
[ HOME ]
Preview of the show in text, photos and
sound!
Lisbon, Portugal, is the exciting and progressive place to be in the 1470s. News of personalities, inventions, and social trends provide the historical setting of events over 500 years ago.
Men of discovery meet in the taverns to swap sailing stories.
Christopher and his brother sell their high quality and accurate maps and are part of this
great enterprise.
Filipa, Christopher's wife, shares his dreams of breaking the rigid
worldview of the past with the challenges of a future in which it is possible to think new
thoughts and to use a western route to the Indies in the East.
Christopher matures during several, major seafaring experiences:
Iceland, Britain, Africa, and the Ocean Sea.
In the marketplace, luxurious goods from the East--spices, silks,
porcelains, precious stones--command more attention and money than goods from Africa and
Europe.
Africa is the time-proven and safe way to the Spice Islands in the East.
Circumventing the Venetian-Moslem monopoly of the present land-water trade routes is best
achieved by ship around Africa. Christopher's "shortcut" plan falls on
unlistening ears.
Nevertheless, Christopher follows his knowledge and instincts. He claims
the Holy Ghost inspires him to sail west across the deep to reach the east and this
motivates his determination and vision to follow the light.
The clergy say: "No!" The intellectuals say: "No!"
The rich and powerful say: "No!" This long period of obstacles gets reversed
with Queen Isabella's emphatic: "Yes! Yes! Yes!"
While the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria are being provisioned, the women,
children, and families show how frightening and awesome the venture really is.
The "God bless us all" from the previous scene flows into a
benediction for the men as they leave Palos, Spain, for the Canary Islands and beyond.
Reprise of I see the Wind Finale
©1991-1998 All Rights Reserved
Contact:
Webmaster@Lofthouse.com
http://www.Lofthouse.com/christopher/