Casting Variations & Rock Song for more Actors
for Fairy Tales on the Mars Frontier, by Jeannette Jaquish
Fairy Tales on Mars script
CASTING OPTIONS
This script can handle a range of numbers of actors, from 11 to over 35.
The absolute minimum number of actors is 11, with everyone except Grandma, Callisto and Tethys playing three or more parts.
It has a maximum of 29 acting parts plus extra children for the Piper final scene.
It gets a little complicated. If you contact the author she can make suggestions. Here are a few examples:
11 actors: .........Grandma, Tethys & Callisto play only that part.
..................Other 8 actors play a part in Rock Song, Pig Story, and Piper Story.
..................Commune Pigs also play Techies A, D, & G in Pig Story
..................Ma Pig and Wolf are same actor, with quick costume change.
..................Piper and Purple Plague are same actor, with quick costume change.
..................Two actors also play Mother and Father in final scene.
13 actors:.........Grandma, Tethys, Callisto, Mother and Father play only that part.
..................Other 8 actors play a part in Rock Song, Pig Story, and Piper Story.
..................Commune Pigs also play Techies A, D, & G in Pig Story
..................Ma Pig and Wolf are same actor, with quick costume change.
..................Piper and Purple Plague are same actor, with quick costume change.
14 actors:.........Grandma, Tethys, Callisto, Mother and Father play only that part.
..................Other 9 actors play a part in Rock Song, Pig Story, and Piper Story.
..................Ma and Commune Pigs can play Techies in Pig Story.
..................Ma Pig and Wolf are NOT the same actor.
..................Piper and Purple Plague are NOT the same actor.
Now we go to separate actors for the three stories. By varying the number of actors playing multiple parts, you can exactly match the number of actors you have.
21 actors:.........Grandma, Tethys, Callisto, Mother and Father play only that part.
..................16 actors left: 8 play in Pig Story, 8 play in Piper Story.
..................14 of those actors play in Rock Song, use optional Rock script for A-N (14 actors)
..................Ma Pig, Commune Pigs or Piper actors can be Techies in Pig Story
..................Ma Pig and Wolf are NOT the same actor.
..................Piper and Purple Plague are NOT the same actor.
29 actors:.........Grandma, Tethys, Callisto, Mother and Father play only that part.
..................24 actors left: 8 play in Pig Story, 8 in Piper Story, 8 in Rock Song.
..................Rock Song Techies do techie jobs in Pig story.
..................Ma Pig and Wolf , Piper and Purple Plague are NOT the same actor.
..................Techies could play extra children in Piper story
35 actors:.........Same as 29 actors but use A-N Rock Song which adds 6 techies.
You can always add more commune pigs, children or loose townspeople.
OPTIONAL SCRIPT: The Rock That Lay on the Surface of Red Mars A- N for 14 actors
(Grandma reads the poem, at a peppy pace so the techies have to scamper to keep up. Alpha-techies bring forth props and do actions. At “regolith squeeze” actors do little wiggle dance. Techies sing along as they can, dance and gesture towards whatever is being sung about at the time.)
Techie...............................................Techies on stage at end of line.
AB: (hold up rocks and place at front of stage)
..................This is the rock that lay on the surface of Red Mars...................AB
C: (striding forward, making muscles)
..................This is the man who crushed the rock
..................that lay on the surface of Red Mars..........................................ABC
D: (placing dome) This is the dome, resistant to shock,
..................built by the man who crushed the rock,
..................that lay on the surface of Red Mars..........................................ABCD
E: (placing furnace) This is the furnace, spewing CFC’s.........
D: (turning dome to show inside) fed by the factory doing the regolith squeeze
..................inside the dome, resistant to shock, built by the man who crushed the rock
..................that lay on the surface of Red Mars.....................................CDE
F: (heat costume) This is the heat warming the granite
G: (atmosphere costume) trapped by the atmosphere, hugging the planet
..................that poured from the furnace, spewing CFC’s
..................fed by the factory doing the regolith squeeze
..................inside the dome, resistant to shock, built by the man who crushed the rock
..................that lay on the surface of Red Mars.....................................CDEFG
H: (H: lab coat, magnifying glass, stick with dangling bugs)
..................These microorganisms fertilize the soils.........
IJ: ...............Damp with the water that flowed from the poles ...... (I & J run across the front from opposite
..................melted by the heat warming the granite,........................directions leaving blue streamers.)
..................trapped by the atmosphere, hugging the planet
..................that poured from the furnace, spewing CFC’s
..................fed by the factory doing the regolith squeeze
..................inside the dome, resistant to shock, built by the man who crushed the rock
..................that lay on the surface of Red Mars.....................................ABCDEFGHIJ
KL: (carrying plants, wearing settler’s hats)
..................This greenhouse cycle, ever increasing,
..................nurtures the plants, oxygen releasing,...(Everyone inhales!)
..................for the settlers that toil in the fertilized soil,
..................damp with the water that flowed from the poles,
..................melted by the heat, warming the granite,
..................trapped by the atmosphere, hugging the planet....(M & N stand ready behind K& L)
..................that poured from the furnace, spewing CFC’s
..................fed by the factory doing the regolith squeeze
..................inside the dome, resistant to shock, built by the man who crushed the rock
..................that lay on the surface of Red Mars.......................................ABCDEFGHIJKL
(All techies lift up green branch or plant or flower)
MN: (step forward and reciting, Grandma is silent.)
..................Now is the Green Mars, home to us child-er-ens,
..................born to the settlers who tamed the wilderness
..................who honor that man, who first crushed the rock, ....................ABCDEFGHIJKLMN
ALL HOLLER: That lay on the surface of Red Mars!!
(Techies grab props, run EXIT.)
