Performances at the Columbus Theatre

270 Broadway, Providence, RI

Pre-Show Dinners at the Aurora Club

Composed by Scott Joplin

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Download our Treemonisha Study Guide

Characters

Andy, friend of Treemonisha
Cephus, a conjurer
Lucy, friend of Treemonisha
Luddud, a conjurer
Monisha, Treemonisha's mother
Ned, Treemonisha's father
Parson Alltalk, a preacher
Remus, friend of Treemonisha
Simon, a conjurer
Treemonisha, a young, educated freed slave
Zodzetrick, a conjurer

Story

The action is set in 1884 in Arkansas, northeast of Texarkana, on a plantation surrounded by dense forests.

ACT ONE

The conjuror Zodzetrick tries to sell Monisha a bag of luck, but her husband Ned and daughter Treemonisha intervene.  Treemonisha and her friend Remus accuse Zodzetrick of having incited fear and superstition among their neighbors for many years for his own profit.  But Zodzetrick will not be put off and threatens to return again soon.

The Corn Huskers enter to begin work.  They pause for a ring dance.  Treemonisha notices that the other girls are wearing in their hair wreaths made from leaves, while she has only a bonnet.  With her friend Lucy she goes over to a nearby tree to pluck leaves to make a wreath of her own.  But Monisha urges her to take the leaves from another tree.  Monisha explains her strange request by relating Treemonisha's origins.  Eighteen years ago she found the girl as a newborn under that "sacred tree," whose leaves had sheltered the foundling from the heavy rains and the burning sun.

Treemonisha is amazed to learn that Monisha is not her natural mother.  The Corn Huskers are also surprised at the news.  When Treemonisha was seven years old, Monisha continues, she and Ned had her educated by a white woman because there was no school in the neighborhood.  Monisha does not know who Treemonisha's natural parents are.  At first she named her after herself, but then - because as a little girl she so loved to play under the "sacred tree" - she gave her the name of Treemonisha.

The itinerant preacher Parson Alltalk enters.  He exhorts the people to respect truth and the love of one's neighbors as great virtues.

Lucy comes back without Treemonisha, gagged and with her hands tied behind her.  Monisha unbinds her and Lucy tells her what has happened.  Zodzetrick and another conjuror named Luddud have also bound and gagged Treemonisha.  Lucy was only able, with great effort, to free herself. The men decide to rescue Treemonisha, and Remus disguises himself as a scarecrow to frighten the conjurors away.

ACT TWO

Conjurors' meeting place in the woods: the magician Simon recites a list of things that bring trouble, and the assembled crowd superstitiously confirms his words.  Zodzetrick and Luddud arrive with the bound and gagged Treemonisha.  They insist that she should be punished for not being superstitious and, still worse, for trying to discourage superstition in the others.

Dance of eight bears.

Simon wants to punish Treemonisha by throwing her into a wasps' nest; he starts counting to three, but breaks off when he sees an unfamiliar figure.  The conjurors all believe it is the devil incarnate, and they run away.  Treemonisha, however, immediately recognises Remus under the scarecrow's disguise.  Remus rescues Treemonisha, and the two leave the woods, heading for home through the cotton fields.  Treemonisha and Remus ask the way to the plantation.  A horn sounds three times to signal the end of the Cotton Pickers' workday.

ACT THREE

Ned and Monisha wait in their cabin for Treemonisha to return.

Remus, who brings Treemonisha back uninjured, is hailed as a hero by her parents and the gathering crowd.  The Corn Huskers also come back, bringing Zodzetrick and Luddud as prisoners.  The people demand a stiff punishment for the conjurors, but Treemonisha warns against requiting evil with evil and orders their release.  Remus delivers a lecture on morally "right" behavior: helping neighbors is one's duty.  The angry crowd is still against letting the two conjurors off scot-free, but Treemonisha prevents any violent action from occurring.
 

Ned reflects on the appropriate treatment of "rambling villains" and urges that they be punished severely.  But finally, at Treemonisha's wish, "for her sake," the crowd forgives the two evildoers.

The people declare the enlightened Treemonisha to be their new leader in the struggle against superstition.  They dismiss her objection that men would not follow a woman.

Treemonisha and Lucy encourage the crowd to dance to a rag; everyone follows the two women's lead.

Opera Providence

83 Park Street, Providence, RI 02903

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