CAST & SYNOPSIS
SYNOPSIS
The morning after an election, a neighborhood diner in a small New England town becomes an unexpected forum on democracy. László “Lou” Kovács, who fled authoritarian Hungary, proudly celebrates his eighteen-year-old daughter Lucy, a newly naturalized citizen who has just voted for the first time. Surrounded by the diner’s regulars—a journalist, civil rights attorney, minister, and union organizer—Lucy is joyfully welcomed as “Democracy’s Child.” But Lucy has a question: “What does it mean to be an American?”
Lucy’s question launches a lively journey through story, conversation, humor, and song as each of the characters offers an answer shaped by personal experience. Together they explore justice, truth, faith and doubt, civic responsibility, and the five freedoms of the First Amendment—Religion, Assembly, Press, Petition, and Speech. For Lou, however, these freedoms are far more than words in a civics lesson. He remembers what it was like to live in a country where people learned to lower their voices, fear authority, and remain silent.
Gradually, Lucy’s celebration begins to darken. The threats she has been hearing in the news suddenly feel personal. She has only just become an American, yet the freedoms she has inherited seem increasingly fragile, and the rhetoric directed toward immigrants and people like her father leaves her frightened about what the future may hold. Finally, she confesses what she has been trying not to admit: “I’m afraid.” Lou understands. He reminds Lucy of the imaginary Boogieman she feared as a child—but warns her that fear itself can become a very real Boogieman, especially when it is used to persuade people to surrender their freedoms. Lucy is swept into a nightmarish “Dance of the Boogieman,” where the forces of fear and authoritarianism threaten to overwhelm her. But this is no fairy tale, and no prince arrives to rescue the frightened young woman. Lucy must rescue herself. Drawing strength from her father, her friends, and the freedoms she has spent the morning discovering, Lucy finds the courage to stand up, speak out, and join with others. She comes to understand that “We the People” means exactly that—the “we” is all of us. What began as a young citizen’s question becomes her answer: democracy is not something we simply inherit. It is something each generation must choose to defend.
CHARACTERS
LUCÍA “LUCY” KOVÁCS, Female Caucasian, age 18,Soprano, Waitress
LÁSZLÓ “LOU” KOVÁCS, Male Caucasian, age 45,Baritone, Cook
MARIA SANTIAGO, Female Hispanic, age 32,Soprano, Journalist
AISHA RAHMAN, Female, Middle Eastern, age 42,Alto, Civil Rights Attorney
ELIJAH CARTER, Male, any race, age 25,Tenor, Minister
JACOB “JAKE ROSEN,” Male, Jewish, age 56,Baritone, Union Organizer
(These four characters serve as both soloists and an SATB backup group.
For the purposes of the script, they will be named QUARTET.)
LUCY is a newly naturalized American citizen who came to the United States from Hungary as an infant with her father, Lou. America is the only home she has ever known, and she has just voted for the first time. Thoughtful and hopeful, Lucy begins the day asking what it really means to be an American.
LOU is a forty-five-year-old Hungarian immigrant and short-order cook who fled political repression and raised Lucy in America. Having lived where speaking freely could be dangerous, he treasures freedoms others sometimes take for granted. Warm, humorous, and devoted to his daughter, Lou carries memories of a world he never wants Lucy to experience.
MARIA is a thirty-two-year-old journalist who grew up in a working-class immigrant family. She believes passionately in the public’s right to know the truth, even as she watches trust in journalism erode. Dedicated but weary, Maria struggles with what it means to keep reporting the truth when people no longer agree on what truth is.
AISHA is a civil rights attorney who believes justice requires more than rights written on paper—it requires people willing to defend them. Her work has taught her both the power and limitations of the law. Pragmatic, persistent, and passionate, Aisha believes democracy demands participation.
ELIJAH is a twenty-five-year-old minister and the son of a beloved preacher. He believes deeply in the teachings of love, mercy, and compassion, but is troubled by the distance he sometimes sees between those teachings and public expressions. Sincere and thoughtful, Elijah is beginning to question.
JAKE is a fifty-six-year-old union organizer who has spent his life fighting for working people. Direct, plainspoken, and fiercely loyal, Jake believes ordinary people are strongest when they stand together. For him, freedom is not something people simply possess; is something they protect by showing up for one another.