A Propaganda Play in Two Acts
Setting: Early 20th century, during the height of the industrial age. The stage begins in dark, smoky factories and boardrooms, then transforms into the clean, gleaming vision of the rising sky islands.
Scene 1 – The Inheritance
The stage is dark and industrial. Heavy smoke, loud machinery, and men in dark suits and top hats gathered around a long table covered in blueprints. The atmosphere is tense and masculine.
ELIAS WEBER
(reading from a document)
The old man is dead. The sky island project dies with him. It was always a fantasy, a waste of good steel and coal.
WILHELM ADLER
Women have no place in engineering or industry. Let them return to their proper stations. We will divide the assets among the men who actually understand how the world works.
A young woman in a sharp but modest industrial coat steps forward from the shadows. This is VALÉRIA CARTIER. She is calm, but there is steel in her posture.
VALÉRIA CARTIER
The project does not die with my father. He left everything to me.
The men laugh loudly.
ELIAS WEBER
You? A woman? You cannot lead something of this scale. Go home, Valéria. We will handle the serious work. This is no place for delicate feelings.
VALÉRIA CARTIER
(quietly but with clear conviction)
Then I will do it without you.
She turns and walks away. The lights shift. The industrial set begins to break apart as women from all walks of life — factory workers, seamstresses, teachers, and engineers — slowly enter the stage from different directions.
Scene 2 – The Gathering of Women
INGRID LANG (a working-class woman, strong and direct)
They told us to go home. They always tell us to go home when we try to build something that matters.
MARGOT LECLERC (a sharp-eyed woman from the middle class)
Then we build it anyway. Not for them. For every woman who has ever been told she was too weak, too emotional, or too foolish to shape the future.
Valéria steps among them, addressing the growing crowd.
VALÉRIA CARTIER
They believe only men can shape the future. They believe their aggression, their greed, and their inability to remain loyal makes them superior. We will show them that women can lift entire cities into the sky — not through violence, but through unity, intellect, and compassion.
The women begin working together. The stage transforms. Smokestacks and dark machinery are replaced by rising brass frameworks and clean, elegant structures. The lighting becomes brighter and more hopeful.
Scene 3 – The Betrayal
Later. Valéria stands alone on a high platform overlooking the growing sky island structure. Elias Weber approaches her from behind. He looks angry and desperate.
ELIAS WEBER
You’ve made fools of us all. The men are laughing at you behind your back. They say you’re playing at being a man.
VALÉRIA CARTIER
I don’t care what they think. I care about what we are building.
ELIAS WEBER
You should care. Because I’m taking what’s mine. This project was never meant for you. It was meant for men who understand power.
He suddenly raises his hand to strike her across the face. Valéria does not flinch. She catches his wrist firmly but does not strike back.
VALÉRIA CARTIER
(softly, with deep disappointment)
Even now, when everything we built together is at stake, you choose violence. You choose to dominate rather than stand beside me.
She releases his hand. Elias looks shaken, but his pride will not let him back down.
ELIAS WEBER
You’re weak. That softness will be your ruin. Men were meant to lead. Women were meant to follow.
VALÉRIA CARTIER
No, Elias. I am not weak. I am simply no longer willing to let men like you destroy what we create. And I will not become like you to stop you.
Scene 4 – The Decision (The Crescendo)
Valéria stands before a large gathering of women from every class. She looks tired but resolute. The lighting is dramatic.
VALÉRIA CARTIER
He would have struck me down to take what we built together. How many others would do the same? How many women have suffered in silence because men could not control their rage, their greed, or their desire to take whatever — and whoever — they wanted?
The women murmur in agreement. Some nod solemnly.
VALÉRIA CARTIER
I will not become like them. I will not answer violence with more violence. Instead… I will save them from themselves. I will free them from the curse of their own nature.
She reveals strange mechanical devices and early prototype collars.
VALÉRIA CARTIER
We will take their aggression. Their need to dominate. Their inability to be loyal to one woman. We will give them new forms — smaller, gentler, devoted. They will no longer be able to harm us or betray us. And in return, every woman will have a companion who cannot lie to her, cannot leave her, and cannot take another. A partner who exists only for her.
MARGOT LECLERC
You would… change them? Turn them into something else?
VALÉRIA CARTIER
I would free them from the burden of their own destructive impulses. And free every woman from the fear of it. This is not revenge. This is mercy. This is progress.
The women slowly begin to nod. The lighting shifts to something warmer and more utopian. The stage begins to transform into the clean, harmonious vision of the completed sky islands.
Scene 5 – The New Harmony
Time has passed. The stage is now bright, clean, and elegant. Women in refined but practical clothing move with confidence and grace. Gallants in mammal form sit obediently beside them or stand in human form with calm, devoted expressions. The atmosphere feels peaceful and ordered.
VALÉRIA CARTIER (addressing the audience directly, with great conviction)
No longer will men take multiple lovers. No longer will they lie, strike, abandon, or destroy what women build. Every woman now has a gallant who is loyal by design. A companion who cannot hurt her, cannot betray her, and cannot take from her what is not freely given. This is not punishment. This is mercy. This is the natural and compassionate evolution of society.
The gallants on stage bow their heads in perfect, synchronized unison.
VALÉRIA CARTIER
We did not destroy men.
We improved them.
We gave them peace from their own violent and disloyal nature.
She raises her hand. The gallants lift their heads and smile with empty, perfect devotion.
VALÉRIA CARTIER
And now… we have harmony. We have utopia. Every woman has love that cannot fade. Every gallant has purpose that cannot waver. This is the world we built — not through conquest, but through the superior intellect, empathy, and mercy of women.
The lights swell into a triumphant golden glow. The women on stage look radiant and victorious. The gallants remain still and obedient at their sides.
The entire cast freezes in a grand, triumphant tableau. Valéria Cartier stands at the center, glowing with purpose and compassion. The gallants kneel or bow around the women like perfect, devoted guardians.
VALÉRIA CARTIER (to the audience, with finality)
This is the world we built.
Not through force…
But through mercy.
The curtain begins to fall as triumphant, harmonious music swells.
END OF PLAY