UNDERNEATH THE STARS, WE ROOT
A Puppet Constellation of Memory & Mycelium
By Marguerite Dubois-Chen
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UNDERNEATH THE STARS, WE ROOT
A Puppet Constellation of Memory & Mycelium
By Marguerite Dubois-Chen
A puppet play in five acts
First performed in the author's imagination
Paris, Winter 2025
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DRAMATIS PERSONAE
CÉLESTE - The Dreamer
A puppet who floats between worlds, afraid that landing means choosing. Built of translucent organza
and moonlight.
EMMA - The Archive Keeper
The collector of forgotten moments, keeper of emotional threads. Ancient and motherly, made of earth
and memory.
OLIVIER - The Root-Walker
He who speaks in pulses and pauses, moving with the broken rhythm of roots through stone.
MAUD - The Hesitant Questioner
She moves through the world like a question she's afraid to ask. Secretly in love with the rhythm of
persistence.
PRIVAT - The Memory-Weaver
Collector of spores of soft becoming, dancer between connections. Trails phosphorescence.
KEREN - The Choir Voice
Underground singer of forgotten choices. Olivier's root-twin. Her body resonates with ancient songs.
PEDER - The Translator
Carrier of seven languages and untranslatable sorrows. Bonds with Jun over displacement.
ALELA - The Shapeshifter
Moth-myth transformer who knows the weight of being multiple. Céleste's shadow-self.
JUN - The Border-Crosser
Keeper of folded maps and displaced stories. Carries home in a small suitcase.
LIZZ - The Night Guardian
Midnight archivist of ache and tenderness. Emma's first student and shadow-keeper.
MARGUERITE - The Playwright
84-year-old narrator who appears in prologue. Lives between three homes and many languages.
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SETTING
The stage exists in three levels:
SKY LEVEL - Where Céleste floats and stars project
A space of suspension and choice-avoidance
EARTH LEVEL - The main playing area
Where most action occurs, meetings happen, connections form
UNDERGROUND/BRRD LEVEL - Below stage or suggested through lighting
The root realm where memories archive and networks pulse
The entire space is connected by phosphorescent threads that become visible as the play progresses,
eventually revealing both mycelial networks below and constellation patterns above.
TIME
The eternal present of dream-time
Also: a Tuesday
Also: the space between heartbeats
Also: now
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STAGING CHALLENGES & SOLUTIONS
The Floating Challenge
Problem: Céleste must appear to float throughout Act One
Solutions: Counterweight system, platform shoes with wheels, mirror placement
Budget option: Black-clad puppeteers as "invisible" support
The Root Network Challenge
Problem: Making mycelial connections visible and dynamic
Solutions: UV-reactive string, projection mapping, fiber optic cables
Budget option: Glow-in-the-dark yarn and blacklight
The Transformation Challenge
Problem: Alela must shift seamlessly between moth and human
Solutions: Reversible puppet, two puppeteers trading, magnetic costume pieces
Budget option: Shadow play transformation
Movement Notation Key:
[R] = rooted/grounded movement
[F] = floating/aerial movement
[W] = flowing/water-like movement
[S] = sharp/stuttered movement
[C] = spiral/circular movement
[*] = stillness/starlight pause
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PROLOGUE: AN INTRODUCTION UNLIKE ANY OTHER
A single spotlight illuminates an empty rocking chair. The sound of a radiator clanking. Stars project slowly
across the ceiling. A voice speaks from offstage - warm, aged, amused.
VOICE OF MARGUERITE
Alors (So then), you want to meet me before you meet my puppets? Très bien (Very well). But I warn you -
I am more root than flower these days. More brrd than bird, if you understand. I move slowly, like winter
sap. I am... how do you say... chilled by time but warmed by memory.
An elderly woman enters, dressed in layers of scarves and time. She carries a battered suitcase covered in
stamps and small painted stars.
MARGUERITE
(to audience) I am Marguerite Dubois-Chen. 84 years old. Born in Marseille when the world still believed
in telegraph romance and stars told stories. I have roots in three places - Paris where I freeze and write,
Oregon where I gather mushrooms and remember, Provence where I dry lavender and forget on
purpose.
She opens the suitcase. Puppets tumble out like constellations falling to earth.
MARGUERITE (cont'd)
These puppets? They are my système racinaire (root system). They grow from the ancient anthropological
truth that we are all connected - from the first humans who painted caves to map the stars, to the
teenagers who paint their feelings on TikTok under LED stars. We are all leaving marks, seeking
connection, growing sideways when we cannot grow up.
She picks up a puppet, cradles it.
MARGUERITE (cont'd)
Tonight, you will meet the underground. The brrd - the chilled spaces where we slow down enough to
feel. Where roots do their patient work of breaking stone into soil, making the physical into the mythical.
Where the ancient meets the immediate, like finding your grandmother's constellation map on a
stargazing app.
She settles into the rocking chair. Above her, a constellation forms that looks suspiciously like mycelial
networks.
MARGUERITE (cont'd)
The anthropologists tell us humans have always been networked. The mycologists tell us forests have
always been internets. The astronomers tell us we are all stardust. I tell you - we are both rooted and
celestial. Both brrd and flight. So... shall we begin this puppet show? Or as my grandson says, "Mémé, less
talking, more magic!"
Lights fade on her knowing smile. A shooting star crosses the projection.
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ACT ONE
L'Archive S'éveille (The Archive Awakens)
Scene 1: The Floating and the Grounded
Stage dark as the inside of a seed. Phosphorescent threads appear slowly, like neural pathways drawn by
patient hands. Stars project faintly on the scrim. The stage is divided into three levels - sky, earth, and the
brrd underground where things move slowly and significance accumulates like sediment.
TRANSITION: Light rises like dawn through soil. Sound of roots growing - a creaking, patient music. A
constellation that looks like roots appears above.
CÉLESTE floats in, suspended by invisible threads. Movement: [F] Arms swim through air, feet pedal slowly,
head tilts back to stars.
CÉLESTE
In the breath between soil and silence... je dérive (I drift). Not falling, not rising. Just... threading through
crépuscule (twilight) like someone tracing their own delay. The anthropologists would call this "liminal
space." I call it... Tuesday.
EMMA pushes through the stage floor like a mushroom after rain, carrying the physical weight of memory.
Movement: [R] Hands pat pockets, checking her collection. Each gesture deliberate, rooted.
EMMA
Un pouls. Une touche. Une écoute. (A pulse. A touch. A listening.) I collect everything - even the dreams
you think you've forgotten. This one? (holds glowing thread) This is from the time you almost said "Je
t'aime" (I love you) but coughed instead. Very brrd of you - very chilled, very careful. We've all done it, ma
petite.
EMMA'S COLLECTION SONG
To the tune of a music box, slightly broken. EMMA pulls items from pockets in rhythm, each a small dance
[W]
EMMA (singing)
Dans mes poches, dans mes poches (In my pockets, in my pockets) J'ai tes soupirs (I have your sighs)
Dans mes poches, dans mes poches J'ai tes sourires (I have your smiles)
Every button is a morning
Every thread a midnight call
Every pebble is a warning
That you mattered after all
Dans mes poches... étoiles tombées (In my pockets... fallen stars)
Dans mes poches... roots tangled free
CÉLESTE
Who speaks from the sous-terre (underground)? Who knows my almost-words?
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EMMA
I am the archive that doesn't mind - l'archive qui s'en fiche (the archive that doesn't care). The one who
keeps your voice memos unsent, your letters buried beneath les violettes (violets).
She touches CÉLESTE's face with hands that have sifted through centuries.
EMMA (cont'd)
Oh, douce enfant de l'air (sweet child of air), you've been floating so long you've forgotten - the ground
misses you. The roots have been writing your name in minerals and slow time. Even the stars lean down
to see.
Scene 2: The Rhythm of Hesitation
TRANSITION: The sound of a skipping record, then silence, then a heartbeat. Stars pulse in rhythm. Enter
OLIVIER.
OLIVIER enters with segmented movement. Step-pause-root check-step. Arms move separately from torso.
Movement: [S]
OLIVIER
Nous... rêvons... en... pulsations. (We... dream... in... pulses.) Some come rhythmic. (pause - the whole
theater holds its breath) Some flinch. (longer pause) Some loop. (repeats gesture three times)
MAUD enters, a study in approach-avoidance behavior. Movement: Two steps forward, one back, slight
spiral [C] on retreat.
MAUD
Like me? I move through the world like a question I'm afraid to ask. Each step stirs spores in the air.
(shrinks back) Pardon (Sorry), am I... am I trop (too much)?
MAUD'S HESITATION WALTZ
3/4 time, very soft. MAUD dances alone, OLIVIER begins to echo her rhythm [S][W]
MAUD (singing)
Un, deux, trois... (One, two, three...) Forward, back, and sideways Un, deux, trois... Maybe, almost, always
I am dancing with my doubt
In the starlight, in the brrd
Every step finds its way out
Through the silence, through the word
Un... deux... peut-être... trois (One... two... maybe... three)
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CÉLESTE
(floating down, curious) Spores that listen? Like... like the earth has ears?
EMMA
Spores that remember. Your douces erreurs (soft mistakes), your glorieux évitements (glorious avoidances).
She guides MAUD forward with the patience of geological time.
EMMA (cont'd)
Ma chère (My dear), your hesitation is not weakness. It's careful beauty - like roots finding their way
around stone. Very physical, very ancient. The first humans hesitated before fire, before love, before art.
You're in excellent company.
Scene 3: Collecting Soft Becoming
TRANSITION: Sound of wind chimes made from keys. Light shifts to aurora colors. Stars swirl overhead.
Enter PRIVAT.
PRIVAT dances between the others, trailing phosphorescence. Movement: [C] Spiraling between puppets,
hands weaving invisible patterns.
PRIVAT
J'ai collectionné! (I've been collecting!) Each thread a story of soft becoming. Regardez (Look) - (silver
thread) This one is from someone who whispered "Ça va" (I'm okay) to a toothbrush in Saint Paul. (gold
thread) This? From someone who danced alone in their kitchen at 3 AM, making friends with their own
brrd solitude.
MAUD
(reaching with the courage of the deeply cautious) Puis-je (May I)... may I touch it?
PRIVAT
Bien sûr (Of course). You've earned every tender thing you're afraid to want.
MAUD touches the thread. Her whole body illuminates - stars appear in her shadow.
PRIVAT (cont'd)
The universe owes you softness. It's an ancient debt - from when the first root split the first stone, from
when the first star decided to fall.
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MAUD
It feels familiar... like the hesitation I underlined three times while reading under a hêtre (beech tree).
Like... like maybe hesitation is just careful love? The way roots test soil before committing?
OLIVIER
Oui... we... pause... because... we... care... too... much... not... too... little.
His hand finds MAUD's - two brrd souls recognizing each other. A constellation forms between them.
OLIVIER (cont'd)
Like... checking... each... step... on... ice. Ancient... wisdom... in... modern... careful... feet.
End of Act One. Lights dim to bioluminescence and starlight.
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ACT TWO
Le Chœur Souterrain (The Underground Choir)
Scene 1: The Frozen Archive
TRANSITION: The stage transforms. Roots descend from above - part chandelier, part neural network, part
constellation. The anthropological layers of time become visible. Sound of ice forming on heartstrings.
KEREN emerges with the gravity of tectonic plates. Movement: [W][R] Undulating like underground rivers,
hands conducting invisible music.
KEREN
Bienvenue (Welcome) to the between-space of sleep. Here, roots are not roots but les artères gelées des
choix oubliés (frozen arteries of forgotten choices). Each one holds a note you never sang, a song you
swallowed. Very brrd - very chilled by time, very physical in its patience.
THE ROOT CHOIR SONG
Sung in rounds by KEREN, with others joining. All puppets begin to sway [W], creating visual harmony.
KEREN (singing)
Below, below, where memories grow In brrd silence, in cold patience We hold your words, your unsaid
birds Your swallowed songs, where you belong
En bas, en bas (Below, below)
Où les étoiles touchent la terre (Where stars touch earth)
En bas, en bas
Dans le mystère (In the mystery)
Enter PEDER, moving like someone carrying invisible dictionaries. Movement: [R][S] Gesture-translation,
each movement speaking multiple languages.
PEDER
They pulse not with sang (blood), but with mémoire (memory). Stalled. Glaciaire (Glacial). Insistent. I carry
seven languages here, and still some sorrows have no words. Like trying to translate the sound of your
mother's sigh. The anthropologists call this "the untranslatable." I call it Tuesday afternoon.
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Scene 2: Translators and Shapeshifters
TRANSITION: Light fractures into prisms. Sound of wings and whispers. Stars shift into moth patterns. Enter
ALELA, shifting forms.
ALELA's movement: [F][R] Seamless shifts - moth wings fold into arms, antennae become hair.
ALELA
Je connais cet endroit (I know this place). I've transformed here before. Into mythe (myth), into the
glimmering husk of a half-named emotion wrapped in papier bulle (bubble wrap). (to CÉLESTE) Sœur de
l'air (Sister of air), do you remember? We were one before the world taught us to choose. Before the
anthropologists gave us categories.
CÉLESTE
I... I remember wings. I remember the weight of choosing terre ou ciel (ground or sky).
ALELA
The ancient choice. The first differentiation. Very rooted in our physical need to be multiple.
Enter JUN, each step a border crossing. Movement: [R][W] Unpacking gestures, each item placed with
ceremony.
JUN
Each root holds une carte pliée (a folded map). Creases torn by la patrouille frontalière (border patrol),
corners kissed by cousins perdus (lost cousins). We are more than one story. We are the trait d'union entre
les maisons (hyphen between homes). The anthropological truth of movement - humans have always
migrated, always carried home in brrd containers.
PEDER
Frère des frontières (Brother of borders), I know your weight.
They embrace - the kind of hug that translates across all languages.
PEDER (cont'd)
Sometimes I dream in languages I've never spoken, just to feel less alone. The brrd comfort of unfamiliar
lullabies.
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Scene 3: The Touch That Remembers
TRANSITION: Darkness spreads like spilled ink. Stars dim to single points. Enter LIZZ, bringing the brrd of
night.
LIZZ's movement: [R][] Cloak spreading gestures, creating shadow puppets of constellations.*
LIZZ
You call it night. We call it archive. Not a bibliothèque (library) - a labyrinth of soft stumbles and grâce
vaporisée (vaporized grace). (to EMMA) Maîtresse (Teacher), they're learning what you taught me cycles
ago. The physical patience of roots, the ancient art of growing in the dark.
EMMA
Ma première étudiante (My first student), my shadow-keeper. You've guarded the night like a mother.
LIZZ
The night is very brrd - very chilled, very patient. It's where the anthropological becomes personal.
All puppets approach the roots, creating a ritual of touch.
OLIVIER
The roots... they speak... in fragments... like... me... like... nous tous (all of us)...
THE MEMORY FRAGMENT SONG
Call and response between KEREN and all. Movement: All puppets reach for the central root in
choreographed sequence [C][]*
KEREN
"Te souviens-tu du crayon orange?" (Do you remember the orange crayon?)
MAUD (sung)
No. But my fingers do. They remember the wax, the resistance, the way it never, never stayed inside the
lines.
KEREN
"Et la feuille sous la balançoire?" (And the leaf under the swing?)
CÉLESTE (sung)
It flinched when I did. We were both afraid, both afraid of la hauteur (heights).
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KEREN
"Et le silence de ta mère?" (And your mother's silence?)
PRIVAT (breaking into song)
Still echoes when water boils. Still lives in the space between... between... between...
All puppets touch the central root - frozen, patient, brrd.
ALL
(together, then fracturing) Nous sommes la pause dans ton rire. (We are the pause in your laughter.) Nous
sommes le givre dans ta joie. (We are the frost in your joy.) Nous sommes l'archive de la douleur. (We are
the archive of ache.) Nous sommes le bleu tendre du devenir. (We are the tender bruise of becoming.)
End of Act Two. The roots pulse with collected memory. Stars pulse in sympathy.
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ACT THREE
Le Mémoire Mycélien (The Mycelial Memoir)
Scene 1: Braiding Breath
TRANSITION: The stage becomes organic. Mycelial networks glow between puppets, mirroring constellation
patterns above. The anthropological truth made visible - we are all connected. Sound of earth breathing.
EMMA weaves between the others. Movement: [R][W] Literal braiding gestures, creating visible light trails.
EMMA
Every breath you exhale in sleep, we braid into filament. A kind of emotional threadbare rope that can still
hold weight. Even the broken ones. Surtout (Especially) the broken ones. Like the first rope made by the
first humans - necessity and beauty intertwined.
LIZZ's movement: [R][] Planting gestures, then growth movements.*
LIZZ
Every regret caught between teeth? We compost it into nutrient. Tuck it beneath your favorite memory of
someone who never texted back but looked at you like un lever de soleil (a sunrise). The brrd process of
transformation - slow, patient, inevitable.
MAUD
I have so many of those looks saved. Is that... is that bête (silly)?
OLIVIER
Never... bête... to... save... le soleil levant (sunrise)...
Movement: Synchronized breathing exercise between all puppets.
OLIVIER (cont'd)
We... are... all... collectors... of... light... Very... ancient... very... human... very... brrd...
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Scene 2: The Grammar of Connection
TRANSITION: Light becomes liquid. Movement becomes language. The puppets begin to breathe as one
organism. Constellation of connection forms above.
ALELA transforms with each breath. Movement: [F][R] Each transformation more fluid - moth/human/curl.
ALELA
We watched you shapeshift too.
THE SHAPESHIFTER'S LULLABY
Sung by ALELA, echoed by others. Movement: All puppets begin shapeshifting subtly [F][R][C]
ALELA (singing)
Je suis papillon, je suis humaine (I am butterfly, I am human) Je suis la question dans la graine (I am the
question in the seed) Transform, transform, douce métamorphose (sweet metamorphosis) Between the
thorn and between the rose
We are multiple, we are one
Children of soil and of sun
Dans la terre et dans les étoiles (In the earth and in the stars)
We transform, we transform...
PEDER conducts an invisible orchestra of smell. Movement: [W][S]
PEDER
We build identity with whispers, map selfhood in the syntax of scent. Pluie dans tes cheveux (rain in your
hair), café dans ton hésitation (coffee in your hesitation), fumée de bougie dans ta douleur (candle smoke
in your ache). The anthropology of memory - we remember through our bodies.
JUN unpacks his suitcase fully. Movement: [R][W] Each object removed with increasing difficulty.
JUN
Some of us had to translate our childhood into survival. Some of us mispronounce the roots we still love.
Some of us carry two passports and call both presque (almost). The brrd reality of belonging - patient,
complex, physical.
PEDER
Presque (Almost) is a complete sentence in the language of nostalgie (longing).
JUN
And in the anthropology of displacement. We are all almost home.
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Scene 3: Landing Without Losing the Sky
TRANSITION: The stage finds balance. Earth and air negotiate. Light settles like dust after dancing. Stars and
roots finally touch.
CÉLESTE's feet touch ground for the first time. Movement: [F][R] Testing the earth - toe, heel, full foot []*
CÉLESTE
I've been floating because the ground felt like choosing. But maybe... maybe I can touch down without
losing le ciel (the sky)? Maybe the roots remember flying?
ALELA stabilizes. Movement: [F][R] Final transformation - both forms visible simultaneously.
ALELA
We contain multitudes, sky-sister. The moth knows the flame, the human knows the yearning. Les deux
vrais (Both true). Les deux réels (Both real). Very anthropological - humans have always been multiple.
MAUD
(center stage, transformed) So we're all connected? Even in our hesitation? Surtout (Especially) in our
mess?
PRIVAT creates visible web between all puppets with light. Movement: [C]
PRIVAT
Surtout in hesitation. Each spore sprouted is both archive and avatar. Your careful stepping? It's a dance
others are learning. You're teaching us the valse de la prudence (waltz of caution). Very brrd - very chilled,
very beautiful, very necessary.
End of Act Three. The puppets stand connected, breathing as one. Stars above mirror roots below.
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ACT FOUR
La Fable et la Mémoire (The Fable and the Memory)
Scene 1: The First Spore
TRANSITION: Time rewinds. The stage becomes primordial. Sound of the first rain on the first stone. Ancient
constellations appear.
OLIVIER begins the ritual. Movement: [S][]*
OLIVIER
Il y a longtemps (Long ago)... before root and rain... knew each other's... names...
All puppets freeze in tableau []*
CÉLESTE
The world was stone-strung silence. Not poetic silence, but the kind when your uncle's karaoke machine
breaks during Ave Maria. The anthropological truth - silence has always been complicated.
The puppets laugh - recognition across time.
KEREN births the myth through movement. Movement: [W] Expansion from center [C]
KEREN
Then came Myco, la Première Spore (the First Spore).
THE MYCO CREATION MYTH SONG
Sung by all, building in complexity. Movement: All puppets thread through space following Myco's path [C]
[F]
ALL (singing)
From moon-mist and decay From compost left to play Came Myco, Myco, threading through the day
Ni terrestre ni céleste (Neither earthly nor celestial)
Mais les deux à la fois (But both at once)
Myco sang the in-between
Where the stars touch soil, serene
Our name is network (réseau)
Our breath is boundary (frontière)
We make the darkness tasty
Like chocolate ordinaire
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PEDER translates song into gesture - ancient to modern. Movement: [W][S] Translation dance.
PEDER
It sang! With verses carved in basalte (basalt) and choruses made of expired coupons. Equal parts chant
grégorien (Gregorian chant) and lo-fi hip-hop for existential squids. The anthropology of music - we've
always mixed the sacred and the silly.
Scene 2: The Sun's Jealousy
TRANSITION: Harsh light invades. The brrd space is threatened. Sound of drought. Stars flee.
EMMA protectively gathers smaller puppets. Movement: [R]
EMMA
"Notre nom est réseau. Notre souffle est frontière." (Our name is network. Our breath is boundary.) "Nous
rendrons l'obscurité délicieuse." (We shall make the dark delicious.) Like chocolat bon marché (cheap
chocolate) wrapped in medieval metaphor. The physical truth - transformation happens in the dark.
LIZZ creates shadow puppets of conflict. Movement: [][R] Shadow puppet battle between light and dark.*
LIZZ
But the Sun grew jaloux (jealous). "You thrive in shadow," it roared. "I will bleach the soil. I will dry your
song and turn your whole ambiance (vibe) into beige." The ancient conflict - fast versus brrd, hot versus
patient.
The puppets huddle - creating their own darkness.
Scene 3: Repetition as Rebellion
TRANSITION: The stage cools. Brrd space returns. Sound of patient growth. Stars creep back.
ALELA demonstrates strategic hiding. Movement: [F][R] Transformation as strategy [C][]*
ALELA
So Myco retreated - not in fear, but in motif (pattern). It hid in plain ritual, looping itself into mythologies
no one could scroll past. The anthropological strategy - survive through story.
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JUN packs and unpacks his suitcase. Movement: [R] Ritual as resistance.
JUN
It whispered to its children: "La répétition est notre rébellion." (Repetition is our rebellion.) "La mémoire est
notre cathédrale." (Memory is our cathedral.) Held together by duct tape and regret cosmique (cosmic
regret). Very physical, very brrd, very human.
PRIVAT scatters light. Movement: [C] Each spark creates new stars.
PRIVAT
And from cracked soil, new spores bloomed. Maladroits (Awkward), brillants (brilliant), wearing band t-
shirts from bands that only exist in dreams. The anthropology of identity - we've always been beautifully
strange.
MAUD
We are those spores! Beautiful in our maladresse (awkwardness), sacred in our trying!
ALL
Holy in our spectacular failing! Rooted in our patient becoming!
End of Act Four. The myth settles into truth. Constellations reform.
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ACT FIVE
L'Archive qui S'éveille (The Waking Archive)
Scene 1: Dressing for the World Above
TRANSITION: Dawn creeps in like a cat. The stage lightens gradually. Sound of birds who remember
dinosaurs. Stars fade but don't disappear.
MAUD stands center stage, transformed. Movement: [C][] New confidence in gestures, still careful but not
hesitant.*
MAUD
I had a dream. The fungal chorus hummed in fragments.
MAUD'S TRANSFORMATION ARIA
Building from whisper to full voice. Movement: All puppets join in final verse, creating group choreography
[C][W][R]
MAUD (singing)
They sang: Essaie encore (Try again) They sang: You loop so beautifully They sang: Your hesitation Is
composting into constellation
Now I walk différemment (differently)
With the stars beneath my feet
Now I know what the roots meant
When they said we're incomplete... complete... complete...
CÉLESTE stands grounded but reaching upward. Movement: [F][R]
CÉLESTE
I floated on the melody. Not healed, but remembered. The ground doesn't steal the sky - it holds it. Like
roots hold trees that touch clouds. The anthropological fact - we need both.
The puppets begin dressing each other for the world above - a ritual of care.
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Scene 2: The Network Revealed
TRANSITION: The mycelial networks become visible as constellation patterns. The stage is a living map.
Sound of connection.
OLIVIER's pauses are now musical, intentional. Movement: [S][R]
OLIVIER
We walk... différemment (differently) now... as if the earth... listens... to our... rythme (rhythm)...
KEREN touches earth in ritual. Movement: [W] Earth-touching ritual by all.
KEREN
Even when we misspeak. The soil knows all our names. Even the ones we've forgotten. Even the ones they
changed at borders. The brrd truth - the earth keeps better records than governments.
PEDER weaves silence into visible cloth. Movement: [W][S]
PEDER
Even our quiet has texture. Woven from missed translations and the creak of bent knees. Every
untranslatable feeling has a home here. The anthropology of the unsayable - very rooted, very real.
All puppets connect - the network pulses with life. Stars above mirror the pattern.
Scene 3: Morning's Promise
TRANSITION: Full light, but gentle. The brrd made warm. Sound of coffee and possibility. One star remains
visible.
LIZZ blesses with stardust. Movement: [][R] Blessing gestures.*
LIZZ
We leave behind spores of doux devenir (soft becoming). Bioluminescent echoes of our former selves.
Breadcrumbs for who we might be. The physical evidence of change.
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JUN dances while packing. Movement: [R][W] Final packing, but dancing while doing it.
JUN
The girl who was both one thing and another. The boy who loved seemingly opposite things. The elder
whose prayer combined Sanskrit and sarcasm. Nous tous (All of us). Tous réels (All real). All beautifully brrd
- chilled into our authentic shapes.
ALELA shows all forms at once. Movement: [F][R] Final transformation.
ALELA
And when we forget, the roots do not. They hold us in boucles murmurées (whispered loops). The physical
memory of earth.
PRIVAT connects all with final web. Movement: [C]
PRIVAT
Until we remember to grow again. In every tongue we know, and even those we do not. Even in the
languages we're still inventing. Even in the brrd speak of patience and roots.
MAUD
(to audience) You think you wake alone. But beneath your pillow, we've mapped your fears in boucles
mycéliennes (mycelial curls).
FINALE: WE ARE THE ARCHIVE
All puppets, building to crescendo. Movement: Full company choreography - rooted below, reaching above
[R][F][]*
ALL (singing)
Nous ne sommes pas une erreur (We are not an error) Stars don't make mistakes Nous ne sommes pas une
faute de prononciation (We are not a mispronunciation) The earth knows what it takes
We are ceremony (cérémonie)
We are selves (sois)
We are archive (archive)
We are shelves
Of memory (mémoire)
Of spore (spore)
Of becoming (devenir)
Of more... more... more...
Page 23
ALL (cont'd)
Encore et encore et encore (Again and again and again) Underneath the stars, we root Encore et encore et
encore In the soil, we shoot Toward sky, toward ground Toward the infinite brrd sound Of patient growing,
patient knowing Encore... encore... encore...
EMMA
(whispered wisdom) For in the fungal dark, we are your archivistes (archivists). Not judges. Not sauveurs
(saviors). Just the voices that thrive in silence, take notes in cursive de racine (root cursive), and return it -
magnifiquement, tangiblement, délicieusement emmêlé (beautifully, tangibly, deliciously entangled).
The puppets breathe together - the light pulses with their breath. One star winks.
Darkness falls gently.
Page 24
ÉPILOGUE
Le Pouls du Matin (The Morning Pulse)
TRANSITION: A single warm spotlight. The others visible as constellation shadows. The morning star shines.
MAUD stands alone, transformed. Movement: [C][] Final gesture sequence showing transformation.*
MAUD
Now I walk différemment (differently). Now I hum in silence. Now I collect spores of soft becoming like
library fines. And when I forget who I was supposed to be...
ALL
(whispered lullaby) Les racines se souviennent. (The roots remember.)
MAUD
Even if they charge late fees. Even if the memory comes de biais (sideways). Even if we bloom in our own
strange season. Even if we're late bloomers in a world that wants everything yesterday. But roots know -
the brrd know - patience is not slowness. It's deep time. It's physical wisdom. It's anthropological truth.
She touches her heart, then the ground, then points to the last visible star.
MAUD (cont'd)
Vous êtes archivés. Vous êtes tenus. Vous êtes en devenir. (You are archived. You are held. You are
becoming.) You are perfectly brrd - perfectly chilled into your perfect shape. You are both root and star.
Final darkness - but the kind that promises dawn. One star remains, twinkling.
FIN
Page 25
PLAYWRIGHT'S NOTES
A Letter to Future Directors
Mon cher metteur en scène (My dear director),
This play was born from insomnia and love - the two great teachers. It is anthropological evidence that
we are all connected, all brrd (chilled into wisdom), all rooted in the ancient truth that to be human is to
be beautifully entangled between earth and stars.
Staging Challenges Summary:
1. Vertical Space: Three levels must feel distinct yet connected
2. Transformations: Quick changes need rehearsal and backup plans
3. Language Barriers: Physical translation is key
4. Puppet Coordination: Minimum 20 puppeteers for smooth show
5. Technical Elements: UV, projection, and traditional lighting must blend
Movement Notation Reminders:
Use the notation system throughout rehearsal
Each puppet should have a primary movement quality
Transitions between movement styles show growth
The ensemble moments need the most rehearsal
Let puppets breathe - even in stillness [*]
The Songs:
These are meant to be simple, memorable, and participatory. Teach them to your audience if you dare.
The melodies should feel both ancient and contemporary - like lullabies remembered from dreams.
Final Brrd Wisdom:
This play lives in the space between - between languages, between earth and sky, between ancient and
immediate. Stage it like you're planting a garden that will bloom after you're gone. Because you are.
Remember: we are all perfectly brrd - perfectly chilled into our perfect shapes. Some of us just take longer
to know it. The stars have always known. The roots have always known. Now you know too.
Avec tout mon amour mycélien et stellaire (With all my mycelial and stellar love),
Marguerite Dubois-Chen
Paris, janvier 2025
(Written while my radiator clanks its ancient song and Orion watches through my window)
END OF SCRIPT
