The School Play Package gives you the rights to adapt the script -
add as many lines, characters, scenes and songs as you like.
You also have the right to make a Video/DVD of your special performance!
"It was so easy to work with the script and adapt it to my
students needs."
Sherri Alejandro, Carden El
Encanto School, Santa Cruz CA
JACK
AND THE BEANSTALK
WHY
IS THIS PLAY BEST FOR YOUR SCHOOL?
Written
especially for young people to perform.
While you may find large cast
plays from other publishers, most of those were originally written
for adults or
professional actors to
perform. They often contain difficult dialogue, unfamiliar or
complex language, and speeches too long for young children to
memorize. They may even contain jokes, innuendos and subject matter
that may not be appropriate for children.
Easy to
understand and memorize.
Dialogue is simple, fresh, quick
and humorous, keeping the action flowing without stops and starts
between scenes. This keeps young people and young audiences engaged
throughout the performance - no awkward pauses, no dead-time, no wiggles!
Everyone participates!
All children are involved
throughout the performance. This builds confidence, promotes team
spirit and eliminates rehearsal rowdiness. The audience is often
asked to join in the fun, and action often spills into the aisles!
All of our SCHOOL PLAYS give suggestions on how to divide up large
parts (such as Alice or Cinderella) among several performers so that
no one child is the "star".
Familiar
stories with upbeat endings.
The story line stays as close as
possible to the familiar story the kids already know. While
some authors feel the need to "improve" the story, our
SCHOOL PLAYS stay as close to the familiar narrative as possible,
making it easier for children - and your audience - to understand.
Feel free
to edit! Go ahead and tape it!
Most publishers insist that no
changes may be made to their scripts. We know that your
goal is to engage every child in the most meaningful way and that
your needs are unique. Cut, eliminate, re-assign lines, or add
as much as you like! Also, there are no restrictions on video
tapes. Parents want a tape or DVD to remember their child's big
moment. Go ahead and tape away!
(SOUND CUE #1: “Polly Wolly
Doodle”, one verse intro then
softer.
TALE TELLERS enter and speak to audience after intro.)
ANNIE: Now here’s a tale
straight out of the mountains!
DIXIE: One that will get your ears
a’flappin’ and your toes a’tappin’!
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: He’d sleep all morning
and all afternoon if his Mama would let him.
DIXIE: And she wouldn’t.
FLOSSIE: But at night he wouldn’t
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 ain’t no
purple-eyed monsters in Sweetwater Holler.
JACK: Mama, will you check in the
drawer for horny-toed dragons?
MAMA: Boy, there ain’t no
horny-toed dragons in Sweetwater Holler.
JACK: Mama, will you check on the
roof for warty-faced giants?
MAMA: Land a’ Goshen, Jack!
You’re scared of things that nobody ever dreamed up in all
their live-long days!
JACK: Oh, but they’re real Mama,
I’ve 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 I’m 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: Don’t you hear the
rooster, Jack? Get your sleepy head out of bed!
JACK: Mama, I saw the giant!
MAMA: Not again.
JACK: Mama, he’s got boots
bigger than my whole self and a big old nose with a wart growing on
it! He said Fee Fie Foe...
MAMA: Don’t you hear me when I
tell you? Ain’t no giants in Sweetwater Holler.
JACK: But he doesn’t 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, it’s time you
learned the truth. We don’t 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 don’t even have a crust
of day old bread.
JACK: Aw, shucks.
MAMA: While you got your head in the
clouds, we’ve gone broke! Now you go milk that cow, cause
that’s all we got left. And you get that giant outta your
fool head. He’s nothing but a dream.
(MAMA exits.)
JACK: (Looking up at the sky.)
Hear that you big old ugly warty-faced giant? You’re 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.)
