一百条裙子英文版课堂教学舞台剧表演

Adapted for the stage by Amy
Ewaldt-Doseck
NAME: _______________________________________________________________________
MY CHARACTER IS: ____________________________________________________________
“The Hundred Dresses”
by Eleanor Estes
adapted for the stage by Amy M. Ewaldt-Doseck
CHARACTERS:
Narrator: very kind, very good storyteller, good, clear voice
Wanda: very quiet and shy
Peggy: very outspoken, popular, and pretty
Madeleine or Maddie: Peggy‟s best friend
Cecile: pretty dancer in their class
Girls 1, 2, 3: girls in the class
Jake: Wanda‟s brother
Teacher
Students
Narrator: Today, Monday, Wanda Petronski was not in class. But nobody, not even Peggy and Madeleine, the girls who started the Dresses Game, noticed her absence.
Usually Wanda sat in the next to the last seat in the last row in Room 13. She sat in the corner of the room where the rough boys who did not make good marks sat; the corner of the room where there was the most scuffling of feet, and the most mud and dirt on the floor.
Wanda did not sit there because she was rough and noisy. On the contrary, she was very quiet and rarely said anything at all. And nobody heard her laugh out loud. Sometimes she twisted her mouth into a crooked sort of smile, but that was all.
Maybe Wanda sat there because she came all the way from Boggins Heights, and her feet were usually caked with dry mud that she picked up coming down the country roads. Maybe the teacher liked to keep all the children with dirty shoes in one corner of the room.
(Lights up, girls enter arm in arm)
Peggy: You know what? This must be the kind of day they mean when they say, “October‟s bright blue weather”!
Maddie: It is a beautiful day! I‟d imagine everyone must be happy on a day like this.
(They walk up to the group of chatting, giggling girls)
Girl1: Hi Peg! Hi Maddie! Look at Cecile!
(Cecile steps forward and does a twirl as all continue to chit chat, ooh and aah over her dress, ad lib. Wanda and Jake enter and approach the group. Wanda stops.)
Jake: Come on, Wanda! I gotta hurry! I gotta get the doors open and ring the bell.
Wanda: You go the rest of the way. I want to stay here.
(Jake walks past group and exits. Wanda slowly approaches as group continues to talk)
Girl1: (gushing) Isn‟t it lovely!
Girl2: Yeah, I have a new blue dress, but it‟s not as pretty as that.
Girl3: My mother just bought me a plaid, one of the Stuart plaids.
Cecile: (sniffs) I got this new dress for dancing school.
Girl1: I‟m gonna make my mother get me one just like Cecile‟s! (all girls chatter and agree, ad lib) (Wanda slowly reaches out and touches Peggy‟s arm. She says something very quiet we can‟t hear.)
Peggy: (alarmed) What?!
Wanda: (very shy and quiet) I got a hundred dresses at home.
Peggy: That‟s what I thought you said. A hundred dresses. A HUNDRED! (calling out) Hey, ladies! This girl‟s got a hundred dresses!
Girl1: (suspicious) A hundred dresses? Nobody could have a hundred dresses.
Wanda: I have though.
Peggy: Wanda has a hundred dresses.
Cecile: Where are they then?
Wanda: In my closet.
Cecile: Oh, you don‟t wear them to school?
Wanda: No. For parties.
Cecile: Oh, you mean you don‟t have any everyday dresses.
Wanda: Yes, I have all kinds of dresses.
Girl2: Why don‟t you wear them to school then?
Wanda: (pauses) A hundred of them. All lined up in my closet.
Peggy: (making fun) Oh, I see. (talking like a grown up) The child has a hundred dresses, but wouldn‟t wear them to school. Perhaps she‟s worried of getting ink or chalk on them.
(all girls but Maddie burst into giggles, and chatting, ad lib) SCHOOL BELL RINGS IN DISTANCE Maddie: (relieved) Oh, come on, hurry, we‟ll be late! (girls run quickly away from Wanda) Peggy: Goodbye Wanda! Your hundred dresses sound bee-you-tiful!
(Girls giggle and all exit)
Narrator: And so, that was the way the Dresses Game began. Everyday after, through October, November, and December, the girls would play the Dresses Game. (enter girls, center stage with coats on)
Peggy: (in a super polite voice) Wanda, Wanda, tell us. How many dresses did you say you had hanging up in your closet?
Wanda: A hundred.
All girls: (incredulously) A hundred!
Wanda: Yeah, a hundred, all lined up.
Peggy: What are they like? All silk, I bet.
Wanda: Yeah, all silk, all colors.
Cecile: Velvet too?
Wanda: Yeah, velvet too. A hundred dresses. All lined up in my closet. There‟s a jungle green one with a red sash. And a pale blue one with cerise-colored trimmings.
Girl1: Uh-huh. And how many shoes did you say you had?
Wanda: Sixty.
Girl2: Sixty! Sixty pairs or sixty shoes?
Wanda: Sixty pairs. All lined up in my closet.
Girl3: Yesterday you said fifty.
Wanda: Now I got sixty.
All girls: All alike?
Wanda: Oh, no. Every pair is different. All colors. All lined up.
(girls all giggle, and leave, chanting, “All lined up! All lined up!”
Narrator: Now Peggy was not really cruel. She protected small children from bullies. She cried
for hours if she saw an animal mistreated. If anybody had said to her, “Don‟t you think that is a cruel way to treat Wanda?” she would have been very surprised. (enter Peggy, talking to audience) Peggy: Cruel? What‟s the girl want to go and say she had a HUNDRED dresses for? Anybody can tell it‟s a lie. Why does she want to lie? And, she isn‟t just an ordinary person, …cause why
else would she have a name like that? We all have names like Thomas, and Smith, and Allen—
not Petronski. Anyway, I never made her cry. (Peggy exits)
Narrator: As for Maddie, this business of asking Wanda every day how many dresses and shoes and hats she had was bothering her. Mad die was poor herself. She usually wore somebody‟s hand-me-down clothes. She even had one of Peggy‟s old dresses, and her mother changed the trimming so the other girls wouldn‟t recognize it. Thank goodness Maddie didn‟t live on Boggins Heights or have a funny name. (enter Maddie, talking to audience)
Maddie: If only Peggy would decide to stop making fun of Wanda! I don‟t want the girls to start making fun of me. Maybe I should say something to her…but…I‟m her best friend, and Peggy is the best-liked girl in the whole school. I‟m sure Peggy couldn‟t possibly do anything that was really wrong. (Maddie looks uncomfortable and exits)
Narrator: And now, today is Monday. A cold, clear winter Monday. The winners of the arts and colors contest are about to be announced. All of the students are here today…all except Wanda Petronski. (set change)
(Teacher sits at her desk. All enter and comment as they take their seats. Maddie and Peggy walk in and gasp)
Peggy: Wow! Look! (the class is obviously amazed and admiring the hundred pictures) Teacher: Class, please find your seats. Obviously, you can see that the winners of our arts and colors contest are about to be announced. For the boys, the winner is Jack Smith from Room 12. As for the girls, well, Room 13 should be very proud of her—this girl drew one hundred designs—
all different and all beautiful. I am happy to say that Wanda Petronski is the winner of the girls‟ medal. Unfortunately, Wanda has been absent from school for some days and is not here to receive her award or the applause that is due her. Class, why don‟t you file around the room quietly and look at her exquisite drawings and let‟s hear it for Wanda!
(Children all burst into rowdy applause; they rise and respectfully look at drawings)
Maddie: Look, Peg. There‟s that blue one she told us about. Isn‟t it beautiful?
Peggy: Yeah, and here‟s that jungle green one. Boy, and I thought I could draw! Wanda‟s art is amazing!
(student walks in with a letter for the teacher. Teacher reads silently)
Teacher: Room 13! May I have your attention please! I have a letter from Wanda‟s father that I want to read to you. (teacher clears her throat and reads) Dear Teacher. My Wanda will not
come to your school anymore. Jake also. Now we move away to big city. No more holler names at us. No more ask why funny name. Plenty of funny names in big city. Yours truly, Jan Petronski
(a long silence from all. Teacher removes her glasses and cleans them)
Teacher: (very serious) I am sure none of my boys and girls in Room 13 would purposely and deliberately hurt anyone‟s feelings because his name happened to be an unfamiliar one. I prefer
to think that what was said was said in thoughtlessness. I know that all of you feel the way I do, that this is a very very unfortunate thing to have happen. Unfortunate and sad, both. And I want you to think about this. (music cue, class exits, narrator enters)
Narrator: That night, Maddie sat up in bed and pressed her forehead tight in her hands and really thought. This was the hardest thinking she had ever done. After a long time, she reached an important conclusion. (enter Maddie, in pajamas)
Maddie: (to audience) I will never stand by and say nothing again. If I ever hear anybody picking on someone because they were funny looking or because they had strange names, I‟ll speak up. Even if it means losing Peggy‟s friendship. And I‟ll send a letter saying I‟m sorry to Wanda. Maybe I won‟t be able to make things right with her, but I‟ll neve r make anybody else so unhappy again.
Narrator: Maddie and Peggy both decided to write a letter. They filled it full of news of the drawing contest and telling Wanda how she had won. They told her how pretty her drawings were, and that now they were studying about Winfield Scott in school. And they asked if she liked where she was living now and if she liked her new teacher. And they said they were sorry, and they missed her, and they hoped she was well. And when they dropped the letter into the mailbox together, they both felt happier and more carefree. They didn‟t know if Wanda would forgive them. They didn‟t know if the letter would ever find her. But three weeks later, they had a pleasant surprise.
(class enters, takes seats, teacher sits at desk, music plays)
Teacher: Class, I have a surprise for you. You remember Wanda Petronski? The bright little artist who won the drawing contest? Well, she has written me and I want to read her letter to you. (class sits up straighter to listen; teacher takes out letter and reads) Dear Miss Mason: How are you and Room 13? Please tell the girls they can keep those hundred dresses because in my new house I have a hundred new ones all lined up in my closet. I‟d like that girl Peggy to have the drawing of the green dress with the red trimming and her friend Maddie to have the blue one. I miss that school and my new teacher does not equalize with you. My best to you and everybody. Yours truly, Wanda Petronski.
Ladies, here are your drawings. (hand s two to the girls) We‟ll take the others home after the holiday break. Now it‟s off to lunch, please, off to lunch! (class rises and exits, music rises, Maddie and Peggy stay behind looking at their drawings. Maddie suddenly notices something)
Maddie: (excited) Peggy! Let me see your picture!
Peggy: What‟s the matter?
Maddie: LOOK! She drew YOU! That‟s you in the dress!
Peggy: (looks carefully) Wow, what do you know?! She must‟ve really liked us anyway. Maddie: Yes, she must have. I think she must have. (girls link arms and exit, music up, lights down)
THE END
Costume or Prop items I need to bring:
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Notes from the director I need to remember:
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Don’t forget these tips from class:
✩Acting is reacting
✩What would a normal person do?
✩speak clearly, slowly, and hit your hard sounds
✩cheat your body toward the audience
✩stay in the scene and STAY ALIVE onstage
✩you are responsible for yourself—d on’t let down your team!
✩DO YOUR BEST AND HAVE FUN!!! ☺。