Scripts
of plays
written, produced, and performed
by children of the First Day Program
of Southern Illinois Society of Friends Carbondale, IL
1997-2005

Has your group used one or more of these scripts? Please send me feedback!

As part of our first day program, children of the Southern Illinois Society of Friends performed these plays in the fall and winter of 1997-2005. The Life and Times of Lucretia Coffin Mott was performed in St. Louis as well as Carbondale in the spring of 2001, to an enthusiastic audience, much larger than the ones we were accustomed to. All in all the plays were very successful, some attended by townspeople as well as meeting regulars, with varying degrees of staging, props, etc., much of which, as can be inferred from the script, is left up to the performers.

We wish you well with these. Feel free to use them. I would like to know where and when they are performed, but I have no desire to restrict that. I did most of the groundwork in terms of historical reading, etc., and have kept true to what I knew as history, although in some cases that knowledge was somewhat shallow or uninformed. My desire was really to give the children some sense of Friends' history and some sense of fitting Quaker values into the various times that people lived in. It was a great way to do education, and the input and direction of the children themselves, ranging from 1 year old to sixteen, cannot be understated.

Thomas Leverett leverett@siu.edu 106 S. Lark St. Carbondale IL 62901 USA

The White Feather. Ohio family accord with Indians. 6 parts, 10 minute run time The Story of Benjamin West, Quaker Artist. 6 parts, ten minute run time The Life and Times of John Woolman, Quaker of Colonial Times. 9 parts (some for young children), 15 minute run time The Life and Times of Lucretia Coffin Mott. 10 parts (some for young kids), 20 minute run time

Turning Point: the Story of the Bombing of Sterling Hall. 9 parts plus any number of Protesters, 30 minute run time Quakers Rock the 17th Century. Mostly historical -- Fells, Penns, Fox, King Charles II, Locke. 9 parts, plus 3 bit parts for younger children, 45 minute run time Thou Heardest My Voice. A story set in modern war-torn Iraq based on the Book of Jonah. 19 parts (some for young children), 35 minute run time

Production notes: these plays can be performed with very simple props and costumes. Children can make signs indicating locations or dates. A hat (crown, helmet, scarf, bonnet) is usually enough to represent a costume. Capes, sport jackets, black or white shirts, shawls, fake glasses, or simple props such as a book, sword, gun, scepter, protest sign, or archery bow will help a child take on a role.

More Plays

At quakerbooks.org you can find copies of Peaceful Heroes I ($3) and Peaceful Heroes II ($2), a total of 24 one-act plays. These are the titles. Asterisked titles have the most promise.