(Ensemble #1 as CN Tower and Ensemble #3 as Moon)
CN Tower:
Hey there, hurry up. You’re gonna miss the show!
Moon:
What show?
Moon slowly travels across the night sky in a very sophisticated, ballet-posing sort of movement.)
CN Tower:
I can’t tell you. You’ll have to see for yourself. It’s a surprise.
Moon:
Alright, I’m coming. What is this big surpri—Oooh!
CN Tower:
You like?
Moon:
What happened? What did you do to yourself?
CN Tower:
Well, I would never presume to eclipse you . . . but I got new lights. Thirteen-hundred-and-thirty-three LED lights, to be exact.
Moon:
Wow. You really did.
CN Tower:
Yes ma’am! And they’ve got different colours and everything to, ya know, switch things up.
Moon:
So where does that leave me?
CN Tower:
Nothing has to change.
Moon:
Change is inevitable.
CN Tower:
You’re the moon. I wouldn’t worry about it. You’ve got a following already, I mean, a whole religion is devoted to you.
Moon:
True. True.
CN Tower:
Want to see what I can do?
Moon:
Okay.
CN Tower:
(Tower uses different physicality or some signifier of change for each colour)
Blue. Red. Green. Magenta. Uh, huh. What do you think?
Moon:
It’s nice.
CN Tower:
Nice? How about this? Red and white for Canada Day, huh huh? Red, white and blue for Independence Day? Red and green for Christmas? Huh?
Moon:
It’s pretty. But not very original. I mean, those tricks are a dime a dozen. What is there to differentiate you from the midway at the Exhibition or the Symphony of Fire? You’re a glorified Honest Ed’s. Except that when you blow a light, I doubt they’ll change it half as fast.
CN Tower:
Well, what do you know? You’re barely ever here for more than half a day at a time. I’m always around—night and day.
Moon:
In this lifetime. Look, I’ve seen a lot of towers come and go.
CN Tower:
I’ve heard you won’t be around forever either.
Moon:
Nothing trumps natural lighting.
What if there’s another blackout?
(The CN Tower’s lights stop shining.)
CN Tower:
Where did my lights go?
(The CN Tower falls.)
Blackout.
This is an excerpted scene from 7th Generation, a devised work created by b currrent’s 2007-2008 rAiz’n Ensemble: Cara Eastcott, Sedina Fiati, Joan M. Kivanda, Jajube Mandiela, Maxine Marcellin, Amanda Nicholls, Tanya Pillay, Navneet Rai, Marika Schwandt, Meghan Swaby, Malube Uhindu-Gingala and Deidre Walton. b current programs and develops original theatre works rooted in and reflecting voices from the Canadian Black diasporic communities.