Casting:
Flexible casting from 11-40 students.
Parts can easily be added, or one student
can play more than one role. Note that all roles
can be played by either boys or girls; see our
comments on page 31 of the Teacher's Guide.
The Storyteller will be played by many students
(who may also play the role of a neighborhood helper) .
Read the Script:
This
is the first one-third of the script:
CHARACTERS:
Four Kids on a train:
Charles, Maria, Pauline, Freddy (Pauline has a song towards the end
of the show.)
Passengers on the train, grouped by song):
George, Patrick, Louisa
Juan, Isabella
Melody, Min
Ian, Surf Dudes
Richard
Rachel
Jesse
Francesca, Marc
Peggy, Jim
and a Chorus made up of all students who are not playing roles at the
time.
Song 1
ENTIRE CLASS:
From far away
Both long ago
And yesterday
We come from here
We come from there
We come from everywhere.
There’s different skin
And different hair
There’re different things
We eat and wear
Still we have got
So much to share
We come from everywhere.
Some folks came to keep themselves from starving
And some heard the voice of freedom call
Some came for the gold or for the weather
And some did not ask to come at all.
From right next door
From far away
Both long ago
And yesterday
We come from here
We come from there
We come from everywhere.
(ALL snap to attention on the last beat.)
(STUDENTS sit down as if riding on a train. Some are reading magazines,
listening to music on headphones, carrying packages, etc. Four
TRAIN-RIDERS are closest to front of stage.)
FREDDY: Every school day it’s the same trip. I wish this train were going
someplace fun instead of just across town to school.
CHARLES: Yeah. Imagine if the train were going to Africa.
MARIA: Or Greece.
PAULINE: Or Hong Kong!
FREDDY: Or Bakersfield.
CHARLES: Bakersfield?
FREDDY: I hear they’ve got great french fries.
MARIA: Wait a minute. I bet we have most of the world right here in this
train.
PAULINE: What do you mean?
CHARLES: Maria’s right! People in the U.S. come from everywhere.
MARIA: Come on, let’s find out. We’ll ask people on this train where
they’re from.
CHARLES: Great idea!
FREDDY: I hope somebody here is from Bakersfield—or at least has
some french fries.
Song 2
(MUSIC plays while FOUR students move among passengers,
pantomiming conversations. When the music stops, the students gather
again next to each other.
CHARLES: What did you find out?
PAULINE: I found somebody whose family came from Vietnam just a
few years ago.
MARIA: I found someone from Australia.
FREDDY: I found some gum under one of the seats—look, it’s hardly
been chewed!
OTHERS: Yuck!
CHARLES: Listen to this.
(Brings THREE PASSENGERS forward. )
I found three people who come from completely different places but they
have something really interesting in common.
GEORGE: Hi, I’m George. My grandparents came from Greece in 1920.
PATRICK: My family came over from Ireland 100 years ago.
LOUISA: We’re originally from a small town in Germany.
GEORGE: And all of our families entered the United States through Ellis
Island.
FREDDY: What’s Ellis Island?
LOUISA: Ellis Island was the place in New York harbor where immigrants
arrived by ship from Europe.
PATRICK: Their papers were inspected, their health was checked, and
they had to answer questions about coming to the United States.
LOUISA: I often heard my grandparents speak of their first day in
America—they were so nervous and excited.
Song 3
LOUISA:
Hello Ellis Island
Hello USA
Gonna make this my land
Starting from today.
GEORGE and LOUISA:
Apple of my eye-land
I am here to stay
Hello Ellis Island
Hello USA.
GEORGE, LOUISA, PATRICK:
Hello Ellis Island
Hello USA
You’re my place to try-land
Nothing’s in my way.
GEORGE, LOUISA, PATRICK, CHORUS:
Apple of my eye-land
I am here to stay
Hello Ellis Island
Hello USA.
(THEY return to their seats. STUDENTS speak. JUAN and
ISABELLA approach.)
CHARLES: Hey guys, these two people just came from Mexico when
they were little kids.
FREDDY: Did they come through Ellis Island?
MARIA: Of course not. Ellis Island has been closed since 1954.
PAULINE: Besides, they wouldn’t come by ship. Mexico and the United
States share a border over 2000 miles long.
FREDDY: I knew that.
Song 4
JUAN and ISABELLA:
Our father came to work the fields
To find a better life
A place of opportunity
For two kids and a wife.
And we were taught to do our best
And we have surely tried
Though it's been tough, it's working out
And we can say with pride:
We are on our way
We are on our way
We are on our way.
Our father came to work the fields
To find a better life
A place of opportunity
For two kids and a wife.
Our parents left the life they knew
And worked hard every day
They say they'd do it all again
So they can hear us say:
We are on our way
We are on our way
We are on our way
We are on our way.
(THEY return to seats. STUDENTS speak)
PAULINE: Now that we’re talking about our families, I realize I don’t
know where mine comes from.
CHARLES: Haven’t you ever asked your parents?
PAULINE: Yeah, but I keep getting different answers.
MARIA: Maybe you should ask them again.
PAULINE: Yeah. Can I borrow your cell phone?
FREDDY: Here, you can use mine.
(hands over phone)
MARIA (as MELODY and MIN approach): Listen up. I want to hear the
story of this Chinese family.
MELODY: My ancestors came here from Canton in 1850 during the
gold rush.
MIN: Merchants told us tales about Gum San, the mountain of gold
in California.
Song 5
MELODY and MIN:
Every body’s buzzing with excitement
n our little Kwangtung town
Seven thousand miles across the ocean
Mounds of gold have just been found.
Nuggets even bigger than our chicken
Gold is lying everywhere
Got to get to ourselves to California
’Cause our fortune’s waiting there.
At Gum San
Golden Mountain
So we’ve been told
Gum San
Gotta find that
Mountain made of gold.
When I’m rich I’ll sail back to China
Buy some land and settle down
Maybe set my family up in business
In our little Kwangtung town.
MELODY, MIN, and CHORUS:
Gum San
Golden Mountain
So we’ve been told
Gum San
Gotta find that
Mountain made of gold.
Hello San Francisco
With your lovely bay
Never found my fortune
Guess I’m here to stay.
Gonna make this my land
Starting from today
Hello San Francisco
Hello USA.
(THEY return to their seats)
(This concludes the first one- third of the
script.)
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