Les Blancs

Act One

In the midst of the sounds of the African bush, a silent female dancer is seen suspended from the sky in a typical African dance pose. Planted before her in the soil, is a spear. A drum beat is heard, climaxing when the dancer reaches forward and pulls the spear from the earth.

A white American journalist, Charlie Morris, arrives at a remote Protestant medical missionary outpost in Africa. First, he meets Dr. Marta Gotterling, who is treating a local child. She apologizes that Reverend Neilsen (who established the mission forty years ago) is not there to greet him, but he is across the weather carrying out religious duties among the locals. Charlie also meets Dr. Willy DeKoven, who is older and more cynical than his colleague. Rifle shots are heard in the bush, followed by the arrival of Major George Rice. His soldiers drag in a young, bloodied African man by a noose and Rice him to be a probably terrorist, He updates Charlie of the ongoing conflict between the Colonial