Around The World In 40 Plays

Presented by FreePlays.org

The General Idea

If you have put on some kids' plays, you probably know some of the difficulties, such as pesky parents, unreliable helpers, and kids who act up (or throw up) backstage. The reason FreePlays.org exists is to eliminate as many of those hassles as possible. The whole idea of free scripts is that you will never need to spend one second concerning yourself with royalties, permissions, check writing, letter writing, counting performances, making sure the permission you got is for this year, not next year, and all of that noise.

But there are some other hassles that have nothing to do with intellectual property:

A kid (or their parent) tells you at the last minute that they won't be able to perform in a performance.
Or a kid just doesn't show up for a performance.
A parent gets miffed and yanks their kid from your performance out of spite.
An important prop or costume makes it impossible to perform a particular play.
You offer a "Youth Drama Workshop" and end up with a group of 35 kids. You need to get 'em all onstage. How? There are very many plays with around 5 parts; not so many with 35.
Plays that do have lots of parts don't keep the actors busy all the time. Most of them end up camping out backstage most of the time. Only a few actors get "major" parts. Those get a good dramatic experience; the others don't.
Your actors have a mix of personality types and skillsets, and you can't find a play that will suit them all. Yes, we know, "that's why they call it 'acting'" - actors should stretch their own capabilities and fit themselves to the role. Still, at some point, too much shoehorning just becomes too much.

The "Around the world in 40 plays" project is a way to eliminate the above hassles and more. Instead of putting on one big, long play, you offer a whole bunch of short ones (5 minutes each), each with just a few cast members. This gives you tremendous flexibility:

You can assign young actors to simpler plays with fewer words.
Your comical kids get slotted into the funny plays.
Not enough comical kids? Drop some of the "funny plays" and add more serious ones.
A kid wants to participate but must be out of town on the day of Performance 4? Just don't cast 'em in one of that day's plays.
A kid fails to show up, and you don't find out about it until 5 minutes before showtime? These plays are short. I bet you have one or two actors that are really strong, and can learn lines quickly. Parachute one of these "superkids" into the role. Let 'em carry a script on stage if you have to. It's only for 5 minutes.
One kid can memorize all of Hamlet and Macbeth in a week, while another has a hard time learning 3 lines? Cast Macbeth in 6 plays, and the memory-challenged kid in 1 or 2.
You find out that a kid isn't doing well in a part? Swap 'em into another role.
Each player gets to "play with" a variety of other players in a variety of plays. If you have 30 kids in your workshop, each one is going to be in about 6 of these plays.

The Details

Here is the "Master Schedule" for a 6 performance cycle:

Performance 1: Plays 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15
Performance 2: Plays 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30
Performance 3: Plays 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45
Performance 4: Plays 1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 16, 19, 22, 25, 28, 31, 34, 37, 40, 43
Performance 5: Plays 2, 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 23, 26, 29, 32, 35, 38, 41, 44
Performance 6: Plays 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27, 30, 33, 36, 39, 42, 45

Looks awful, doesn't it? Well, it would be, if you published it. You don't. Only you, cast, and crew get the master schedule.

Your performance announcement looks like this:

Around The World In 40 Plays
Come enjoy an evening of short plays based on folk tales from around the world! Hear about:
King Solomon and the Baker (from Israel)
Coyote and the Frost Giant (Native American)
(list more titles, or all of 'em, here)

Performance Schedule:

Friday, August 14, 1903 at 6:00 P.M.: Performance 1
Saturday, August 15, 1903 at 3:00 P.M.: Performance 2
Saturday, August 15, 1903 at 6:00 P.M.: Performance 3
Friday, August 21, 1903 at 6:00 P.M.: Performance A
Saturday, August 22, 1903 at 3:00 P.M.: Performance B
Saturday, August 22, 1903 at 6:00 P.M.: Performance C

Every performance is different!

If you attend any performance, you will enjoy wonderful, entertaining plays from around the world. You could even learn something - just don't tell the kids it's educational!

If you attend performances 1, 2, and 3, you will see and hear every one of the folk tale plays*
If you attend performances A, B, and C, you will also see and hear every one of the folk tale plays*

*except in case of actor illness or other unavoidable event.

Your program looks like this:

Plays in Alphabetical Order:

Coyote and the Frost Giant	(Synopsis goes here)
King Solomon and the Baker	(Synopsis goes here)
Why Mosquitoes Buzz In People's Ears	(Synopsis goes here)
. . .

The above program is the same for all 6 performances. No cast on the program, no dates.

If you have a word processor, and your Master Schedule, you can produce a "who's playing" program announcement.

Your "who's playing" announcement looks like this:

Greenville Children's Drama Workshop
Saturday, August 15, 1903 at 3:00 P.M

Coyote and the Frost Giant	(Cast list goes here)
Snow People	(Cast list goes here)
How People Lost Their Tails	(Cast list goes here)
. . .

But if you're busy, skip it. You can write the plays and casts up on a chalkboard in the entry area. Or maybe get a parent to do it. Or just don't produce a "who's playing" announcement at all.

More Details

You may note that the Master Schedule calls for 45 plays, not 40. That's so you if you run into problems, you can drop a play or two and still have plenty.

This schedule can work, but you need to keep your performance on schedule! The plays should each be 4.5 minutes long, that is, 4 and one-half minutes, that is, 4 minutes and 30 seconds. You will need to train your actors to be peppy, not waste time, not forget lines and get stuck, but also, don't rush. Performing a 4.5 minute play in 3 minutes is not your goal. Neither is letting it drag out for 6 or 7.

What do you do with the extra 30 seconds? Have an announcer come onstage before each play and introduce it. Introductions should be just one or two sentences, such as "King Solomon and the Baker. A play about greed and justice from ancient Israel". Onstage, announce, and exit - all in about 15 seconds.

Yes, the above schedule is ambitious. Do be ambitious and bold - this is the theatre, after all. But, if you just can't pull off that many plays, then cut the number. "Around The World In 18 Plays" has a nice ring to it. Don't overestimate the difficulty, though. I have seen 15+ short plays done in one evening by elementary school kids, minimally coached by parents and elementary teachers with no particular aptitude in drama. You can probably do more.

So What Is The Project?

The answer to this question is the same as the answer to "So Where Are The Scripts?" They haven't been written yet (well, only two of them have). To put on 45 plays you need 45 scripts. Better yet would be to have 90 scripts to choose from. 150 would be even better.

To get 'em, we have to write 'em. That is the project. Write 150 scripts, each with a performance or "read-through" time of 4.5 minutes, each based on a folk tale from somewhere in the world. Then get the scripts up on FreePlays.org.

If you would like to help with this project, you may visit the other pages of FreePlays.org to learn how. Especially relevant:

How to come up with scripts
Submission Guidelines
How We Share

If you want to help, you may subscribe to the FreePlays mailing list (this is done just by sending any e-mail message to freeplays-subscribe-request@netpals.lsoft.com from your own e-mail account). This is a good way to find out who is working on what. You may also e-mail Paul.

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