Scene 7

We are back in the gypsy camp. ALL are dancing exactly as we last saw them, except MARITZA is getting more and more exhausted. Finally, SHE leaves the group and collapses to the downstage left. NIKKO sees this and goes to her.

  (In the background GYPSIES have now stopped dancing and disperse, some to the right and some to the left. STEFANA and ANGELU approach Nikko and Maritza.)

  (Spotlight falls on Group upstage left, and out emerges the biggest, brawniest gypsy of them all, whom we saw in Scene 1.  MARITZA yelps.  BETAMO swaggers toward them.)

(in a whisper)

(aside)

(MARITZA regards Betamo with terror. GYPSIES gather in semicircle downstage. Through the scene, NIKKO whispers instructions to Maritza.)

(SHE is so furious SHE charges at him.)

(Again SHE is so furious, SHE really grabs his head as hard as she can.)

(NIKKO pretends she is really hurting him and gasps for breath. MARIANNE and VASILY enter stage right.)

(As soon as STEFANA and ANGELU see Vasily, THEY run to him and observe Marianne with hostility. MARITZA glances up, sees Marianne and the tattered dress and shrieks.)

(to Marianne)

(to Nikko)

(MARITZA is so angry she decks Nikko hard enough for him to fall to the ground. GYPSIES gather around and cheer "the new boy", then THEY disperse, a FEW, including TAPIA and JOAKU, walking off stage left, and a FEW retiring upstage right to play a knife game on the ground. MARITZA lunges at Marianne, seizes her arm and drags her downstage left. NIKKO gradually revives, feels his jaw, smiles and follows Maritza.)

(By this time, both NIKKO and VASILY have joined them.)

(pointing to the torn one Stefana is wearing)

(Suddenly the sound of cannons. Lights flash on and off across the stage. TAPIA and JOAKU come rushing back.)
 

(turning on Marianne with fury)

(calling out to both sides of the stage)

(GYPSIES come rushing from both sides, grabbing their belongings and running off left. MARITZA seizes Marianne's arm.)

(bursting into tears)

(NIKKO rubs his jaw and grins. A great roar of cannons. MARIANNE screams and falls into Vasily's arms. Through the exchange between Maritza and Nikko, VASILY holds her and comforts her downstage left.)

(MARITZA smiles as spot falls on Vasily and Marianne.)
 

Don't cry, Marianne, don't cry---
Look at the grander view.
No one can tell you why
Things happen the way they do. (During the song, cannons roar, lights flash and GYPSIES, carrying their belongings, race to and fro.) War is a part of living
Just as love is;
The hawk is a part of nature
As the dove is.

Light is a part of living
As the dark is;
The dolphin is God's creation
As the shark is.

                                                MARIANNE
Clothes can be made of burlap,

                                                MARITZA
Clothes can be made of laces;

                                                 VASILY
One man can be dealt the deuces,

                                                 NIKKO
Another can hold the aces.

                                                MARIANNE
And every desert has its oasis.

                                                  NIKKO
Swamps occupy the planet
As the lakes do;

                                                 MARITZA
The lambs have a place in nature
As the snakes do.

                                                 ALL FOUR
There is some greater plan
Which is unknown to man
So all we can do
Is love while we can.

                                                MARITZA

                                                                      NIKKO

                                                                              MARITZA
No.  We shall be safe. But...

                                                                               NIKKO
Yes?

                                                                              MARITZA
Would you please just once sing that song again?

                                                                                NIKKO

Light is a part of living
As the dark is...

                                                MARITZA

                                                                                 NIKKO

My love
Is like the waters of the moon;
They gleam
Somewhere way above the sky.

My love
Is like a runaway balloon,
It's there
But we can never see it fly.

I play at romance
But my heart isn't in it,
And I pray any minute
My one true love will appear.
And when she is here,
Well be singing together
Some undiscovered tune,
And then we'll go sailing
On the waters of the moon.
 

(Lightning flashes, more cannons roar.  For a moment MARITZA
regards Nikko with love in her eyes.  Then SHE grabs Marianne's
arm and together THEY dash off stage.)