ArtReach Children's
Theatre
Plays.com
Great Plays for Great Kids!

Home

School Plays
Touring Plays
One Act Plays
Christmas Plays
Halloween Plays
Musical Plays
List of All Plays

How to Order
Purchase Orders
My Account
About Us
Contact Us
FAQs

ArtReach
Award-Winning Children's Plays, Christmas Plays, Christmas Musicals for Young Performers, Children, Halloween Plays, School Plays and  Scripts for Large-Cast, Small-Cast Plays.  ArtReach Shows for Young Audiences.  One Act Plays, One Act Dramas,  Comedies for Middle Schools and High Schools. Plays for Touring to Schools, Educational Outreach Theatre.  ArtReach One Act Musicals for Children and Young People.



Native American History Drama, American Indian Play for Children and Young Audiences!  Great for School Tours! First Nations Educational Outreach!


Winner of a National Endowment for the Arts Playwriting Award.


Children's Plays, American Indian History, Native American, First Nations Plays for Young Audiences (TYA)!


Winner of five Ohio Arts Council Playwriting Awards.


One Act Plays and Scripts for Young Audiences (TYA), Middle and High School Audiences


Kathryn Schultz Miller's work has been Featured in Twenty Great Plays for Children, published by St. Martin's Press, Foreword Maurice Sendak


"(Playwright) Miller has a keen sense of what appeals to children."

Grand Rapids Press


Plays for Drama, Thespians, Contests, Competitions!


National Endowment for the Arts Playwriting Awards.


Ohio Arts Council Playwriting Awards.


Children's Theatre Plays and Scripts, Plays for Teenagers, Young Audiences



Historical Drama for Young People, Educational Outreach!


Native American History Drama, American Indian Play for Children and Young Audiences!  Great for School Tours! First Nations Educational Outreach!


Winner of a National Endowment for the Arts Playwriting Award.


Children's Plays, American Indian History, Native American, First Nations Plays for Young Audiences (TYA)!


Winner of five Ohio Arts Council Playwriting Awards.


One Act Plays and Scripts for Young Audiences (TYA), Middle and High School Audiences


Kathryn Schultz Miller's work has been Featured in Twenty Great Plays for Children, published by St. Martin's Press, Foreword Maurice Sendak

ArtReach Plays.com: One Act Plays!
Plays for Arts and Education, for Children, for Young People's Theatre!

Trail of Tears

Small Cast Touring Play, History Script for Young Audiences
One Act Play, Middle, High Schools, Educational Outreach, School Tours

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Cast List
The Best Play for You
CD Soundtrack Cues
Dialogue Sample


TRAIL OF TEARS
CAST LIST
Running Time: About 45-50 minutes
Flexible cast of 3, 2 Male, 1 Female
Easily adapted for larger cast (see below)

CHOSEN ONE:  Cherokee brave, young man (M)

WALKING BEAR: Chosen One's father (M)
Also plays WHITE MAN, FRANK, ANDREW JACKSON, and several Government Officials.

SNOW OWL: Chosen One's wife (F)
Also plays WHITE WOMAN, JOE, NARRATOR, DEER, and SUN.

CASTING SUGGESTION:
The use of a small cast helps facilitate a workable touring production. It can also cause the director and company to look for innovative ways of conveying dialogue and action, which can be conceptually challenging and exciting. However, if a larger cast is required, please consider the following breakdown of 11 characters; 5 Male, 3 Female, 3 M/F:

Chosen One: Male
Walking Bear: Male
Snow Owl: Female
Frank: Male
Joe: Male
Government Officials: Male / Female
Andrew Jackson: Male
White woman: Female
Narrator: Male / Female
Deer: Male / Female
Sun: Female


TRAIL OF TEARS
WHY IS THIS PLAY BEST FOR YOUR SCHOOL?

Easy Choice! Top Quality! All of these plays were professionally developed by ArtReach Touring Theatre or were commissioned by Professional LORTS like Florida Rep and Rep of St. Louis.  All have had professional tours to theatres and schools across the country.  Many have won awards in High School One Act Play Contests, Drama and Thespian Speech and Theatre Competitions.

Easy Staging and Travel!  Competitions rarely take place on your own stage!  These One Act Plays have been designed to travel to the Contest Host Theatre on that important competition day. All have easy staging, simple sets & costumes, minimal props, flexible tech for a mainstage or gym/open facility performance space.  At last your students can worry about their performance, not the set!

  Easy to Adapt with Flexible Casting!  When you license any of our One Act Plays you have permission to cut, adapt and adjust cast size!  You also have permission to make a video or DVD of the production!  At last, you are allowed to adapt a play to your students' needs!

Easy Budget!  These One Act Plays, can be successfully produced on limited budgets and by small or expanded student casts with little or no tech assistance.  Many have great background CDs for an easy, inexpensive professional touch! 

Easy Ordering!  Follow the steps to order and pay your royalty, once you've paid,  you're good to go!  No complicated applications and the endless trouble of getting permission to make changes for your students' needs!

Tried and True!  Our One Act Plays have been performed literally thousands of times by many professional theatres such as Stella Adler Theatre, Solano Youth Theatre, Nebraska Theatre Caravan, Singapore Repertory Theatre, George Street Players, Fulton Theatre Company, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Boarshead Theatre, Virginia Stage, Honolulu Theatre for Youth, Kennedy Center and Sundance Children's Theatre, to name a few.  High Schools, Junior Highs, Middle Schools have been performing these plays for over 30 years!

[ See Productions of our Touring and One Act Plays ]



ArtReach Touring Theatre, One Act Drama for Young Audiences


TRAIL OF TEARS
CD SOUNDTRACK CUES
Cues, sound effects, original background music

The CD Soundtrack contains special sound effects and background music (traditional Native American music and original music written for the play) that may be used to greatly enhance the performance. It does not contain music for the performers to sing along with. Cues have 10 seconds of silence at the end - times shown below include silence.

1.  FLUTE  (1:07)

2.  FLUTE, SUN, (SILENCE), MUSIC BOX  (2:03)

3.  FLUTE  (0:51)

4.  MUSIC BOX  (0:40)

5.  DRUM, CITY SOUNDS  (1:54)

6.  FLUTE  (0:46)

7.  VIOLENT CROWD  (4:01)

8.  MUSIC BOX, TUMULT  (0:52)

9.  HORSES, FLUTE  (2:51) 

10.  CHEERING  (0:52)

Note: Some teachers choose familiar songs, obtain sheet music and insert these songs into the play.  We recognize that each school has a wide variety of educational needs to fulfill and we invite you to be creative in your use of our scripts; including changes or additions that are appropriate for your students. As author/publisher of our own creative works, we do ask that you obtain proper copyright permission for any additions you might make - that responsibility is up to you.

Music & Sound Resources Available on the Internet
( Sheet Music, Song Books, CDs, DVDs, Sing-along, Karaoke, Sound Effects )


TRAIL OF TEARS
DIALOGUE SAMPLE

Trail of Tears is a very dramatic play about an important chapter of American History.  But there are many light moments.  Here the stoic Chosen One shows he likes a girl, Snow Owl, who will beome his wife...

(CHOSEN turns upstage, SNOW runs in laughing. SHE carries 2 lacrosse sticks. CHOSEN follows her in, bumping into BEAR, who is on his way out. BEAR takes gun from him and exits.)

SNOW: (laughing) You play like an old woman!

CHOSEN: I play like an honest man!

SNOW: Ha. Anyone can see you cheat!

CHOSEN: Cheat! Me? You caught the ball in your hands!

SNOW: I did not.

CHOSEN: I saw you!

SNOW: You're imagining things.

(SHE starts to cross past HIM)

CHOSEN: Imagining things?! Give me those sticks.

(HE grabs sticks as SHE walks by. However, SHE doesn't let go of them and allows herself to be pulled into CHOSEN. HE is visibly flustered and turns away.)

CHOSEN: Now I understand why girls can't play in the real game. You have no respect for... for the rules!

SNOW: Oh, for heaven's sake. Chosen One, calm down. You look all puffed up like a big turkey. Bac - bac - bac!

(SNOW imitates turkey.)

CHOSEN: Now stop that. Stop!

SNOW: Braach! Bracc! Brach!

CHOSEN: I've had enough of this. I have work to do.

(Starts to go, SNOW gets shoes, speaks over her shoulder.)

SNOW: (singing, sweetly) Oh, Chosen One...

CHOSEN: (halts, hesitates) Yes?

SNOW: I found your shoes outside my house last night.

CHOSEN: My shoes? Huh! They must have belonged to someone else.

SNOW: They were your hunting shoes — the soft ones with the red beads. I'm sure they belong to you.

(SHE holds them up for him to see.)

CHOSEN: Ah, well, yes. I must have dropped them...

(HE goes to grab shoes. SNOW pulls them away and taunts HIM with them.)

CHOSEN: Uh... dropped them by your...

(Again SHE pulls away, laughing. After a few moments of this game CHOSEN is quite agitated. SNOW suddenly drops the game and speaks directly to HIM.)

SNOW: If you want to marry me you must ask me in plain terms. I've learned a thing or two at the White Man's school. You can't just leave your shoes outside a girl's door if you want her to marry you. (gives him shoes) This is old fashioned.

CHOSEN: Old fashioned?

SNOW: An Indian tradition. It's very... backward, Chosen One. When a White Man asks a woman to marry him, he goes down on one knee — like this... (SHE demonstrates.) He takes off his hat, of course. And he takes her hand like so. He says, "My lady, will you marry me?" And he kisses her very lightly on the fingers.

(SHE holds his hand, he is moved, lingers then draws his hand back and moves away.)

CHOSEN: I never heard of anything so... so...

SNOW: Civilized. It's civilized, Chosen One. If any man ever wants to marry me he must ask me in a civilized way. And, also, I expect presents.

CHOSEN: Presents?

SNOW: Very nice presents.

CHOSEN: But you are supposed to give me a deer skin coat and an ear of corn and you are supposed to...

SNOW: I want a gold ring.

CHOSEN: Gold!

SNOW: Yes, and I'm supposed to wear it on this finger — like a lady.

CHOSEN: You are not a white lady, you are a Cherokee woman. We have our own way of doing things! For generations our people have been marrying in the same way. The Cherokee way.

SNOW: Very well, then. (turns away — then back) Don't forget your shoes.

Note: This is a sample from the actual script.  To review the entire play, order the PERUSAL SCRIPT (online instant download).


  TEACHERS!
Looking for large cast plays & musicals for your students to perform?
We have scripts written just for you! Click on any title below...

A Christmas Carol * A Christmas Cinderella * A Christmas Wizard of Oz
A Snow White Christmas * A Thousand Cranes * Aladdin * Alice In Wonderland
Beauty and the Beast * Cinderella * Emperor's New Clothes
Little Mermaid * Princess and the Pea * Peter Pan * Pinocchio * Snow White
Sleeping Beauty * Twas the Night Before Christmas * We Are The Dream
Wizard of Oz * El Mago de Oz (Spanish Wizard of Oz)
Children's Christmas Plays & Children's Christmas Musicals

Links

Trail of Tears Wikipedia

Trail of Tears Judgment Day PBS

Cherokee Legacy (2006)

Indian Removal Act

The Cherokee Indian Reservation

Proteacher Lesson Plans, Cherokee

Removal of the Cherokees to Oklahoma

American Indian Kids

Cherokee Costumes

Disney Educational Productions


| Home |
| School Plays | Touring Plays | One Act Plays | Christmas Plays | Halloween Plays | All Plays |
| How to Order | My Account | About Us | Contact Us | FAQs | Site Map |

Link to ChildrensTheatrePlays.com Home Page
      AWARD WINNING PLAYS FOR KIDS!
   3936 Millsbrae Ave  Cincinnati, Ohio 45209
                        513-351-9978
3936 Millsbrae Avenue, Cincinnati Ohio 45209 513-351-9978