CURIOUS: Think Outside the Pipeline!

Ants on a Log songfully advocates for positivity, social justice, and silliness!

Casting

Flexible casting:
From 11-30 students. Use as many students as you like forcommunity members and chorus. Note that all roles can be played by any gender.

CHARACTERS:

CLIO
TAYLOR
MOM
BUSINESSMAN 1
BUSINESSMAN 2
SENATOR
COMMUNITY MEMBERS
SMOKE
LAPTOP
PENCIL
OLD WISE ONE
UNCLE STEVE
NARRATOR
CHORUS

Script

This is the first section of the script:

TRACK 1: Curious

SCENE: Clio's Bedroom

CLIO: 2 teaspoons of baking soda and 1 tsp of citric acid. Versus 1 teaspoon of baking soda and 2 teaspoons of citric acid. Where’d that pencil get to?

(flute)

NARRATOR: This is the story of two siblings, Clio and Taylor, who liked to ask questions and to figure out answers.

CLIO:
CURIOUS, I’M SO CURIOUS,
WHY DOES IT MAKE MY MOM AND STEP-DAD SO FURIOUS?
(pick scratch)

LIKE THE (ooh) TIME THAT I WONDERED HOW THE LANDLINE WORKED

SO I (ooh) TOOK APART THE PHONE AND REARRANGED THE NUMBERS

IT WASN'T ANYTHING A LITTLE MATH COULDN'T FIX,
JUST ADD 4 TO THE NUMBER YOU WANT TO DIAL AND THEN MULTIPLY BY 6

CLIO & CHORUS:
CURIOUS, I’M SO CURIOUS,
WHY DOES IT MAKE MY MOM AND STEP- DAD SO FURIOUS?
(CHORUS Hums underneath)

CLIO:
OR THE SUMMER THAT I GREW A GARDEN (hmmm)
ONLY MADE OF BEANS
WHAT COULD MAKE THEM BIGGER? WHAT WOULD MAKE THEM GREEN?
I TOOK HALF AND GAVE THEM COMPOST,
AND THAT HALF GREW MUCH BIGGER
SO THEN I REPEATED THE EXPERIMENT THREE TIMES TO SEE IF I COULD GET THE SAME RESULTS,
AND PLEASE REFER TO THIS FIGURE. (Holds up graph that shows science experiment results.)

CHORUS:
(Spoken): OOOH AHHHH!
(Sung): CURIOUS, I’M SO CURIOUS,
WHY DOES IT MAKE MY MOM AND STEP-DAD SO FURIOUS?

MOM: (spoken):
Cliiiiiio! Why is my shoe sitting in the windowsill with...what are those?
Beans?

CLIO: (spoken)
Sorry mom. I forgot, may I please use your shoe for something?

NARRATOR:
Some questions they would ask and never get to the answer and that would be ok. Other questions would naturally answer themselves simply by being asked. And still other questions would lead them to more questions, which would in turn lead to even more questions.

CLIO: (CHORUS hums underneath)
THANKS TO MY (hmm) MOM
FOR TEACHING ME HOW TO USE YOUR SCREWDRIVER
THANKS TO MY STEP-DAD,
YOU INTRODUCED ME TO MY FAVORITE TV SHOW MACGYVER!

SOUND EFFECTS (SE):
Musical interlude as Clio continues to tinker with things. Glass stirring, metal bending, banging. Inventing. Musical rhythms made of glass etc.

CLIO (spoken):
let’s see, baking soda, or citric acid. One is the limiting factor. But I have to measure how much gas is coming out. Where’s my laptop? 4 (typing) How to find the limiting factor...

SE: Footsteps

Enter TAYLOR

TAYLOR:
(Wheezing, having trouble getting the words out)
Clio, Clio! Do you want to hear a riddle?

CLIO:
(Spoken distracted) Um. Maybe later.

TAYLOR:
Later?

CLIO:
(to herself, looking at Taylor and typing) Hmm. “causes of a chronic cough…”

(sung)
IN SEPTEMBER, MY FAMILY MOVED TO THIS NEW TOWN

TAYLOR:
(Wheeze wheeze)

CLIO:
I THINK I LIKE IT HERE
BUT SOMETHING FEELS DIFFERENT

TAYLOR:
(wheeze wheeze)

CLIO:
EVER SINCE WE MOVED HERE
TAYLOR LIKES TO COUGH NOW

TAYLOR:
(wheeze)

MOM: (from offstage)
Clio, this is the third time I’ve asked you...please go to the pharmacy!

CLIO:
Ugh, why do I have to go again?

MOM:
To pick up Taylor's medicine!

CLIO:
Ok but, Why does Taylor need so much medicine all the time? -- (stops herself)

(sadly) I'M SO CURIOUS...!

Alright. Come on Taylor.

(guitar strum out)

TRACK 2: Is This Normal?

SCENE: The Pharmacy

Drums support Taylor's wheezing as the two are walking to the pharmacy. COMMUNITY MEMBERS or STAGE HANDS clear stage of Clio's things, and place Pharmacy set on stage right. COMMUNITY MEMBERS wheezing and walking to drums. Slowly their sounds build into an organized rhythm and they are officially at the Pharmacy, waiting in line. CLIO and TAYLOR are among them. OLD WISE ONE is there too, unassuming, sitting in a chair and reading a newspaper, not really noticed at this point.

SMOKE is trailing white and gray pieces of fabric. Every time the smoke passes someone, that person wheezes or coughs. Like a ghost, the people can't see the smoke, they can only react to 6 it. The following song is like a dance between SMOKE and the people in the scene.

CLIO:
Well, here we are at the Pharmacy.

TAYLOR:
(wheezing as they wait in line) Ok, I wanna tell you my riddle. Ok: Three frogs--

CLIO:
Oh Taylor, you don’t sound good.

TAYLOR:
Tree frogs are--

CLIO:
I think you can save your riddle for later.

TAYLOR:
(wheezing) Ok.

Drums in, COMMUNITY MEMBERS at the Pharmacy begin to turn coughing into a rhythm. Taylor joins in. SMOKE is dancing through everyone.

NARRATOR:
Today, Clio and Taylor wondered whether what they were seeing was a pattern, or just a coincidence.

Guitar enters. Funk on low F and C. Coughing rhythm builds.

SE:
Some kind of woosh/wind sound to indicate smoke is here.

Drums support Taylor's wheezing . . .
Community members begin wheezing when . . .

SMOKE passes them, walking to drums. Slowly their sounds build into an organized rhythm. Sound of a crowd in a waiting room.

EXIT SMOKE

CLIO:
Taylor, it's not just you!

TAYLOR
(still wheezing) Wow, all of these people are sick? (to the person in line next to them) Hello person I dont know in line, Are you getting an inhaler for your asthma too? That's what I’m getting…

PERSON IN LINE:
Um…

CLIO:
Taylor, you can’t ask that!

TAYLOR:
Oh. (wheezes and blends in with the crowd)

PERSON IN LINE
Why yes, I am.

CLIO:
(Spoken) Oh, you too?

(Sung)
I LOOK AROUND ME AND I SEE

TAYLOR:
EVERYONE IS SICK

CLIO:
THEY'RE TIRED, ANGRY
SICK AND SICK OF IT

TAYLOR:
THEY'RE LINING UP TO SEE THE DOCTOR,
BUT THEY DON'T KNOW WHEN

BOTH:
AND WHEN THEY LEAVE WE SEE
THEY HAVE MORE BAGS OF MEDICINE

EVERYONE:
IS THIS NORMAL?
IS THIS HOW WE'RE SUPPOSED TO LIVE? 2X

Drums and guitar continue
Sound of people entering through Pharmacy door.

CLIO: (spoken)
More people just keep coming in!

TAYLOR:(sung)
I WAKE UP EVERY DAY
COUGHING LIKE A SMOKESTACK
I'VE NEVER SEEN AIR LIKE THIS
EXCEPT FOR OVER TRAIN TRACKS

CLIO:
WHY IS THE SKY HERE
DARKER AND MORE FOGGY?

EVERYONE:
IS THE CITY DOING SOMETHING
THAT THEY OUGHT NOT TO BE?

IS THIS NORMAL?
IS THIS HOW WE'RE SUPPOSED TO LIVE? 2X,
second time add harmonies

Guitar out, Continue to drum

NEWSCASTERS:
News music

BOTH:
THIS IS HEADLINE NEWS,
THANKS FOR TUNING IN
THE PRESIDENT SAID TODAY

NEWSCASTER 1:
FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT

NEWSCASTER 2:
WIN WIN WIN

NEWSCASTER 1:
IN LOCAL NEWS, WE'VE GOT AN INTERVIEW WITH THE MAN

NEWSCASTER 2:
ABOUT THE OIL REFINERY EXPANSION PLAN

(News Music stops.)

NARRATOR:
Now Clio and Taylor just happened to be watching the TV in the pharmacy because there wasn't much else to do while they waited for Taylor’s medicine, and something about the word, “oil refinery” stuck with Clio.

TRACK 3: Old Wise One

SCENE: The Pharmacy (continued)

Drums enter under Clio as she wonders aloud.

CLIO:
Oil refinery? ...what's an oil refinery?

NARRATOR:
Luckily, there happened to be an old woman, sitting in a chair next to the main desk of the pharmacy. Clio and Taylor couldn’t tell whether she was waiting for something or just passing the time, looking for some human interaction.

OLD WISE ONE:
An oil refinery is a place where they refine oil.

TAYLOR:
Look, Clio! It’s in the newspaper too!

CLIO:
But, why do we need to refine oil? I'm just curi--

OLD WISE ONE:
I know, I know, you're just curious.

CLIO:
Right. Just curious.

OLD WISE ONE:
Lots of reasons. Cars. Heating.Cooking. Hot water for showers. All those computers and cell phones you young people are running, they need to get their energy from somewhere. Now if you’ll excuse me (back to her paper)

CLIO:
...Their energy from somewhere? What do you mean?

OLD WISE ONE:
The ground. People take oil out of the ground and refine it and sell it. Young lady, haven't you ever heard of the internet? Must I "google" everything for you? (back to her newspaper)

CLIO:
Right. Sorry. We’ll let you get back to your… newspaper.

TAYLOR:
(to Wise One) Excuse me, hi. Would you like to hear a riddle? It’s a really good one.

CLIO:
Taylor, not now! Gosh!

NARRATOR:
Taylor was often trying to tell riddles, but their riddles were never very funny, so Clio wasn’t exactly riddled with excitement to hear them. And, actually, Clio hoped Taylor would drop the whole riddle thing once and for all and move on to knock knock jokes, or maybe puns. Background music out.

STAGE HANDS: remove pharmacy set. Drums

(This concludes the first part of the script.)