SO YOU MAY BREATHE IN LIGHT

LIBRETTO

PART 1 – OUTER WORLD

HEALER

(Speaking calmly to the Explorer)

Breathe.

Breathe deep into your inmost space.

Feel that space fill with life.

Let it grow -

You came to me

So you could heal.

So you could find release.

I am here to guide you.

When you are ready,

Gently...

Open your eyes.

PART 2 – ALTAR OF THE MIND

(Suddenly a vortex of lights surrounds the Explorer)

EXPLORER

I’m inside a storm of light

Light in endless streaks,

One million lights,

Setting the sky ablaze!

It’s beautiful.

HEALER

Your mind is open

These lights

Are your thoughts

EXPLORER

My thoughts!

I feel them

Moving me,

Shaping me.

Closing in on me.

HEALER

Find the thought

That burns brightest.

Reach out your hand.

Hold it,

Hear it.

(The Explorer reaches into the vortex and

grabs a single light. He holds it in his hand

and stares at it as if mesmerized.)

EXPLORER

I know this thought.

For years I have felt it

Spinning inside me.

A memory...

I hurt someone.

HEALER

Breathe.

For this moment,

Allow this memory to be.

If there are more thoughts,

Invite them in.

EXPLORER

There’s more...

I fear my nature.

If I let myself

Be known, be loved...

I will be the cause of pain!

With my words.

My beliefs.

My actions.

And inaction.

With a look.

With distance,

With cold.

With my existence!

HEALER

There is a way

To shift your perception.

Will you meet your Shadow?

EXPLORER

My Shadow?

HEALER

The part of you

You chose not to see.

EXPLORER

My cruel nature!

HEALER

Or perhaps

Something else...

EXPLORER

Meeting my Shadow...

My darkness...

Will I survive?

HEALER

Trust that you are safe.

Sink beneath the surface light.

Into your deepest space.

Where you keep your Shadow.

(Lights fade)

PART 3 - DUNGEON

(The Explorer finds himself in a stone

dungeon, dimly lit)

EXPLORER

Sudden darkness!

Walls surround me,

Imprison me!

I’m trapped,

In a dungeon!

HEALER

Breathe.

You are safe

EXPLORER

I hear footsteps...

Closer....

Closer...

I can’t escape!

HEALER

Breathe...

(Shadow enters the stage and walks toward

the Explorer. The light on the Healer

disappears, leaving the Explorer and his

Shadow alone.)

EXPLORER

My Shadow

Looms over me!

With a look of pain!

...she is...she is......sick.

Lifeless...

Harmless...

Helpless...

She looks to me

With pleading eyes and...

SHADOW

(Hauntingly)

See me

Feel me

Be with me

EXPLORER

...she’s singing.

(To shadow)

Who are you?

PART 4 –DOMAIN OF THE SHADOW

(The world becomes distorted, with black and

purple shadows shifting across the floor and

walls. The Shadow sings to the Explorer.)

SHADOW

I am what you chose not to see

When you told yourself

That your love would lead to pain.

I am what you chose not to feel

When you sacrificed

To keep your darkness locked away.

You chose this dungeon

You cast out daylight

You suffered distance

And isolation

So you could hold your Shadow in.

But there is no darkness.

Nothing to suppress.

Only

Possibility.

I could be light

Entwined with breath

I could be ecstatic air

Expanding in your chest,

Released in love-rich songs

At last expressed.

(The space fills with warm colored light,

reds, yellows, oranges.)

PART 5 - DUNGEON

(The dungeon returns, the light on the

Healer turns on.)

HEALER

What happened?

EXPLORER

(Lost in thought)

She sang to me

And showed me

What I was scared to see.

I thought my Shadow,

Was my cruelty..

But now I see underneath...

My Shadow

Embodied love.

And I confined my love

In a dungeon.

HEALER

This dungeon

Was protection.

You built it,

Lived in it,

To protect everyone

You thought

You would hurt.

EXPLORER

But now...

How can I free myself?

HEALER

You can forgive yourself,

Accept yourself,

You can find love

Within yourself.

PART 6 – ALTAR OF THE MIND

(A light appears in his hand)

EXPLORER

I see a new thought...

I’ve never known it!

I chose isolation

Over love

Because I thought my love

Led to pain.

I chose not to be known

But now I choose

To find a new way.

I feel it,

It’s growing in me,

A light that reaches out

To spread its warmth,

And in the light

I can show myself

And I can trust

That love

Lies underneath

And I can let myself

Be free

From the dungeon.

(He places the light in Shadow’s hand)

Thank you.

I see you.

Let us heal as one.

PART 7 – OUTER WORLD

(The calm of the opening returns.)

HEALER

Feel.

Feel the empty,

The full exhale of your soul.

It is time to reemerge

Into the waking world.

You breathed out a shadow...

...so you may breathe in light.