Voodoo is often seen as evil, though few know its benevolent doctrine. Similar to the story of Satrapi’s “The veil,” we wanted our story to be about a well meaning follower of a religion that runs against the grain of local beliefs somewhat. Thus we developed a story around a Voodoo practitioner living during the Salem Witch trials.
This story was inspired partly by the Bones episode, “The Man in the Morgue,” which represents truer Voodoo beliefs of protection, harmony, peace, and service, and highlights the social stigma attached to the religion. So, our research reflected this good side of Voodoo. We decided John would be trying to bring balance to Salem. Huffington Post discusses the concept of the Lwa (or Loa, phonetically). The Loa is a spirit which practitioners converse with to bring balance. Thus John prays to one in the beginning. Another source pointed out that snakes were the symbol of the god who is the “protector of the helpless.” so, we decided to add a snake to his ritual. More than just that, Voodoo practitioners believe highly in community, according to the African Holocaust organization. That is why John references his service as he pleads for his family’s lives.
As mentioned above, our story focuses on the heated interaction between a voodoo practitioner and a Puritan priest. The story is set in colonial America during the hectic Salem witch trials. Historically, these trials came about due to a mass hysteria that swept across Salem where young girls claimed to be witches (http://www.history.com/topics/salem-witch-trials). Locals hanged many who were accused, regardless of evidence, and some accused others for self-preservation. Not even children were safe, according to the Smithsonian. In our piece, however, we decided to make our protagonist a true practitioner, not merely one who claimed to be.
The two primary characters of our script are John Phelps, the protagonist, and the preacher, the antagonist. As our piece progressed we discovered additional ways to heighten the intensity between their relationship. Initially, we wanted to focus on the preacher’s angst and disgust toward the voodoo practices of John. As we got dove further into their relationship we felt it would add an extra kick to the script if John recalled times where he not only helped the preacher with voodoo, but also members of the community. We further developed their violent interaction by having the antagonist and his party destroy the tools John used to call upon the spirits-such as the sacrificial animals, jars, etc. By including these actions in the scene descriptions we were able to add to the suspense of the story.
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