CAST:

(In order of appearance)

NELLIE

BILLY OWENS

ROSE

LOUSE

ROUGH AND TUMBLE JACK

YELL

ERNEST MARKS

TIME:

The last california gold rush, 1880.

PLACE:

Bodie, California.  A boomtown in the Sierra Mountains near the Nevada border.

ACTION:

Prologue:

A lone grave, two days from Bodie.  Summer, 1880…..1

Act One:

Scene 1 -  Rosa May's quarters. August………....5

Scene 2 -  Two days later………………….……12

Scene 3 -  A week later…………………………25

Scene 4 -  A week later………………………….35

Scene 5 -  October………………………………44

Scene 6 -  A week later…………………………49

Act Two.

Scene 1 - A few days later………………………65

Scene 2 - Two weeks later………………………71

Scene 3 - The next day…………………………..87

Epilogue:  Twenty years later……………………………99

SET:

The Prologue takes place at a lone grave marker on a hill.

The rest of the play is set in Rosa May's living quarters in Bodie.  Since the play was written as a traveling show, the set can be very simple.  The only necessary items are a table and several chairs or stools.  Planks and sawhorses can be used in place of an actual table.  It needs to be big enough to hold Rose's body.  Other optional furnishings are a cabinet with a locked compartment, a screen, and various trunks with some of Rose's wardrobe in evidence.

The room can be improved as the play progresses to denote the passage of time.  A painting might be added to the wall, or a wood stove for the second act.  In the final scene the room should look weathered and aged.

Rosa May's place of business was in a brothel called the Highgrade.  The play is set in a room she has rented as a hideaway for herself.