Psychologist, Dr. Mac specializes in creative projects that help kids boost character, social and emotional skills.
By Don MacMannis, Judy Stevens Long, and Mark Young
TOTAL TARGET LENGTH: 1 hour,10 minutes
SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL THEMES
Persisting in the face of adversity Teasing and bullying
Positive thinking
Conquering fears
Celebrating differences
Showing appreciation
ETHAN: A leader. Uncomfortable having others make decisions for him or the group; doesn't like his decisions questioned. He learns to share the leadership role. Others may have better ideas and the sum exceeds the whole
LUKE: The bully. Self-centered, concerned with appearances and a bit pushy. He learns to feel better about himself and act more caring toward others.
JACKSON: The naysayer. Anxious and always thinks the worst is going to happen. (Emma’s younger brother). He learns to see the brighter side of things.
LILY: Another leader. Self-assured, assertive, more a social leader than BOY #1. Eternally optimistic and grateful. She has to learn to give up trying so hard to make things happen, live in the moment and accept that not everyone is as smart and put-together as she is.
CHLOE: The smart, tuned-in techy. Owns a state of the art device, the iGadget, that knows all and can helps problem-solve. She learns that technology can't solve all problems.
EMMA: The shy one who lacks confidence, often doesn’t have her wits about her, and takes things literally. (Jackson’s older sister) She learns to find her voice and express herself more.
CHEERY: An optimistic app inside a futuristic “iGadget” that Chloe miraculously discovered, downloaded and materialized with a 3D printer. He has all the answers and speaks with the propriety and accent of an English butler. Despite his mostly cheery disposition, he becomes highly disturbed when he runs out of power and has to sleep.
STAGE HANDS: A non-speaking mix of boys and girls who also create parts of the various sets by posing with their bodies. They join in to boost the choruses or the final two songs.
This is the first one-third of the script:
SCENE ONE: THE PLAYGROUND
(The stage is dark. One-by-one, 5 KID ACTORS (3 BOYS, 2 GIRLS) each turn on their own flashlights of different colors and start shining them around the stage and out to the audience as they sing.)
Song 1: FOR ALL THE WORLD TO SEE
The song ends. Lights come up.
(At rise: a playground. They turn off their flashlights and begin playing catch with some balls, calling to each other and laughing. After a beat, a dog (child in costume) wanders on to the set stage right and begins moaning.)
ETHAN: Hey, look at that dog. What's up with him? (The dog lies down and Luke moves over to pet him.)
LILY: He looks sick. Wow. Should we call somebody? (Emma and Jackson walk over to the dog who greets them with moans.)
JACKSON: He's our dog, Fido. He’s been sick for days. Must have followed us to school.
ETHAN : Why don't you take him to a doctor, - a vet? We know a good one. I’ll call my Mom.
JACKSON: My Mom says we can't afford it— he just needs to rest.
EMMA: Oh no, he’s not even wagging now. He’ll always wag his tail. This is serious! But… he’ll always wag when Jackson and I dance for him. Come on little brother, let’s give it the ol’ 1-2.
(The two sibs connect arm in arm and do a little jig in front of Fido, but he raises his head only slightly and then clunks it down on the stage again. Jackson even tries to manually wag Fido’s tail, but Fido only shakes his head as if to say “No way.”)
LILY : Hey, let’s raise some money to pay a vet… like, like— have a bake sale or something.
(Everyone looks downhearted, standing over the coughing dog.)
LUKE: Why man? This is hopeless! (Jackson walks in his way so he shoves him a little) It's just a dog! Take him home!
LILY: No, he’s not, Luke. He’s part of their family. And…. I think he’ll be fine.
LUKE : Yeah. What do you know? If you’ve got all the answers then just tell us how.
(Lily walks to the front of the stage and poses the question to the audience.)
LILY: I don’t know. I mean— I don’t know how to explain it, but…
Song 2: FIDO WILL WAG AGAIN (sung by Lily)
(dog moans some more)
ETHAN : Wow. But what are we gonna do?
LILY: Maybe those guys can help.(Looks into the audience.) How about you? What do you think? Please! Raise your hand if you got an idea.
(After entertaining other inputs from the audience (if they happen) LILY finally points to CHLOE, who emerges from the back of the auditorium, walks to and climbs up onto the stage.)
LILY : So, what’s your name?
CHLOE : Chloe. What’s yours?
LILY : I’m Lily, and this is Luke and Emma and Jackson and Ethan.
JACKSON : What da ya think? Ya gotta a clue, Chloe?
CHLOE : Well, maybe. (As she speaks, Chloe pulls a smart-phone looking thing out of her pocket. Fido is coughing and whimpering.)
EMMA : Where’d you get that cool thing?
CHLOE : I just got it last night. I don’t know if it’ll help, but it’s an "iGadget."
ETHAN : Get outa town. My dad says the iGadget doesn’t come out until 2021.
CHLOE : Well, then I must be lucky. I was like playing a videogame, and there was this portal thing I found…. like, like into the future… and I went into this other place…….and there it was! I just downloaded and printed it on my mom's 3D printer.
(The kids gather around with eyes wide open in astonishment!)
ETHAN : Whoa. Are you kidding me?
CHLOE : Nope. It’s the real deal. It looks amazing….. but there’s only one catch. I don’t know how to turn it on! You guys gotta help me.
(The kids crowd around and peer over Chloe's shoulder.)
ETHAN : Hey, look. You help us and we’ll help you! Can I see it? (Takes the iGadget and then turns it over.) Look, there's a bunch of numbers on the back. That’s it. It’s gotta be the number ya call to get it activated. Who’s got a regular old cell phone?
EMMA : I do. Here, read me the numbers.
ETHAN: Okay. Ready? It’s 8-0-5-8-8-2-2-4-0-0
EMMA: Got it. Here it goes. It’s ringing. (You can hear the beeps of the call going through. A voice finally answers "Frank's plumbing supply.") Oops, excuse me….I guess not. (The phone hangs up and we hear a dial tone.)
LILY: Hey, Chloe, maybe these are GPS numbers that’ll get us somewhere. Plug ‘em in and that’ll help.
(Emma plugs the numbers into her phone.)
EMMA : No way. It says these coordinates are out past Pluto.
JACKSON : Pluto? You mean that thing that used to be a planet? Wow, we’ll never figure it out.
LUKE: You’re right about that, boy genius.
JACKSON : Yeah. This is hopeless.
LILY : Not if I can help it! Can I try something? (Emma hands the iGadget to Lily, who holds it up to the sky for a moment and then pulls it to her heart.)
CHEERY: Excuse me…….. (The voice of an English sounding butler is speaking from the iGadget. (The voice is really a man speaking from a mike off stage.)
CHEERY : Excuse me……..(this time repeated a little louder.)
EMMA: You hear that? It’s talking.
LILY: Yes!!! (Lily hands the iGadget back to Chloe.)
CHEERY: Phew. Thanks for that recharge, Lily.
ETHAN : Hey, who are you? And how’d you know her name?
CHEERY: I’m Cheery.
CHLOE : Glad to meet you, Jerry. I’m Chloe, and I’m the one that found you. (proudly)
CHEERY: No, no, no. I’m Cheery.
LUKE: Hey dude. I thought Siri was a girl.
CHEERY : No, my name is Cheery. And I‘m the one who had to replace dear Siri. She got a bit tired after so many years of everybody asking this, that and the other thing. Exhausting business, you know.
(This concludes the first one-third of the script.)
