(SOUND
CUE #1:
Polly Wolly Doodle, one verse intro then
softer.
TALE TELLERS enter and speak to audience after intro.)
ANNIE:
Now heres a tale straight out of the mountains!
DIXIE:
One that will get your ears aflappin and your toes atappin!
FLOSSIE:
The way the old timers tell it...
HARLEY:
There once was a no count boy by the name of Sweetwater Jack...
(JACK enters
scratching his belly and looking no count.)
LESTER:
And he was full of vinegar and sassafras!
ZEKE:
Now little old Jack liked to sleep.
ANNIE:
Hed sleep all morning and all afternoon if his Mama would let him.
DIXIE:
And she wouldnt.
FLOSSIE:
But at night he wouldnt go to bed no how, no way...
(FLOSSIE gets cloth from clothesline.)
HARLEY:
Better get in bed, Jack...
JACK:
Aw, shucks.
(JACK lays down
and FLOSSIE covers him up.)
LESTER:
Cause here comes Mama!
(SOUND
CUE ENDS.
MAMA enters. TALE TELLERS hide up at clothesline covering their
heads with clothes hanging there. They peek out from behind the
cloths and watch.)
MAMA:
Boy, I thought I told you to close your eyes and go to sleep!
JACK:
Mama, will you check under the bed for purple-eyed monsters?
(MAMA busies herself tucking in JACK and straightening the room.)
MAMA:
Boy, there aint no purple-eyed monsters in Sweetwater Holler.
JACK:
Mama, will you check in the drawer for horny-toed dragons?
MAMA:
Boy, there aint no horny-toed dragons in Sweetwater Holler.
JACK:
Mama, will you check on the roof for warty-faced giants?
MAMA:
Land a Goshen, Jack! Youre scared of things that
nobody ever dreamed up in all their live-long days!
JACK:
Oh, but theyre real Mama, Ive seen em all.
Big as life!
MAMA:
Time to get all that wriggle-roo out of your head and go to sleep.
Goodnight, Jack! (MAMA
exits.)
(JACK pulls covers up over his
head and lies still.
SOUND CUE #2:
Eerie scary dreamy sounds.
TALE TELLERS enter from behind
the clothesline, each bringing a cloth and making ooh-eee
scary dreamy sounds that start quietly and build as they
float around JACK, fluttering their cloths.)
TALE TELLERS:
Fee Fie Foe Fum! I smell the blood of an Englishman!
(JACK tosses and turns in a
fitful sleep. MUSIC MAKERS use drum, chimes and other
instruments to make dreamy sounds.)
JACK:
(Eyes closed, sleeping.)
No! No!
TALE TELLERS:
Fee Fie Foe Foy! I sniff the toes of a little boy!
JACK:
Not my toes! Not my toes!
TALE TELLERS:
Fee Fie Foe Fooey! Little boys taste like chop suey!
JACK:
(Eyes closed,
slapping at the air.)
Get away! Get away!
TALE TELLERS:
Fee Fie Foe Feet! Jack is the boy Im going to eat!
JACK:
Leave me alone now, git!
(SOUND
CUE ENDS.
MAMA calls from off stage, before she enters.)
MAMA:
Jack! Jack!
TALE TELLERS:
Fee Fie Foe Fay! Jack oughtta jump up and run away!
(MAMA enters,
madder than heck, hand on hips, she barks...)
MAMA:
Jack!
(MUSIC MAKERS hit cymbal!
TALE TELLERS flip their cloths up and flap them, turning into
birds. They squawk like crows. JACK jumps up.)
TALE TELLERS:
Squawk! Squawk! Squawk!
(TALE TELLERS fly away, twirling
upstage. They hook their cloths on the line and stand behind
them. Gradually as the scene progresses they will poke their
heads out and watch. MUSIC MAKERS make sound of rooster.)
MUSIC MAKERS:
Er-er-er-errrrrrr!
(MAMA enters.)
MAMA:
Dont you hear the rooster, Jack? Get your sleepy head
out of bed!
JACK:
Mama, I saw the giant!
MAMA:
Not again.
JACK:
Mama, hes got boots bigger than my whole self and a big old
nose with a wart growing on it! He said Fee Fie Foe...
MAMA:
Dont you hear me when I tell you? Aint no giants
in Sweetwater Holler.
JACK:
But he doesnt live in the Holler he lives in a big old castle
way up in the sky!
MAMA:
Well, Miss Booboo lives in a big old shed down the way. And
she needs milkin. Now.
(MAMA hands JACK
a bucket.)
JACK:
But what about breakfast?
MAMA:
Jack, its time you learned the truth. We dont have
a thing to eat.
JACK:
No flapjacks and molasses?
MAMA:
No.
JACK:
No fried eggs with sunny side ups?
MAMA:
Uh-uh.
JACK:
No buttered biscuits and peachy jam?
MAMA:
We dont even have a crust of day old bread.
JACK:
Aw, shucks.
MAMA:
While you got your head in the clouds, weve gone broke!
Now you go milk that cow, cause thats all we got left.
And you get that giant outta your fool head. Hes nothing
but a dream.
(MAMA exits.)
JACK:
(Looking up at
the sky.) Hear
that you big old ugly warty-faced giant? Youre nothing but a dream!
(TALE TELLERS lift their cloths and peer out at JACK.)
TALE TELLERS:
Fee Fie Foe Fum...
(JACK is frozen in fear, his
back to the TALE TELLERS as they use their arms, reaching toward him.)
JACK:
Huh?
TALE TELLERS:
I SMELL THE BLOOD OF AN ENGLISHMAN!
JACK:
Yikes!
(MUSIC MAKERS hit Cymbal!
JACK takes off running into audience. TALE TELLERS move forward
in playing area.
SOUND CUE #3:
Banjo playing fast and twangy as JACK is running fast.)
DIXIE:
And off he goes!
FLOSSIE:
The boy with his head in the clouds!
HARLEY:
Run, Jack, run!
(SOUND:
Froggy Went A-courtin, short intro before song.
MUSIC MAKERS sing as JACK runs out into audience, exits behind audience.).
SOGGY BOTTOM BESS:
(To audience.)
Everybody!
MUSIC MAKERS, TALE TELLERS & AUDIENCE:
Froggy went a-courtin' and he did
ride, uh-huh
Froggy went a-courtin' and he did
ride, uh-huh
Froggy went a-courtin' and he did ride
With a sword and a banjo by his
side, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh.
TALE TELLERS:
Oh, Jack he went a runnin and
he did run, uh-huh
Oh, Jack he went a runnin and
he did run, uh-huh
Oh, Jack he went a runnin and
he did run
With nothing on his mind but fun,
uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh.
(SOUND
CUE ENDS.)
Note:
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