Green Grow the Lilacs

1 In the front room of a farmhouse in Indian Territory one summer morning, handsome cowboy Curly McClain sings a folk song romanticizing the life of a cowboy. Aunt Eller, the play’s mother figure, playfully teases and flirts with him. Curly coyly asks about Eller’s niece, 18-year-old Laurey. He intends to ask her to a party being hosted by Old Man Peck, but before he can ask she (somewhat playfully) rebuffs him. Eller tells a sullen Curly that Laurey likes him, but that her burly ranch hand Jeeter Fry also has his eye on her. Laurey returns and says that she’s going to the party with Jeeter, leaving Curly to sing a song lamenting a lost love.

2 Scene Two takes place immediately after Scene One. In her bedroom, Laurey combs her hair while telling Aunt Eller about the whimsical kind of life she wants to have. On the subject of marriage, Laurey mentions longing to marry a man and says she’d rather get married than live in the White House. The conversation then turns somewhat cryptic when