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(I always say, YES!, but it’s nice to know when someone likes my plays.)
We Will Ride
A Short Play Riding on a Gust of Wind and Courage
Inspired by the 1899 Filipino Rough Riders of the
Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show
By Conrad A. Panganiban
Synopsis
On the eve of a pivotal race at Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show in 1899 Chicago, three Filipino performers must choose between Ysidora’s defiant bid to beat the U.S. Cavalry and the Pony Express on horseback and Gerónimo’s dangerous plan to escape the colonial spectacle that imprisons them — and claim a freedom that America had promised but never delivered.
Cast of Characters
YSIDORA ALCANTARA: 19. Fillipina. The only female of the original Filipino Rough Riders from the Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show recruited in the Philippines and brought to the United States in 1899. She was recruited because of her horse riding skills. Determined to beat all of the other riders in the show’s highlight event, the International Riders Relay Race. Felix Alcantara’s younger sister.
FELIX ALCANTARA: 21. Filipino. One of the two males in the original Filipino Rough Riders. Was recruited because he knew and can teach Ysidora and Geronimo Filipino songs and dances as a demonstration for American Audiences. He’s has a happy-go-lucky personality.
GERÓNIMO YNOSINCIO: 24. Filipino. The other Filipino male of the Rough Riding team from the Philippines. He was recruited because of his intellect and ability to speak English and act as a translator to Buffalo Bill’s recruiter. He’s a dreamer and idealist wanting an independent life in America. His name is pronounced, “heh-ROH-nee-moh”.
REPORTER #1 and #2: Males. American. A pair of Chicago newspaper reporters acting as the storytellers for the masses as they create the history and spectacle of the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show. These roles should be doubled for the actors: REPORTER #1 / GERONIMO and REPORTER#2 / FELIX.
Setting
Time: August 14, 1899
Place: In an open lot converted into an Show Arena on 35th Street and Wentworth Avenue, Chicago, IL, USA
Scene Locations:
The Reporters can either be in the stands or in a reporters’ booth.
The Filipino Rough Rider scenes takes place in a tent considered to be their dressing room.
Lights up on REPORTERS #1 and #2. They are wearing hats from the turn of the 19th Century. They are also holding reporter’s notepads.
REPORTER #1 / GERÓNIMO
After wowing audiences in Bloomington and Peoria, the incomparable Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show comes into Chicago on this warm August day in 1899!
REPORTER #2 / FELIX
Hundreds lined the streets of Wentworth Avenue as Buffalo Bill Cody rode atop a horse-drawn carriage to lead his merry band of performers up Wentworth Avenue, 31st Street, down Michigan Avenue, before returning to the spectacular site at 35th Street and Wentworth!
REPORTER #1 / GERÓNIMO
And what a sight it was! As they rode along the carriage, Sioux Warriors followed the all mighty Cowboy Band led by William Sweeney.
REPORTER #2 / FELIX
The pounding of drums and wailing trumpets parted the crowds like the Red Sea to make way for the amazing sharpshooters of Annie Oakley and Johnnie Baker with rifles at the hip.
REPORTER #1 / GERÓNIMO
But the grandest sight of all appeared on display as the Congress of International Rough Riders from Germany-
REPORTER #2 / FELIX
Named The Cuirassiers.
REPORTER #1 / GERÓNIMO
From France
REPORTER #2 / FELIX
The Dragons
REPORTER #1 / GERÓNIMO
And the latest conquests on display:
REPORTER #2 / FELIX
From Cuba, Hawaii, Costa Rica…
REPORTER #1 / GERÓNIMO
And the newest collection of savages from the Philippines.
REPORTER #2 / FELIX
The Filipino Rough Riders!
REPORTER #1 / GERONIMO
All of America’s Manifested Conquests!
REPORTER #2 / FELIX
Treasures.
REPORTER #1 / GERÓNIMO
Property.
Appearing behind The REPORTERS walks in YSIDORA ALCANTARA a Filipina in her 20s wearing a white dress. She enters carrying two salakots–traditional woven Filipino hats.
In a choreographed fashion, REPORTERS #1 and #2 put their reporter notepads away, trade their American caps for the Filipino Salakots with YSIDORA.
YSIDORA gives GERÓNIMO a newspaper.
GERÓNIMO
Can you believe this rubbish?!
SAVAGES?! DO I LOOK LIKE A SAVAGE!
FELIX
Ano nang problema mo, Gerónimo?! [What’s the problem, Geronimo?]
YSIDORA
Oo nga! Tagalog ka na kasi – hindi namin maintindihan ‘yan! [Yeah! Say it in Tagalog so that we can understand!]
GERÓNIMO
Limang buwan na tayo dito, ‘di ka pa rin marunong mag-Ingles kahit konti?! [We’ve been here for two months, and you still can’t even learn a little English?]
FELIX and YSIDORA stare at GERÓNIMO with annoyed eyes.
GERÓNIMO
Sige na. Gusto mo ba sa Tagalog… [If you want me to speak in Tagalog so you can understand…]
O, ‘di ba – better?
YSIDORA
Yes. Thank you. Now, what are you shouting about?
GERÓNIMO
Here! In the newspaper. They’re calling us Savages!
WHAT ABOUT ME MAKES ME LOOK LIKE A SAVAGE?!
FELIX
(the first of many sarcasticsms spoken by Felix)
You?! No. You’re the model of perfect peace and harmony.
GERÓNIMO
It says right here,
“From the latest acquisition from the Philippines, an archipelago of islands halfway around the world, comes three native savages who’ve been tamed by the Great Buffalo Bill Cody assembled to sing and dance for all of Chicago.”
FELIX
What did they say about my vocal arrangements and choreography?
YSIDORA
They’re not yours, Kuya. The songs belong to tatay and the dances were taught to us by inay.
FELIX
Then, they’d both be proud. It’s our first show review in America!
GERÓNIMO
A review that calls us savages!
I’ll show them how savage I can be!
YSIDORA
Gerónimo, calm down. Mr. Cody has never called us that. If there’s anyone to blame, it’s those reporters-
FELIX
Who gave me a good review.
YSIDORA
But without that review, we would still be home
GERÓNIMO
Back home, we weren’t being boo’d or having food thrown at us.
YSIDORA
But we’re alive. And together. That’s what matters.
FELIX
Ysidora is right. This show gave us a place to sleep. They feed us. And most of all, we get to perform.
GERÓNIMO
Like circus animals.
YSIDORA
Gerónimo, what Kuya Felix is saying is that life could be worse.We are in America seeing new lands. You can’t deny the look on your face the first time you saw a locomotive pull into San Francisco.
GERÓNIMO
I had more control over my Kalesa and Caballo in Intramuros than that ungodly machine.
FELIX
You’re lucky that Mr. Cooke saw Ysidora ride a horse first. If he knew how bad we were at riding compared to her, he might have never recruited us.
GERÓNIMO
Then you’re lucky that I’m the only one could speak to him in English for us to be recruited.
YSIDORA
But Kuya Felix is the one who taught us those songs and dances to show Ernest what we can also bring to the show.
FELIX
Ernest?
YSIDORA
He said I could call him that–Mr. Ernest Cooke.
GERÓNIMO
It’s better than what I’ve been called here since our first show in New York: boy, goo-goo,
FELIX
Monkey.
YSIDORA
Only the people in the crowd said those things. Nobody in the show has ever called us those things.
GERÓNIMO
Not to our face.
But you see how they look at us, all of us, as lower than them. The Hawaiians, the Cubans, the Arabs, the Mexicans… as long as we are paraded as possessions to this country, we’ll always be looked down on.
FELIX
Not for Ysidora.
YSIDORA
Felix.
FELIX
Every time she wins a race, she forces the crowd to look up…
At her.
GERÓNIMO
That’s because they think she’s cheating.
YSIDORA
Excuse me?
GERÓNIMO
They may look up, but they will never cheer.
YSIDORA
Until I make them.
GERÓNIMO
And how are you going to do that?
FELIX
She’s not only going to race against the other international riders today, she will also be riding against the soldiers from the U.S. Cavalry and even against the riders from the Pony Express!
YSIDORA
Do you think I made some of the gamblers in the stands nervous? To think of anyone in the crowd betting on a little brown sister to beat one of their own.
GERÓNIMO
Buffalo Bill would never allow those groups into the race.
FELIX
Who do you think thought of the idea?
YSIDORA
I’m good.
You don’t think I hear what they call us?
You don’t think I remember what the Amer-canos did to our cities? To our people?
They’re the ones who promised us that after the Spanish left, we would finally be free to stand on our own two feet, under our flag–in our own nation.
Until they didn’t.
How dare they think that after 300 years of being ruled by one country, we would allow another one–a place none of us knew about, or much less wanted–to move into our home?
That’s why itay taught me how to ride.
To ride faster than the spread of the scent of sampaguitas during an evening breeze.
To ride quieter than the whispers surrounding a newborn’s mid-afternoon’s naps.
To ride sharper than a bolo cutting through bamboo poles used to move nipa huts after a typhoon carried by the spirit of bayanihan.
And to ride with more possessed courage than any man, enkanto, or aswang as I delivered secret plans for the Katipunan from Manila to Caloocan. From Bulacan to Mabitac. And from here in Chicago, United States back to our hometown, Cavite, Philippines…
I will ride.
GERÓNIMO
To prove what?
You winning won’t change anything for us or for anyone who died back home.
And you know that they wouldn’t let you win. They’d probably shoot you before you even sniffed the finish line.
YSIDORA
At least I’ll die with them knowing that I beat them.
FELIX
Jusko po! Why are you being so melodramatic?!
(mockingly)
“At least I’ll die with them knowing I beat them!”
(switching back)
I’m the maarte one in the family. Not you!
GERÓNIMO
It’s better to be an example of a person living their dreams than someone pretending to be a dead martyr.
We are here. We can build something out of the ashes that was left behind by the Americans. We can build something better, stronger, and our own.
FELIX
Is that what our three-hundred year oppressors taught you with their education?
GERÓNIMO
What I learned was to use their education to be better than them.
And to someday be someone who’ll be the best for the Philippines.
YSIDORA
You spent too much time hanging around Jose Rizal… and look what happened to him.
GERÓNIMO
Noli Me Tángere taught us that the size of our intellect, imagination, and the daringness to dream will lead to our freedom.
FELIX
We gave up our freedom when you signed our names to a contract.
GERÓNIMO
I signed us up for a chance to start over.
YSIDORA
In a country not ours?
GERÓNIMO
To make this land our own. Remember when I told you about La Liberté éclairant le monde?
FELIX
Ooo yes… The La Lube Eclare Less Mound!
I love speaking Italian!
GERÓNIMO
Let’s just call her The Statue of Liberty.
YSIDORA
The giant statue of the Virgin Mary holding a flame of fire in her hand?
FELIX
That’s a real thing? I thought that you were making it up to keep me from throwing up on the ship that brought us to San Francisco.
GERÓNIMO
The base of that statue reads, “A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame is the imprisoned lightning, and her name, Mother of Exiles.”
FELIX
“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses”
YSIDORA
“Yearning to breathe free.”
GERÓNIMO
(surprised)
You were listening!
FELIX
Because there was NOTHING else to do on that tang ina boat that kept rocking up and down… up and down. “Give me your tired and vomit covered floors” is what your Statue of Freedom should have said.
GERÓNIMO
The Statue of Liberty!
YSIDORA
There is no Statue. And there is no Liberty.
The only freedom I have is when I ride Bagyo in the arena where thousands boo and hiss as I beat their riders.
GERÓNIMO
The only freedom we will have is when we escape before the final races.
FELIX
What are you talking about?
YSIDORA
We’re not going through with your stupid plan.
FELIX
There’s a plan? I didn’t know about this plan!
GERÓNIMO
I told you about it in June during our stop in Boston.
YSIDORA
It was a stupid plan back then and it’s a stupider plan now.
FELIX
What was the plan?
GERÓNIMO
When we come to Chicago, my friend will meet us near the arena entrance and take us to a place called the Union Stock Yards in a horseless carriage-
YSIDORA
I’m not leaving without my horse!
GERÓNIMO
Where we’ll have new clothes, jobs, and paperwork to start a new life here.
FELIX
We’re going to get caught!
GERÓNIMO
Not if we escape before the final relay race when everyone will be in a frenzy. No one will even notice we’re gone.
YSIDORA
Not when they come looking for me.
FELIX
And who is this “friend”? For all we know, this could be a trap to send us back on a boat back home. And you know my stomach can’t take another month on the ocean!
GERÓNIMO takes out a letter from his pocket.
GERÓNIMO
My friend, Edward, owns a cigar store called…
(reading the letter)
E. Hoffman & Company at the Sherman House. That’s where he met Jose Rizal in 1888.
Since Jose met his death three years ago, Edward and I have been corresponding and after knowing our burden in the Philippines through Jose, he’s offered us a way to make a new life here… in Chicago. Starting with meeting him at the gates before your race.
FELIX takes the letter.
YSIDORA
You don’t know how to read.
FELIX
I just wanted to know if this paper felt real.
FELIX gives the letter back to Gerónimo.
YSIDORA
I’m not leaving.
GERÓNIMO
(To Felix)
Talk some sense into your sister.
I’m going to find Edward.
(To Ysidora)
I know how much winning that race means to you.
But believe me, you will–we will–win so much more by leaving this circus.
If you won’t leave for you, then leave for your brother. He will never be more than a servant if he stays.
(To Felix)
No offense.
FELIX
Oh, I’m totally offensed.
GERÓNIMO
Even as much as we both know how talented Felix is, they’re never going to want to see him on one of their stages. And you know it.
Ysidora, taking our freedom back will lead to a greater future for not only us, but for everyone who will come here after us–to those who dare to become more than they can ever dream of.
(to both of them)
I better see the both of you at the entrance gates before the race.
GERÓNIMO exits.
FELIX
He’s always been a bundle of joy.
YSIDORA
Can you believe the nerve of him?
FELIX
He has a point.
YSIDORA
About you only being a servant because of your lack of talent?
FELIX
Uh, no. And I’ll let that slide because you’re being so talagang passionate right now.
YSIDORA
Then what point are you agreeing with since you didn’t even know about this plan until now?!
FELIX
Until now, I wanted to believe that being a part of this show could make a difference.
Not only for our lives, but for the lives of everyone back home.
I thought that by seeing our humanity, our culture…
They would be able to accept us as equals.
At least that’s what I’ve kept believing since our first audience at Madison Square Garden in New York to Chattanooga to Philadelphia to here.
It’s funny to have a heart wish of visiting places that I never even knew existed
Yet, I never knew how living out this adventure would bring so much hate, anger, and hurt with each name, look, or indifference our existence would bring.
So, really, Ysidora, how much of a difference can we make being here when we’re only seen as trophies to a people who don’t even see us as humans?
YSIDORA
And you think by leaving this show to live out there will be any different?
FELIX
At least WE can make the difference.
And not by the hands of a circus leader.
But by our own hands where we can control… create… live.
To become the best we can be.
YSIDORA
But what if my best is to be the best rider here?
FELIX
And then what are you after that?
Everyone will still call us savages… googoos… little brown brothers and sisters.
If we leave, we can prove to all of them that we are more than that.
On our own terms.
YSIDORA
But if we’re caught, we’ll be shipped back to the Philippines with nothing… as nothing.
At least when I win today, I’ll have the satisfaction in knowing that I beat their best. No matter the color, the nationality, or gender–I am better.
FELIX
What about for me?
Sure, I can maybe sing and dance better than any of them… But at least out there, I can find out what I can be the best at, instead of being part of a collection in America’s conquests.
And knowing that… Knowing father… I couldn’t live with that shame… and neither could you.
I’m going to make sure that Gerónimo doesn’t leave without us.
FELIX exits.
YSIDORA
I wish I could, Kuya.
YSIDORA exits.
Enter REPORTER #1 wearing the same cap he wore at the beginning of the play holding a reporters notepad and writing…
REPORTER #1 / GERÓNIMO
A spectacular display of American bravery and skill as Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show came and went through Chicago. The sellout crowd of 8,000 people that filled the stands at 35th and Wentworth could be heard for miles as they Ooooo’d and Aweee’d as a hunt of Wild Buffalo stampeded around the makeshift arena. Live rounds of gunfire electrified the masses as Buffalo Bill Cody and the U.S. Cavalry rescued the Deadwood Mail-Coach from attack. And after a demonstration of the riding prowess of post carriers of the Pony Express, the SHOWSTOPPER of the entire event began–the International Relay Race.
Enter YSIDORA as she mimes riding her horse Bagyo. During the race description, YSIDORA mimes the actions.
REPORTER #1 / GERÓNIMO
Rounding station after station was the fastest rider this reporter has ever witnessed–a rider from the Philippines named Ysidora Alcantara.
Enter FELIX waving his hat.
FELIX
Go Ading Ko!
REPORTER #1 / GERÓNIMO
Watching her, she looks like a blur flying on a gust of wind-
A mixture of freedom and ferocity-
An unbelievable sight to witness until-
FELIX
Until…
YSIDORA
Until…
REPORTER #1 / GERONIMO
The crack of a bullet escaping a gun’s chamber rang throughout the arena causing a collection of gasps to be heard as she fell…
FELIX
My sister fell…
YSIDORA
I fell…
REPORTER #1 / GERONIMO
It was a gunshot from what sounded like a 45 caliber revolver that pierced an already tense summer midwest afternoon in an open lot that caused a Galloping Palomino named Bagyo to stumble and throw its rider onto an already cracked earth and back to a reality of what could have been a triumph for the United State’s newest possession…
Enter FELIX as he picks YSIDORA up and carries her downstage as REPORTER #1 exits.
YSIDORA
(waking up)
Did I win?
FELIX
Didn’t you see the winners trophy at the entrance of our tent?
YSIDORA
No.
FELIX
Then you didn’t win… but you won in my eyes.
YSIDORA
So maarte.
Oh my God! What happened to Bagyo? Is he alright?
I need to check on him.
YSIDORA tries to move, but stops in pain.
FELIX
He’s fine. Rest muna.
The Mexican Vaqueros are looking after him.
Bagyo was just startled. Like the rest of us.
YSIDORA
Why are you here? I thought you left with Gerónimo to be the best that you could be.
FELIX
And miss seeing my sister be the best rider steal the show on the biggest stage?
YSIDORA
You’re just jealous.
FELIX
A little.
Okay, a lot.
I hope you at least heard the crowd cheering for you.
Enter GERÓNIMO.
GERÓNIMO
That’s what made me stop and turn around.
YSIDORA
You said they’d never cheer for me.
GERÓNIMO
Technically, they were cheering for Bagyo. You only have 2 legs. He has four. Now, if you were to carry Bagyo on your back, then I can’t wait to hear the crowd at our next tour stop.
FELIX goes to hug GERÓNIMO.
FELIX
Next stop?! I knew you couldn’t leave us.
GERÓNIMO
And miss seeing the best rider in the world fly on a dust of wind and courage?
YSIDORA
But not brave enough to join you at the gates.
GERÓNIMO
There will always be other gates.
FELIX
Like the ones at the Statue of the Lubed eClaire!?
GERÓNIMO
Sure. That one.
They all laugh until YSIDORA stops from the pain her body is in after the fall.
YSIDORA
Aray! No more jokes.
FELIX
Who was joking?
GERÓNIMO
I don’t even know how to joke.
YSIDORA
I’m sorry I ruined your plan.
GERÓNIMO
The only plan I have right now is to make sure you’re okay. We can think about what our best will be like when you get better.
YSIDORA
But if I won, at least I could have done something for others to remember me by…
To remember us by.
FELIX
Do you really think people will remember us?
GERÓNIMO
Maybe one day.
YSIDORA
One day…
Blurring the façade between character and actor by using third-person voices…
FELIX
Felix Alcantara, the artist-
YSIDORA
Ysidora Alcantara, the rider-
GERÓNIMO
And Gerónimo Ynocensio, the thinker-
YSIDORA
Became the first Filipinos to be recruited in the Philippines and go on tour in the United States with the Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show from 1899-
FELIX
To Nineteen-hundred.
They were later joined by five other Filipinos…
YSIDORA
Gregorio Azarraga, Eustaquio Caliz, Ysidoro Constantina, Lorenzo Eman, and Filimon Ermoso.
GERÓNIMO
But they were the original three-
FELIX
The original Three Filipinos to tour the United States.
GERÓNIMO
To show the United States that they were more than savages.
FELIX
Or possessions.
YSIDORA
Or trophies.
FELIX
They were the Dreamers,
YSIDORA
The Fierce,
GERÓNIMO
And the Important.
ALL
They were The Filipino Rough Riders.
END OF PLAY