Casting

Flexible casting from 11-40 students.
Use as many Volcanoes, Ferns, etc. as desired; one student can also play more than one role. Note that all roles can be played by either boys or girls; see our comments on page 35
of the Teacher's Guide

Script

This is the first one-third of the script:

The duration of the show is about 25 minutes

CHARACTERS:

Rosie
Jenn
Sherlock Holmes
Dr. Watson
Volcanoes
Earth
Ferns
Sea Shore
Canyon
Valley
Mountains
Snow White
Igneous Rock
Sedimentary Rock
Metamorphic Rock
Professor Rock
and a CHORUS comprised of all students who are not playing roles on stage
at the time

(STUDENTS walk quickly back and forth across stage, apparently searching for
something or someone. Finally one STUDENT stops and loudly says:)

ROSIE: Let’s face it—our geology teacher, Professor Rock, is missing!

Song 1
Vocal      Instrumental

CLASS (sings):
Now we’ve searched high and we’ve searched low
So where on earth could that man go?
Our Professor Rock has disappeared.

We have not found a clue or trail
A zero on the Richter scale
Our Professor Rock has disappeared.

He loves he loves volcanoes
He loves he loves glaciers too
Earthquakes make him laugh
He hugs his seismograph
Every dinner that he ate
Was on a tectonic plate.

Now everywhere we turn we see
A geologic mystery

ONE STUDENT: Hey look I found some pieces of his beard!

STUDENTS (shout): How weird!

CLASS:
Is he a victim of basalt?
Or is it San Andreas’ fault?
Our Professor Rock has disappeared.

He loves he loves volcanoes
He loves he loves glaciers too
Earthquakes make him laugh
He hugs his seismograph
Every dinner that he ate
Was on a tectonic plate.

Doo doo doo doo
Doo doo doo doo
Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo
Our Professor Rock has disappeared Disa- Disappeared.

(TWO STUDENTS remain on stage.)

ROSIE: What are we going to do, Jenn?

JENN: I don’t know, Rosie. Professor Rock’s disappearance is a complete mystery.

(SHERLOCK HOLMES and DR. WATSON enter. HOLMES is dressed like, well,
Sherlock Holmes. Maybe he has a magnifying glass. Watson has a notebook and pen.)

HOLMES: A mystery you say? Then we’ve come to the right place.

ROSIE: Who are you?

WATSON: Excuse us. Holmes likes dramatic entrances.

JENN: Holmes? Sherlock Holmes?

HOLMES: Precisely! Dr. Watson and I have come to solve the mystery of your
missing rock. (HE picks up a rock and begins to examine it carefully with his magnifying glass.)

ROSIE: It’s not a rock but a person, our teacher Professor Rock.

HOLMES: Silence! My astonishing powers of deduction have led me to a clue
right here in this rock!

WATSON: What is it Holmes? Igneous? Metamorphic?

HOLMES: Sedimentary, my dear Watson.

(MUSIC to “Geologic Time” begins here. The next lines are spoken over the music.)

JENN: Can you help us? We really need to find the Professor.

ROSIE: We’ve got to start searching right away.

HOLMES: Patience! These things take time. Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Song 2
Vocal      Instrumental

HOLMES and WATSON :
The earth’s been here five billion years
It’s seen a lot of change
What used to be an ocean floor
Is now a mountain range.

The desert lands have come and gone
The dinosaurs are hushed

HOLMES: My brilliant brain needs time as well
My genius can’t be rushed!

HOLMES and WATSON:
Geologic, geologic Geologic time
Geologic, geologic Geologic time

WATSON: He’s slow as rock

HOLMES and WATSON:
So set the clock
For geologic time.

The Colorado river runs
Ten million years it creeps
And bit by bit a canyon forms
That’s over one mile deep.

The desert lands have come and gone

The dinosaurs are hushed

HOLMES: My brilliant brain needs time as well
My genius can’t be rushed!

HOLMES, WATSON, and CHORUS:
Geologic, geologic Geologic time
Geologic, geologic Geologic time

WATSON: He’s slow as rock

HOLMES, WATSON, and CHORUS:
So set the clock For geologic time.

WATSON: He’s slow as rock

HOLMES, WATSON, and CHORUS:
So set the clock For geologic time.

     

HOLMES: Come along, Watson. We must find that rock. We’ll start by interviewing
some pebbles I spotted in the driveway—they looked suspicious.

WATSON: Splendid, Holmes. (writing in his notebook as THEY exit) I shall call this,
The Case of the Runaway Rock.

( THEY exit)

 

JENN: Rosie, I don’t think they’re going to be much help.

ROSIE: No. We’ll have to find Professor Rock on our own.

JENN: Right. Professor Rock has been working near some volcanoes—maybe
we should talk to them.

ROSIE: Great idea.

(THEY walk around until they meet the VOLCANOES, who have entered.)

JENN: There they are!

ROSIE: Hello, volcanoes. Have you seen Professor Rock?

VOLCANO #1: He was here just a few days ago, checking up on us. We haven’t
been feeling well.

ROSIE: I can see. You don’t look so hot.

VOLCANO #2: Oh no, we’re TOO hot. That’s the problem.

Song 3
Vocal      Instrumental

VOLCANOES:
I ain’t well
Can’t you tell?
I’m belching steam and ashes
With molten molten molten rock
Molten rock and gases.

I ain’t well
See me swell?
I think it’s something drastic
I’m feeling feeling feeling aaach!
Feeling pyroclastic.

Magma coming up my vent
Lava pouring out
Here it comes
I need a Tums TM
Before I blow my spout.

I ain’t well
Can’t you help?
I’m crackin’ and I’m swellin’
I feel like feel like feel like whoa!
Feel like Mt. St. Helens.

(VOLCANOES do dance during instrumental)

Magma coming up my vent
Lava pouring out
Here it comes I need a Tums TM
Before I blow my spout.

VOLCANOES and CHORUS:
I ain’t well
Can’t you tell?
I’m belching steam and ashes
With molten molten molten rock
Molten rock and gases.
With molten molten molten rock
Molten rock and gases.

(VOLCANOES exit)

     

ROSIE: Wow. That must be some fever if it’s hot enough to melt rock.

EARTH (from side of stage): That’s nothin’, baby. I’m 12,000 degrees down in my core.

JENN: Who said that?

EARTH (entering): I did, honey. I’m the Earth.

JENN: The earth?

ROSIE: But how’d you get so hot? I thought you were just continents and water.

EARTH: Isn’t that typical?! I’ve got 4000 miles down to my core, and all you folks ever
think about is my outer 40 miles.

ROSIE: I’m sorry.

EARTH: Below my crust I’ve got a mantel, an outer core AND an inner core. You’ve
got to look below the surface.

Song 4
Vocal      Instrumental

I am deep
Not just water and some dust
I am deep
I’ve got spunk beneath my crust.

I am deep
Though my surface may seem mild
I am deep
You should see my inner child!

My mantle is so hot and wild,
rocks just melt and ooze
At my core you’ll find a gal who loves to sing the blues.

I am deep
Miles and miles of hidden space
I am not
Just another pretty face.

CHORUS:
She’s deep
She is deep
She’s deep
She is deep
She’s deep
She is deep.
She’s deep
She is deep.

EARTH and CHORUS:
Yes I’m deep
Not just water and some dust
I am deep
I’ve got spunk beneath my crust. .

(This concludes the first one-third of the script.)