CAST of "It's a GOOD Life!"
Anthony Fremont- 5 year old boy. Not an evil child, just a normal strong willed, intelligent, curious child who has infinite power and has never been corrected. This part may be played by a girl.
Aunt Amy- brain addled woman, tired, forgetful & confused. The actor must perform a dangerous prop manipulation and fall.
Mother: Mary Fremont-kind, gentle, fearful, and skilled in switching to a happy topic.
Father: Frank Fremont- kind, careful, decent man, determined to teach Anthony kindness and give her a normal childhood.
Bill Soames- very nervous delivery man.
Betty Soames- Bill’s brave wife or relative.
Hank- Honorable man, always holds a hammer that Anthony has attached to his hand.
Henry, Jr. or Henrietta- Hank’s child, age 11 to 16, rebels against all the fake cheerfulness.
Dan Hollis- his bitterness erupts on his birthday, performs a risky backfall.
Ethel Hollis- his cheerful loving wife.
Pat- timid man or woman, plays piano.
Thelma Dunn- perky, resourceful elderly lady
Alicia -Thelma’s granddaughter, age 10-17
THE SITUATION:
Little Anthony can read minds and control the world with his mind.
If he detects unhappy thoughts he will think a solution and it usually goes terribly wrong because he is just a child and can't understand the workings of machinery, human biology, agriculture and weather, so everyone tries to be happy with how things are.
If he detects bad feeling towards him, he will lash out at the thinker.
Five years ago, as he was born, Anthony Fremont thought the town off the earth.
They have existed with no other people, and no electricity or supplies such as gasoline since. They do not use money or have newspapers or broadcasts or use banks or grocery stores. There are no fuel or electrically powered machines. All their manufactured things are wearing out and being used up.
They live by sharing labor and harvest in mutual cooperation with all its petty jealousies, observations and judgements.
As their tools and supplies wear out, the dwindling survivors try to plot an escape while only thinking happy thoughts. It's the only way to stay alive. At Dan Hollis's birthday party, the stress becomes intolerable.
The population at the start of the story is 46.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
It's a GOOD Life!
based on the story by Jerome Bixby, adapted for stage by Jeannette Jaquish
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
ACT 1: A Hot Day
(Yard is in foreground or in audience, raised porch downstage, then the kitchen blending with living room upstage. A bucket of water is in the kitchen. An ominous cornfield is suggested at the edge of set. A rocker and chair on the porch.
There are a few now useless electric or gasoline devices being used for other things, such as a washing machine to hold firewood, and electric cords used as clothesline, rope and handles.
As curtain opens, AUNT AMY is carrying an electric coffee percolator and a tea cup from house to porch, but instead of pouring a cup, she pours seeds from the cup into a toaster and waters it with the percolator as well as herbs and flowers growing in useless devices such as a crockpot, popcorn popper, gas tank off a motorcycle, open canister vacuum, etc.
She pauses, hot and exhausted, and pats herself with the last drops and plops into the rocking chair near an empty chair on the porch.
BILL SOAMES rides bicycle with box up to porch. )
BILL SOAMES Hello Miss Amy. How are you today? I brought your groceries.
AUNT AMY: Hello Bill. I'm doing just fine, thank you, except I'm about to melt away, it's so hot. Goodness, how can you pedal that bicycle in this terrible heat?
BILL Oh, no, Miss Amy. The heat is good. It's not hot. It's um.. relaxing... Don't you think? (apprehensive) Uh...where is little Anthony? (sets box on porch)
AUNT AMY: Around somewhere, I think. (calling) Anthony? Bill Soames is here!
BILL Oh, you don't need to bother Anthony. I was just.... just wondering.
ANTHONY's voice: Bill!
BILL (startled, looking around) Yes, Anthony?
ANTHONY's voice: Look at what I'm making!
BILL Uh, where exactly...
(Bill is invisibly jerked down flat so he is looking under the porch)
Oh, there you are Anthony . Playing under the porch -- that looks like fun. Oh, say you've got it decorated real nice, just like a clubhouse. What is that you got there? Did... did that... did that used to be a rat?
ANTHONY's voice: It used to be two rats. Isn't it funny?
---------
---------- LINES SKIPPED
---------
ANTHONY OK! (Bill is released.)
AUNT AMY Mary's in the house, I think... Anthony? Where's your mother?
(MOTHER walks suddenly into kitchen as if shoved by an invisible force. Looks around then begin to tidy.)
ANTHONY Kitchen!
AUNT AMY In the kitchen, Bill. You can take it on in to her.
BILL SOAMES (stands, picks up box) Anthony? I need to walk up onto the porch now.... Is that OK?
ANTHONY's voice: It's OK.
BILL I don't want to make dust fall on you Anthony .
ANTHONY's voice (a little irritated) : I said it's OK!
BILL SOAMES (flying up steps to kitchen) Wooaah! Good afternoon, Mrs. Fremont.
MOTHER Why hello, Bill. I thought it might be you. That's quite an entrance.
BILL I had a little help.
MOTHER Well, take a bow; it was very graceful.
---------
---------- LINES SKIPPED
---------
BILL No, it's good! It's good that it's wearing out. We can always build another 'un from wood when these are gone.
MOTHER We couldn't do without you, Bill.
BILL It's not like when we ran out of gasoline.. (sudden terror!)
MOTHER (skillful cheerful scolding) Oh, tut tut, who needs stuff like that anymore? You'll be back for television tonight?
BILL (terrified and jolly) Oh, yes, of course. Wouldn't miss it. And who needs gasoline? Where is there to go? (more sudden terror)
MOTHER And Dan Hollis's surprise birthday party. (laughs) Shh - big secret!
---------
---------- LINES SKIPPED
---------
AUNT AMY Wow! He's going fast. I guess Anthony WAS paying attention. Anthony !!! Let Bill slow down, please. He's about to go off the edge. Anthony! Bill needs to slow down!
(She looks after him but can't seem
to see what happens. Then she forgets.)
Now, why am I standing here? Oh, it’s so hot.
(She ambles back to her rocker.)
(MOTHER brings ears of corn and sits next to Aunt Amy. They shuck the corn, AUNT AMY slower.)
MOTHER: Television tonight.
---------
---------- LINES SKIPPED
---------
AUNT AMY: Oh! I'm sorry, Mary. (Her eyes shuttle around, right and left)
MOTHER: Anthony doesn't have to be near, Amy. You know that. This weather's just fine.
AUNT AMY: Oh, yes. It's a wonderful day. I wouldn't want it changed for the world!
MOTHER: It's good that Anthony is getting older and understands better that we need things just the way they are. That having a sun is important. If you go thinking that the sun is too hot, well, think what might happen? (meaningful pause) You don't want that.
AUNT AMY: Oh, no. Like when I said the air smelled bad when Anthony killed the pigs.
MOTHER: Yes, Anthony tried to fix the air. You remember that, Amy, don't you? The choking? And all the people who were outside? Anthony is such a good, caring, helpful child, who might be listening, and that is why everything is just fine, just the way it is.
---------
---------- LINES SKIPPED
---------
AUNT AMY: I can remember everything BEFORE the cat rug but not after. Since then it's all confused, big holes, and what's left doesn't make sense...... Did Anthony do something to....
MOTHER (interrupting) Amy, do you remember the cake we made this morning?
AUNT AMY The cake? Yes! We made a cake! For...
MOTHER (teasing smile) For?...
MOTHER: Television tonight.
---------
---------- LINES SKIPPED
---------
MOTHER Henry Jr., I.... I haven't gotten the chance to tell you in person that I'm sorry about your dog.
HANK Oh, that's ok, Mrs. Fremont, we didn't want that dog no more. He was a bad dog. A bad digging dog.
HENRY JUNIOR Yeah, it was good that Anthony made Jasper choke to death... eating his own paws.
---------
---------- LINES SKIPPED
---------
MOTHER Anthony dear, did you put the Johnson's barn and the Wallace's silo into the river?
ANTHONY (grinning with pleasure) I rolled them in! (acts it out) Boingy boingy boingy. It was funny! The animals fell out but I rescued them.
HENRY JUNIOR Some of 'em drowned.
ANTHONY (pointing accusingly at Henry, Jr.) You're thinking I did a bad thing, Henry Junior!
---------
---------- LINES SKIPPED
---------
MOTHER Anthony, sweetie? Henry Junior was just sad when he saw the drowned animals. You understand him feeling sad don't you?
ANTHONY Yeah.....I don’t know…
MOTHER: Didn't you feel sad when you saw them, all drowned and dead?
ANTHONY A little bit. It hurt my chest. Why'd they die?
---------
---------- LINES SKIPPED
---------
FATHER Howdy, Aunt Amy.
AUNT AMY Howdy, Frank. Isn't it a hot day?
FATHER Oh, no Amy, it's a good day, a real good day.
(FATHER & MOTHER ENTER the Kitchen. He sits down at the kitchen table. Smiles. AUNT AMY follows carrying the corn, will put it into a pot and pour water from a bucket in.)
MOTHER: I'll get you a lemonade. Goodness you're a mess. And me to do laundry with no soap from now on...
(pours him lemonade) Oh, I still haven't gotten the roast in the oven. Amy would you bring in some firewood, please.
---------
---------- LINES SKIPPED
---------
FATHER It sure is! (drinks) Mmm that's good lemonade.
(Wipes his mouth, looks at his hands)
First year we did the harvesting by hand I got blisters,
(with a touch of pride) but now I got calluses.
MOTHER: Those are good strong hands. (gently strokes his hand) Well, that's one good thing since Anthony --
(he grips her hand in warning. She stops in horror at her own meaning and fixes it)
Along with all the OTHER good things that we have now that Anthony took the town away.
AUNT AMY (distracted) I kinda miss our electrical appliances. The refrigerator, the washing machine, the toaster, the radio...
MOTHER: Oh, NO, Amy, you're just talking silly now. That refrigerator and the washing machine they weren't no good, no good at all. It's much better now getting to do things by hand.
FATHER Sure is, getting to eat fresh baked bread. Mmm.. I could eat a loaf all by myself, I'm so hungry.
(Pause to see if anything bad will happen. Sigh of relief when it doesn't.)
AUNT AMY And if you pour the water in, the toilet still works.
---------
---------- LINES SKIPPED
---------
FATHER Well, honey, you try for the stereoscope or just anything you think we'll like.
(At last he swallowed the carrot, coughing a little.) That was a good carrot.
AUNT AMY Two frosts and now this heat wave. It's a wonder any of the crops survive.
MOTHER Guess we're all survivors. And that's good!
FATHER Sure is! And this Sunday we get the daisy quilt. Anthony and I can make a tent with it in the living room. That'll be nice. It's nice to think that there's probably still a lot of stuff nobody's found yet, in cellars and attics and barns and down behind things. They help, somehow..... As much as anything can help.
MOTHER: (fake laughing) Frank! Such talk! Everything is fine, just right!
---------
---------- LINES SKIPPED
---------
AUNT AMY Pretty soon, there won't be any more new things. We'll have found everything there is to find. Goodness, that'll be too bad.
MOTHER: Amy!
AUNT AMY Well-- (drifting on..) It will be kind of a shame, same stuff over and over, and then they'll start wearing out....
MOTHER: Amy, don't talk like that. (trembling.) Amy, be quiet!
FATHER No dear, Amy talking is good! (wanting-to-be-overheard tone of voice.) It's good for Amy to talk any way she wants. It's good for her to feel bad. You don't want her to stop talking, do you?
MOTHER: Oh, my goodness, no. Amy talking is good. But Amy, you don't want new things, do you? Think of what those new things might be.
---------
---------- LINES SKIPPED
---------
ANTHONY Hi Daddy,
FATHER Hi, Anthony-my-boy. I'm just getting cleaned up for television night. What have you been doing today?
ANTHONY (proudly) I made a rat with two heads.
FATHER Two heads? Oh, that's nice. Did you wish it to the cornfield?
ANTHONY Yep. But I'm tired of playing with rats.
FATHER Well, you used up all our chickens and pigs. We couldn't even eat them after you finished playing with them.
ANTHONY You said they were funny looking.
---------
---------- LINES SKIPPED
---------
>
FATHER Well, son. You know how much Mommy and I love you. Other parents love their children too. Billy and Susan Mitchell came to play, two weeks ago.
ANTHONY Yeah! That was fun!
FATHER But when they cried you got mad.
ANTHONY (mad) I gave them a ride and they screamed at me.
---------
---------- LINES SKIPPED
---------
ANTHONY Those men didn't like me. Mr. Taylor and Mr. ...
FATHER Wallace.
ANTHONY They were making a trap for me. They were thinking about it. And that's why I made them catch on fire.
---------
---------- LINES SKIPPED
---------
GRANDDAUGHTER ALICIA: ... and it's not fair because they got to keep the water colors an extra week and still got the roller skates, so they had both at once!
THELMA DUNN Landsakes, Alicia. That dress is getting skintight and is scandalously short. If you keep growing we’ll have to sew you more clothes.
GRANDDAUGHTER ALICIA: All we have are scraps. I don’t want another patchwork dress.
THELMA We can use the Wallace’s curtains.
ALICIA: But they smell like death!
THELMA We’ll wash them.
ALICIA: With no soap?
THELMA We’ll boil them and hang them in the sun.
ALICIA Which curtains? The grape leaves in the kitchen or the puke green in the living room?
---------
---------- LINES SKIPPED
---------
HENRY JR But Dad, even in the worst, even in the Wars, even in the Titanic, even in 1984, even when they were being scalped by Indians, they still had their thoughts. They had that!
HANK: Son we have no choice. With a good attitude we can make it better. Just keep looking on the bright side. And that's an order! Come on, Son.
---------
---------- LINES SKIPPED
---------
DAN If you hadn’t misplaced your shoes we wouldn’t have wasted all that time.
MRS HOLLIS Dan! It’s television night. Let’s relax and enjoy it. We bring the corkscrew so they aren’t going to start without us.
DAN Just how do you leave one shoe under the bed and the other behind the umbrella stand?
---------
---------- LINES SKIPPED
---------
(EVERYONE except DAN HOLLIS and ANTHONY suddenly scurry in and hide. We fear why.)
DAN HOLLIS'S VOICE (laughing and foot-stomps coming up stairs) I found it! The last one in the cellar! Cobwebs all over it.
(ENTERS wiping off a wine bottle.)
Don't know the year but it must be before...
(he looks around the empty room in horror, thinking everyone has disappeared. Starts to hyperventilate and despair.) No!
EVERYONE (jumping out) Surprise! Happy Birthday!
(DAN almost faints in relief and leftover terror. He recovers as best he can and is overjoyed. Hugs.)
DAN HOLLIS Don't do that! You scared me! I thought -- Oh, you don't want to know what I thought. Ha ha! My birthday! Aw, you shouldn't have.
---------
---------- LINES SKIPPED
---------
( HANK pushes HENRY JR. forward. )
HANK: Henry Jr.'s got something for you, Dan.
HENRY JR: Here, Mr. Hollis. Just a little something. (Hands Dan a hand decorated envelope. Dan opens it curiously and pulls out a short pencil.)
DAN: (thrilled) A pencil! Oh, you wonderful boy! Look! It has a quarter inch of eraser left. Look everybody! (They are amazed.) A pencil. It's at least 4 inches long. (tests it) And it works!
ETHEL Don't waste it darling.
HENRY JR. I found it inside the Wallace's couch.
DAN: And you gave it to me, you wonderful boy!
(Everyone ooohs and ahhhs. Pencils were used up long ago.)
THELMA (aside to someone) He must have gotten to their couch before I did.
---------
---------- LINES SKIPPED
---------
ETHEL: Oh, Pat! It’s beautiful. How did you get that color?
PAT Mulberries.
DAN I'm going to keep my personal jewelry in it.
BILL SOAMES: Here, Dan, this is a pipe my Uncle left behind when he visited from Arkansas 6 years ago.
AUNT AMY: I bet your Uncle'd be surprised to see where his pipe is now.
---------
---------- LINES SKIPPED
---------
DAN Peach brandy?? But this is the last one in town, and you're giving it to me?
There's just four rye, three Scotch, two apple brandy, nine grape wine and McIntyre's half bottle of Drambuie (for weddings) --and when those are gone, that's it! --Except for that swill Hank brews himself.
HANK: You have the town’s alcohol inventory memorized?? And what's wrong with my swill?
(laughter)
PAT It’s deadly, Hank, that’s what’s wrong with it.
(laughter)
---------
---------- LINES SKIPPED
---------
ETHEL HOLLIS: Oh, do that later, honey. No one wants to look at your white ankles. Thelma has a special gift for you.
(ETHEL presents it, DAN begins to tremble with excitement as he unwraps it, almost dropping it until he is guided to the table to set it on.)
DAN Gosh. I think I know what it is. Which one is it? I'm almost afraid to look.
ETHEL You haven't got it, darling. Don't you remember, I asked about You Are My Sunshine?"
DAN Oh, gosh. (wrapping removed, he gently slides it out of the sleeve and smiles delightedly at everyone.) It has hardly any scratches! Oh, thank you, Thelma, thank you!
---------
---------- LINES SKIPPED
---------
DAN (laughing) Look ... do you think we could play it? Lord, what I'd give to hear some new music ... just the first part, the orchestral part, before Como sings?
(Faces sobered. Pause.)
BETTY SOAMES (soothing, firmly) I don't think we'd better, Dan. After all, we don't know just where the singer comes in. It'd be taking too much of a chance.
---------
---------- LINES SKIPPED
---------
HANK: Hello Anthony, how smart you look in that nice shirt. Did your mother make it?
ANTHONY: Yeah, she said she wanted to do it herself, just like I like to do things myself. But I can do things faster. (wanders on)
BILL or BETTY SOAMES: Hello Anthony. You look so handsome with your hair combed so nice.
ANTHONY: Yeah, Yeah.
(bored with the compliments,
he looks around, then goes to Henry Jr.)
Did you enjoy your spanking?
---------
---------- LINES SKIPPED
---------
(ANTHONY wanders over to watch PAT play the piano. PAT nervously plays a few wrong notes and smiles at ANTHONY.
ANTHONY wanders over to the table of gifts and inspects each of Dan’s gift, except the brandy and record which DAN holds. The gifts do not interest Anthony. ANTHONY pauses, listening to a thought.)
ANTHONY: Where is the baby?
(PAT stops playing abruptly. SILENCE.)
MOTHER: The baby, Anthony?
ANTHONY: I heard Mrs. Hollis thinking about it. I never saw a baby before.
FATHER : When you were a baby, Anthony, you didn't like the other babies. You made them stop crying, and so no one wanted to have anymore. You were our favorite baby so we didn't need anymore.
---------
---------- LINES SKIPPED
---------
EVERYONE: Happy Birthday Dan!
(ANTHONY steps right up to the cake in front of Dan. FATHER looks at his happy face and Dan, then makes a decision.)
FATHER: Now Anthony, blow out the candles!
(ANTHONY does and gets applause and ad lib compliments.
DAN’s feelings are hurt.)
ANTHONY I blew out the candles with my mouth, Mommy. I didn't wish it.
MOTHER I’m proud of you. Do you want to have cake now, Anthony?
ANTHONY (tasting the frosting with his finger) No, I want to wait.
MOTHER That's good. We're all still full from dinner. Thelma, tell everyone how you found the record.
(BILL quickly makes room for Thelma by moving the table with the cake out of the way.)
THELMA Well! I was just poking around the Wallace's attic and I found it under some old insulation. And after I wiped the dust off and saw what it was - a Perry Como album - I wanted to see what condition the record was in, and so without thinking, I started turning it around to find the opening and that record just rolled right out into the air (all gasp) and I screamed and swooped down and caught it inches above the floor. Never moved so fast in my life. (all laugh, but Dan stops, his face turns slack, then ugly.)
DAN Oh, Christ!
---------
---------- LINES SKIPPED
---------
ANTHONY (stands and yells) Be quiet during the music! (PAT plays with more force, ANTHONY sits again.)
DAN (stares sullenly for a bit, then loses it) Can't even play my record. My own damn record!
(PAT stops playing.)
How can you live like this?
We can't sing! Can't listen to singing! Can't even think our own thoughts!
Don't you see what that little monster has turned us into?
---------
---------- LINES SKIPPED
---------
PAT (with a painful squeezed out breath) Anthony....
MOTHER (putting hands on Pat) Anthony, please! Let Pat move. Pat can't breathe. You don't want Pat to die do you?
(ANTHONY stares only at DAN.)
ETHEL HOLLIS (scolding, getting between them) Dan! Dan you are being very rude! You are spoiling this nice party. You should go home. Dan just needs a nap, Anthony. He's cranky. Let me take him home.
---------
---------- LINES SKIPPED
---------
HANK: Anthony, please. Dan is sick. He's drunk. He drank too much brandy. He needs to go home. Do you want me to beat him with the belt? Please, Anthony....
---------
---------- LINES SKIPPED
---------
DAN (reaches Pat, continuing) Today is Danny’s birthday, We wish him many more! Play it, Pat. Play it, so I can sing right ... you know I can't carry a tune unless somebody plays it!
(PAT plays Pop Goes the Weasel, terrified.)
---------
---------- LINES SKIPPED
---------
DAN Someone do it! Now is your chance while this little monster is looking at me. Look at me Anthony. (Bends toward him and stares furiously into his eyes.) Someone please! Look at me, Anthony. Do I have to spell it out? Grab a heavy object and crack it over the kid’s head!
---------
---------- LINES SKIPPED
---------
DAN: No! Not with my new record! Not my birthday present!
(As the broken edge of the record cuts into his skin,
---------
---------- LINES SKIPPED
---------
AUNT AMY: Scream! ( Starts to bring the object down
---------
---------- LINES SKIPPED
---------
FATHER: Anthony. It would be good to play more piano, but how about television time?
ANTHONY: OK! (hops off piano bench) It's Television Time. Television Time. Television, television, television Time!
(marches or skips across to sit on the TV, facing the others.)
(MOTHER helps a nearly unconscious AUNT AMY to her chair and sits next to her with her arm around her, sobbing with a big smile on her face. Ad lib chatter as others scurry to arrange chairs to face TV.
ETHEL is lifted and held up in her chair.
Using a hidden remote control, someone starts the DVD from a player backstage (order DVD from theaterfunscripts.com). The downstage TV screen faces opposite upstage and is not seen by the audience.
The people relax taking this chance for quiet and to pull themselves together. They watch quietly for a bit.)
THELMA Oh, that’s good…. Whatever it is.
MOTHER: Anthony, dear... What's that you're putting on the television?
ANTHONY I saw what you were remembering.
MOTHER: Yes, ... Isn't that good? Anthony can see what I was remembering. I guess it's because he's older. He can do more things now.
THELMA: Is that....?
MOTHER It's.... Anthony’s birth. I was remembering it and now it's on the television.
(Many are too horror stricken to deal with it. HENRY JR stares until HANK gets him to look away.)
---------
---------- LINES SKIPPED
---------
HENRY JR. (furious) A super goody good day!
---------
---------- LINES SKIPPED
---------
(The men avert their eyes from the TV.)
ANTHONY: Why aren't you looking? Look at the television!
(ALL look in horrified fascination.)
THELMA Anthony's being born, here he comes, he’s coming, he’s out!... Doc's lifting him ...
(ALL lean forward as they see the doc lift, look, scream and throw ANTHONY to the floor, then Doc is flung through the wall, and the town is ripped from the earth. All except Aunt Amy are simultaneously flung back in their chairs by the image.)
ALL (on cue): Aaaah!
AUNT AMY (standing pointing) He saw! He saw what Anthony was!
MOTHER: Hush, Amy! (stands) Who wants eggnog?
AUNT AMY: You all saw! The Doc threw him on the floor!
---------
---------- LINES SKIPPED
---------
ANTHONY: I'm not done making television!
(All sit obediently.)
---------
---------- LINES SKIPPED
---------
BETTY SOAMES: Disappeared. (laughs) The whole universe, do you think? Just dissolved?
THELMA DUNN: We’ll never know and that’s--
EVERYONE: REAL good! (ALL look at TV.)
AUNT AMY: Peaksville, population: 3,162. I worked at the polls, that year, so I remember. What are we down to now? 46?... No, 45 now.
---------
---------- LINES SKIPPED
---------
HENRY JR. Or the bee sting.
HANK Yeah, ha ha. Remember that? Who needs bees? (giving Henry Jr. strong look of warning)
HENRY JR. (staring back) Or honey.
AUNT AMY: Or 14 city blocks and all the farms south......
---------
---------- LINES SKIPPED
---------
ANTHONY: Birth? Was that my birthDAY?
MOTHER (goes to pick him up): Yes...
ANTHONY: Did I get a party?
MOTHER: No, you were too little.
---------
---------- LINES SKIPPED
---------
AUNT AMY (foggy as ever) November 30th? Who keeps track of the date? Kinda pointless with Anthony’s weather always changing. Summer, winter, it's all mixed up. Date doesn't mean a thing.
MOTHER: Anthony! Your 5th birthday. We'll have a big party! (puts him down, downstage)
---------
---------- LINES SKIPPED
---------
(As people look at each other in horror,
CURTAIN blows and snow comes in.
Everyone suddenly gets chilly and looks out over porch with amazed horrified faces.)
FATHER (upset) Anthony, are you making it snow? That will kill all the crops!
---------
---------- LINES SKIPPED
---------
(PAT plays. All, except Henry Jr. look aghast at the impossible task.
CURTAIN CLOSES.)
This great comic at ComicMix.com
Written by Mark Pelligrini and drawn by Timothy Limm
It's a Good Life
original story by Jerome Bixby
adapted for The Twilight Zone by Rod Serling
adapted for stage by Jeannette Jaquish
--approximately 55 min.
This play is under copyright and royalty must be paid before performing.
Royalty details at www.theaterfunscripts.com.
* * *To see a PERUSAL SCRIPT, please contact Jeannette Jaquish
at (260) 484-5946, between 7am and 10pm, Eastern Standard Time, USA,
or at http://www.theaterfunscripts.com/details.html.
-------------------------------------------
BIRTH DVD available from www.theaterfunscripts.com
with birth footage, destruction and earthquake and falling from the Earth footage and sound FX timed to go with the script.
-------------------------------------------
VARIATIONS:
--Andy as a little girl
-- Anthony as a little boy
Available from www.theaterfunscripts.com .
REQUIRED PROPS:
corn to shuck
vegetables
rocking chair
hammer
fake or real piano
old record album cover & a disposable record for each performance
old bicycle
old cardboard box for groceries
jars, boxes, cans and packages for groceries
a large leaf or corn husk or old worn piece of paper for the grocery list
bottle of brandy
bucket of water (good to have nearby if you light the candles)
"razor"
towel
fake cake with real frosting (cut foam rubber)
lit candles
kitchen or living room chairs & furnishings
a light hall table (about 1.5 x 4 foot, waist high)
handmade or saved objects for presents, wrapped in reused wrapping paper
CLICK!:
www.
TheaterFunScripts.com - Witty Energetic Scripts - Free & Low Cost!
All Types, All Ages -- All Great!
-Harry Potter and the Obnoxious Voice ~ The sssPOOF!
-The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
-The Frog Prince and the Princess Brat, including a Jr. version
-Slipperzzzz! The Torrid Tale of Cobb and the 12 Dancing Princesses
-Alice in Wonderland
-Who Framed Lucky the Leprechaun?
-Don't Look in the Lake!
-It’s a GOOD Life, by Jerome Bixby, scifi award winner
-The Spoiled Baloney Man
-Hansel and Gretel and the Creepy Woods
-A Christmas Carol . . . . . and Dozens More plus all of the above and Links!
