STONE, MARSOPA AND THE FISHERMAN
From the one-woman play, MARSOPA’S TALE
By
Tara Meddaugh
About the play, MARSOPA’S TALE:
Marsopa is the lone mermaid of her sea, but enjoys the company of her best friend and water-sister, a dolphin named Stone. But when Stone considers starting her own family, Marsopa faces the idea of being truly alone. That is - until she makes eyes with an intriguing fisherman... Now Marsopa must call into question the truth of mermaid and human legends, and decide what she is willing to risk for the possibility of creating her own fate. For the complete one-woman play, Marsopa’s Tale, click here.
About the monologue, STONE, MARSOPA AND THE FISHERMAN:
Marsopa’s best friend, Stone, the dolphin, has warned her of the dangers of interacting and entrancing human men who approach them. Marsopa has been heeding her friend’s advice until, in this monologue extract, she learns Stone may be leaving to start her own family. Realizing she may soon be left behind, with no other mermaid or merman in the sea, she becomes bolder in her quest to connect with the fisherman she is falling in love with. However, when she finally allows the man to see that she is a mermaid, she is disappointed and heartbroken when he immediately sails away from her.
DETAILS
Genre: Drama/fantastical
Cast: Female
Age range: teen-young adult
Running time: 3-5 minutes, depending on performance
From the one-woman play, MARSOPA’S TALE. The first paragraph is slightly edited from the play to allow for audience understanding of characters.
_________________
MARSOPA
The fisherman has been coming every day now. My heart is joyful when I see him, and love makes me bold. I do not hide down in the depths of the water, although Stone wishes I would. She cannot help worrying, as a dolphin—and as my dearest friend. But she and I are not the same species and she knows this human man makes me feel a way I have never felt for a creature in the sea.
I stay at the surface, but he cannot see me or my tail. He fishes and I watch him, and I know we are of the same soul. He looks peaceful when he’s quiet—like me. I relish being in his presence, listening to waves and silence for hours. He’s gentle when he sings—and I sing, I sing lullabies too. He recites poetry to the birds. I listen because I have yearned for more poetry than simply my own.
A few days ago, Stone tells me that she must look for her mate now. She…she is old for a dolphin to have no mate. I know this, but she has always said she doesn’t need one.
Her eyes implore me. “Marsopa, this is my last season to have a child. I can feel it. I…I am happy with no mate. I am happy with you. But something in me says I will not be fulfilled until I have a baby.”
My Stone… She is going to leave me.
And I must leave her…
I stroke her smooth skin. “Have your baby.”
(pause)
The man arrives as usual. But this time, I come entirely out of the water to my rock and he—END OF EXCERPT
Click below for the complete monologue, STONE, MARSOPA AND THE FISHERMAN.
To learn more about Marsopa and to read the whole one-woman play, MARSOPA’S TALE, check out below:
Marsopa is the lone mermaid of her sea, but enjoys the company of her best friend and water-sister, a dolphin named Stone. But when Stone considers starting her own family, Marsopa faces the idea of being truly alone. That is - until she makes eyes with an intriguing fisherman... Now Marsopa must call into question the truth of mermaid and human legends, and decide what she is willing to risk for the possibility of creating her own fate.
This is a dramatic monologue play for 1 female actor with a running time of approximately 10 minutes.