abib, at midnight, the Angel of Death will
come and strike down all the firstborn of
Egypt--

                    CHAVA
          (shudders)
Ooo.

                    YEHUDA
--and by dawn every Egyptian house will have
someone dead, from Pharoah's palace all the
way down to the city jail!  Then Pharoah will
be so anxious to be rid of us Hebrews, he'll
throw us out!

                    ADAM
You mean one of those big boys in Potiphar's
house will die?  Cool.

                    CHAVA
May Pharoah be struck with ten million plagues!

                    YEHUDA
Chava.  Adam, Moses said all the firstborn sons
inside Egypt will die.

                    CHAVA
All...?

                    ADAM
Me?

                    CHAVA
Yehuda, God can't mean to kill our firstborn, 
too!

                    YEHUDA
          (indicating LAMB)
That's where he comes in.  Moses told each
household to get a lamb--a year-old lamb,
without flaw.

                    RACHEL
You mean he's perfect?

                    YEHUDA
Since we're a small family, Rachel, we'll
share our lamb with your family.  He'll live
with us for four days, then on the evening
of the fourteenth, we'll roast him and eat
him.

                    RACHEL
Oh, poor Lambie.

          (ADAM takes LAMB in his arms.)

                    YEHUDA
And we'll put his blood on the doorposts
of our house.

                    RACHEL
Blood on the house?  Eull!

                    ADAM
Eull!  But we can't put blood on the
doorposts.  That's messy.

                    CHAVA
Since when do you care about mess, Adam?

                    YEHUDA
Moses said.  We have to paint blood on 
the portals with the hyssop plant.  We'll
stay inside the house, eating--

          (HE pets the LAMB.)

--eating roast lamb and bitter herbs and
flat bread.

                    CHAVA
Flat bread?

                    YEHUDA
At midnight, when the Angel of Death comes,
he'll see the blood and he'll pass over our
house.  God won't allow the Destroyer to 
strike us dead.

                    ADAM
Do we have to eat him, Papa?  He's so warm
and cuddly.

                    YEHUDA
If that's what God wants.  That lamb is our
shua.

                    RACHEL
"Shua"?

                    YEHUDA
Shua.  It means "deliverance".  That lamb, 
and God's power, will deliver us from Egypt.

                    ADAM
Shua.  I remember that word.  Shua means
"freedom", too, doesn't it?  Let's call him
Shua.

          (LAMB BAAS.)

                    RACHEL
See?  He agrees!  Shua!

                    YEHUDA
Shua it is.

                    RACHEL
Can we play with him, Aunt Chava?  Uncle
Yehuda?

                    ADAM
Yeah, let's play with him!

                    YEHUDA
          (teasing, to RACHEL)
Didn't your mother tell you not to play
with your food?

                    ADAM
Oh, come on!  He's not food yet!  Are 
you, Shua?

                    YEHUDA
All right, all right, go play.

               ADAM and RACHEL
          (ad lib)
Yay!  Let's go!

          (The CHILDREN run off with the LAMB.)

                    CHAVA
Yehuda, do you think that's wise...?

                    YEHUDA
The lamb's living with us for four days!
What else can we do?



          (end of Scene 1--"between scenes")



                    SINGERS (O.S.)
          (sing)
     Steal away, steal away,
     Steal away to freedom.
     Steal away, steal away home.
     I ain't got long to stay here.

     Steal away, steal away,
     Steal away to my Lord.
     Steal away, steal away home.
     I ain't got long to stay here.




(to be continued)

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