Play Five, God's Great Supper, Part 1 Summary

A narrator sets the scene as the Rowen homestead in 1861, 42 years later.

Jed Rowen, who is 28, tells us about a dream. It starts with the sound of crows fighting and continues with his father Ezekiel (Zeke from the previous play) preaching from the the Book of Revelations in the Bible. As Ezekiel reads from the book, Jed continues the story of the dream. He goes to a church picnic in an orchard, where he sits and eats plate after plate of food brought to him by a woman. The whole time William Clarke Quantrill, who was a rebel and guerilla soldier during the Civil War, sits opposite him. Two women dressed in rags appear and address us as they recite a list of names. When they get to Jed's name, Jed says that's...