• Five short musical plays for grades 3-7
  • Includes the script, teacher's guide, and audio recording (which contains a vocal and instrumental version of each song)
  • Simple to do - no music or drama experience needed!

Our 10-Minute Minis give teachers a fun, memorable, and time-efficient way to supplement or review a specific area of the curriculum. This collection contains five different mini-plays: Conservation, Geometry, Map of the World, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Noun and Verb.

CLICK HERE to read the scripts, listen to the songs, read reviews, and get all the details about the play (plot, curriculum/content, educational standards, and vocabulary).

Item # Description Availability Qty Break Price Quantity
PLAY - For individual teachers or directors
Order 1 copy of play for each teacher/director who will be using it. Includes permission to print/photocopy for all participating actors. Mix and match 2 or more plays to get them for $35 each.
10MI-PL-DIG
Downloadable Version of Play
- You will receive a PDF and MP3 files
In Stock 1
2+
$45.00
$35.00
10MI-PL-PRI
Printed Version of Play
- You will receive a Spiral-Bound Book and Audio CD
In Stock 1
2+
$45.00
$35.00
10MI-PL-DUO
Duo Version - Download AND Printed Book
- You will receive 1) a PDF and MP3 files, and 2) a Spiral-Bound Book and Audio CD
In Stock 1
2+
$55.00
$45.00
SITE LICENSE VERSION OF PLAY - For whole schools or grade levels
Order 1 site license per school/site. Includes permission to print/photocopy for all participating students AND teachers. Why a site license? Because it's cheaper than ordering 3+ individual copies of the play.
10MI-SL-DIG
Downloadable Version of Site License
- You will receive a PDF and MP3 files
In Stock 1 $90.00
10MI-SL-PRI
Printed Version of Site License
- You will receive 3 copies of the Spiral-Bound Book and Audio CD
In Stock 1 $90.00
Extra/Replacement Audio Recordings
10MI-AU-DIG
Downloadable Audio Files
- You will receive a ZIP file containing individual MP3s
In Stock 1 $12.00
10MI-AU-PRI
Audio CD
In Stock 1 - 9
10+
$12.00
$6.00
10MI-AU-DUO
Downloadable Audio Files (MP3) + Audio CD
In Stock 1 $20.00

$0.00



These shows were designed to use for reader's theater, meant to be read aloud once, twice, or three times with different students reading different parts each time. No rehearsing; no memorizing; no costumes, sets, or audience. All the students have lines in every show, and each show has two songs that can be sung by all the students. But lots of teachers choose to do them as musical plays, performed on a stage in front of an audience. Whichever method you choose, we think these shows will give you a lot of curricular bang for your ten-minute buck!

Conservation: Saving Energy and Water

It's time for the Three Little Pigs to move out of their mother's house. What will they do to build environmentally friendly homes? And will they avoid the Big Bad Wolf?

Key Concepts

The Conservation 10-Minute Mini refers to and reinforces students’ familiarity with the following ways to save energy and water:

Energy:
Keep the refrigerator door shut; turn down the hot water heater; only run the dishwater when it’s full; turn off lights and appliances when not in use; wash clothes in cool water; use weather stripping; switch to fluorescent lighting; plant shade trees.

Water:
Turn off the faucet when washing hands and the dishes, and when brushing teeth; take shorter showers with water-restrictive showerheads; fix leaks; water the lawn when it’s cool; compost instead of running the garbage disposal; don’t hose down the driveway.

Geometry: Polygons

The Greek hero Isosceles, accompanied by his trusty horse Equilateral and Scalene the Squire, is on a quest for the perfectly shaped table for his group of heroes. Their travels take them to strange lands filled with angles (which can be quite obtuse) and triangles (some of which insist they are always right). Finally, with some advice from the Man on the Flying Trapezoid, they come to the Land of the Polygons, where they at last find their quintessential quadrilateral.

Key Concepts

  • Triangles: isosceles, equilateral, scalene, right, acute, obtuse
  • Angles: right, acute, obtuse, straight, complementary, supplementary
  • Polygons: triangle, pentagon, hexagon, octagon, nonagon, decagon
  • Quadrilaterals: trapezoid
  • Parallelograms: square, rectangle, rhombus
  • Area: triangle, square, rectangle

Other references include: perimeter; congruent sides and angles; line segments; planes; parallel lines; radius; pi; irrational numbers; two-dimensional figures.

Map of the World: Why Pirates Sailed to Kansas

Students get a chance to brush up on the key elements of the global map in this mini-musical. Covered in silly scenes and catchy songs are the parts of the map:  the legend, oceans, continents, longitude and latitude (including the Equator, Prime Meridian, Tropic of Cancer, and Tropic of Capricorn).

Key Terms and Concepts

Map of the World 10-Minute Mini refers to and reinforces students’ familiarity with the following aspects of map-reading for all budding cartographers (a word that actually shows up in the show—we’re not afraid of polysyllabics):

  • Different kinds of maps (road, vegetation, topographical, climate, political)
  • Compass rose (four cardinal directions)
  • The key/legend
  • Longitude/Latitude: degrees/minutes/seconds, equator, prime meridian, Tropic of Cancer, Tropic of Capricorn, Arctic Circle, Antarctic Circle, temperate zones
  • Names of continents, major oceans and seas

Martin Luther King, Jr.: Overcoming Segregation

This 10-minute review of legalized racial segregation and Martin Luther’s King, Jr.’s role in the Civil Rights movement is a different kind of show for Bad Wolf. You won't find our usual silly humor here. Also, in addition to two songs sung by the entire class, the dialogue is spoken by narrators and the chorus (rather than by invented characters). And finally, much of the script comprises a recounting of specific Jim Crow laws and selections from King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. We felt that the facts of segregation and the powerful words of King in response speak far more vividly and eloquently than anything we could invent. And there is still lots of curriculum packed into these few pages.

Key Concepts

  • Reconstruction disenfranchisement
  • “separate but equal”
  • segregation
  • non-violence
  • Brown v. Topeka Board of Education
  • civil disobedience
  • Rosa Parks
  • Montgomery bus boycott
  • March on Washington
  • Nobel Peace Prize
  • Letter from Birmingham jail
  • Civil Rights Act of 1964
  • Southern Christian Leadership Conference

Noun and Verb: Grammar Under the Big Top

Our quick blast of grammar explores nouns and verbs, focusing on nouns as subjects and their agreement with the verb of the sentence. Compounds subjects and the difference between active and passive sentences make this show a great way for students to explore basic sentences.

Key Terms and Concepts

  • Nouns: definition and examples
  • Proper nouns: definition and examples
  • Verbs: definition and examples
  • Subject-verb agreement
  • Compound sentences
  • Coordinating conjunctions
  • Tenses: present, future, past
  • Adjectives
  • Substantives
  • Adverbs
  • Eight parts of speech
  • Personal pronouns (subject and object)

Publication Information

Author: Ron Fink (Composer) and John Heath (Script and Lyrics)
© 2010, 2011, 2014 Bad Wolf Press, LLC

Song Samples


Scripts

Conservation: Saving Energy and Water

Characters

NARRATOR #1
NARRATOR #2
NARRATOR #3
MOTHER PIG
PJ PIG
PETUNIA PIG
STRAW CONTRACTOR
WOLF #1
PEGGY PIG
PETER PIG
STICK CONTRACTOR
WOLF #2
PAULO PIG
BRICK CONTRACTOR
WOLF #3

and a CHORUS composed of all students who are not playing roles
at the time.

Script

This is the first one-third of the script:

NARRATOR #1: Once upon a time there were three little pigs who lived in a
well-insulated home with their mother. It was not a big house, and Mother
Pig thought it was time her three children moved out.

NARRATOR #2: After all, they were not that little anymore. In fact, they had
all finished college and two of them were married.

NARRATOR #3: So one day Mother Pig had a talk with PJ Pig, the eldest of
the three not-so-little pigs.

MOTHER PIG: PJ, I think it’s time you and your wife built your own house.

PJ: Don’t be silly, Mother. I don’t have the slightest idea how to build a
house. I majored in Art History. Maybe I could draw you a picture of a
house.

MOTHER PIG: I’m not going to argue about this. I expect you to build an
environmentally friendly home with a low carbon footprint. Now scoot.

NARRATOR #1: So PJ Pig and his wife Petunia Pig packed some sandwiches and
went for a walk until they found themselves on a little hill.

PETUNIA: I think this would be a lovely place to raise a family.
PJ: I wasn’t kidding, Petunia. I can’t build a house. Do you think we can
learn to burrow?

PETUNIA: Burrowing is for rodents, PJ. And clams. I will not live like a
bivalve. I’ve called a contractor—Simply Straw Structures. Ah, here he is
now.

STRAW CONTRACTOR (entering with a wheelbarrow full of straw): If you folks
are looking to build a house, I’ve got just the right product.

PJ: Is that straw environmentally friendly?

STRAW CONTRACTOR: Are you kidding? I got this straw from the stable of an
old horse who doesn’t have any teeth. Never been touched—you can’t get more
natural than that.

PETUNIA: The house has to be energy efficient.

STRAW CONTRACTOR: You planning on keeping the fridge door open a lot?

PJ: No.

STRAW CONTRACTOR: Then you’re good to go.

PJ: That’s it?

STRAW CONTRACTOR: Sure. And keep the water heater and fridge turned down,
run the dishwasher only when it’s full, turn off the lights and appliances
when you’re not using them, wash your clothes in cool water, plant a few
shade trees, and use fluorescent lighting.

PETUNIA: Fluorescent lighting! Did you hear that PJ? I LOVE fluorescent
lighting. It uses one quarter the energy of the old incandescent bulbs and
last ten times as long. Think of all the carbon dioxide we’ll be reducing.

PJ: Yeah, but those bulbs are so expensive.

PETUNIA: We can save up to $42 in energy and replacement bulb costs each
year.

PJ: I don’t know…

  Song 1 - Listen now!

PETUNIA (sings):

Change is hard
You can take it
Those old lights
Just don’t make it.
It’s time you bid those hundred watts farewell.

Grab that bulb
You can do it
Give a twist
Now unscrew it
And plug in this CFL.

PETUNIA and PJ:

Nothing says I love you like fluorescence
One bulb or ceiling track
I have said good-bye to incandescence
I’ve seen the light, I’m never going back.

This new bulb
Will keep going
Like our love
It’s still glowing
I chose a warm and lovely shade of white

Now it’s light
Now it’s sunny
Save the world
Save some money
Just like us this bulb is bright.

Nothing says I love you like fluorescence
One bulb or ceiling track
I have said good-bye to incandescence
I’ve seen the light, I’m never going back.

NARRATOR #1: So the Straw Contractor built a nice straw house for PJ and
Petunia Pig.

NARRATOR #2: They had lived there only a few short weeks when a Wolf
strolled up the path towards their home.

NARRATOR #3: Wolves and pigs do not have a completely happy history, so the
pigs quickly locked themselves inside their house.

WOLF #1 (knocking on the door): Hey pigs! I’d really like to come in and
look at your new straw house. Is this thing eco-friendly?

PJ (shouting through door): You don’t fool us. You want to eat us. We’ve
read the stories.

WOLF #1: I am not going to eat you. I was just hoping you were saving as
much energy as possible. Have you turned your refrigerator down?
Refrigerators use up to twenty percent of household electricity

PETUNIA: I keep telling PJ that.

WOLF #1: And how about weather stripping? Looks like you’ve got some real
weather issues here.

PJ: Of COURSE we have weather issues! The house is made of STRAW.

WOLF #1: Let me come in and see if we can insulate this thing a little
better. Are you using renewable resources like sunlight, wind, and water?

PETUNIA (to PJ): The wolf seems like he wants to help.

WOLF#1: Come on, listen to your wife. This house is an environmental
nightmare—you need to start over. Little pig, little pig, let me come in!

PJ: Not by the hair on my chinny-chin-chin!

WOLF #1: Then I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house in.

NARRATOR #1: And he did. The wolf huffed and puffed and then the entire
house collapsed.

NARRATOR #2: Fortunately the house was made of straw so no one even got a
scratch.

(This concludes the first third of the script.)


Geometry: Polygons

Characters

Storyteller
Isosceles, a Greek hero
Equilateral, Isosceles’ horse
Scalene, the squire of Isosceles
Right Angle
Straight Angle
Acute Angle
Obtuse Angle
Complementary Angle #1
Complementary Angle #2
Parallel Line #1
Parallel Line #2
Pentagon
Hexagon
Octagon
Nonagon
Decagon
Man on the Flying Trapezoid
Square #1
Square #2
Square #3

and a CHORUS composed of all students who are not playing roles
on stage at the time.

CHORUS (loudly; whenever the CHORUS speaks, it booms): We are the Chorus.
We know everything about geometry. But almost nothing about squirrels. So
pay careful attention to our wise words.

STORYTELLER: Isosceles, a Greek hero, rides in on his horse, Equilateral.
Scalene the Squire runs in after them, out of breath.

ISOSCELES: We will rest here, my comrades.

EQUILATERAL: Thank goodness. You’ve put on some weight since we left
Sparta.

ISOSCELES: All mental muscle, my good steed. I’ve been doing Sudoku as we
ride and my brain has no doubt expanded.

EQUILATERAL: That’s an interesting theory. And by “interesting” I mean
“insane.”

ISOSCELES (looking around): This is a strange land, isn’t it, Scalene?

SCALENE: Not as strange as a talking horse, sir.

ISOSCELES: Gadzooks, Scalene, you’ve got to adjust. We’ve been traveling
for two months and all you can talk about is the horse.

SCALENE: He speaks English! Better than me! It ain’t natural.

ISOSCELES: This is Greek mythology, my fine fellow. And we are on a quest.
You must be prepared for the unusual.
EQUILATERAL: Speaking of which—some odd-looking natives are approaching.
You should inquire as to our location.

SCALENE: See? I ask ya—where’d a horse get that vocabulary? It gives me the
willies.

(ANGLES enter)

ISOSCELES (to ANGLES): Greetings. I am Isosceles of Sparta,
the famous Greek hero you have perhaps heard about.

RIGHT ANGLE: Nope.

STRAIGHT ANGLE: Who?

ACUTE ANGLE: Sorry.

OBTUSE ANGLE: Huh?

ISOSCELES: This is my squire, Scalene, and my trusty steed, Equilateral.

RIGHT ANGLE: Hey, you guys are all triangles!

STRAIGHT ANGLE: Yeah! You’ve got two equal sides and two congruent angles.

ISOSCELES (outraged): I beg your pardon!

ACUTE ANGLE: And your horse here has three equal sides.

EQUILATERAL: I am a well-balanced stud.

OBTUSE (pointing to SCALENE): But this little fellow is
all over the place—nothing looks the same.
CHORUS: A scalene triangle has no congruent sides or angles.

SCALENE: Who said that? You got talking trees in this place? Because if you
do, I’m outta here.

OBTUSE: Nah, that’s just the rest of the class. They get antsy once in a
while and have to shout stuff at us. You’ll get used to it.

ISOSCELES: Enough of this silly triangle talk. We are on a great quest.
What is this place?

RIGHT ANGLE: This is Angle Land. I am Right Angle.

SCALENE: Really? Like you’ve never been a wrong angle?
RIGHT ANGLE: It means I measure 90 degrees.

SCALENE: Oh. I had a temperature of 110 degrees once. My mother cooked
pancakes on my face.

CHORUS: These degrees are a unit of angular measurement.

SCALENE: They’re not going to do that all the way through
our quest, are they? It’s getting on my nerves.
STRAIGHT ANGLE: I measure 180
degrees. I am Straight Angle.

ISOSCELES: No offense, but you look like a line.

STRAIGHT ANGLE: I get that all the time.

ACUTE ANGLE: And I am Acute Angle.

SCALENE: Now wait just a minute. You can’t go boasting to everyone that…

EQUILATERAL: Don’t say it, Scalene. An acute angle is less than 90 degrees.

OBTUSE ANGLE: And I’m, uh, well…uh…I’m… don’t tell me…uh…

RIGHT ANGLE: This is our brother, Obtuse.

OBTUSE: Yeah, that’s it. I’m Obtuse. I’m greater than 90 degrees. I rock.

STRAIGHT ANGLE: You know, we Angles have a close
relationship with you triangles.

ISOSCELES: I am NOT a triangle. I am Isosceles, a great Greek hero from
Sparta! And we are on a quest.

STRAIGHT ANGLE: Not this quest thing again.

ISOSCELES: If you would just listen for a moment I shall…

STORYTELLER: Two Complementary Angles enter, speaking loudly to each other,
interrupting Isosceles.

COMPLEMENTARY ANGLE #1 (pointing to ISOSCELES):
Well look at THIS handsome hero!

COMPLEMENTARY ANGLE #2: And his horse! Have you
ever seen a more magnificent animal?

EQUILATERAL: Who are YOU?

COMPLEMENTARY ANGLE #1: We are complementary angles. We compliment.

CHORUS: Complementary angles are two angles that add up to 90 degrees.

COMPLEMENTARY ANGLE #2: Absolutely. These people are geniuses!

EQUILATERAL: I think you have misunderstood your entire definition. You are
comp-LEH-mentary angles, not comp-LIH-mentary.

COMPLEMENTARY ANGLE #1: Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant.
(TWO ANGLES start to exit.)

COMPLEMENTARY ANGLE #2: We shall have to tell the Supplementary Angles.

COMPLEMENTARY ANGLE #1: Excellent idea. I must compliment you.

COMPLEMENTARY ANGLE #2: I knew you would.
(THEY exit.)

(This concludes the first one-third of the script.)


Map of the World: Why Pirates Sailed to Kansas

Characters

NARRATOR #1
NARRATOR #2
CAPTAIN BLUEBEARD
LEFTY
BARNACLE BOB
SCURVY SCOTT
SHARK TOOTH
GREASY PIT
LE PAIN
DAPPER DENNY
MIKE MAGGOT
MARK MAGGOT
BAMBI
MCKRACKEN
SQUID BROTHER #1
SQUID BROTHER #2

and a CHORUS composed of all students in the class

Script

This is the first one-third of the script:

NARRATOR 1: Long ago, a band of pirates set sail in search of buried
treasure.

NARRATOR 2: There were not great pirates. In fact, they were terrible
pirates. Their leader, Captain Bluebeard, was a chicken farmer who had
inherited a treasure map from an uncle.

NARRATOR 1: Bluebeard was determined to strike it rich. He didn’t have much
money, so he couldn’t get a fast ship or a fine crew.

NARRATOR 2: It was a disaster. After several months at sea Bluebeard
realized that neither he nor his navigator knew how to read the treasure
map—or any map at all! They were completely lost, so lost that they found
themselves in Kansas.

CHORUS: This is their story.

CAPTAIN BLUEBEARD: It’s MY story—MY chickens, MY boat, MY story.

CHORUS: This is HIS story, HIS chickens, HIS boat, and HIS inability to read
a map.

LEFTY: Captain, where ARE we? I can’t even see the ocean.

BLUEBEARD: It’s this map! I can’t make heads or tails of it.

BARNACLE BOB: You gotta let us help with you that.
SCURVY SCOTT: Yeah. It’s time you trusted the crew—maybe we can figure it
out.

BLUEBEARD: I guess you’re right. I’ve only shared this with the navigator,
and a lot of good HE did with it.

BARNACLE BOB: Maybe it wasn’t a good sign that his nickname was “Wrong-Way
Weston.”

LEFTY: What happened to him, anyway?

SHARK TOOTH: He was staring at the map and turned the wrong direction on
the half-deck.

SCURVY SCOTT: Oh! Was that the splash I heard a few weeks ago?

SHARK TOOTH: And the screams.

BARNACLE BOB: Too bad we don’t know how to turn a ship around.

CHORUS: Chicken farming is a noble occupation.

CAPTAIN BLUEBEARD (looking around to find the voices of the chorus): Who
are these people? Show yourself!

CHORUS: No, you’ll never find us.

BLUEBEARD: Well, that navigator had one of only three copies of my map.
Luckily, I’ve locked the original in my cabin.

LEFTY: Where’s the other one?

BLUEBEARD:I gave it to the cook for safekeeping. Somebody get Greasy Pit.

GREASY PIT (entering): Did I hear my name?

SCURVY SCOTT: Yeah. The captain wants you to bring out the map.

GREASY PIT: That was a map? Are you sure? I put it in last night’s stew.

BARNACLE BOB: I THOUGHT it had a certainly worldly flavor.
BLUEBEARD: You have to stop dumping everything lying around into the stew.
(exits)

SHARK TOOTH: Hey Greasy, you seen my shoes? They didn’t go in the stew, did
they?

GREASY PIT: Nah. I put ’em in the biscuits.

BLUEBEARD (entering, unrolling parchment): Okay. Here it is. My treasure
map. See? Completely confusing.

CHORUS: You’re holding it upside down.

GREASY PIT: And this arrow here? It points north. Some maps have a compass
rose that shows the four cardinal directions.

BLUEBEARD: But this map of the world is all, well, weird looking. Is Canada
really that big? You’d think it would be harder to ignore.

LE PAIN (entering, speaking in a bad French accent): Ah, mon captain, you
are speaking of ze land zat I love.

BARNACLE BOB: Knock off the phony Québécois, Le Pain. You’re from
Vancouver.

LE PAIN: Fine. But it’s true, Captain. Flat maps of the earth have to
project the spherical surface of the earth onto the flat surface.

CHORUS: Something always gets distorted.

LE PAIN: Sure…areas, distance, direction, or shape. This map is a Mercator
projection—the areas towards to poles are unrealistically huge.

SHARK TOOTH: You a big map fan, Le Pain?

LE PAIN: Oh, oui oui!
(OTHERS give him a dirty look.)
I mean, you bet! Road maps, vegetation maps, topography, climate, political
maps—I love ’em all.
GREASY PIT: You’re an odd man, Le Pain.

BLUEBEARD: If you’re such an expert, Le Pain, then what’s this box here on
the map?

LE PAIN: That? That’s the key, or the legend.

DAPPER DENNY (rushing in): Did someone say “legend”? I am a legend. A
legendary pirate on a legendary voyage to find a legendary treasure.

SHARK TOOTH (mumbles): Not again. I TOLD you not to bring an actor.

LE PAIN: Dapper Denny, I was just pointing out the legend on this map.

DAPPER DENNY: THAT is not a legend. I am a legend! I thought I had made
that clear. That is just some little box that shows the scale of the map and
the meaning of symbols—roads, boundaries, rivers, railroads, fire imagery in
the Tempest.

LEFTY: Fire imagery?

DAPPER DENNY: Sorry. That’s a literary symbol. I get carried away.

LE PAIN: I know. It’s all so exciting, isn’t it?

BLUEBEARD: No it’s not. It’s completely perplexing. I miss my chickens.
Chickens are so charmingly transparent.

CHORUS: Chicken are NOT transparent. Opaque, maybe.

BLUEBEARD: And what about all these lines on the map?

LE PAIN: Those are key! Those are longitude and latitude. Imaginary lines
that act as a grid. Here’s a line that runs clear around the middle of the
earth. It’s called the equator, and all the lines of latitude run around
parallel to it.

BLUEBEARD: And what about these lines that run up and down between the
poles?

SHARK TOOTH: Careful, Captain. I don’t think you want to ask about
longitude.
BARNACLE BOB: Yeah, keep your voice down. Don’t let the Maggot twins hear.

BLUEBEARD: But it’s puzzling. Why is this one vertical line so special that
it gets to be called zero degrees? Let’s see, it says here it’s called…
(staring up close at the map)

SCURVY SCOTT: I’m beggin’ you, Captain, don’t say anything more about…

CHORUS: …the Prime Meridian.

MIKE AND MARK MAGGOT (just before the enter): WHO SAID THAT?

CHORUS: Prime Meridian, Prime Meridian, Prime Meridian.

MARK MAGGOT (as THEY storm in): I HATE longitude.

MIKE MAGGOT: It’s so…so…erratic.

LE PAIN: Really, boys, do we have to go into all of this once…

MARK MAGGOT (cutting him off): I mean, at least with latitude each degree
is the same distance everywhere, about 70 miles.

MIKE MAGGOT: But does LONGITUDE care about consistency?

MIKE and MARK MAGGOT: NOOOOoooooo!

SHARK TOOTH: Oh boy.

MARK MAGGOT: The meridians converge at the north and south poles, but
they’re about 70 miles apart at the equator. It’s not right.

CHORUS: If you squint, it kind of makes sense.

MIKE: And don’t get me started on the 180 degrees west being the same as
180 degrees east thing.

MARK: No, it’s worse than that. Go half way around the world eastward and
it’s plus 180 degrees.
MIKE: But go half way around the world westward—to the exact same spot—and
it’s MINUS 180 degrees.

MARK: But the worst, most hideous thing of all?

LE PAIN: The captain’s dog?

BLUEBEARD: You leave Da Plank out of this. Say, where IS he? Greasy Pit,
did you do something with Da Plank?

GREASY PIT: What? Me? I would never put that dog into a stew. Disgusting.

MARK: The WORST thing of all is the …

MARK and CHORUS: Prime Meridian.

MIKE: Talk about disgusting! Why in the world would they put zero degrees longitude THERE?

  Song 1 - Listen now!

MAGGOT TWINS:

Just ask the narrator
I love the equator
Everyone here agrees
CHORUS: Uh huh
It’s right in the middle
So there is no riddle
Why it’s zero degrees.
CHORUS: Nuh uh

MAGGOT TWINS and CHORUS:
My attitude
Towards latitude
Is all smiles and grins
But longitude
Is messed up, dude
Look where it begins…
CHORUS: Tra la la la la la
MAGGOTS: Greenwich, England
CHORUS: Tra la la la la la
MAGGOTS: What’s the deal with that?
CHORUS: Tra la la la la la
MAGGOTS: Greenwich, England
MAGGOTS and CHORUS: Don’t know where it’s at.

The options were open
And we both were hopin’
They’d get it right this time
PART of CHORUS: You bet
Now we shout in tandem
Their choice was so random
Greenwich just isn’t prime!
PART of CHORUS: No sir.

My attitude
Towards latitude
Is all smiles and grins
But longitude
Is messed up, dude
Look where it begins…

CHORUS: Tra la la la la la
MAGGOTS: Greenwich, England
CHORUS: Tra la la la la la
MAGGOTS: What’s the deal with that?
CHORUS: Tra la la la la la
MAGGOTS: Greenwich, England
MAGGOTS and CHORUS: Don’t know where it’s at.

(This concludes the first one-third of the script.)


Martin Luther King, Jr.: Overcoming Segregation

Characters

This show uses 29 NARRATORS, although the spoken lines can be distributed in
whatever way works for your students. The entire Class functions as a
CHORUS, which both speaks lines (and parts of lines) and sings two songs. At
one point early in the show we recommend that the Class be divided into two
separate Choruses that take turns recounting various examples of Jim Crow
laws.

Script

NARRATOR #1: Martin Luther King, Jr. was very important in American history.
To understand what he did, we need to find out what life was like for black
Americans before he became a leader in the Civil Rights movement.

NARRATOR #2: After the Civil War, the northern states tried to change
southern society and politics in what was called Reconstruction.

NARRATOR #3: But by the late 1870s, most southern states were once again on
their own, and many began passing laws that made it difficult for black
citizens to vote and legalized racial segregation.

NARRATOR #4: These laws are called “Jim Crow” laws, and they required
“separate but equal” treatment of white and black Americans.

NARRATOR #5: But in reality this segregation was almost never equal.

NARRATOR #6: Here are some typical laws from the Age of Jim Crow. On
education:

CHORUS A: Separate schools are required for white and colored children.

CHORUS B: Books shall not be interchangeable between the white and colored
schools.

NARRATOR #7: On living and dying:

CHORUS A: All marriages between a white person and a negro are forever
prohibited.

CHORUS B: It is unlawful for anyone to rent an apartment to a negro person
when the building has white people living there.
CHORUS A: Every hospital will have separate entrances for white and colored
patients and visitors.

CHORUS B: At a cemetery, no colored persons may be buried in ground set
apart for white persons.

NARRATOR #8: On services:

CHORUS A: No restaurant may serve white and colored people in the same
room, unless they are separated by a solid partition, and unless there are
separate white and colored entrances.

CHORUS B: All bus and train stations shall have separate waiting rooms and
separate ticket windows for the white and colored races.

CHORUS A: Every employer of white or negro males shall provide separate
toilet facilities.

NARRATOR #9: On Sports and Recreation:

CHORUS B: It is illegal for a negro and white person to play together at
any game of pool or billiards.

CHORUS A: No colored person may visit a park owned by the city for the
benefit and enjoyment of white persons.

CHORUS B: Every movie theater or any place of public entertainment shall
separate the white race and the colored race.

CHORUS A: No amateur colored baseball team may play baseball in a vacant lot
or baseball diamond within two blocks of a playground devoted to the white
race.

NARRATOR #10: And there were even Jim Crow laws against trying to change
the Jim Crow laws:

CHORUS B: Any person who distributes printed matter suggesting social
equality between whites and negroes shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and
subject to fine or imprisonment.

  Song 1 - Listen now!

ENTIRE CLASS (sings):

They wrote it in the rules
You must have separate schools
But separate wasn’t equal, they all knew.

Though playing second base
Has zilch to do with race
Athletics were all segregated too.

When you died it got worse
You went to separate cemeteries in a separate hearse.

Separate but equal
There’s a fatal flaw
Blacks had no equality
Still it was the law.
Separate but equal
So said ol’ Jim Crow
Finally they came to see
It had to go.

And if you had a thirst
Go read the sign there first
There’re separate drinking fountains, don’t you know

Hotels could let you in
Depending on your skin
There’re bathrooms for each race with ol’ Jim Crow.

Traveling ’round was no treat
The trains had separate cars and buses all had separate seats.

Separate but equal
There’s a fatal flaw
Blacks had no equality
Still it was the law.
Separate but equal
So said ol’ Jim Crow
Finally they came to see
It had to go, it had to go, it had to go.

(This concludes the first third of the script.


Noun and Verb: Grammar Under the Big Top

Characters

RINGMASTER
GLENDA THE MAGNIFICENT
ARNOLD (Unicycle Rider)
SARAH (Motorcycle Daredevil)
MEG (Motorcycle Daredevil)
MEDICS (3)
LAUREN
LAWRENCE
TRAVIS (Human Cannonball)
TERESA (Assistant to Human Cannonball)
10MIIA (Tightrope Walker)
ANTON Tightrope Walker)
CLOWNS (3)

and a CHORUS composed of all students in the class

Script

RINGMASTER: Everyone look up high! See that woman standing on a tiny
platform? Glenda the Magnificent is one hundred and ninety feet in the air.

CHORUS (pointing to bucket on the ground): What’s with the bucket?

RINGMASTER: I’m delighted you asked. Glenda is going to dive through the
air and land in this bucket of water.

GLENDA THE MAGNIFICENT (stunned; shouts): I’m going to…what?

RINGMASTER: You know. Your new big dive: the death-defying dive of doom!

CHORUS: Maybe she didn’t get the memo.

RINGMASTER: Come on! They don’t call you Glenda the Magnificent for
nothing.

GLENDA: Sure. Okay. But first…uh…before I dive...let’s all talk about nouns
and verbs!

RINGMASTER: What?

CHORUS: Yeah! That’s even better than a doom dive!

RINGMASTER: Now just a minute…

ARNOLD THE UNICYCLE RIDER (interrupting): I love nouns and verbs. Nouns and
verbs are probably the two most important parts of our language.

GLENDA: Nouns are people, places, and things. Like, circus, girl, clown,
New York, forest, ocean, and happiness.

CHORUS: Quick! Come up with five nouns that start with the letter M! You
have ten seconds.

GLENDA: Mark, Maryland, McDonald’s, May, Monday.

ARNOLD: Did you notice something that all those nouns have in common?

CHORUS: They’re all proper nouns?

GLENDA: Is that why they all started with a capital M?

ARNOLD: Yes. Proper nouns name a specific item. Like an Oreo*, not just a
cookie. Or Virginia, not just a state. Or Beyoncé, not just a famous singer.
And we always capitalize Oreo, Virginia, and Beyoncé no matter where they
occur in a sentence.

GLENDA: Hey! I’m starting to get a little dizzy up here.

CHORUS: Think of something else, Glenda! Quick, name five nouns that start
with the letter D, and no proper nouns!

GLENDA: Let’s see. Death. Doom. Disaster. Dirge. And drop.

(SARAH and MEG, the MOTORCYCLE DAREDEVILS, race in)

SARAH: “Drop” can be a verb too!

MEG: We’re all about verbs!

(The two start their engines and race their bikes around the ring.)

CHORUS: This is the best circus ever!

SARAH (as SHE and MEG ride around the ring and then up into the bleachers):
Verbs are action words.

GLENDA (still on tower): Like “jump, dive, fall, crash, swim,” and
“survive!”

MEG: Want to see us ride through the air?

SARAH: These babies can fly!

ARNOLD: This is truly spectacular.

CHORUS: Is “is” a verb?

MEG: Absolutely. Verbs can indicate a state as well.

CHORUS: Like New Hampshire?

SARAH: Like “becoming” and “happening.”

MEG: But those can be so boring!

SARAH and MEG: We like it when verbs do stuff!

(THERE is a giant SPLAT!!)

CHORUS: SPLAAAAAAAAT!

SARAH and MEG: Like that!

RINGMASTER: What was that? Glenda? Glenda!

(THREE MEDICS enter)

MEDIC #1: Does someone need a medic?

MEDIC #2: We were just outside trying to shrink the nose of that big grey
animal thing.

MEDIC #3: He’ll be okay…

MEDIC #1: …once the swelling goes down.

RINGMASTER: Are you talking about the elephant? That’s his trunk! It’s
supposed to be that big!

MEDIC #2: I told you guys we didn’t need the ice packs.

MEDIC #1: Does that mean we can’t use the super glue?

MEDIC #2 (looking at GLENDA): Hey—what happened to you?

MEDIC #1: Yeah, you’re all green.

GLENDA: I landed in the Jell-o* safety pool. That reminds me, boss—how come
we can’t have a safety net like other circuses? This stuff is so sticky.

RINGMASTER: I got a deal.

CHORUS: The Ringmaster has a friend in the fruit-flavored gelatin biz.

MEDIC #3 (to GLENDA): You’ll need to see a medic.

RINGMASTER: You are the medics. Help me take Glenda to her trailer. She has
to be ready for tonight’s performance.

(THEY all exit. LAUREN and LAWRENCE rush on.)

LAUREN: Boss! Boss, where are you?

LAWRENCE: Oh man, this is not good. Maybe we shouldn’t tell him.

CHORUS: Tell him what?

LAUREN (startled, looking around): Who are you?

CHORUS (ominously): We are your guilty conscience.

LAUREN: But I don’t have a guilty conscience.

CHORUS: Oh. Then we’re the chorus.

LAWRENCE: We’ve got to tell the boss that the trapeze act is a disaster.

LAUREN: Yeah. The two stars—the one who catches and the one who flies—are
fighting.

CHORUS: About what?

LAWRENCE: Everything! They can’t agree on their stunts. Or their afternoon
snacks.

LAUREN: Or the color of their tights.

CHORUS: I’ve always been partial to aqua.

LAWRENCE: But these folks just don’t fight—ever!

LAUREN: They even nicknamed each other The Subject and The Verb because
they always agree.

CHORUS: Wait a minute. In this 10-minute show about grammar that for some
unspecified reason is set in a circus, two characters just happen to be
nicknamed The Subject and The Verb?

LAWRENCE: Weird, huh?

LAUREN: Makes you want to sing a little song, doesn’t it!

  Song 1 - Listen now!

LAUREN and LAWRENCE:

The subject and the verb does not agrees
The subject’s misbehavin’ and the verb do what it please
They once were best of buddies
Matched up on the trapeze
But subject and the verb does not agrees.

The subject and the verb does not agrees
They claims they’s gonna leave each other swinging in the breeze
I think it are contagious
We’ve caught their strange disease
The subject and the verb does not agrees.

Nothing flies
Or seems so wise
As a matching verb and noun
But when they miss
It’s an abyss
And it’s a long way down.

LAUREN, LAWRENCE, and CHORUS:

Nothing flies
Or seems so wise
As a matching verb and noun
But when they miss
It’s an abyss
And it’s a long way down.

The subject and the verb does not agrees
The subject’s misbehavin’ and the verb do what it please
They once were best of buddies
Matched up on the trapeze
But subject and the verb does not agrees.

(This concludes the first third of the script.)

Overall Customer Rating:
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Customer Reviews: 3

Saugus

Rating:
review-star review-star review-star review-star review-star

Pros:
Cons:
Conservation Mini

We are doing class rotations throughout third and fourth grade classes at our school. I am doing the drama rotation and, since we only have a month to practice and perform with only thirty minutes a day, this is the best, least stressful way to go.
The kids like that the play talks about how you can save water and energy through the songs and through the dialogue.

Mississippi

Rating:
review-star review-star review-star review-star review-star

Pros:
  • Learning with humor
Cons:
Makes learning almost effortless!

Grammar Under the Big Top was perfect for my third and fourth grade classroom to perform as part of our school's end of year program for parents! Practice was always met with enthusiasm and the parents were impressed! In addition, this play cemented in some of the objectives of our language curriculum. The songs were fun to sing and we all enjoyed the humor. We didn't have time to use the rest of the plays in this bundle as I didn't find out about your company until the final weeks of school; however, they are also educational and witty making learning stick in young minds!



Rating:
review-star review-star review-star review-star review-star

Pros:
Cons:
Teaching concepts in performance art class

Our school's performance arts class has been enjoying the plays! I like that the plays teach concepts. The students enjoy singing and performing these plays!


Additional Comments and Reviews:

Conservation

"The Conservation Mini was a big hit at my school! The students loved performing, and it was easy to put on. It was funny too! I love the 10-15 minute length and many characters."

---Kathy Kehr, Teacher (4th grade), Hyde Elementary, Wichita, KS


Geometry

"THIS MINI is a BIG hit! I have used it over and over. Fun, helpful and everyone benefits from the lesson. Students actually tell me this is more fun then recess."

---Brenda Combs, Teacher (3rd-6th grade, gifted), Oakdale Joint Unified School District, Oakdale, CA


"My kids love the jokes in the Geometry Mini and enjoy the whole progression from start to finish! They beg me to play the music even while they're cleaning. It's good that there are leveled parts...some are easy and some more challenging so everyone can participate! I like that the Mini doesn't have to be a huge production with ornate costumes. The students can participate either as a part or the chorus."

---Melissa Smith, Teacher 4th grade), Foster Road Elementary, La Mirada, CA


"The humor and story lines are great. The songs are also catchy, easily remembered, and easy to dance to. The Geometry Mini is great in helping explain vocabulary terms in an entertaining and visual way."

---Heather Morse, Teacher (5th grade), Spalding Elementary, Boise, ID


"The Geometry Mini teaches some important concepts in a short amount of time and in an exciting way!"

---Melissa Smith, Teacher (4th grade), Foster Road Elementary, La Mirada, CA


"So fun! It was short, and we were able to perform it for the whole school. We did costumes, backdrop, the whole thing. A great learning experience! Plays make learning more interesting; the songs are very catchy, and the experience is helpful for students with different learning disabilities. I use the songs, even if we aren't performing the play, as a learning experience."

---Kellie Zerlang, Teacher (5th-6th grade), Sequoia Union Elementary School, Lemon Cove, CA


Martin Luther King, Jr.

"We did the Martin Luther King 10-minute mini for a school assembly. We learned more from those two songs and the spoken words than I could have effectively taught in five lessons during the week. Absolutely heartwrenching and effective learning!"

---Ruth Kenney, Teacher, Terrace Park School, Mountlake Terrace, WA


"My 5th grade class performed the mini-play Overcoming Segregation for the 5th-8th grades in our auditorium today, as we do not have this as a holiday, and it was great to do as a way to celebrate the life of MLK in a meaningful way. Tears were coming to my eyes as my students sang the two songs beautifully. Our community for the past few years has had an MLK celebration at our Parks and Recreation on the evening of the MLK holiday, so my class is also performing this play tonight for the community. Thanks for this great play!"

---Cathy Leu, Teacher (5th grade), Unalaska, Alaska


"The students sang one of the songs over the intercom on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. I think it's important that students get the opportunity to learn about Jim Crow Laws and other things that happened during that time before they get into high school."

---Susan Hufford, Teacher (2nd-3rd grade), Siena Magnet, Meridian, ID


"Our intermediate students performed this mini-musical in honor of Dr. King's birthday. It was a huge success with audiences, and the students are still humming/singing the songs."

---Tracy McClure, Teacher, Old Adobe Elementary, Petaluma, CA


Noun and Verb

"I have been directing plays and coaching students' speeches for 19 years now. About 2 and a half years ago I 'found' your company and have never looked anywhere else since. My students and I adore all of your plays! My students have performed in too many of them to count. Just last month, I directed my second graders in the Noun and Verb Mini and last week my first graders performed your Life Cycles play. Both shows were a tremendous success. My only fear is that we are running out of your shows to produce! Your company has been a gem for me. I love the writing and adore the catchy songs. My fifth graders have performed in both of your Character Matters plays with rave reviews. Honestly, every one of your shows has been a hit. Thank you for doing your job so well and making mine a lot easier. Please keep those plays coming!"

---Deni Cavrell, Drama Teacher, Portledge School, Locust Valley, NY


"I loved it! I used the Noun and Verb Mini as reader's theater, to improve reading, fluency, expression and to teach the concept of nouns and verbs. It helps to prepare them for the full length play we do each year. We read it at least 4 or 5 times so each kid could have a major role."

---Marleni Llenin, Teacher (3rd grade), NY


"I liked everything about the play! It was very fun and all my gifted kids even got the jokes. It was very educational and it didn't take tons of time. It fit into the curriculum extremely well and even had some extra, higher-level concepts."

---Nancy Ashby, Teacher (4th grade), Franklin Elementary School, Franklin, TN

Conservation

Common Core and Other National Standards

Science

Language Arts

History/Social Studies

National Core Arts Standards

Vocabulary

Conservation Vocabulary

insulation
carbon footprint
energy efficient
fluorescent
incandescent
carbon dioxide
CFL
eco-friendly
renewable resources
non-renewable resources
drought-resistant
solar panels

General Vocabulary

scoot
burrow
bivalve
ceiling track
Boeing 767
incompetent
litter
summon

Phrases

good to go
see the light
when pigs can fly


Geometry

Common Core and Other National Standards

Mathematics

  • Common Core Mathematics Standards for Geometry: 3rd, 4th, 5th

Language Arts

National Core Arts Standards

Vocabulary

General Vocabulary Building

comrade
steed
Sudoku
gadzooks
quest
natives
inquire
squire
stud
congruent
obtuse
magnificent
compliment
complement
pollywogs
plain
bounded
encounter
Pilates
sarcastic
pentathlete
hexameter
decade
specific
portrait
marvelous
rowdy
assert
volunteer
developed

Phrases

the willies
no offense, but…
knights of the round table
it’s Greek to me
to be square
a la mode
well-conceived


Map of the World

Common Core and Other National Standards

History/Social Studies

Language Arts

National Core Arts Standards

Vocabulary

navigator
half-deck
safekeeping
Québécois
oui, oui
perplexing
transparent
opaque
erratic
converge
Holy See
C-Span
See’s Candy
poop deck
esprit
consistency
nematodes
ennui
maggots

Phrases

strike it rich
make heads or tails of it
fire imagery
literary symbol
in tandem


Martin Luther King, Jr.

Common Core and Other National Standards

History/Social Studies

Language Arts

National Core Arts Standards

Vocabulary

General Vocabulary Building

Civil War
southern states
racial segregation
interchangeable
partition
facilities
devoted to
misdemeanor
zilch
hearse
fatal flaw
overturned
participate
prominence
civil disobedience
racial discrimination
boycott
public opinion
moral responsibility
facilitate
Nobel Peace Prize
gifted
harmony
Emancipation Proclamation

Vocabulary from the Excerpts from the “I Have a Dream” speech

symbolic
momentous
decree
beacon
seared
withering
tragic
manacles
poverty
prosperity
languishing
exile
dramatize
appalling
wallow
despair
rooted
creed
self-evident
brotherhood
character


Noun and Verb

Common Core and Other National Standards

Language Arts

  • Noun and Verb was written specifically to teach the Common Core Language Standards: Conventions of Standard English - 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th
  • Common Core Reading Standards for Literature: 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th
  • Common Core Reading Standards: Foundational Skills:
    • 3rd, 4th, 5th: Phonics and Word Recognition, Fluency
  • Common Core Speaking and Listening Standards: Comprehension and Collaboration - 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th
  • Common Core Language Standards: Vocabulary Acquisition and Use -3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th
  • Common Core Standard 10: Range, Quality & Complexity:

National Core Arts Standards

  • National Music Standards 1, 2, 6, 7, and 8 for K-4th, Standard 1 for 5th-8th
  • National Theater Standards 2, 3, 6, 7, and 8 for K-4th, Standards 2 and 6 for 5th-8th
  • National Dance Standards 1 and 2 for K-4th

Vocabulary

death-defying
doom
dirge
compound
compounded
tourniquet
substantives
illusion

Number of questions: 0

Frequently Asked Questions About Bad Wolf Products and Licensing

How does your pricing and licensing work?

A: In short: each teacher/director using the play should have a copy of it. That's it! Your purchase gives you the right to use the play with as many classes as you wish, to photocopy the script for your actors, and to put on as many performances as you wish. This one-time purchase gives you a lifetime license. See below for more information on site licenses (for 3+ teachers or whole schools).

Q: What comes in the package?

A: Every musical play comes with the script and a 12-page Teacher's Guide that provides lots of tips and advice for using the play from start to finish. It also includes the audio recording for the play, which has all the songs both WITH and WITHOUT vocals. Sheet music is NOT included with the basic package, but it is available for $12. Extra/replacement CDs are also available for $12.

Every non-musical play comes with the script and the 12-page Teacher's Guide.

Q: I'm just one teacher putting on a play. If I use the play with multiple classes, do I have to purchase multiple licenses?

A: No! Your purchase gives you a lifetime license to be used with as many actors and classes as you wish. If other teachers/directors wish to use the play as well, they will need to purchase their own licenses.

Q: Do I need to purchase scripts for students?

A: No! Your purchase includes permission to photocopy the script for your actors.

Q: What is a "site license"? How do I know if I need one?

A site license is the economical choice when a whole school or grade level wants to put on the same play. Instead of each teacher/director having to purchase a script, the school/site can purchase a site license. This comes with three copies of the play (or one digital download) and permission to make copies for any additional participating teachers, as well as all the actors. You do NOT need to purchase both a site license and individual copies of the play; just buy one or the other.

Q: I understand that I can get two or more scripts for $35 each. Do they have to be the same play?

Nope! The discount applies whether you are purchasing multiple copies of the same show or single copies of multiple shows.

Q: What is the difference between the printed and digital versions? Which one should I get?

There is no difference in terms of content. The printed version of a musical play comes with an audio CD in a plastic sleeve in the back of the book. The digital version comes with two downloadable files: the script (PDF format) and the songs (individual MP3 files compressed in ZIP format). The advantage of the digital version is that you will not pay shipping and you can start using it instantly. Please read the question following this one about the technical requirements for digital files.

Non-musical plays are available in the form of a printed book or a PDF file.

Q: What are the technical requirements for the digital version?

  1. You will need to have Adobe Reader (free) or another software application that can open PDF files.
  2. You will need to be able to open ZIP files. The vast majority of computers should be able to do this without difficulty. If you wish to download the music directly to your phone or tablet, you will need to download an app that will open ZIP files. Many free ones are available.
  3. You will need to have some kind of audio player (such as iTunes or Windows Media Player) that will play MP3 files.

Advanced technical knowledge is not required; but please note that we do not have the ability to offer technical support for issues related to digital files. If you are unsure, it is probably best to stick with the printed version.

Q: What is your return/exchange policy?

A: Bad Wolf proudly offers a 100% guarantee. You can always exchange a product for another or get a full refund. No time limits, no questions.

Q: Is it OK if I edit the script?

A: Yes! Consider the play to be a jumping-off point. You are always welcome to change or omit anything that doesn't work for your class, administration, or parents. You are welcome to rewrite lyrics, lines, or jokes -- or add your own! (The kids love doing this, by the way.)

Q: How long does shipping take?

A: We say that you should allow for one week within the U.S., but most orders are shipped the same day and arrive 1-3 days later. International orders usually take around two weeks to arrive.

Q: Do I need to pay any performance royalties?

A: As long as your admission price is less than $5 per ticket, you never need to pay performance royalties with a Bad Wolf show. If you decide to charge more than $5 a ticket, or if you are using one of our plays for a PAID workshop, camp, assembly, etc., pay only a low 1-2% royalty on gross revenues. See our royalty page to view the rates and pay.