Happytalism (We Are the Light)

[ Full company. The integrated company — including the integrated Severance. Anthemic musical theatre + Afro-pop celebration + reggaetón bridge. The 11 o'clock number. ] Universal Panacea, Becoming Human, Felicia (Trading Lines) They built a world on never enough. They sold us fear and called it love. They taught us scarcity, taught us lack, taught us to fight to take it back. But somewhere in the chest of every child is a memory of a wilder wild. Where the table is long and the bread is enough. Where the only economy is love. [ Pre-chorus — full company building. ] Full Company You feel it? It's rising. You feel it? It's here. The old world is crumbling. The new world is near. [ Chorus — gospel choir, brass, kick drum. Audience invited to clap on 2 and 4. By the second chorus, the audience is on its feet. ] We are the light! We are the architects of dawn! We are the ones we have been waiting for so long! We are the light! Happytalism rising — can you hear it call? A world for the children — for the children of all! Capital was the old religion. Fear was the old command. Now love is the new economy, and every child gets to land. • • • Ten billion souls — free, conscious, bright. Every belly fed — every voice — light. Capital ate our childhoods. We are taking them back. We are taking them back. [ THE BEAT DROP. Music STOPS. One drum hit. Three seconds of silence. Then beat drops into half- time reggaetón. ] Full Company, Dembow Rhythm, Audience Clapping Tic-tac, tic-tac — el reloj del miedo se ha parado. Bum-bum, bum-bum — el corazón del mundo se ha despertado. Tic-tac, tic-tac — fear's old clock has stopped its turning. Bum-bum, bum-bum — the world's heart has started learning. Eh, eh, eh, eh — the new dawn isn't asking permission. Eh, eh, eh, eh — the children carry the transmission. [ EXPLODE back into the anthem chorus, key change up a tone. ] Full Company, Audience We are the light! We are the architects of dawn! We are the ones we have been waiting for so long! We are the light! We are the light! We are the light! T he orchestra crashes to a held finish. The audience erupts. Many are standing on chairs. Banners of the Seventeen Happytalist Goals descend brie"y from the "ies, visible for ten sec‐ onds, then lifted away. The phones are returned by the ushers at this point. Audience members reach for them, surprised but grateful. The energy drops. The orchestra sustains a held note. The full cast comes downstage and stands in a single line at the lip of the stage. They are holding hands. The children's chorus joins them at the front. Older Lia is at the center. • • • 130 Luis Miguel Gallardo THE REAL-NAME CONFESSION. One cast member — difierent person each performance — steps forward. They drop their character voice slightly. They are not breaking the spell. They are deepening it. PERFORMER. (real-name confession, improvised within boundaries each performance) PERFORMER. I'm [REAL FIRST NAME]. I'm [REAL AGE]. PERFORMER. [ONE TRUE SENTENCE ABOUT THEMSELVES.] PERFORMER. Tonight I sang for [SPECIFIC PERSON. SPECIFIC REASON.] PERFORMER. Thank you for being here. They step back into the line. The orchestra begins the "nal song — the leitmotif fully exposed in the strings, a single child's voice from the children's chorus carrying it.