IA Proposal

IA Proposal

Theme: We cannot cover the truth because we do not like it.  The only way to show respect to people who are dead is to tell the truth.

“When I wrote this novel, I thought of my older sister and her first love.  Some people who know the truth asked me to give my sister and her first love a union, and my mom told me to let my sister look better in the book at least.  It is the best wish, and people love to end the story full of happiness and satisfaction. However, the reality is not what we always want.

I thought and struggled for a long time before I made this decision.  I love my sister more than anyone, but I think the way, the only way to show respect to my sister’s life and the other death is to tell the truth.”

                                                                                                       ---- Lili’s younger sister

Plot: Combined The Wall of Rising Fire, Night Women, Children of the Sea, and the Background of Caroline’s Wedding and Epilogue

The story is set on a book publishment conference.  The awarded book “”(might has a name) is going to change the ending about the lives of one girl and one boy.  The audiences who love the book so much are confused and even mad at this change. Then, the writer, D, talks about the book (Stage change back to 30 years earlier), telling the original happy ending and changed ending.

Scene 1:

At conference, D, Lili’s younger sister is having a interview in the United States.  Reporters ask her why she reedited an awarded novel (and also her last piece) again and changed the ending into a way that people do not want to see.  50-year-old D smiles and says the story is about my older sister and her first love. It is not my story. What I remembered is the day that Lili’s first love leave Haiti.

Scene 2:

Time goes back to the day that the boy, Erik, leaves Lili when they are 18 years old.  It is the day that Erik and Lili’s have the secret meeting as usual. However, this time Erik brings a bad news for Lili.  His audio station is detected by the government, and he has to sail to the United States to survive. Lili wants to go with him, but when she runs back home to suit up her case, her father locks her at home.  She misses the boat. She is having a hard time for a while. Her 15-year-old younger sister, D, helps her go through the heartbreaking time. For boy Erik, he is waiting Lili, but when the time comes, he has to leave without her.  He leaves.

Scene 3:

With the camera’s light, 24-year-old Lili is standing near Guy with wedding bouquet in a wedding suit.  D, is happy for her older sister. After wedding, Lili ends her journey that it is writing to Erik and give this journey to D.  Then, Lili leaves home with Guy. They are going to create a new family.

At the same time, Erik lives in the United States for a while, and he marries Caroline, another Haitian American.  

Time can cure a lot of heartbreak, and make people forget something.  However, it is fine, because they both live in happy lives.

Scene 4:

Time goes to reality, 50-year-old D is still sitting on the chair having the interview.  Then, she remembered three years ago she received a report from Haiti: her older sister, Lili, is dead because of syphilis, a sexual disease.  Then, she finally realizes, what she heard from her mother and Lili is fake. Then, she searches the boat that Erik is on, and she found out the boat is sank.  No one survived.

Scene 5:

The Old D faces the camera.  She says,

“When I wrote this novel, I thought of my older sister and her first love.  Some people who know the truth asked me to give my sister and her first love a union, and my mom told me to let my sister look better in the book at least.  It is the best wish, and people love to end the story full of happiness and satisfaction. However, the reality is not what we always want.

I thought and struggled for a long time before I made this decision.  I love my sister more than anyone, but I think the way, the only way to show respect to my sister’s life and the other death is to tell the truth.”

Scene 6 (Optional)

This scene is an imagination without any lines or dialogue.  Imagine if everything does not happen, and imagine if they are living in a peaceful country.  They meet with the original place that they met before without any fear. They hug and kiss.

The End

Characters

Lili: Passionate, and outgoing when she is young; Kind, and tender when she married.

Old D: Old, tough, and peaceful

Young D: Innocent, quieter than Lili.  The same actor of Old D.

Guy: Lili’s Husband.  Ambitious. Can be the same actor of Erik. (No line)

Erik:  Passionate, strong and talkative when he is young; Steadier and gentle when he married.

Caroline: Erik’s wife.  Beautiful and quiet. Can be the same actor of Lili (No line)

Lili’s Father

Reporter’s voice

Staging: Three (Four) stages + Two Timeline

Clothes:

The actors of Lili and Erik wear white clothes inside, and then according to the change of age, they will put on the outfit quickly.  The time will change quickly, so the actors might be asked to change clothes in 5 seconds behind the plank or the barrier on the stage.  The younger Lili is wearing colorful dress, and then wedding dress. When she died, she wear white dress only to act out the “imaginated” scene.

Narrator’s voice:

The narrator’s voice will be recorded before the performance by D’s actor.  It will connect each scene during scene change.

Stage:

Stage will basically separate to two part.  One for Erik, the other for Lili. One scene might use three stage: one corner for D reading the report and cry, the other two for Erik and Lili, while the narrator telling the truth.

Musics (Soundtrack):

Atonement

The Imitation Game

Twilight