KATE- Heavens! Ida! You’re still up?

I feared you were a pilferer!

IDA- My lamp remains trimmed and burning.

KATE- To bed with you! I insist it!

IDA- I can’t stop.

Just look at these!

Dozens of them, every day. 

Letters… hundreds piling up.

And all of them… all of them deserve an answer.

(catching KATE’s admonishment) Don’t look at me like that.

Beyond my duties for this paper,

I’ve been charged with correspondence.

So here I am. I’m…

corresponding

KATE- corresponding… yes,

but there are limits, Ida.

IDA- I’ll sleep when I’m dead.

KATE- You are BUILT of stubbornness!

IDA- I prefer “persistence”, thank you.

I can’t stop reading all these letters,

each one its own universe,

a foreign land,

KATE- They’ll still be here

some proof of hope

come morning, Ida. And -

what they lack in scholarship,

they all make up

in heart.

in heart, I know, but…

IDA- (quickly) 

Pennsylvania, Oregon, Mississippi, Illinois…

men and women…

KATE - sparks ignited…

KATE- …yes, they’re flocking to our reading courses.

IDA- …many barely literate!

Caught between the work of life 

and all the things they long to be.

Like this one… Mrs… Mrs…

KATE- (imploringly) Ida.

Kate - 

Talbot –

“Dear Chautauquan,

“Dear Chautauquan,

Greetings, friends.

Your courses are a blessing to me.

Reading means the world to me,

Reading means the world to me,

But no one ever learned me how.

But no one ever learned me how.

I teach myself at night.

This part…

“I learn my words by candlelight”

I learn my words by candlelight,

Her family fast asleep.

Alone…

I am improving every day

And look at her dear hand.

KATE-Earnest…

IDA and KATE- …to the bone.

IDA- Read on.

TALBOT-

Your courses are a gift to me.

KATE- “You’ve saved my life.

You’ve saved my life.

God bless you all.

I never dreamed I’d come so far.

I never dreamed I’d come so far.

KATE and IDA- The tears are flowing as I write.”

The tears are flowing as I write.

IDA- And here’s another… Mrs… McNeil:

KATE-

McNEIL-

“My husband,

My husband,

he DOES NOT approve”

he DOES NOT approve

of my pursuit of education.

And yet,

IDA- She “still persists.”

I still persist.

I must.

KATE- “Your courses

Your courses

lend my days such hope.”

lend my days such hope.

IDA- The sacredness of HUMAN LIFE!

My husband needs me for the farm, 

because we have no children.

I do my coursework when I can.

In fact,

KATE- “…today I read my book

today I read my book

while pushing right behind the plow.”

while pushing right behind the plow.

Where there’s a will,

there is a way.

IDA- Hundreds like this… every day!

My harvest has already come.

KATE- Circulation 20,000.

Words have given

my life…

TALBOT and McNEIL-

… meaning!

IDA- Women

reaching,

reaching

fueled by mission…

courage,

courage

ALL- strength in action,

IDA- intellect,

McNEIL- intellect

authority, all…

TALBOT- authority

…forces to be reckoned with!

…forces to be reckoned with!

IDA- Momentum… hope…

here, in our hands, Kate!

(holding letters)

Surely, you can sense that, too?

KATE- I do.

IDA- And it could change,

like THAT!  

(she snaps her fingers aggressively with “THAT”)

That is why I cannot sleep.

These letters have… ignited me.

I have seen the best in people.

I’ve also seen the worst.

And so, I remain vigilant.

Optimistic. But with TEETH!

We all need one another, Kate.

The future belongs to us all.

If not, that future’s not worth having.

We’ve been called to serve…

shed light in the darkness.

KATE- Lamp trimmed…

IDA- … and burning, yes.

KATE- (lovingly/admiringly) Born to be a journalist.

IDA and KATE- Serve the common good.

IDA- I remember, clear as day,

when the spark in me was planted.

I was just a little girl.

August in the Amphitheatre,

wooden benches, aching backs,

Reverend John Heyl Vincent standing up there.

His sermon… revolutionary.

VINCENT-

“All denominations come...

young and old,

Jew and Gentile

bond and free

black and white

work or trade,

and all opinions,

all God’s children welcome here…”

IDA-

McNEIL and TALBOT-

VINCENT - 

all those

“All God’s

“All God’s

fervent, upturned faces,  

children…”

children…”

shining in

shining

the morning sun

faces

I see them, even now,

hope

All denominations

so clearly.

so clearly

come...

IDA and KATE

McNEIL-

TALBOT-

VINCENT-

This sense

Where there’s a will,

alone…

all

of hope

there is a way.

I am not

God’s

alone

children

hope

I still persist.

Candlelight

hope

set

by candlelight

into motion.

My

I

All

harvest has

 never dreamed 

God’s

We’ve come

already come.

I’d come so far.

children

so far.

ALL- All God’s children welcome here.

IDA- “All God’s children welcome here”, was the message…

… IS the message,

to this day!

KATE-

An idea with vitality!

IDA- Visionary.

KATE- Bold.

IDA- Assertive…

especially for Methodists,

(a private laugh, then…)

IDA- (simply) But can this vision hold, dear Kate?

Can it hold, I wonder?

This is what I ask myself.

Do we have the fortitude?

That’s what keeps me up at night.

KATE- (Holding correspondences.) 

The sacredness of life.

IDA- lamp trimmed

KATE- lamp trimmed…

KATE and IDA- … and burning

TALBOT and McNEIL -(gently)

VINCENT -

lamp trimmed

lamp trimmed

and burning

and burning

KATE- May I join you?

IDA- Yes, you may.

TALBOT and McNEIL -(gently)

VINCENT -

lamp trimmed

lamp trimmed

and burning

and burning

TALBOT and McNEIL -(gently)

VINCENT -

lamp trimmed

lamp trimmed

and burning

and burning

KATE and IDA- (interiorly) 

TALBOT, McNEIL and VINCENT-(softly)

burning

lamp trimmed

lamp trimmed and burning

burning

burning

burning… (continuing)

burning… (continuing)

Newspaper kid- (spoken)

GET YOUR CHAUTAUQUA DAILY!

ALL- (softly)

burning…

Newspaper kid- (spoken)

GET YOUR CHAUTAUQUA DAILY (continuing…)