Song Samples
Full Song List
1. Preamble
2. Articles of Confederation
3. We're Gonna Write a Constitution
4. The Great Compromise
5. Executive Branch
6. Ratified
7. Congress is Cool
8. Bill of Rights
9. Judicial Review
10. Preamble (reprise)
Casting
Flexible casting from 11-40 students.
Use as many delegates, messengers, etc. as desired.
One student can easily play several roles if needed, and
individual roles can be doubles up. Note that all roles
can be played by either boys or girls.
Script
This is the first one-third of the script:
CHARACTERS:
Sally Sassafrass
Bill O'Rights
John Hancock
Samuel Huntington
Ben Franklin
Alexander Hamilton
Big State Delegates
Little State Delegates
John Adams
Thomas Jefferson
George Washington
John Jay
Samuel Adams
Messengers
Benedict Arnold
James Monroe
James Madison
George Mason
Internet Celebrity
Two Anoynymous Founding Fathers
John Marshall
Supreme Court Justices
and a CHORUS comprised of all students who are not
playing roles on stage at the time.
(Entire CLASS faces audience and sings:)
Song 1 -
Listen now!
CLASS:
We the people of the United States,
in order to form a more perfect union,
establish justice, insure domestic tranquility,
provide for the common defense,
promote the general welfare,
and secure the blessings of liberty
to ourselves and our posterity,
do ordain and establish this Constitution
for the United States
PART of CLASS (echoes): For the United States
for the United States
PART of CLASS (echoes): For the United States
for the United States of America.
We the people of the United States,
in order to form a more perfect union,
establish justice, insure domestic tranquility,
provide for the common defense,
promote the general welfare,
and secure the blessings of liberty
to ourselves and our posterity,
do ordain and establish this Constitution
for the United States
PART of CLASS (echoes):
For the United States
CLASS:
For the United States
PART of CLASS (echoes):
For the United States
CLASS:
For the United States of America
of America
of America.
(SALLY, the HOST, enters and addresses the audience)
SALLY: Welcome to the hit reality show, Back from the Dead. I'm your host, Sally Sassafras. This season we have the most dramatic storyline yet ...historical drama, that is. Our contestants are the actual writers and framers of the Constitution, duking it out to be the last Founding Father standing. Here to go over the rules is my co-host, Bill O'Rights. Bill?
BILL (already halfway across the stage):
Thank you. This year, we've conjured up
the Founding Fathers so we can witness
the birth of our nation. You know, Sally,
I witnessed the birth of my son, and it
was really something.
SALLY (embarrassed): Why don't you go on with the rules, Bill?
BILL: He looked just like me, right down to the cone-shaped head. I couldn't have been prouder!
SALLY: The birth of the NATION, Bill?
BILL: Oh, yeah, right. Through a magical process referred to by
scientists as (waves his arm majestically)"a magical process" we've revived the creators of the Constitution. Each week we'll be following our Founding Fathers as they explain how they contributed to the making of the Constitution. At the end of each episode, the one individual judged to have been the least important will be sent back into the bleak, pathless oblivion of history.
(cheery)
Is this gonna be fun or what?
SALLY: Let's get started.
(looking to side of stage)
Here are John Hancock and Samuel Huntington, leaders of the
Confederation Congress in the mid-1780s.
(HANCOCK and HUNTINGTON enter)
They're worried they will be held accountable for the Articles of
Confederation, the first governing document of the country. It was in
effect before the Constitution, and it had some major problems.
(SALLY and BILL exit)
HUNTINGTON: I tell you right now, John, I have no intention of being
the scapegoat here.
HANCOCK: Nor do I, Sam. I didn't scrawl my name all over the
Declaration of Independence just to be the first person voted off
the island.
HUNTINGTON: The island?
HANCOCK: I was speaking metaphorically.
HUNTINGTON: No one can hold us responsible for the weakness of
the Articles of Confederation. They've done their job getting the colonies
successfully through the Revolutionary War.
HANCOCK: And for 6 years they've given the 13 states some sort of
national government.
HUNTINGTON: But we all know the problems: No strong central
government; no executive branch; no way to raise money; no federal
court system; no way to control state legislatures.
HANCOCK: But it's not our fault! Maybe we can get the other
Founders to vote out Ben Franklin. He's 80 years old, out playing with
his kite in thunderstorms.
HUNTINGTON: Franklin's crafty---don't underestimate him. I think
our best shot is to admit the Articles aren't working and hope we're safe in tonight's vote.
Song 2 -
Listen now!
HUNTINGTON:
Well I don't want to be too bleak
But congress, folks, is sad and weak
And all of the laws we pass are just a waste of ink
HANCOCK:
We have no way to enforce our acts
We can¹t raise troops and we can't tax
The articles of confederation really stink.
HUNTINGTON and HANCOCK:
This won't do
This won't do
This won't do
Thirteen states without glue
Time we tried
Something new
The articles of confederation just won't do.
We ask each state to pay its share
But we got zilch from Delaware
And Georgia sent peaches with a note that just said no*
Each state is king so bold and brash
Now every state prints its own cash
The articles of confederation gotta go.
HUNTINGTON, HANCOCK, CHORUS:
This won't do
This won't do
This won't do
Thirteen states without glue
Time we tried
Something new
The articles of confederation just won't do.
Just won't do
Just won't do.
(THEY exit. ALEXANDER HAMILTON enters, walking
across stage reading a document. When HE gets about half-way
across the stage, BEN FRANKLIN enters, trying to catch up with
HAMILTON. FRANKLIN is a bit slow-footed.)
FRANKLIN: Alex! Alexander Hamilton, slow down a minute!
HAMILTON: Ben Franklin! Just the person I wanted to see. Have you
heard the news?
FRANKLIN: What news? Hancock is scheming against me, isn't he?
I knew it!
HAMILTON: I don't know about Hancock. But I do have news.
FRANKLIN: Have they finally named a state for me?
HAMILTON: No, not that.
FRANKLIN: A city, then? Congress could at least name a city after me.
HAMILTON: No, Ben, I'm sorry. They're leaning towards Washington.
FRANKLIN: Washington? For a city?
HAMILTON: And maybe a state, too.
FRANKLIN: BOTH? What about me?
HAMILTON: Well, they've named a stove after you.
FRANKLIN: A stove? A STOVE?
HAMILTON: It was either that or a new species of squirrel.
But I've got bigger news.
(waving the paper in his hand; with excitement)
Congress has accepted my proposal to hold a convention.
FRANKLIN: For a new constitution? That's fantastic!
HAMILTON: Well, yes and no. It's not supposed to be for
writing a new Constitution. See, Congress has agreed to allow
us to organize a convention in Philadelphia next May...
(reads from paper)
. ..for the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of
Confederation. They're calling it a "federal" convention.
FRANKLIN: That's ridiculous! We need to throw out the Articles
and start over. We need a CONSITUTIONAL convention.
HAMILTON: I know, I know. So here's my plan. We need to
form an alliance.
FRANKLIN: Yes, an alliance! Against Hancock! We'll vote him off.
Him and that quill.
HAMILTON: Sure, Ben. But first I've got something else in mind.
We gather all the best thinkers in the country, pretend we're going
to make a few slight changes to the Articles, and then, BLAMMO,
we turn it into a brand new constitutional convention.
FRANKLIN: But that would be dishonest. "Honesty is the best policy,"
I always say.
HAMILTON: They almost named a squirrel after you, Ben.
FRANKLIN (thinks for a moment, then): Good point. Let's write
us a Constitution!
Song 3 -
Listen now!
FRANKLIN and HAMILTON:
Congress was very explicit
Told us what we could do
It is not busted
So just adjust it
A fresh coat of paint ought to do.
Congress wants just a revision
A fix-it up job here and there
We're on a budget
So just retouch it
It doesn't need that much repair.
We said "We concur"
We told them "For sure"
But we think the patient is dead
We are not tinkers
We are great thinkers
So we¹ve go our own plan instead...
We're gonna write us a constitution
Gonna start anew from scratch
Toss out the old that's the real solution
There is nothing left to patch.
We're gonna write us a constitution
Gonna have ourselves some fun
We're gonna have a great institution
When this whole shebang is done!
We¹ve got Washington, Madison, and Hamilton too
Gonna party here all summer long
And though Benjamin Franklin is at least 81
That ol' sucker is still going strong.
FRANKLIN, HAMILTON, and CHORUS:
We're gonna write us a constitution
Gonna start anew from scratch
Toss out the old that's the real solution
There is nothing left to patch.
We¹re gonna write us a constitution
Gonna have ourselves some fun
We¹re gonna have a great institution
When this whole shebang is done!
Done! Done!
(THEY exit. SALLY and BILL enter)
SALLY: Hello again. It's time we met some more of our competitors.
BILL: There are more?
SALLY: All 13 states sent representatives to Philadelphia. Except
Rhode Island.
BILL: What's with that?
SALLY: Rhode Island refused to send any delegates.
BILL: I've always been suspicious about Rhode Island.
SALLY: Don't worry about it.
BILL: I mean, it's not even an island.
SALLY: Bill...
BILL: Or a road! It's completely misleading tourists.
SALLY: Let it go, Bill. The other state legislatures elected 74 delegates.
BILL: 74! How many Founding Fathers does one country need?
SALLY: Only 55 attended the meetings in Philadelphia.
BILL: That's still a pretty big pack of patriots. And we¹ve brought
them all back to life? What if they go nuts during a challenge and trash the Pennsylvania State House?
SALLY: Independence Hall, as it is now known, will be just fine. By
the end of the summer of 1787 only 39 signed the Constitution. And
one of them will be the winner of Back from the Dead.
BILL: I hope it's no one from Rhode Island.
SALLY (trying to escort BILL off stage): Let's go, Bill. Here come
some more competitors right now.
(THEY exit. FOUR DELEGATES enter. TWO represent Big
States; TWO represent Small States.)
BIG STATE#1: We should win this thing easy! We solved the
biggest problem of the convention.
LITTLE STATE #1: Too much starch in our wigs?
BIG STATE #2: No! How to make sure both the big states and little
states could feel they had a say in a strong national government.
LITTLE STATE #2: I thought you Big States would never give us a
congress with an equal number of representatives for each state.
BIG STATE #1: And you Little States weren't exactly thrilled at a
congress that gave representatives according to population.
LITTLE STATE #1: We were awesome!
(pause)
Uh, how'd we solve it?
BIG STATE #2: Weren't you there when we came up with the
two-house compromise?
LITTLE STATE #1: Well, yeah. But I couldn't hear anything.
LITTLE STATE #2: Why not?
LITTLE STATE #1: I had too much starch in my wig.
Song 4 -
Listen now!
LARGE STATES: Small states all they did was shout
SMALL STATES: We just wanted our share but the
Big states tried to squeeze us out
LARGE STATES: That would only be fair!
ALL FOUR (pointing at each other):
They said blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
It drove me out of my mind
They said blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
I never thought we would find
The Great Compromise
The Great Compromise
The Great Compromise.
Then we came up with a scheme
Congress split into two houses
Neither one of them supreme
One each for me and you!
House of Representatives
It gave the big states a break
Then we made a Senate too
It got the small states to make
The Great Compromise
The Great Compromise
The Great Compromise.
(BIG STATES and SMALL STATES do the Congressional
Dance. Basically, they can run around in delight and then
shake hands. )
LARGE STATES, SMALL STATES, CHORUS:
The Great Compromise
The Great Compromise
The Great Compromise.
(This concludes the first one-third of the script.)
"We are having such fun with U.S. Constitution. It is great
and we will be performing it before school ends. Thanks again for creating products that not only support
the curriculum, but are fun and easy to use. I am already thinking about
next year's production!"
---Connie Patterson, Teacher (5th grade), Cayuga Heights Elementary, Ithaca,
NY
"We got the play on a Tuesday and it went up in front of the school
and parents two
weeks later to rave reviews. The writing was fresh and clever. The songs
were
catchy (I woke up nights with those songs going through my head). At the same time
we were working on the play, we were studying
the US
Constitution using "We the People" (from Center for Civic Education). Generally,
we
complete this study with a mock congressional hearing. But this year
we did your play
instead. Students said, 'The play helped me to understand what we were
reading in
"We the People" and because of the songs, I remember it.'
"Your suggestions for putting on the play were right on the money.
And you were
really easy to deal with. Quick, honest communication, with very personal
service.
Amazing."
---Melody Murphy, Teacher (5th grade), Glenwood Elementary, San Rafael,
CA
"This has some of the best music in the Bad Wolf collection. The
kids loved it and
it was easy to stage. Excellent and entertaining storytelling which directly
aligned to
material our fifth graders had to learn. One of my favorites."
---April Cochran, Director, Market House Theater, Paducahl, KY
"Thanks for a fun script. We had a blast and you can see it in
the kids' faces."
---Deborah Pasarow, Teacher (7th/8th grade), St. Prius School, Buena
Park, CA
"Students loved it -- great songs."
---Patricia Bell, Teacher (4th/5th grade), Norma Coombs School, Pasadena,
CA.
"I'm a second year teacher and just had my first performance with
my eighth grade
class. Kids loved it. Parents loved it. Principal loved it. I loved it!
Doing another
in the spring! Thanks!"
---Jen Vargas, Teacher (8th Grade), Ophir Elementary, Newcastle, CA
Q:
How many scenes are in the play?
rose September 30, 2018 6:32 PM
A:
The number of scenes in all our shows correlates roughly with the number of songs. This is a 10-song show, so there are about 10 scenes, although the first and last songs don't have dialogue—they each consist of a song that the whole class sings.
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?
- You will need to have Adobe Reader (free) or another software application that can open PDF files.
- 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.
- 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.