This show is designed to complement
your unit on electricity and magnetism. Historical figures such as Ben Franklin and Thomas
Edison guide students through such topics as how electricity was "discovered,"
how it travels, different forms of production of electricity, and conversation. This play
is designed specifically to help teachers match their curriculum to state and national
standards.
CHARACTERS:
FLEXIBLE
CASTING:
From 11-40 students.
Use as many Electrons, Capacitors, Televisions,etc. as desired. One student can easily
play several roles if needed. Note that all roles can be played by either boys or girls;
see our comments on page 31 of the Teacher's Guide. |
Narrators (at least three)
Ben Franklin
Student Soloist
Cynthia
Thales
Electrons
Capacitors
Volta Fan Club
Leader of Club
Electromagnets
Televisions
Sun
Bankers
and a CHORUS comprised of all students who are not playing roles on stage at the time
(There is a string attached to a kite (or a picture of kite) on the
backdrop. The CLASS is on stage. The NARRATORS step out, approach and address the
audience.)
NARRATOR
#1: Welcome to our story about electricity. We’re very excited about it.
NARRATOR
#2: To get us started, we’ve invited Benjamin Franklin to re-enact his famous
kite and lightning experiment.
NARRATOR
#3: There’s all kinds of things about that story I’ve always wondered
about. Like—why did he need all that electricity in the first place?
(BENJAMIN
FRANKLIN enters with an electric guitar strapped around his neck. He walks across the
stage, picks up the end of the string from the kite and plugs it into his guitar. He faces
the audience, plays big chord, and the CLASS sings. He continues to play guitar throughout
the song.)
CLASS:
SONG 1
We’re
feeling acrobatic
We’re waxing operatic
Just learning ’bout the static
Charges from our comb
We’re
charged up we’re not lying
Our circuits keep on frying
Yeah
it’s electrifying
We love
our ohm sweet ohm.
Amps
and joules
Watts and volts
Sparks and arcs
And
lots of jolts.
It’s
electrifying
It’s
electrifying
It’s
electrifying
Woh-oh-oh-oh.
(The
following lines are chanted by one student, although different individual students may
chant each line)
STUDENT:
It's
true we love to shuffle both our feet across the rug
And
then we give our brother such a nice big hug.
To do good science someone usually has to take his lumps
It's
absolutely shocking just how high he jumps.
CLASS:
We got some
great instruction
We’re
current on conduction
And how ’lectric production
Affects
us in our home
We’re
charged up we’re not lying
Our circuits keep on frying
Yeah
it’s electrifying
We love
our ohm sweet ohm.
Amps and
joules
Watts and volts
Sparks and arcs
And
lots of jolts.
It’s
electrifying
It’s
electrifying
It’s
electrifying
Woh-oh-oh-oh.
(FRANKLIN exits.)
NARRATOR #1: To be honest, that never really happened.
NARRATOR
#3: You mean Ben Franklin didn’t play
electric guitar?
NARRATOR #1: No, he didn’t.
NARRATOR #3: Electric keyboard?
NARRATOR #1: No.
NARRATOR #3: Drums?
NARRATOR #1: NO!
NARRATOR #2: But he did do really important experiments with
electricity, and he did use the kite to show that lightning is a form of electricity.
NARRATOR #3:
(pointing to audience)
So
we’ve lied to these people already?
NARRATOR #1: It’s not lying. In the theater we call it
“dramatic license.”
NARRATOR #3: The theater? I thought we worked in a power plant.
NARRATOR #2: We DO. But we’re always being asked about
electricity, so we put together this little musical to inform the public.
NARRATOR #3: Oh. So these people aren’t actually in our
power plant.
NARRATOR #1: No. They’re the audience.
NARRATOR #3: The audience? You mean they paid to see us put on
this show?
NARRATOR #2: Actually, they got in free.
NARRATOR #3: Free! Well,
come on, let’s give them their money’s worth. What happens next?
NARRATOR #1: Let’s watch a demonstration of how the
existence of electricity was first discovered. Way
back in ancient Greece.
(CYNTHIA
and THALES enter. CYNTHIA holds a rock and a
piece of cloth. )
NARRATOR #3: Wow! Are those guys really from ancient Greece?
(NARRATORS
# 1 and #2 give #3 a dirty look)
Oh
yeah, right. Dramatic license.
CYNTHIA: Hey
Thales, check this out.
THALES: What is it, Cynthia?
CYNTHIA: If you rub this piece of amber with a piece of
wool, it can pick up stuff.
THALES: Like what?
CYNTHIA: Like feathers and little sticks and fuzz balls.
THALES: That’s fantastic.
CYNTHIA: Isn’t it? It’s my latest discovery. I
call it…the vacuum cleaner.
THALES: Can I try?
CYNTHIA:
Sure.
(THALES
rubs it. Suddenly jumps back.)
THALES: Did you see that?
CYNTHIA: What?
THALES: It gave off a little flash of light.
CYNTHIA: Really? Let me see.
THALES: No. I want to rub it some more.
CYNTHIA: It’s MY rock. Give it to me.
THALES: But I LOVE this rock.
CYNTHIA: NOW!
THALES: Okay, okay.
CYNTHIA
(rubbing the rock, then): Wow, it’s does give off a spark!
THALES
and CYNTHIA: SONG
2
There is a
spark
There’s
a spark in the dark
here’s
a spark in the dark when I rub this amber
And if I buff
If I
buff it enough
If I
buff it enough I can make it pop.
There is a
spark in the dark
There
is a spark in the dark
Why it is so
Why
it’s so I don’t know
Why
it’s so I don’t know but I can’t I can’t seem to stop.
It’s
thrilling and it’s frightening
Making
my own lightning
It
glimmers and it crackles
Tickling
my hackles
I have
great powers
I’ve
been doing this for hours!
There is a
spark
There’s
a spark in the dark
here’s
a spark in the dark when I rub this amber
And if I buff
If I
buff it enough
If I
buff it enough I can make it pop.
There is a
spark in the dark
There
is a spark in the dark
Why it is so
Why
it’s so I don’t know
Why
it’s so I don’t know but I can’t I can’t seem to stop.
(THEY
exit)
NARRATOR #3: So they didn’t know about electrons in ancient
Greece?
NARRATOR #2: No.
NARRATOR #3: Then how did they make their TVs?
NARRATOR #1: They didn’t have TVs!
NARRATOR #3: No TVs!? You mean no _____? No _____? No ______?
[Fill in blanks with the name of favorite TV shows, preferably silly ones.]
NARRATOR #1: No.
NARRATOR #3
(in disgust): And they call themselves the
cradle of Western civilization.
NARRATOR #2: The Greek word for amber is “electron,”
so around 1600 when it came time to name the force that made things stick to objects like
amber, they called it “electricity.”
NARRATOR
#1: In the seventeenth century some really smart folks figured out that this mysterious
thing called electricity moved, that it could really zip through certain materials.
(3
ELECTRONS run onto stage and all around, buzzing and zipping.)
NARRATOR #2: And here they are!
NARRATOR #3: Who?
ALL THREE
ELECTRONS (stop running around and shout): We’re
electrons!
ELECTRON #1:
Put us in a good conductor and us mobile, “free” electrons can race along as
electric current.
ALL THREE
ELECTRONS: Free the electrons! Free the
electrons!
ELECTRON #2: But if we’re in an insulator, there’s too
much resistance and the electric current can’t flow.
ALL THREE
ELECTRONS (with thumbs down): Resist the
resistance! Resist the resistance!
ELECTRON #3: It’s all about conduction!
ELECTRONS:
SONG 3
I like to
move
Get
down and groove
Go with
the flow and have fun
I like
to move
Get
down and groove
Find a
conductor and run.
I love good
conductors
Like silver’s mighty fine
Give me
something copper
And
I’ll dance down the line.
I can
zip through water
I will
never tire
Iron
can resist me
Yeah I’m a real live wire.
I like to
move
Get
down and groove
Go with
the flow and have fun
I like
to move
Get
down and groove
Find a
conductor and run.
I hate
insulators
They
try to box me in
Leather
and ceramic
Won’t
let me take a spin.
Porcelain and
rubber
Feathers
hair and glass
They
put me in neutral
When I
want to hit the gas.
I like to
move
Get
down and groove
Go with
the flow and have fun
I like
to move
Get
down and groove
Find a
conductor and run.
(THEY
exit)
NARRATOR #1: Of course, it was a long time before people knew
anything about electrons.
NARRATOR #2: But by the eighteenth century
they had discovered all sorts of ways of rubbing and spinning things to make an electric
charge. Now they needed a way to store an electric charge.
NARRATOR #3: That’s easy! I always keep
an extra electric charge in my pants.
NARRATOR #1: You do not.
NARRATOR #3: Yes I do.
NARRATOR #2: No one can store electricity in his pants.
NARRATOR #3: Yes they can. Just a minute, let me look.
(She/he
searches through pockets, and eventually finds a jar.)
See,
here it is.
NARRATOR #1: And you have an electric charge in there?
NARRATOR #3: A big one. A giant one. Huge, even.
NARRATOR #2: Let me see that.
(She/he
takes can. Opening it carefully, some of those springy snakes bounce out. NARRATOR #2
jumps in fright.)
That’s
not funny. And it’s not electricity.
NARRATOR #3:
Oh no? Then how come it gave you a shock?
(to
audience)
I love
that one. I got a million of them.
(hands out
business card to audience members)
Here’s
my card. I do birthdays, weddings, bar mitzvahs.
NARRATOR #1: Enough of that! What we’re talking about here
are capacitors or condensers. Things that keep an electric charge stored up and then
release it when you want it.
(shouts
to side)
Bring
in the capacitors!
(CAPACITORS
enter)
CAPACITOR #1: Here we are! And look how far we’ve come from
the Leyden jar of the eighteenth century.
CAPACITOR #2: You bet. We’re sleek, smooth, and everywhere
now, from washing machines to computers.
CAPACITOR #1: Oh yeah, baby, we’re charge-a-licious!
CAPACITOR #1:
SONG
4
I’m a
capacitor
I
snatch and catch the juice
Oh
whoa, oh whoa
And I
will not let it loose.
CAPACITOR #2:
I’m a
capacitor
And
though I’m not so large
Oh
whoa, oh whoa
And I can take a charge.
CAPACITORS:
Ben Franklin
was quite odd
With
his lightening rod
Set up to catch the lightening all around
But
when he caught a bolt
He
didn’t save one volt
But let
it all escape into the ground.
(Spoken: Such a waste!)
We’re a
capacitor
We’re
ev’rywhere you are
In your
appliances
And
riding in your car.
We’re
storing energy
Yeah
that’s our claim to fame
Oh
whoa, oh whoa
And
farads are our game.
We really
have come far
From
that Leyden jar
That
folks once used to store ’lectricity
Now in
this modern age
Condensers
are the rage
And
there is nothing I would rather be.
(Spoken: Our mothers are so proud!)
I’m
a capacitor
I
snatch and catch the juice
Oh
whoa, oh whoa
And I
will not let it loose.
I’m a
capacitor
And
though I’m not so large
Oh
whoa, oh whoa
And I can take a charge.
(THEY
exit. VOLTA’s FAN
CLUB enters.)
LEADER: Gather ’round, gather ’round. Welcome to
the annual meeting of the Alessandro Volta fan club.
ALL: Volta, Volta, I’m your fan...Galvani
isn’t half the man.
LEADER: Okay, settle down. It’s time for the reading
of the scroll.
(Some
one hands him a bowl.)
What’s
this?
FAN CLUB
MEMBER: It’s the bowl.
LEADER: Not the BOWL. The SCROLL! Where’s the scroll?
(Another
FAN CLUB MEMBER hands the leader a scroll, which she/he unrolls and reads from it in a
serious voice, one filled increasingly with emotion.)
FAN CLUB MEMBER: Let us now
recall the dark days, the bleak days before 1800, the dim days when there was no way to
produce a constant electric current.
MEMBERS: Whoa, whoa to the dark days.
FAN CLUB
MEMBER: Then there came a man who put two
different metal plates in salty water and lo, there was a mighty change. A powerful
change. A chemical change!
MEMBERS: It was magic!
FAN CLUB
MEMBER:(stops reading): Not magic, my friends,
but anodes, cathodes, and electrolytes.
MEMBERS: It was magic!
LEADER:
Close enough.
(continues reading)
From
this chemistry he brought to us the cherished electric cell. And cell to cell did our
brave Volta connect, cell
upon cell did he heap. Until, at last, he produced the original…the
unprecedented…the wonder of the first practical battery, called the Voltaic Pile.
MEMBERS: Hail the Voltaic Pile!
LEADER:. And
so, my fellow Voltarians, as folk tales the world over now relate, the modern unit of
electric potential was named after our beloved Volta.
MEMBERS: Volta! Volta! Volta!
LEADER: Now, sing with me.
MEMBERS:
SONG 5
Who made the
first electric cell?
Who
made the current flow?
Who
made the first real battery
Two
hundred years ago?
Who worked
with copper, lead, and tin?
Who
figured out a way
To
father all our batteries
From D
to triple A?
Alessandro
Volta
CLASS:
Volta, Volta, Volta!
MEMBERS:
He was sure
no dolta
CLASS:
Dolta, dolta, dolta!
MEMBERS:
He made elect
current run much faster than a colta
Alessandro
Volta
He was
sure no dolta
Next
time you touch a battery and get a little jolta
Thank
Alessandro Volta.
Whoever had
his brilliant mind?
Whoever
had his style?
Who
wouldn’t give his foot to be
A nice
Voltaic pile?
Who worked
with copper, lead, and tin?
Who
figured out a way
To
father all our batteries
From D
to triple A?
Alessandro
Volta
CLASS:
Volta, Volta, Volta!
MEMBERS:
He was sure
no dolta
CLASS:
Dolta, dolta, dolta!
MEMBERS:
He made elect
current run much faster than a colta
Alessandro
Volta
He was
sure no dolta
Next
time you touch a battery and get a little jolta
Thank
Alessandro Volta.
(THEY
exit)
Song List
Click on the song name to hear samples in
mp3 format. Please note that internet song samples have low fidelity and rest assured that
the CDs we sell sound much better. Problems hearing the music?
Visit our Audio Help page.
Top of Page
Teacher Reviews:
"I loved it! The songs were catchy and easy to learn and sing. I cut a couple songs
and parts out, though, cause it was a bit too long. I feel that my students learned a lot
and still refer to the songs when we review."
---Andrea Riley, 4th grade teacher, Lady's Iland Elementary, Beaufort, SC
"I loved it! The performance was a great way to
extend the unit and allowed students to share what they've learned in an artistic way. The
parents absolutely loved the performance. The play was aligned with our science standards.
My students will still ask to listen to the catchy songs!"
---Jody Caudle, 4th grade teacher, Scottsdale, AZ
"Great songs---lyrics teach/reinforce concepts, and the music is
fun! They loved it!
---Beth Riggs, 3rd grade teacher, Orchard School, Rio Linda, CA
"Excellent. Kids loved it!"
---Elizabeth Meyer, 2nd grade teacher, Stone Ranch School, San Diego, CA
"All grade levels enjoyed seeiing 'It's
Electrifying.' Your plays are so easy to use that I gave over the production of 'It's
Electrifying' to a student teacher."
---Deborah Hullings-Le, 3rd grade teacher, Sinnott School, Milpitas, CA
To submit your own review, just
e-mail it to ron@badwolfpress.com Be
sure to include your school name and what grade you teach.
Top of Page
Two of You are Planning to
Put the Play on Together??
If you ask us, we always suggest having just one class put on a play. We
think each kid is more involved, and we think it's easier for you to deal with a smaller
number of students.
But lots of teachers disagree with us.
They've been happily doing the plays together for years.
In fact, Amy Anderson, the teacher who does four musicals a year (and she talks about this on our home page) thinks two classes
together is the way to go.
Then what do I need to purchase?
Think of a musical play like a library book. Only one teacher may "check out"
(i.e. put on) the play at a time. If another teacher wants to produce the music play that
you purchased in a separate production and at a later date, you may loan
out your original plan and student copies.
Your "library" needs two copies of the play for two teachers to
put on the play at the same time. If a teacher wants her class to put on the play with
your class, she needs to buy her own copy of the play. For three or more teachers
to produce a play together, purchase three copies for your "library" and Bad
Wolf extends a Site License for all the teachers and
classes at your school.
But why can't I just make extra copies of
the play? If copies are made for a class other than the purchasing
teacher's, it's an infringement of U.S. copyright law. Yikes! Bad Wolf
likes to toe the line where Uncle Sam is concerned, so we offer a discount on the purchase
of multiple copies of the play.
If you are 2 teachers putting on the play
together......................$60
* Includes 2 copies of the book and CD (save almost $20 off of
buying
them separately) so each of you has a CD and
book to work with.
* Free bonus: We'll throw in our famed
"Earthworms on Parade" CD.
Y'know, that's the one with the six goofiest
songs about earthworms ever written
($9.95 value.)
* Includes the right to reproduce the
script for the students in both of
your individual classes.
Questions? Call or email Ron Fink at (888) 827-8661 or ron@badwolfpress.com
(back to top) |
|
