Title: “Youth and politics”.
Author: Silvina Carrasco
9 Characters:
- Teacher Mario: Social Sciences teacher. He strongly believes in young people and their power to change reality.
- Leo: He is the one who tries to reconcile when the rest can’t agree.
- Lara: She is the intellectual of the group. She is serious and can seem a bit arrogant.
- Santiago: A little more shy than the rest but also participates.
- Lola (Dolores): Her main interest is fashion and appearance. She always talks and behaves with naive enthusiasm.
- Matías: He is part of social militancy and ecologist groups….
- Ramiro: The pessimist of the group.
- Joaquin: Average student.
- Adults and children: Extras. They go to the fair.
ACT I
Scenario: The classroom of a school with it´s benches, chairs, lockers, blackboard and teacher’s desk.
Characters involved in this act: Teacher Mario, Leo, Lara, Santiago, Lola, Ramiro, Matías and Joaquin.
The children are in the classroom talking, some sitting on their chairs, others on the benches, others standing. Teacher Mario enters, they all begin to sit down.
Teacher Mario: (leaning on his desk, he crosses his arms) Quiet please, let’s sit down! I cordially invite you to open your folders to begin this fascinating class on Politics and Society.
(General complaints)
-Joaquin: Oh teacher, how boring!
-Lola: Did you see the transparency of the first lady’s dress?! Aren’t there rules for dressing when you are first lady?!
-Lara: Oh Dolores, that’s not politics, that’s vanity!
-Lola: Well, can you tell us what politics is? (to her bench mate) She may know a lot about politics, but she knows a lot about clothes combinations… Look at that fluorine yellow with brown!
(Laughing and shouting, encouraging the discussion to go on)
-Teacher Mario: Okay, okay, guys, that’s enough.
Since you are so eager to debate and give your opinion, the first session of the fourth year assembly is formally inaugurated!
-Ramiro: And what are we supposed to debate?
-Teacher Mario: Didn’t you complain about how cold it is in some classrooms in winter because of the broken heaters? Well, solve it!
-Leo: Yes, that’s a great idea.
-Santiago: We can come up with solutions….
-Leo: Yes, and then we can choose one.
-Lara: The only thing we can do is to write a note addressed to the school’s management and have them send it to whoever is responsible for solving the problem.
-Matías: What are you saying… The problems of the school or the community cannot be solved with little notes. We have to get involved, get active, get to work!
-Ramiro: And what do you suggest, craftsman?
-Matías: I don’t know, let’s ask for collaborations in the radio stations and businesses, let’s have raffles, a fair and let’s solve the heating issue ourselves.
-Lara: It’s not up to us.
(Everyone speaks at the same time, wanting to give their opinion)
-Santiago: Let’s vote.
-Lola: (raising her hand) I vote for Mati’s idea. Who else?
(More than half of them raise their hands)
-Leo: Well, we are the majority, let’s get to work then!
ACT II
Scenario: A school playground during a fair: stans, garlands, banners, games.
Characters involved in this act: Teacher Mario, Leo, Lara, Lola, Santiago, Matías, Joaquin, Ramiro, the other classmates, children and adults who went to the fair.
The fair takes place.
Lola sells used clothes on a stand. Lara sells donated books in another. Matías pretends to explain the process of recycling bottles to some children at his stand. Leo, Ramiro and Joaquin are in charge of the games. The rest of the classmates carry boxes back and forth. Teacher Mario walks and observes. The children run and participate in the games. The adults shop and talk among themselves.
(Everyone interacts. Mixed conversations, laughter and shouts are heard).
ACT III
Scene: The classroom, set in the same way as in ACT I.
Characters that intervene in this act: Teacher Mario, Leo, Lara, Lola, Santiago, Matías, Joaquin and Ramiro.
-Teacher Mario: Well, tell me. What do you have to tell me about the fair?
-Leo: Everyone contributed things and work and we were able to raise more money than we had planned.
-Leo: One of the things that interested me was that you could see that beyond parties and flags, politics, in it´s most essential form, is about seeking agreements in pursuit of a common good, and you did!
-Lara: We could not always agree easily. But we realized that the best system is to expose each one’s ideas and then do what the majority votes.
-Matías: Yes, even if it doesn’t guarantee the best choice, you can’t argue that this system is the best.
-Santiago: And the best thing is that we solved several school problems.
-Teacher Mario: The important thing is that they understood that differences often add up.
-You are so different from each other, were able to use your differences to complement each other and create the best working group to solve problems. (He tousles Santiago’s hair as a token of affection.) (Joking) You can create a list and apply for something!
-Ramiro: We get along well because there is no big money involved yet.
All in unison: Ramiro!
(Laughing)
THE END