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Easy to get!
Easy to edit!
Easy to produce!
a play
adapted from the classic folktale
Let's begin with getting ahold of the script!
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"Anansi and the Talking Melon" play script downloaded right to your desktop NOW for just $7. 
You will receive a Zip file containing a Word document. (Why buy an ebook? Many reasons: Click here .) OR get the hard copy for the regular ten dollar price! 
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Synopsis:
In Anansi and the Talking Melon, the spider Anansi finds himself sneaking a meal inside a melon when the melon patch owner appears. Rather than run, the trickster spider decides to have some fun at the owner's expense (and ultimately of all the other animals in the jungle) by becoming the voice of the "talking melon," which (surprise, surprise) turns out to have a very insulting attitude.
Now if you've ever tried to do a play before, you are very well aware that A Play is a Lot of Work! It can be full of hassles!
As you know...
- You NEED a good script! You might try writing your own
with your cast (and that has GREAT educational value--see our
book, "Playwrighting")
but that takes even more effort on your
part, and requires a large investment
of time with your group on just the writing part of it.
- If you don't write a script, you have to order one and wait
for the script to arrive. That
could take WEEKS! By then all your creative impulses
and inspiration have melted.
- You have no idea what kind of script you are really
getting until you read it. Good luck. If you've bought "kiddie"
play scripts before, you know so many of them are badly
written.
- You have to find a script that fits your cast.
Most of the time, scripts either have a few characters (and then
what do you do with the rest of the group?) or the balance of
male to female parts is way off with the gender distribution
of your group.
- You have to find a script that fits with your course of study.
(God forbid you should be doing something that doesn't align with
your curriculum :-). Horrors!)
- You have to motivate your cast. A badly written script will
doom the process before you are even underway!
- You have to rehearse. With a complex script, that takes a
long time, and students have to remain motivated
throughout the whole process.
- You have to produce the play, that is to say, you have to come
up with sets, costumes, props... even music, in some cases. You not only have to make the production materials, you have the time-consuming task of coming up with the design... and I'm sure you have enough to think about and plan already.
- You have to keep track of everything in addition to riding herd on your cast... and when they get excited, they can be a handful... as I'm sure you well know :-).
- You know the benefits of performing, including
increased self confidence, better communication ability, increased
focus and retention skills, among so many others.
- You want to motivate them to love what they are
learning by making it come alive.
- You know you have some youngsters in your group, maybe most
of them, who will learn better this way than
any other.
- You know you have some youngsters in your group who may
be struggling academically, but who will shine on stage! And this
will give them something to be proud of.
- You are fully aware that good theatre combines every one of
the Multiple Intelligences learning modalities: linguistic,
logical, visual, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal,
and intrapersonal all in one activity.
- You want to develop an ensemble feeling with
your group.
- You just love doing theatre, especially the feeling that comes from collective creation.
After 40 years of doing theatre in schools, youth groups and profession theatres, we believe we can offer you the answers to this question.
To begin with, our ENTIRE STAFF of artist-educators comes from a background of professional theatre. We all know it like the back of our hand.
And for the balance of our careers, we have brought that expertise to schools and into the classroom. We've toured hundreds of shows to schools. We helped thousands of teachers to mount play productions in their schools. We've worked with tens of thousands of students.
Yep, we've made pretty much made all the mistakes it is possible to make already, and devised lots of short cuts and solutions to address the problems of creating theatre for young people. And that's what we want to share with you: Our 40 years of expertise of doing educational theatre.
To begin with, you need an excellent script, written by a professional playwright, and tailored to the very specific needs of the school environment.
- Your script should ideally have an expandable number of characters:
enough good leading and supporting roles to give enough students
a crack at a juicy part, yet with an expandable chorus with a minimal
amount of lines, so that anywhere from one, to a whole classroom,
of youngsters can also be involved with a simple part.
- Your script has to have dialogue that is not only interesting
and develops character, but that follows naturally, one line being
an expected response to the previous one, so that young actors
can memorize their parts with ease.
- The dialogue should be short and simple enough at the elementary
level, that it's easy to memorize, but with longer, more complex
speeches at the high school-to-adult level to allow the actors to
sink their teeth into the language, and develop their talents. It should be
spread out reasonably evenly
across many parts, so that seldom does any one role carry the
entire burden, and all actors can feel they have an equal part
in the play's success.
- Some writers think the vocabulary level has to at or below the
age level of the cast, but we don't necessarily agree! Don't
forget, you will get the chance to define the vocabulary in the
play for your cast (several times, if necessary). Then, they
will repeat it over and over as they rehearse it. (This is
the great value of doing plays with ELL groups, incidentally:
developing vocabulary and conversationalism through repetition).
The cast will ingrain every single line in the show. It's the
AUDIENCE to whom the vocabulary level must adjusted, for
they will have one shot at understanding the play.
- The quality of the script, even when adaptating
someone else's story,
must develop a theme which is universal, potent and inspiring...
or to be quite frank, why bother doing it?
- The script must offer the opportunity to be easily produced.
If you can't possibly see how to do it without a million dollar
technical effects production budget, again, what's the point?
- The script must have the possibility of aligning with your
curriculum. You know that nowadays, you had better be able to
justify the investment of your group's time.
- The script must be short enough for you to get it done with a minimum amount of rehearsal time, yet rich enough to excite your young people and motivate them to want to do their best. This requires rich characterization, a good storyline, snappy dialogue and, when called for, age-appropriate comedy. 10 to 15 minutes is probably long enough for an early childhood group to handle, with 20-40 minutes being okay from pre-teen and middle school ages, with longer scripts for high school and adult groups. For drama groups with plenty of rehearsal time, then only will you consider a two-act play, but even then, keep it shorter if they still need seasoning. You don't want to overburden yourself, your cast or your audience. A good quality shorter play will be appreciated more than a longer sloppy one.
And here's how to get your script INSTANTLY!! Buy the e-book
version of the script and in less than 5-minutes, the script
will be saved on your computer, you will be reading it, editing
it and printing as many copies as you want, all for
just $7.
and get Anansi and the Talking Melon play script
downloaded right to your desktop
NOW
for just $7.
You will receive a Zip file containing a Word document.
(Why buy an ebook? Many reasons: Click here .)
OR
get the hard copy for the regular ten dollar price!
If you order right now, you also get this limited time FREE bonus with your play!
We want to get you started quickly, and on the right foot! Don't miss the chance to get this valuable additional material:
Some of this material is stuff even professionals overlook when producing their play. Don't miss out on it. But you will need to place your order immediately. This is a limited time offer. (If you'd like the complete manual on play production including these tips and everything else you need to know to do a play, check out our book "Producing the School Play".)
This delightful folktale about the trickster spider Anansi comes to life in this play for younger elementary students on up. Youngsters will enjoy the humor in the story, performing the delightful animal characterizations, and will recognize the classic tale of African/ Caribbean origin.
P. S. What happens if you're not completely satisfied? Here's our 100% Iron Clad Money Back Guarantee! (click here).
P.P.S. Would you would benefit from working with
a professional director as your mentor on the Christmas Carol
play script? You may
click here
to see how a Master Artist Teacher can work with your class on this play.
So download your Anansi and the Talking Melon play
script immediately:
You will receive a Zip file containing a Word document.
OR
get the hard copy for the regular ten dollar price!
The most enlightened
Journal of Education
on the Internet
is available FREE!
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And for a
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get this great
FREE BONUS
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"Seven All-Time Favorite Games for the Classroom
or Theatre Ensemble."