TROUPE SEVERNA

Severna Park Elementary School's Premiere Drama Troupe

WORKSHOP SKITS

FALL PROGRAM DATES TBA

The Lone Witch Rides Again

Wilhelmina wants to be just like the rest of ghouls and ghosts, but who ever heard of a pretty witch?  At the annual All Hallow's Eve party, Wilhelmina gets her chance, and she'll do anything to fit in - anything except steal Halloween!

Ananse the Spider Man & the Story King

The world works and works so hard until Ananse spins a web and climbs to the sky to earn stories from the Story King.  But leopards, hornets, and tricky faeries threaten to keep him from bringing happiness to his people!

Shakespeare Rocks!

The master playwright might be long gone, but his plays live on!

Cupid and Apollo

A Greek Myth

Adapted by Beverly Hill van Joolen

*Play adaptation is done!*   

(It's too long to put on the site, but here are the lead characters we'll be casting)

Narrator #1

Narrator #2

Cupid

Apollo

Venus

Diana

Vulcan

Daphne

Peneus

Python

Hermes

Titan

Daphne's Friends

Apollo's Friends

Apollo is the god who drove an ornate chariot (like a sleigh with wheels) pulled by magnificent horses. His job was to pull the sun across the sky each morning and take it back at night.  Apollo was big, strong, and handsome. He was also a bit conceited. 

Cupid is the son of Venus, who is the Goddess of Love. No matter how old Cupid got, he never grew any bigger than a toddler, but he was very smart and a bit mischievous too. One day Cupid watched as Apollo fought the hideous beast Python with his great bow and arrow. Cupid asked Apollo to teach him to shoot the bow and arrow, but Apollo laughed and sent Cupid away. This made Cupid angry, so he went to his good friend, Vulcan for help.

Vulcan is a blacksmith. He made all the chariots, swords, shields, horseshoes, and bows and arrows for the gods. When Cupid asked Vulcan to make a bow and arrow for him, Vulcan wasn’t sure if he should.  When Venus dropped by and gave him the okay, Vulcan quickly forged the gift.  Being the goddess of love, Venus blessed the arrows giving them the gift of love.  Anyone touched by one of Cupid’s arrows would fall in love with the next person they saw!

Cupid’s first victim was, of course, Apollo. After being hit with Cupid’s arrow, Apollo fell in love with a sweet and beautiful girl named Daphne, but she didn’t like Apollo at all and ran away. Daphne’s father, Peneus, who is the river god, saw Daphne running away from Apollo and quickly changed her into a tree. Apollo was heartbroken, and spent many days and nights beneath her branches begging for forgiveness and trying to convince her of his true love for her.

Finally, Venus took pity on both Daphne and Apollo and deciding he had learned his lesson, broke the spells. When Daphne turned back into a woman, Apollo took up the leaves that had fallen on the ground and wove a beautiful circlet for her head as a peace offering. Daphne accepted his friendship and all was well - except, of course, for those poor souls who still occasionally fall victim to naughty Cupid’s arrows.

The End

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

(Ms. Beverly's abbreviated edition)

    An evil stepmother came to live at the castle of a kindhearted king and his charming daughter Snow White. The new queen valued beauty above all else and consulted with her magic mirror every day to ensure she was the most beautiful woman in all the kingdom.  One day, the mirror gave her an answer she didn’t like.

    "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all."

    "You are, my Queen, but only for now.  Soon Snow White will be belle of the ball."

    The queen flew into a rage and called in the king’s best huntsman to her room.  She ordered the man to take Snow White into the forest, tie her up, and toss her into the cold lake.

    The huntsman was sad, but he had no choice. That afternoon he took Snow White deep into the forest to gather flowers.  He’ pulled out his rope and was about to tie her up but instead, the huntsman fell to the ground and begged the young princess' forgiveness.

    "Run, Princess, Run! Your evil stepmother wants me to toss you into the lake, but I cannot! You are too sweet and kind. Tear a piece of cloth from your skirt and give it to me.  I will trick the queen into believing you are dead. "

    Snow White did as she was told.  The huntsman soaked the material in the cold lake water and stuffed it into his leather pouch.

    "Run!" the huntsman yelled at her. "Run! for your life! "

    Snow White ran and ran until she could run no more. She fell against a tree trunk and cried herself to sleep in the dark forest.

    Back at the castle, the queen rewarded the huntsman when she saw the wet and torn material.  After he left, she consulted her magical mirror.

    "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who now is the fairest of them all?"

    "Beautiful you are, my queen, tis true. But Snow White is even more beautiful than you."

    When the queen heard what the mirror had to say, she threw it to the floor and stormed down to her secret dungeon. She mixed up a terrible potion and dipped a beautiful red apple into it. Then the queen drank a bit of the mixture herself and - poof - turned into a hideous old woman. The queen tucked the shiny, poisonous apple into a basket and headed into the forest to find Snow White.

    As soon as the sun rose, Snow White woke up and found she’d been taken to the house of the Seven Dwarfs.  Everything in the house was tiny. Tiny chairs, a tiny table, tiny dishes, and tiny beds.

    When the little men heard Snow White’s story, they all agreed to allow Snow White to live in their cottage. She  was very grateful offered to clean their messy house and cook delicious pies, soup, and bread for them.

    The little men left for work in the diamond mines, but made Snow White promise not to answer the door for anyone.

    The charming princess was busy cleaning and chopping apples for the pie when she heard a knock on the door.

    "I’m sorry," called Snow White through the locked door. "I promised not to let anyone in."

    "Very good sense," answered the old woman. "Very good indeed. In that case I’ll come to the window."

    The old woman hobbled to the open window and called out, "Apples for sale. Ripe juicy apples."

    Snow White pushed open the curtain. "My, they are beautiful and I could use one or two more apples for my pie."

    "Taste it," said the old woman. "Try one little bite and you’ll see just how sweet they are."

    Snow White took a big bite of the shiny apple. "Mmmm," she said.  "It's so juicy, and sweet, and delicious, and . . . .

    As poor Snow White tried to swallow the apple, the gooey poison made it stick in her throat! It wouldn’t go down. It would come up! Before long, Snow White fell to ground. Laughing a cold, evil laugh, the queen hid behind a rock to watch for the Seven Dwarfs to come home.

    Just as the sun set, the Dwarfs returned to the cottage with their dear friend, Prince Charming. When the Prince saw Snow White lying on the floor, he picked her up, and gave her a big squeeze. The piece of poisoned apple went flying out of her throat, through the window, and straight into the gaping mouth of the wicked queen!  The queen was so afraid of her own poison, she ran to the lake for a drink  of water.   Clumsy from her disguise, the queen tripped on a rock, fell headfirst into the icy lake, and was never seen again.

    As for Snow White, she married the handsome prince and with the help of  her father and the seven dwarfs, planted and orchard full of peach trees so she never had to eat an apple again!

The End

"A STORY A STORY"

An African Tale Retold

 adapted from

Gail E. Haley

    Nyame, the Sky God, owned all the stories of the earth. He kept them in a golden box next to his royal stool.

    Ananse, the Spider man, wanted to buy the Sky God’s stories to share with the world. So he spun a web up to the sky.

    When the Sky God heard Ananse’s request he laughed: "Twe, twe, twe. The price of my stories is this: You must bring me three gifts - Osebo the Leopard of-the-terrible-teeth, Mmbora the hornet-who-stings-like-fire, and Mmoatia the fairy whom-men-never-see."

    Ananse bowed and answered: "I shall gladly pay your price." Ananse the Spider Man then climbed down to earth on his web and began his quest. He ran along the jungle path - yridi, yridi, yridi - till the came to Osebo.

    "Oho, Ananse," said the terrible toothed tiger, "you are just in time to be my lunch."

    "It may come to pass that I will be your lunch," said Ananse. "But, first let us play the binding game. I will bind you foot by foot, then I will untie you, and you can bind me.

    Osebo loved games and quickly agreed. Osebo knew a good game would increase his appetite and make Anase taste all the better.

    Ananse tied the leopard - by his foot, by his foot, by his foot, by his foot - with a vine creeper. Osebo couldn’t move. "Untie me so I might tie you," Osebo said. But Ananse shook his head and said to the tiger, "Aha, Osebo! You are now ready to meet the Sky god." Osebo was not happy but there was nothing he could do. Ananse then hung Osebo from a tree for safe keeping and continued on his quest.

    Next Ananse crept to the nest of Mmboro, the hornets-who-sting-like-fire. He held a banana frond in one hand and a cut gourd filled with water in the other. Ananse poured the water from the gourd over the frond above his head. It seemed like rain falling onto the nest. The hornets came rushing out into the now empty gourd. Ananse capped the opening and said, "Now Mmboro, you are are ready to meet the Sky God. Mmboro were not happy, but there was nothing they could do. Ananse hung the calabash gourd next to the leopard and set out to find Mmoatia the fairy whom-men-never-see.

    Much preparation had to be made to capture Mmoatia. First Ananse found a large branch and out of it carved a charming wooden doll.  In her hand, the doll held a large bowl. Ananse filled the bowl with delicious pounded yams and he set the doll at the foot of a flamboyant tree where he’d heard fairies loved to dance. Finally, Ananse tied a vine to the doll, covered the doll with sticky sticky latex gum, and hid behind the tree to wait.

    Before long Mmoatia came dancing, dancing, dancing by. When she saw the doll offering yams she was delighted. "Please, doll," the Fairy said, "may I have some yams?"

    Hidden behind the tree, Ananse pulled the vine so the doll nodded its head. Mmoatia grabbed the bowl with both hands but when she tried to eat the yams, the fairy realized she was stuck!

    "Let go of me," Mmoatia cried. "Let go!" She pushed one foot one against the bowl - and it stuck. She pushed a second foot against the bowl - and it stuck, too!" Mmoatia was not happy. "You tricked me!" she screeched.

    "And now you too are ready to meet the Sky God," Ananse said. He carefully dragged Mmoatia to the tree where Osebo and Mmboro hung, and spun a new web up to the sky. Ananse tugged his three captives up the web and carefully laid them in front of Nyame.

    The Sky God and his court were shocked. " I have done as you asked," Ananse informed Nyame. Now, may I have your golden box of stories.?"

    "Nyame, no.  You cannot give away the stories!" cried the nobles of Nyame’s court. Nyame held up his hand to silence his people. "Ananse has fulfilled my quest, Nyame announced. "He shall be a noble guardian of my stories and from this day and going on forever, they shall be known as ‘Spider Stories.’"

    The nobles of the court cheered, "Eeeee! Eeeeee! Eeeee!" Ananse thanked the Sky God and carried the golden box down the web to his village. Ananse’s people gathered around him. "Stand back," he said. "I have brought you a gift from Nyame."

    The people took three steps back. Ananse opened the lid of the box and stories - hundreds and thousands of them, even hundreds of thousands of stories spilled out. They covered the ground. They poured into the rivers and flowed into the seas. Stories flew into the air and across mountain tops until they covered the earth in a blanket of warmth and community. And that’s how the world got its stories - including this one.

The End

HANSEL & GRETEL

LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD