Proposal for transformation scenes

Adaptation from New York Day Women

      - Characters: 

            - 2 in two different ages

            - mother (around 40), daughter (when she is still a student)

            - mother (around 60), daughter (around 30)

       - Setting: 

            - the story begins with the scene that the grown-up daughter is braiding her mother's hair ~> they start to talk about the past things ... ~> the daughter started recalling those touching moments she happened to see ... 

                 - Scene I: 

                    It was the first parent-teacher conference in her middle school. Everyone else was sitting with their parents, talking about those interesting things happened at school. But the daughter was sitting alone in the corner. She buried her head in her arms; tried to avoid any eye contract with the others. But the teacher still noticed her, called out her name, asked her, where was her parent in front of the whole class. She can't help but rushed out of the classroom with tears rolling in her eyes. But suddenly, she saw a familiar figure hastily turned to leave. She followed that familiar figure silently. As soon as she rounded the corner, she saw that figure crouching in the street with her trembling shoulders. It was the first time she saw her mother crying. 

                 - Scene II: 

                    It was a Saturday morning. They were having a breakfast at home. The daughter went to check the mailbox outside, and found that there was a letter from Haiti. She brought the letter in, and gave it to her mother. Her mother read it, looking very depressed. She hesitated if she should say something to comfort her. However, her mother finished eating breakfast quickly, threw the letter into the trash can, and went to work. The daughter picked up the letter. It was from one of her aunts. In the letter, she said that she hope her mother can return this year and attend her brothers' funerals. The daughter never knew anything from her mother's past in Haiti: she did not know neither how many uncles or aunts she actually had nor what her grandparents look like. She started to live with her mother as long as she could remember. There wasn't any memories about her relatives left in her mind. It was the first time she felt curious about the past which was hidden by her mother. 

       - PS: 

            - There isn't that much dialogues between the performance. Instead, the two characters would say their thoughts in a kind of narrator form. 

            - I want to use the symbol of "braiding hair" which suggests the combination of different strands into a whole to present the theme of how the two people who were separated by the two generations and culture difference eventually come closed together. 

            - In the original story, there is not that much face-to-face interaction between the two characters because it was narrated from the daughter's perspective. Thus, through the performance I want to show more about these details as well as the inner thoughts from the two sides.