Mansoor (MON-sewer)/Frank – Grandad 

Maria/Marie – Grandma

Ali/Bob – Father 

Josephine/Anne – Mother

Sunny/Billy – Son

Usman (OOss-mahn)/Steve – Kiln Owner

Scene 1: The Contract

Setting: Hospital waiting room Add descriptions of what you want each “set” to look like, keeping your budget and platform sizes in mind. This could just be a couple of chairs, for instance.

Characters: Mansoor (40s), Usman (40s-50s)

(Mansoor is sitting in his chair in a hospital waiting for news about his son, Ali, who is undergoing a procedure. He is approached by Usman.)

Usman: Excuse me… Mansoor, is it? I overheard you tell the doctor about your son’s surgery. I’m sorry.

Mansoor: Thank you… and you are?

Usman: My name is Usman. Do you think you’ll be able to pay the cost for it? It won’t be cheap.

Mansoor: No. I don’t know what to do. The money I make now sure won’t cover it. But I’d do anything for Ali. 

Usman: Actually, I think I can help you there. I can loan you the money, and in return, you’ll work for me until it’s paid off.

Mansoor: What kind of work?

Usman: I own a brickyard outside the city. I need someone to fire the kilns.

Mansoor: I don’t know… That sounds risky. What if I got hurt? I need to take care of my wife and son.

Usman: Mansoor, I understand that you have doubts, but this is really the best choice for you right now. You said yourself you can’t get that kind of money anywhere else, and you don’t want that much debt hanging over your heads.

Mansoor: Okay, well then how does this work? Will you pay me? What about housing?

Usman: We don’t need to talk about that right now. Just sign, and we can figure that out later.

Mansoor: You want to go into this blind? No. I’ll pass.

Usman: I already told you, there’s not really an alternative. No one else is going to make this kind of offer. Come on, now, be reasonable.

Mansoor: Reasonable? You’re asking me to sign my life away!

Usman: There’s no need to shout. Look, this is my offer. Take it or leave it.

Mansoor: I- I don’t know, just… let me think for a second.

Usman: It’s now or never, Mansoor. I don’t have all day.

Mansoor looks at the contract and pauses for a second: I- um. I never learned to write.

Usman: I figured. Don’t worry, all I need is your thumbprint.

Mansoor pauses for a long time, then slowly signs the paper with his thumb.

Usman: Good. I’ll be in touch shortly. (Leaves)

(End of scene)

Scene 2 EXT. Clay Pit

JOSEPHINE sits stage left, forming clay into bricks for the kiln. SUNNY sits stage right, doing the same but at a noticeably slower pace.

JOSEPHINE: Work faster, Sunny. The supervisors are watching. 

SUNNY: So? All they do is carry those blocks.

JOSEPHINE: Ledgers, not blocks, dear. They write how many bricks we’ve made and keep track of how much we owe them.

SUNNY: What is “write”, mom?

JOSEPHINE: It’s something you do, like we speak, but with drawings.

SUNNY: Why can’t we write?

JOSEPHINE: Writing isn’t for us. It would slow us down; like questions do.Nice

SUNNY: Well, how do they know how many bricks we’ve shaped? There’s a lot more than thirty.

JOSEPHINE gives a hollow laugh without real mirth.

JOSEPHINE: They can count much higher than thirty, son. It’s their job, like yours is shaping clay.

SUNNY: So, they get lashed if they don’t count good?

Silence passes as JOSEPHINE refuses to answer, staring solemnly at the clay in her hand.

SUNNY: I’m sorry I’m so slow, mom.

JOSEPHINE: You used to do so well when you were little. 

SUNNY: I wasn’t so tired then. Is that what happens when you grow? You get tired?

JOSEPHINE: No.

SUNNY: Maybe I can be a supervisor, since I’m so slow and tired and can’t shape bricks good anymore. Then I can write and count like them!

SUNNY yells as JOSEPHINE grips him tight, pulling his head to her shoulder.

JOSEPHINE: (Stage whispering) Promise me not. Promise me you will never be anything like those terrible monsters.

SUNNY: (After a beat) Okay. I’ll be good. I promise I won’t write or count, and I’ll work the clay faster.

SUNNY turns his back to JOSEPHINE. Josephine looks between him, the clay, and offstage, visibly torn between her role as a mother and her role as a slave.

JOSEPHINE: (to herself and audience) Forgive me, son. 

Scene 3:

KLIN SCENE DRAFT Setting: Brick kiln 

Characters: Mansoor – Has worked in the kilns for decades. Exhausted and worn down by years of labor. 

Ali – Mansoor’s son. Strong, but beginning to feel the effects of the work himself. (Mansoor and Ali are tending the kiln fire. The audience approaches.) 

THE SCRIPT: 

Mansoor: (to the audience) Stop! Stay back! 

Ali: ( to the audience) Don’t get so close, It’s not safe.

Mansoor: Yeah…A few months ago the kiln collapsed… three men were killed.

Ali: I heard someone say that they died almost instantly.

Mansoor: Its probably a good thing they did…

(turning to Ali) can you imagine the pain they felt? It could’ve been worse if they’d lived to feel their flesh burn the way it did.

Ali: What’s worse is it could’ve been us. What would our family do if we died out here someday?

Mansoor: Maria would probably have to go back to the brick yard.

Ali: Mom is too weak these days to go back to work…

Mansoor: You know Usman doesn’t care. He doesn’t care if you’re a hundred years old or a child… whether you’re healthy… or sick. You could be blind from all this horrible smoke and he would still make you work. Anything to have his debts paid back.

Ali: What about Josephine? I saw the supervisor making eyes at her last week. Who would be there to protect her?

Mansoor:(Fighting back a cough) Let’s stop all this worrying. It’s only making things worse.

Ali: Your cough is what’s getting worse. 

Mansoor:(chuckling) Yeah? Well it’s been getting worse for twenty years now. 

Ali: Maybe you should see a doctor. 

Mansoor: A doctor! With what money?(he says with a laugh that turns into a brutal cough).

(Mansoor rubs his back.) 

Ali: Your back bothering you again too? 

Mansoor: My back. My knees. My eyes. Take your pick. 

Ali: You used to carry two times the bricks I did. 

Mansoor: Yeah well  now I can barely see where I’m putting them. The smoke getting in our eyes and chest everyday surely isn’t good for us.  

(Ali wipes sweat from his forehead.) 

Ali: Yeah and this heat isn’t either.Some days I start feeling dizzy before the sun is even halfway up. 

Mansoor: That’s the kiln. It takes something from everybody…

(a brief silence fills the air as they stoke the kilns)

Ali: Did I tell you Sunny keeps asking about school? 

Mansoor: Does he now? 

Ali: He wants to know what it’s like. What the classrooms look like. What the books say. 

Mansoor: Good. 

Ali: Good? 

Mansoor: Yeah because that means he still dreams about something else besides this place. 

Ali: …I don’t want him to spend his whole life here like us, dad.

Mansoor: Neither do I… 

(short pause)

Ali: (pensively) Do you ever think this debt will end? 

Mansoor: I used to son, but now I just hope Sunny can make it out some day.  Now come on. The fire won’t stoke itself.  

(Mansoor and Ali return to work.) 

(End Scene)

Scene 4: Home/Dinner scene 

(Inside the family’s small home. A pot of lentils simmers over a fire. MARIA rocks a fussy baby while trying to stir the pot. She looks tired. JOSEPHINE enters carrying folded pants and a few coins.)

MARIA: There you are. Come take your little girl. She’s been crying half the day. And Ali’s still out at the kiln. Where have you been?

JOSEPHINE: I was at our neighbor’s house. Her boy burned his pants at the kiln yesterday. She needed them mended.

(She places the coins in her mother’s hand.)

JOSEPHINE: She gave me this.

MARIA: (surprised) Money?

JOSEPHINE: Half a day’s wages.

MARIA: For sewing?

JOSEPHINE: Mm-hmm.

(Maria turns the coins over in her hand.)

MARIA: That’s good. We can buy flour tomorrow.

(Josephine takes the baby and gently rocks her.)

JOSEPHINE: While I was sewing, I kept thinking.

MARIA: That’s dangerous.

JOSEPHINE: I know.

(A pause.)

JOSEPHINE: I looked at that little boy and thought… maybe my children could do something else one day.

MARIA: Josephine…

JOSEPHINE: Maybe they don’t have to end up in the kiln.

(She looks at her daughter’s tiny hands.)

JOSEPHINE: Look at these hands. They’re so soft. I don’t want them covered in cuts and burns.

MARIA: I know. I never wanted that for Ali either.

JOSEPHINE: I want them to read. I want them to go to school. I want them to have work that doesn’t break their backs.

(Maria stirs the pot quietly.)

MARIA: When I was your age, I wanted those things too.

JOSEPHINE: Really?

MARIA: Of course. Every mother wants more for her children.

JOSEPHINE: Then why do we never talk about it?

MARIA: Because talking about dreams can hurt. Every year you hope, and every year you’re still here.

(Silence.)

JOSEPHINE: I hate this place.

MARIA: I know.

JOSEPHINE: I hate that some man keeps our names in a book and says our lives belong to him.

MARIA: I know.

JOSEPHINE: I hate that my children were born owing a debt they never made.

(Maria stops stirring and looks at her daughter.)

MARIA: So do I.

(A long pause.)

JOSEPHINE: Sometimes I want to throw that ledger into the fire.

MARIA: (almost smiles) I’ve thought about that a few times myself.

(They both laugh softly for the first time.)

JOSEPHINE: Mama…

MARIA: Hmm?

JOSEPHINE: Do you think they’ll ever get out?

(Maria looks at the baby.)

MARIA: I don’t know.

(Another pause.)

MARIA: But every night, when I put these little ones to bed… I ask God to give them something better than this.

JOSEPHINE: So you still hope.

MARIA: A little.

(She reaches over and touches the baby’s hand.)

MARIA: Just enough to keep going.

(The smell of dinner fills the room.)

MARIA: Come on now. Sit down. Eat while the food is warm. Tomorrow comes early.

(Josephine nods. The two women sit together with the children as the lights fade.)

END SCENE

TITLE: THE FALL (SCENE 5: TRAGEDY)

CHARACTERS:

JOSEPHINE (30s): An exhausted mother, holding a bundled blanket (representing her baby girl).

USMAN (40-50s): The uncaring debt collector and brick kiln owner.

[START]

NOTES: -Usman approaches Josephine and Sunny. A few days after a horrible accident at the kilns where Ali and Mansoor died. 

SETTING:

At the CLAY yard. The sun is setting and Josephine’s work day is coming to an end. Usman approaches them with his ledger in hand.

NARRATOR This appears to be the only scene with a narrator, which makes it a little awkward. This information can be provided through dialogue.

Two days ago Mansoor and Ali died in a horrible accident at the plant. The entire kiln system collapsed beneath their feet, burning them alive. Josephine continues to work despite losing her husband and father in law.

USMAN

(approaching Josephine and Sunny)

Josephine, pause what you’re doing. We need to talk. 

JOSEPHINE

(wipes the clay from her hands onto her apron as she steps away from her work)

S-sir? What is it?

USMAN

Look, I know it’s a mess, but you sulking around the plant all day everyday isn’t going to clear the books. Mansoor’s original contract is still active. The debt doesn’t just die because they did.

JOSEPHINE

(frustratedly)

I have the right to grieve for my Husband and Father-in-law and I’m still doing my work, no? Besides, they gave you their whole lives. My husband spent his youth working at these kilns for you.

USMAN

Well I came here to tell you that you and your people need to step it up. With only you and Sunny working, the debt isn’t being settled fast enough. What’s happened doesn’t change the fact that y’all still owe me money.

JOSEPHINE

We have nothing left! What else could you possibly want from us?!

USMAN

(interrupting Josephine)

-Watch your tone with me! 

You have your hands, don’t you? And you have that boy, Sunny. He’s twelve now, right? He’s been molding clay since he was five. He’s old enough to step up and take his father’s place at the fire. And you have Mansoor’s widow – Maria, is it?

JOSEPHINE

(gasping in horror)

Sunny is just a kid! He dreams of playing cricket and beating India in the world cup- not carrying bricks until his back goes out! And what about his Granny, do you not see how much she’s suffering?! She’s going blind from crying!

USMAN

(indifferent, gesturing to the kilns)

Fine. Then Grandma can stay in the shack and watch that screaming baby of yours, because you and Sunny start double shifts tomorrow at 4 AM.

JOSEPHINE

Have mercy on us… Please. Give us time. We’re hungry, and we’re hurting for the ones we lost..

USMAN

(tucking the ledger away, uncaring)

The bricks don’t stop baking just because your hearts are broken, Josephine. If you and Sunny aren’t at the clay pits by dawn, your quota won’t be met. If your quota is missed you won’t receive your wages and your debt will increase.

(USMAN turns on his heel and walks away coldly, leaving her.)

(JOSEPHINE turns back to her work; depressed and suffocated by grief, scared at the thought of the hunger and suffering awaiting her family as she stares blankly ahead)

[END]

TITLE: A NEW BEGINNING (SCENE 6: REHABILITATION)

CHARACTERS:

SUNNY (12): Eager but nervous. Wearing clean, simple clothes and holding a brand new notebook and pencil.

ALI (30s): Sunny’s dad. Exhausted from a new kind of work but standing tall.

MANSOOR (60-80s): Sunny’s grandfather. Sitting in a chair, intently staring at a basic Urdu alphabet book.

[START]

SETTING A little formal sounding. Maybe use less big words and formal grammar. Add “imagining the future somewhere.”

A bright open dirt plane. In the background a painted backdrop with a house. A wooden crate overflowing with fresh fruit (oranges & mangoes) sits near a chair. A cricket ball rests in the dirt. There’s a cricket bat next to the ball.

ALI is sorting through the fruit crate, arranging the best pieces for a morning market stall. MANSOOR sits in the chair, awkwardly holding a pencil, slowly tracing a letter in his book. SUNNY stands nearby, shifting his weight from foot to foot, nervously. All characters are wearing clean, newer clothes, but their feet are bare and stained with dirt.

NARRATOR

Imagine a future where the whole family was liberated from their bonded slavery and given the tools they needed through rehabilitation to start their own lives that would keep them from such a horrible situation, for good. In this case, Mansoor and Ali never die as they are freed long before such harm comes to them.

SUNNY

(staring at his notebook, anxious)

Dad, what if I’m the oldest kid in the first-grade class? 

ALI 

(continuing his work)

Sunny, being the oldest just means that all the kids will look up to you.

SUNNY

(furrowing his brow with worry)

Well, what if the teacher asks me how to spell my name and I mess up?

ALI

(stops sorting fruit, wipes his hands, and walks over to Sunny)

Then you mess up, but its what you do after that is what matters, Sunny. You have to keep trying. There is no shame in failing at something, especially when you’re new at it. Just keep at it, son, and I know you will succeed. 

SUNNY

(looking up at his dad and he begins to smile)

You really think so?

ALI

(pulling Sunny in for a hug)

With all my heart.

(short pause as Ali crouches down to Sunny’s eye level)

You’ve spent seven years molding clay… Now your hands are ready to learn how to hold a pencil.

MANSOOR

(without looking up, holding his pencil tightly tracing a letter in the alphabet book)

Your father is right. Look at me, my beard is completely gray and I’m losing a fight against the letter ‘z’. But nobody is coming to lash us if we make a mistake today. Because now our lives are ours.

SUNNY

(looking at heavy crate)

Are you sure the people at the market won’t take our money at the end of the day, Dad? Like Usman used to?

ALI

(firmly, shaking his head)

Nope. When the aid group stepped in and helped us pay the loan, they gave us our lives back. This fruit belongs to us. Every single penny we make from this stall tomorrow stays in our pockets. We own our labor now and we own the money we make from it.

SUNNY

(a small smile breaks through)

Mom was actually humming a song this morning before she left, I haven’t heard her do that since I was little.

ALI

(smiles)

She’s earned it. She and your grandmother are down at the training center right now. They’re teaching them how to run the sewing machines. Grandma didn’t want to sit around doing nothing, she told me she’s going to master that stitch and open a tailor shop out of our living room so she never has to rely on anyone else again.

MANSOOR

(sighs, rubbing his tired eyes, but looking proud)

A family fruit stall, and a tailor shop. It is going to be a lot of work to get them running… but it will be our work. No more stacking bricks.

ALI (to MANSOOR)

Finally…Imagining a future. Feels good, doesn’t it dad?

MANSOOR

Yes it really does. I never thought I’d be sitting here dreaming of a future- and a bright one at that- with my son and grandson.

SUNNY

(drops his notebook and pencil on the crate and taps the cricket ball with his foot)

And when I come home from school, I’m going to practice until I can shoot it all the way past the garden wall.

ALI

(laughs gently)

Go ahead, give it one good hit with the bat before you have to go. But don’t you dare lose that pencil in the dirt.

(Sunny kicks the ball toward Ali, a laugh escaping him. It’s a tough road, starting from scratch, but Sunny picks up the notebook to head to his first day of school, relieved he never has to go to the kiln again.)

[END]