Script Presentation for Things Fall Apart

As always, I get stuck with all the work. I get stuck with the work because I'm stuck with two meat-heat football players that rely on Spark Notes and nothing else to pass the class, and a small little anorexic cheerleader who can't answer 1 + 1, nonetheless the author of the book we're currently reading. Oh, woe is me. *cries*


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Narrator 1: Mil
Narrator 2: Cherie
Narrator 3: Matt
Narrator 4: CJ

Characters
Chereka - (Cherie) Bride
Milaka - (Mil) The mother of Chereka; representing Chereka's parents
Mattiki - (Matt) Groom
Ceejaybe - (CJ) Mattiki's father; representing Chereka's parents



Scene 1: Bride-Price Ceremony

Introduction.
[Narrator 1] Bride price ceremonies are common in many African cultures. It involves the groom's family paying substantial wealth in cash or goods for the privilege of marrying a young woman.
[Narrator 2] Here, we have "Mattiki" and his father, "Ceejaybe" pass around the wine that they bring for the bride's family.
The parents talk and beat around the bush of the subject of marriage.

Milaka: (To Ceejaybe) So, how are your kola-nuts?
Ceejaybe: They're good, they're good.
Milaka: And how is your farm doing?
Ceejaybe: It's doing very well. We now have two barn-full of yams.
Milaka: Ah, all thanks to the earth goddess.
Ceejaybe: Yes, the earth goddess.

(Ceejaybe looks at Mattiki)

Ceejaybe: Mattiki, hand her the bundle of sticks.

(Mattiki gives Milika the sticks)

Milaka: How many are in here?
Ceejaybe: Twenty-five.
Milaka: Not enough. That's not good enough for my daughter.
Ceejaybe: Mattiki, get eight more sticks from your mother's hut.
Milaka: Make that ten. We'll only settle for thirty-five sticks.
Ceejaybe: It's settled, then.

(Mattiki gives her ten more sticks)

[---END SCENE---]

[Narrator 3] That scene we just showed is a typical family coming in terms for the price of their son's bride. Traditions like these separate the different tribes around Africa.
[Narrator 4] For example, in the towns of Abame and Aninta, the men would climb trees and pound foo-foo for their wives.
[Narrator 2] And in the Umunso tribe, they don't bargain at all, but instead, the suitor brings bags of cowries until the bride's parents tell him to stop.



Scene 2 - Betrothal

[Narrator 1] In this next scene, we show the betrothal of the two families.
[Narrator 2] A betrothal celebrates the daughter's "uri," in other words, the part of the ceremony when the dowry is paid.
[Narrator 3] The ceremony's main figures are the bride and her mother.
[Narrator 4] With that, the bride's mother, along with all of the wives in the village, work all day to cook for the entire village.

(Everyone hands out napkins and doughnut holes)

[Narrator 1] This represents the food that the wives make, which everyone in the village eat.

(Mattiki gives everyone in the class a small cup, and Chereka pours "wine"--grape juice--in it)

[Narrator 4] The suitor brings wine not only for the bride's family and relatives, but also to the extensive group of kinsmen called "umunna."
[Narrator 3] The class represents the kinsmen.
[Narrator 2] Everyone in the village is gathered in a huge circle. They sing, they laugh, and everyone is happy.

EVERYONE SINGS: "If I hold her hand
She says, 'Don't touch!'
If I hold her foot
She says, 'Don't touch!'
But when I hold her waist-beads
She pretends not to know."


[---END SCENE---]



Scene 3: Wedding

[Narrator 1] The wedding is also known as the "isa-ifi", the final ceremony that sums up the other bride price and the betrothal.
[Narrator 2] The families of the bride and grooms along with their umuadas gather in the ceremony, the same way they would gather in a funeral.
[Narrator 4] They sat in a big circle on the ground, with the bride in the center holding a hen.
[Narrator 3] Ceejaybe is sitting next to her, holding his ancestor's staff.

Milaka: Chereka, answer these questions truthfully or you'll suffer and maybe die during childbirth.
Chereka: Yes.
Milaka: How many men have you slept with since Mattiki proposed to you?
Chereka: None.
Milaka: Don't lie.
Chereka I'm not lying.
Ceejaybe: Swear on my father's staff.
Chereka: I swear.

[Narrator 1] Ceejaybe then takes the hen from her, slits its throat, and lets the blood pour on his ancestral staff. From then on, Chereka became Mattiki's wife.

[--END SKIT--]