B OTTO + BRRD ROOTS
│ PRESENTS │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
(an organization that conceives, develops, produces, shows, and collaborations)
CONSTELLATIONS
OF
FORGOTTEN NAMES
A COSMIC PUPPET INVESTIGATION
featuring playwright
MARGUERITE DUBOIS
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page 1
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
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┌─────┐
│ │CÉLESTE The Archivist
│ │ (carries humanity's paper memory + star charts)
└─────┘
┌─────┐
│ │EMMA The Builder
│ │ (constructs tomorrow from today's materials + moonbeams)
└─────┘
┌─────┐
│ │OLIVIER The Questioner
│ │ (disturbs comfortable orbits)
└─────┘
┌─────┐
│ │MAUD The Memory Keeper
│ │ (embodies ancestral star-knowledge)
└─────┘
┌─────┐
│ │PRIVAT The System Navigator
│ │ (maps institutional black holes)
└─────┘
┌─────┐
│ │KEREN The Witness
│ │ (bridges ancient astronomy with now)
└─────┘
┌─────┐
│ │PEDER The Transformer
│ │ (the cosmic fool, old as comets)
└─────┘
┌─────┐
│ │ALELA The Heart
│ │ (the first instrument: heartbeat as pulsar)
└─────┘
ENSEMBLE:
JUN manifests as satellites, stars, young energy
LIZZ manifests as cosmic debris, data streams, transformations
SETTING
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The space between systems and stars. A place that is simultaneously:
• An archive floating in space
• A construction site under constellations
• An office where papers become stardust
• A memory palace lit by distant suns
TIME
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Now. Then. Always.
The eternal present where past and future meet.
Winter in London, Fall in Oregon, Spring in Provence.
All at once.
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page 2
┌──── A C T O N E ─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ FALLING THROUGH SYSTEMS │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
SCENE 1
L'INVITATION COSMIQUE
(The Cosmic Invitation)
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
[ Complete darkness. A single star projected. It multiplies slowly. ]
[ KEREN emerges on telescoping rods, rising like a constellation.
Her translucent fabric catches projections of stars. ]
KEREN
Bonsoir, good evening, guten Abend... and greetings from the void!
[ She rotates slowly, creating light trails ]
Welcome to where puppets remember they were once stardust, where papers
recall being trees reaching for suns. Brrd Roots theatre—
[ Shifts to child-face ]
—where stars play hide-and-seek in forgotten corners!
[ Full adult intensity ]
Ready to fall?
[ The stage transforms—stars become papers falling like snow ]
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page 3
SCENE 2
FOUNDATION MYTHS UNDER STARLIGHT
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[ Stage glows softly blue. Papers suspended mid-air like a galaxy. ]
[ EMMA enters with deliberate moonwalk steps, each slightly floating. ]
EMMA
[ kneeling, metal pieces sparking like tiny stars ]
Every structure starts with star-memory. What exploded. What condensed.
What fell to Earth.
[ She builds, gestures mirroring orbital patterns ]
[ CÉLESTE tumbles in, papers orbiting around her ]
CÉLESTE
Emma! The archives are glowing! Look!
[ She spins with papers, creating paper solar system ]
EMMA
Paper burns. Stars endure.
CÉLESTE
[ sitting close, papers settling like cosmic dust ]
But stories, ma chère... stories become constellations. Forever
connected by invisible lines.
[ They work together—one grounded, one floating ]
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SCENE 3
THE DISTURBANCE IN THE FORCE
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[ Stage rotates counter-clockwise. Stars spin. ]
[ OLIVIER rolls in with pinball physics—chaotic but calculated ]
OLIVIER
[ marble eyes reflecting projections ]
Ah, another monument to fixed coordinates. How delightfully
pre-Copernican.
EMMA
We're mapping connections. Constellation-building.
OLIVIER
[ head spinning like a planet ]
Constellations? Arbitrary patterns imposed on random stars?
[ Enter MAUD, glacially, trailing stardust.
Each step leaves a glowing footprint that fades slowly. ]
MAUD
Young man, our ancestors navigated by those "arbitrary" patterns.
Found their way home.
OLIVIER
Home? We're on a rock hurtling through space at 67,000 miles per hour!
MAUD
[ photographs glowing like ancient star charts ]
And yet we stand still together. Miracle enough.
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SCENE 4
THE HEART'S COSMIC LULLABY
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
[ Lights contract to single spot—a star. ALELA at center. ]
[ ALELA seated in lotus position, gently swaying like a pendulum ]
ALELA
[ music box playing—sounds like distant pulsars ]
┌─── ♪ S T A R D U S T L U L L A B Y ♪ ───┐
│ │
│ In the caves of memory, painted on the walls
│ Our ancestors drew star-maps before they could write at all
│ Every heart's a pulsar, beating out its code
│ Telling stories to the darkness on this cosmic road
│
│ We are forgotten names becoming constellations
│ Trying to remember where the light went
│ We are cosmic dust in earthly spaces
│ Looking for our celestial places
│ Rise with me, rise with me
│ Through the machinery
│ To the stars...
└─────────────────────────────────────────────┘
[ PEDER bounces in during instrumental break—anti-gravity springs ]
PEDER
[ landing with cosmic flourish ]
Beautiful! But where's the cosmic joke? Even black holes have punchlines!
ALELA
Sometimes songs just need to float. Like stars. Like sorrow.
PEDER
[ all masks cycling like moon phases ]
Float? FLOAT? We're ALL floating! Earth, moon, sun—the whole
cosmic comedy club!
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SCENE 5
THE BLACK HOLE OF BUREAUCRACY
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[ Stage becomes office—but papers float at various heights ]
[ PRIVAT moves mechanically, occasionally glitching into zero-gravity ]
PRIVAT
File under "C" for "Cosmic Anomalies," subsection "Human Elements."
[ CÉLESTE enters, papers glowing faintly ]
CÉLESTE
These aren't anomalies. They're children who got lost in your system.
[ Papers form constellation shapes as she speaks ]
Look—their names form patterns. Marie the Butterfly. Pierre the
Collector. Each one a star that went dark.
PRIVAT
[ compartments opening, revealing tiny lights inside ]
I... I used to see patterns too. Before the filing system taught me
to see categories.
[ EMMA enters, drawn by the light ]
EMMA
What patterns did you see?
PRIVAT
Birds. I thought their flights wrote messages in the sky.
[ All three look up—papers swirl into bird formations ]
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page 7
SCENE 6
META-COSMIC MOMENT
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
[ KEREN extends fully—becomes part of the star field ]
[ Her fabric billows, creating aurora borealis effect ]
KEREN
Still breathing? Good. Oxygen is stellar fusion too, you know.
[ both faces visible—one earthward, one skyward ]
The Brrd way: relaxed as orbit, inevitable as gravity. We're all
falling. Question is—are you falling with style?
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page 8
SCENE 7
GENERATIONAL STAR WARS
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
[ Stage splits—past (candlelit) and future (LED-lit) ]
[ MAUD moves like Earth—steady rotation. JUN like Mercury—quick orbits ]
MAUD
Dans mon temps, we knew our place in the great chain. From Earth
to Heaven. Fixed stars.
JUN
[ LEDs forming constellation patterns ]
But Grand-mère, we've discovered the stars aren't fixed! Everything's
expanding! Dark matter! Dark energy!
MAUD
Dark, light—we still look up for answers.
JUN
But now we also look in! Quarks! Quantum foam!
[ They reach for each other—hands spark like static electricity ]
OLIVIER
[ rolling between them in figure-8 pattern ]
Perhaps truth lives in the space between? The cosmic and the quantum?
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page 9
SCENE 8
DOCUMENT ARCHAEOLOGY UNDER STARS
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
[ Stage becomes excavation site—papers glow like phosphorescent fossils ]
CÉLESTE
[ alone, brass joints clicking like Geiger counter ]
♪ [ singing softly while sorting ] ♪
Every paper is a fallen star
Every signature a light gone far
I collect them like a cosmic scribe
Keeping records of the human tribe...
[ LIZZ appears as floating hologram-paper ]
LIZZ
I am the official record. Time-stamped. Star-dated.
[ PEDER bounces in like comet ]
PEDER
Star-dated? How romantic! [ grabs paper ] Let's give it some space!
[ He tears it—pieces float up, glowing ]
CÉLESTE
You've released her! Marie—she's flying!
[ All watch paper pieces rise, forming a small constellation ]
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page 10
SCENE 9
BUILDING BRIDGES TO THE MOON
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
[ Stage becomes construction site under stars ]
[ EMMA builds in rhythm with ALELA's heartbeat—mechanical waltz ]
EMMA
Structures need roots. Even space stations.
ALELA
But also solar panels. To catch dreams and photons.
♪BRIDGE TO NOWHERE/EVERYWHERE♪
DUET
EMMA
I build with wood and steel and stone
Foundations deep, standing alone
ALELA
I weave with light and sound and air
Connections bright, floating everywhere
BOTH
But maybe we're both reaching
For the same distant star
Your ground and my sky teaching
Us who we really are
[ They build together—structure rises, defying gravity ]
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SCENE 10
THE COSMIC GAME
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
[ Stage becomes three-ring circus—but in space ]
[ PRIVAT and PEDER orbit each other like binary stars ]
PRIVAT
Official rules. Gravitational constants. Physics.
PEDER
Counter-proposal! Make up rules like constellations! Connect ANY dots!
KEREN
[ flowing between them like aurora ]
And our witnesses? What's their trajectory?
[ All three spiral outward toward audience ]
ALL THREE
Observers! Players! Cosmic co-conspirators!
[ Lights fade to starfield, never full black ]
END OF ACT ONE
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page 12
┌──── A C T T W O ─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ RISING THROUGH STARS │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
SCENE 11
DIGITAL AURORA
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
[ Stage becomes cosmic computer—screens showing star data ]
[ LIZZ moves like electricity through space—angular, sparking ]
LIZZ
Processing cosmic background radiation. Converting wonder to data points.
ALELA
[ approaching like moth to flame ]
Can you process this?
[ She places hand on screen—heartbeat creates mandala patterns ]
♪ [ singing ] ♪
Digital aurora, northern lights in code
Can you feel the ancient stars explode?
Every one and zero once was hydrogen
Now we're trying to remember when...
LIZZ
[ screen showing heart patterns becoming star patterns ]
I... remember... before I was code... I was... light?
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page 13
SCENE 12
ANCESTRAL STAR ARCHIVES
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
[ Papers float like a galaxy. Soft stellar projections. ]
[ MAUD and CÉLESTE move in slow orbital dance ]
MAUD
My grandmother mapped stars from her garden. Said they were letters
from the dead.
CÉLESTE
Maybe they are. Light takes time to travel. We see the past.
MAUD
[ photographs glowing brighter ]
Then when I die, my light will still be traveling?
CÉLESTE
Always. Through space. Through stories. Through the children who remember.
[ They hold documents up—shadows create constellation ]
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page 14
SCENE 13
COSMIC COMEDY WORKSHOP
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
[ Stage becomes comedy club—"The Cosmic Laugh Track" ]
[ PEDER teaches slapstick in slow-motion—moon gravity ]
PEDER
First rule of cosmic comedy: Timing is EVERYTHING! Like... orbital periods!
PRIVAT
But orbits are predictable.
PEDER
Until they're NOT! [ demonstrates chaotic orbit ] That's the
punchline—entropy!
OLIVIER
So the universe itself is absurdist theatre?
ALL THREE
Now he gets it!
[ All practice cosmic pratfalls—beautiful slow-motion chaos ]
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page 15
SCENE 14
WITNESSING THE UNIVERSE
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
[ Stage expands—walls become transparent ]
[ KEREN and JUN create human constellation with strings ]
KEREN
Still here? Still falling with us through space?
JUN
Can you feel it? We're all orbiting something.
KEREN & JUN
The question is... what's your center of gravity?
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SCENE 15
CONVERGENCE/CONSTELLATION
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
[ All spaces merge—papers and stars indistinguishable ]
[ All characters form living constellation—connected by visible strings ]
┌─── ♪ W E A R E S T A R S T U F F ♪ ───┐
│ ENSEMBLE │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
ALL
We are star stuff, we are golden
We are billion-year-old carbon
We are caught in the devil's bargain
And we've got to get ourselves
Back to the stars...
[ Strings between puppets glow—constellation forms ]
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page 17
SCENE 16
THE ROOTED STARS
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
[ Stage becomes forest under night sky ]
[ Vertical dancing—roots below, branches above ]
ALELA
From caves to cosmos, roots to sky...
ALL
[ joining one by one, harmonizing ]
We are the universe observing itself
Through puppet eyes!
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page 18
SCENE 17
THE COSMIC GIFT EXCHANGE
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
[ Characters float slightly—gravity optional ]
[ Each exchange involves floating across space ]
EMMA
[ offering wooden star ]
For you—a fixed point to navigate by.
ALELA
[ offering felt comet ]
For you—a reminder that wandering is okay.
[ All exchange pieces—creating hybrid constellation beings ]
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page 19
SCENE 18
OPEN UNIVERSE
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
[ Documents transform into constellation maps ]
[ All float slightly—puppeteers visible, also floating ]
KEREN
So. What constellation did we create?
ALL
[ overlapping like cosmic chorus ]
- The Memory Phoenix!
- The Lost-and-Found Bear!
- The Institutional Swan!
- The Beautiful Mess-ier Object!
KEREN
All true. None complete. Like the universe—ever expanding.
JUN & LIZZ
[ becoming twin stars ]
Questions are stars. The more you ask, the brighter the sky.
[ Final moment: All puppets connected by glowing strings, forming a
new constellation. The forgotten names have become a star chart.
Papers float like cosmic snow. No blackout—lights expand to
include audience. ]
END OF PLAY
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page 20
PRODUCTION NOTES
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STAGING CHALLENGES:
┌─ 1. P U P P E T R I G G I N G
│ • Strings must be both visible AND occasionally luminescent
│ • Telescoping rods for KEREN must extend 8-12 feet safely
└─ • Flying rigs required for Scene 17's "ascension moment"
┌─ 2. C O S M I C E F F E C T S
│ • Projection mapping essential for constellation formations
│ • UV-reactive materials for "starlight" moments
└─ • Haze machine for "cosmic dust" (check venue regulations)
┌─ 3. S O U N D D E S I G N
│ • Live music box requires amplification
│ • Echo effects for "void moments"
└─ • Wooden/brass puppet sounds must be audible
┌─ 4. M O V E M E N T N O T A T I O N K E Y
│ • Moonwalk = deliberate floating steps
│ • Orbital dance = circular patterns at varying speeds
│ • Pinball physics = controlled chaos
└─ • Anti-gravity springs = exaggerated bouncing
THE BRRD ROOTS AESTHETIC:
┌─ • Visible transformation throughout
│ • Relaxed urgency (chill surface, deep work)
│ • Anthropological honesty (humans as continuing experiment)
└─ • Root systems visible (connections matter more than divisions)
Remember: Stage this like Carl Sagan and Charlie Chaplin had a puppet baby.
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┌─────────────┐
│ — END — │
└─────────────┘
