Nativity
A One-Act Play for the Winter Solstice
by D.D. Delaney

About the Play:
In April, 1979, following the Three Mile Island accident that nearly destroyed a nuclear power plant, D.D. Delaney, living in nearby Lancaster, founded a street theater troupe dramatizing the abuses of the nuclear power industry. A theme emerged in the skits promoting solar power and a return to a simple lifestyle. In the process, the skits became pro-solar rather than anti-nuclear. Delaney wrote a series of plays, each marking one of eight annual solar festivals going back to ancient times. This solar project collection, entitled In the Pastures of the Sun, consists of three one-act and four full-length plays. Nativity is the first of these. It establishes that the Sun symbolizes the Solar Hero, venerated in nearly all cultures. In Nativity, three actors play the Biblical Magi, following a guiding star on the longest night of the year, to the birthplace of the Solar Hero. They take on multiple roles which dramatize the miracle of rebirth of light and hope in the world after the shortening light of autumn. Christmas carols and songs, in which the audience may join, are woven into this 40-minute play.

The Characters:
Aureus, who becomes Fred, Scorpius, a Witness, Zacharius, and Santa
Libanos, who becomes Nora, Capricornus, Jesus, and Joseph
Myrrha, who becomes Bea, Sagittarius, Mary, and Mara

The Scene:
On the road to Bethlehem, with other interludes in time and space, during the longest night of the year.

From the Play:
(As Zacharius and Myrrha enter, Aureus and Mara are lighting the temple lamps.)

Mara: And now that I am a woman, Zacharius, will my husband be chosen soon?
Zacharius: Very soon, Mara.
Mara: And will we really bear together the Great Soul the elders have said is to come?
Zacharius: Yes, Mara, you will.
Mara: Will this Great Soul be a god?
Zacharius: No, Mara, he will be like us in every way. Except one day he will leave us to live in the outside world.
Mara: O, I am frightened, Zacharius! Will my husband be gentle?
Zacharius: Yes, dear, he will be very gentle.
Mara: Do you know who I want it to be?
Zacharius: Who, love?
Mara: I want it to be Joseph Panther.
Zacharius: Do you truly?
Mara: Yes. Oh, I know he is old in years! But he is so kind to me, so patient. He makes such beautiful things! Besides, in his eyes he is not old. His soul is young.
Zacharius: Yes, Mara, it is.
Mara: But I'm afraid he thinks of me as just a child.
Zacharius: If he does, then he is mistaken.

About the Playwright:
D.D. Delaney is an Equity Association actor who began his career in theater in 1979 as the principal writer of street theater skits protesting the abuses of the nuclear power industry following the nuclear accident at Three-Mile Island near Harrisburg, PA. His street theater troupe evolved into a performance company in Lancaster, PA, where he wrote, acted in, and helped produce a growing body of plays. He worked as an actor, writer, designer, director, and administrator with numerous companies in the Lancaster area, earning his Equity card in 1989 in the role of Dylan Thomas in A Child's Christmas in Wales, produced by Theater of the Seventh Sister, which he co-founded. He continued with Seventh Sister playing a variety of roles. In 1994 he moved to Norfolk, VA, where, he wrote and performed two one-man shows, The Lunar Project and The Holy Fool, at Second Story Theatre. He created four touring programs for Young Audiences of Virginia, including Shakespeare After School and Shakespeare: Playing for Laughs, both of which he performed with his wife, Jala Magik, in secondary schools throughout eastern Virginia. To date, his 33 produced scripts include eleven full-length plays, six one-acts, six plays for young audiences, three collaborations, and numerous skits for special occasions. Currently, Delaney lives by the Chesapeake Bay in the Ocean View subdivision of Norfolk with Jala and animal companions Myrrha the hound and cats Demi-Tasse, Chi, Luna, and Yin. No longer exclusively a theater drudge, he also works as a free-lance journalist for Port Folio Weekly.