Short Musical
Dramatic Comedy
Fantasy, Theatre for Young Audiences
40 minutes
Time Period - Contemporary, Present Day
Settings Of Play - The setting can be realistic or fanciful or as minimal and suggestive as you please, with only a painted background drop or screen. The original production was toured with only a two-fold screen and a three-step step ladder, all appropriately and colorfully painted to represent the following, as described in the playbook. "The action takes place before and within a rambling but strange old house. It seems to have no real entrance door and the windows are shaped rather like clouds. Some interior rooms are visible, as in a cut-away view. These are equipped with unusual furnishings which appear to be fashioned of unlikely substances, such as mist or snow, or streams of water, or tree branches and colorful leaves or flowers, swarms of insects, or even live animals, reptiles or birds. A little cockeyed weather vane, a real one, is attached to the roof.
FEATURES / CONTAINS
Mime, No intermission, Physical Comedy, Play w/ Music, Puppetry
Unit Set/Multiple Settings, Bare Stage/Simple Set
Contemporary Costumes / Street Clothes, Fantasy Costumes
CAUTIONS
No Special Cautions
THEMES
Childhood, Current Events, Friendship,
TARGET AUDIENCE
Appropriate for all audiences, Adult, Children (Age 6 - 10), Pre-Teen (Age 11 - 13), Teen (Age 14 - 18)
PERFORMANCE GROUP
Jr High/Primary, High School/Secondary, College Theatre / Student, Community Theatre, Shoestring Budget, Outdoor
A one-act musical play for young performers and audiences. Original songs and music add fun and impact to a story about an imaginative girl's visit to a sorcerer's magical abode where she learns about our planet's ecosystem. The play may be performed with adults and young people or entirely by children with imaginative costumes and hand props. An audio tape is available with all lyrics on one side as an aid to learning the songs, and background music on the other side for performances.
Nature's House was commissioned in connection with a two-year teacher training institute at the University of California at San Diego (UCSD). The institute, called Project COPE (Change On Planet Earth) dealt with the earth sciences and problematic changes to the planet's ecosystems and environment. The play was first performed at UCSD for Project COPE teachers on October 12, 1991. It subsequently was taken on tour and performed in a great many elementary and secondary school classrooms throughout the San Diego County school district.
