Title of the work: “School Lessons”
Author: Janet Mora
6 CHARACTERS:
- Elvira (a giraffe)
- BooBoo (a chimpanzee)
- Kiko (a capuchin monkey)
- Sandy (an anteater)
- Mary (a brown bear)
- Moto (a big gorilla)
SETTING: Time to play in the animal school playground. A large playground with a huge tree all around the center.
INTRODUCTION: The schoolyard is filled with all the little forest animals playing, we see all kinds of animals.
BooBoo, Kiko and Sandy seem to be having a lot of fun playing soccer with a ball autographed by the best player on the entire continent. We see Sandy and Mary sitting on a bench, cheering the game on.
ACT I
BooBoo: I’m the best kicker in this school Kiko! You’ll never beat me!
Kiko: You may be the better kicker BooBoo, but I’m still the faster of the two of us!
Sandy: You are the best soccer players in this school! And without a doubt Mary and I are the prettiest!
Mary: You’re telling me, Sandy! There must be a lot of girls in this school who wish they were like us!
Elvira: (tapping Sandy and Mary on the shoulder) Hi, can I sit with you?
Mary: (in an obnoxious tone and looking up) But who are you?
Sandy: (mockingly) Wow! What a long neck you have!
Elvira: Yes, it’s because I’m a giraffe. I am the tallest species among all land animals!
Mary: And being so tall, how do you think we can tell you secrets? We would have to climb on you to tell them to you and it would take forever, it would look ridiculous! You can never be our friend! You are not our size!
BooBoo and Kiko stop playing and burst out laughing and approach Mary, Sandy and Elvira.
Elvira: (with tears in her eyes) That’s a very hurtful thing to say.
Elvira walks crying away from them and stands in a corner.
Suddenly they hear big, dry footsteps. BooBoo and Kiko stop laughing and are paralyzed with fear.
Moto: But look who’s here! They are the self-proclaimed “Best players of the school” and look who’s with them! Let’s see what they’re doing without their autographed ball!
Moto snatches the ball from Kiko and throws it to the tallest tree in the yard.
Moto: And now let’s see what they do without their pretentious Sandy! (Moto grabs Sandy and mounts her on the top of the same tree where he put the autographed ball)
Moto: (walking away) Ha, ha, ha! Let’s see if anyone helps them, which I don’t think they will!
Sandy keeps screaming in fear from the top of the tree. Kiko and BooBoo look desperate as they don’t know what to do to help Sandy and get the beloved ball down. Mary, in shock, looks pensive. All the animals in the school look at them and laugh. None of them show any desire to help them.
Mary: I think there is someone who can help us get Sandy and the ball down. Someone I wish I didn’t have to ask.
We see Mary approach Elvira, who is still crying sitting on a stool with her back turned. She has not noticed what has happened.
Mary: Dear Elvira. I know that making fun of your long neck a few seconds ago with my friends was not right, and I want to apologize. Now your long and strong neck is the only thing that can help us right now.
Elvira: (wiping her tears and in an excited voice) What could I be good for, Mary?
Mary points to the tree. Elvira can’t believe her eyes. She runs to the tree.
Elvira: Come down by my neck Sandy! Hold on to it and come down slowly, you won’t hurt me and you can’t fall, I’ll be protecting you!
Sandy, crying, manages to get down from the huge tree. When she touches the ground she hands the autographed ball to BooBoo and hugs Mary tightly. Elvira looks happy.
Mary: I feel terribly sorry for you Elvira.
Sandy: Elvira, you saved me. And you shouldn’t have because I was teasing you a little while ago. You have a big heart, I don’t know how to thank you.
BooBoo: I do know how to thank you for this huge gesture! Kiko and I want to give you our autographed ball as an apology!
Elvira: I can’t accept it, it’s your precious ball!
Kiko: If you don’t want to accept it, then let this ball become the symbol of our friendship that starts right now!
Elvira looks really excited and lowers her neck making Mary, Sandy, Kiko and BooBoo ride on it.
Elvira (shouts excitedly): It will be the beginning of a fun and very different friendship!
Suddenly, huge, dry footsteps are heard again on the floor. We see Moto enter and everyone freezes.
Moto: I hope this has served as a great lesson. We are all different, but very important in our own way. If it hadn’t been for the great height of Elvira’s neck, Sandy would not have been able to climb down. We must respect and accept others as they are. If someone is different from us, it doesn’t mean that he is better or worse than us. We are all the same inside.
THE END.