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The Folklore Festival
 A Theatrical Adaptation of
Three Multicultural Folktales

Folklore Festival play script
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Folklore Festival Play Script- An adaptation of three multicultural folktales Students will thrill at the chance to play the delightful characters in the Folklore Festival, and thoroughly enjoy the music and comedy. An African animal fable, a Medieval Japanese Fairy Tale and a Greek myth come to life, as do their respective cultures. It's a delightful multicultral experience for the audience as well.

Synopsis:
 The Folklore Festival is actually a collection of three multicultural folktales in one play:

In Why the Hare Runs Away, during one of the worst droughts in history, the animals who inhabit the desert decide they have to dig in the ground find water in order to survive. Every animal agrees to go into town and find work so they can buy a shovel... all, that is, except the Hare, who hides and then ends up frightening the other animals away from their newly dug watering hole, so he can have the water all to himself. When the other animals catch the Hare and threaten to banish him, he explains his behavior, and comes up with a compromise which will allow them all to have as much water as they need.

In the second of the three stories, The Sparrow Maiden, an old man and an old woman live on the side of the mountain. They are very different, the man being kind and the woman being mean and nasty. The old man befriends a sparrow but incurs the jealousy of the old woman in doing so. The old woman drives the bird out of the house, but the old man, determined to find his friend walks into the forest and finds a beautiful maiden who is the sparrow, transformed. The maiden offers him a choice of two wooden boxes as a gift, one small and one large. The man takes home the small box which turns out to contain a treasure in jewels. The old woman, angry that the old man took the smaller box, heads to the sparrow maiden's house to claim the large box which turns out to contain the demons of cruelty and greed, who chase her back to her home and the waiting arms of her husband. She realizes they both got what they deserve and becomes a kind and loving person.

The third story is a Greek myth, the Myth of Demeter and Persephone. When the God of the Underworld, Hades, sees the young Persephone and her mother, the Goddess Demeter, wandering the Earth to help the plants flourish, he instantly falls in love and kidnaps her. When Demeter threatens to kill all the vegetation on Earth, Zeus sends Hermes to the underworld to bring Persephone back. A happy reunion of mother and daughter is interrupted, however, when Hades attempts to reclaim Persephone as his queen, based on the law that anyone who eats food from the Land of the Dead must stay there forever. As Demeter is still threatening the plant life on Earth if her daughter is sent back to Hades, Athena must offer a compromise which results in the seasons of the year.



Description:
 This 45-minute play includes 3 stories, each of which is approximately 15 minutes in length and each of which can be performed separately or together.
Why the Hare Runs Away has 5 major roles and 1 small supporting character, all animals, all of any gender. Each of the parts can be double or multiple cast, allowing for a larger group to be involved. This script is excellent for early elementary school casts but works with older students who are uninhibited and not afraid to do animal characterizations, especially if they are performing the play for a young audience..
The Sparrow Maiden is a narrated pantomime, and the narrator role may be divided amongst several actors. There is one male role and the four women's parts, while the expandable chorus of Ninja Property Persons and the Demons can have interchangeable gender. It can be performed by elementary students, including early childhood, with a more mature narrator(s), or by middle or high school students as well.
is a 15-20 minute play featuring 3 strong male characters, 2 strong female characters, with many smaller supporting roles and a Greek chorus which is expandable in size, depending on the number of students to be cast. A delightful comedy, this play is good for upper elementary, middle and high school students. It can be intergenerational, as there are both strong adult and child roles.
Production ideas for sets, costumes, etc. and thematic curriculum ideas are included at the end. The hard copy version is 8 1/2" x 11" in size, spiral bound so as to lie flat on a desk when open, and with color cover.

Here's one of our satisfied customers:
"The plays are turning out to be an absolute success! The kids love the play you sent us. Thank you for making this a wonderful summer for our camp."
-- Nyle MacFarlane, strawberry_blond80@yahoo.com
-- Theatre teacher, Summer in the Parks

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Folklore Festival play script
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