Paper Adventures

Characters

Quentin: early twenties, well dressed, handsome, con artist, pick-pocket, tall, well built, American, addicted to gambling

Nora: mid-twenties, upper class, shy, beautiful, European, speaks several languages, the “perfect child” growing up, plans ahead

National Police Officers-2

National Police Captain-1

Bus Driver-1

Bus Riders-3

Setting

A bus station in Asyut, Egypt

Middle of the desert on the road between Asyut and Al Kharga

Holding cells at National Police station

Interrogation room at National Police station

Boat on the Nile

Time

In the not too distant past

Act I Scene I

Lights up

Nora and two other bus riders are sitting on the bus, the station can be seen through the windows, and the sounds of a busy city can be heard off stage. Nora sits towards the middle of the bus all the other passengers sit towards the back. One of the passengers in the back holds up a newspaper, the headline can clearly be seen to read “Two Golden Isis Statutes Taken from Nat. History Museum in Cairo. National Police Still Baffled.”

Quentin enters the bus and scans the empty seats, he approaches Nora.

Quentin:  You mind if I sit here? (pointing at the seat in front her)

Nora doesn’t respond Quentin clears his throat and taps her shoulder, Nora jumps

Nora: (startled) Yes?

Quentin: (smiling) I was wondering if you would mind me sitting here? (points to the seat again)

Nora: (blushing) Yes, of course. That would be fine, won’t bother me at all.

Quentin laughs a little and sits down putting his bag on the floor by his feet. There is silence for a few beats while Quentin looks around and Nora attempts to watch him without getting noticed.

Quentin:  Name’s Quentin by the way. (they shake hands)

Nora: I’m Nora, nice to meet you.

Quentin: What brings you to the middle of the Egyptian desert by yourself?

Nora: (excited) This is my adventure! I am taking my first and last adventure before I begin my real life. I have it all planned out. (pulls out a bunch of papers) I have all my bus tickets for the trip down to Aswan bought and scheduled and the times for all the museums that I want to visit. (trails off as she notices Quentin is laughing at her)

Nora: Wh-wha-what? Why are you laughing?

Quentin: (still laughing) Because you think all this (gestures to the papers) is what makes an adventure. It is sad really, adventures come in the unexpected things in life, when the last thing you were expecting or the only thing you didn’t want is what happens. A true adventure is when you have no idea what is going on or where you are going but you are thrilled as hell about it. Life is an adventure and it is so much better without papers and planning.

Nora: Well this is my first adventure. I am only doing what I know. I know papers and planning.

Quentin: I must say that for your first adventure coming all the way to Egypt from, France?

Nora: (smiles) Italy actually

Quentin:  (smiles) Italy. Coming to Egypt on your first adventure is a good start. Just toss out all this paper and your next adventure will be five times as grand.

Nora’s smile withers and she looks away. Quentin’s smile fades the longer she looks away.

Nora: (softly) There won’t be a next adventure. I have to grow up when I return home.

Quentin: Grow up? Aren’t you already grown up?

Nora: (laughing softly, small smile) One would think that but my father thinks otherwise. He has made….. an arrangement for me and I am expected to hold up my end of the arrangement when I return home.

Quentin: An arrangement? That sounds very……(makes a show of looking for the right word) father-ery of him and dreadfully boring.

 Quentin and Nora look at each other for a few beats they break out laughing

Nora: I don’t think father-ery is a word

Quentin: What? Of course it is! You just heard me use it, why wouldn’t it be a word?

They break out in laugher again

Quentin: (out of breath ,smiling) What sort of arrangement has your father made for you?

Nora glances away

Nora: (still looking away) A marriage.

Quentin: (shocked) As in an arranged marriage? (Nora nods) You mean like the ones you hear about in stories and such? (Nora nods) I didn’t know people still did that. I didn’t know that was still legal.

Nora: It is still a fairly common practice in the area where I grew up. My neighbors are so far away that it’s common to go weeks or even months without ever seeing a person you aren’t related to.

Quentin: I’m sorry. That sounds horrid. I would feel, well it doesn’t really matter how I would feel. How do you feel about all this?

The driver begins speaking in Arabic on an overhead speaker, Quentin turns towards the front of the bus and leans to the side to search the crowded bus stop, Nora stacks her papers and returns them to her bag.

Lights out

End Scene

Scene II

Lights up

Nora, Quentin, and a new rider sleep towards the middle of the darkened bus, the same two riders from the bus stop sleep towards the back, most of the light filters in through the widows, sirens can be heard distantly off stage and are steadily growing louder.

Quentin stirs and sits up straighter, looking around

Quentin: (sleepily) What the devil is that noise? (yawns and stretches) Sirens.   What are sirens doing in the middle of the desert?

The sirens get louder as more of the bus riders wake. The riders in the back turn to look out the window where colored lights can now be seen.

Quentin: (fully awake, eyes wide) The National Police. But, how?

The colored lights can be seen in all the windows and the sirens are deafening Nora is the last one to wake. She sits up and looks around just as the sirens cut off and two National Police officers enter the bus and begin talking to the driver in loud voices.

Nora leans into the isle to see the front.

Nora: What’s going on?

Quentin: No idea. I don’t speak the language.

Nora: (shocked) How did you make it this far into the country?

Quentin: (shrugs)  Improvised sign language and pointing. Lots of pointing.

Nora laughs softly and leans further into the isle to see the front of the bus

Quentin: Why don’t you go up there and ask?

Nora: (taken back) And what makes you think I speak the language?

Quentin: (matter of fact) Your reaction to me when I said I didn’t, that and the Arabic phrase book in your bag, mostly the phrase book.

Nora: Who’s to say that I know any more than those few phrases? And how did you know--

Quentin: (interrupting and looking her in the eye) You planned your adventure down to the minute. You don’t strike me as the type to let a little thing like a language barrier hinder you. Now go ask.

Blushing and rolling her eyes Nora makes her way to the front of the bus and begins talking with one of the officers. While Nora is at the front Quentin checks to make sure nobody is paying attention to him and then he pulls a golden statue from his bag and slips it into Nora’s bag. With a guilty look over his shoulder at Nora, he repeats the process.

Quentin: (under his breath, just loud enough to hear) My mama wouldn’t be proud, but nothing pleased her.

Nora returns to her seat with the officers following.

Nora: They seem to think one of us is a master criminal and robbed the National History Museum in Cairo. They just need to search our bags and the bus to ensure that none of us are and then we can all be on our way.

Quentin: (laughing) I would love to assure them of my innocence myself, but I don’t speak the language. I shall have to let my bag do the talking for me.

Quentin hands his bag to one of the officers. Together the officers search the bag and the return it to him. Turning to Nora the one closest to her says something in Arabic and Nora wordlessly hands her bag to them with a slight look of confusion.

Nora: (under her breath) I didn’t pack anything that heavy.

The officers begin searching Nora’s bag and in no time they pull the two stolen statues from the bag. Nora’s face goes pale with shock as the officers begin yelling at her in rapid Arabic. The officer closest to Nora grips her arm and hauls her off. The second officer yells something in Arabic and the other riders and the driver exit. Quentin remains seated staring blindly ahead. The officer leans down in front of him.

Officer: (heavy accent) You come. (gestures to the front of the bus) questions.

Quentin: (in a daze) What? Me? (points at himself) Yes. Questions. Right coming.

Quentin rises and follows the officer off looking shocked the whole time.

Lights out.

End Scene

Act II Scene I

Lights up

Two holding cells sit side by side sharing one wall of bars, both have a bench running across the back. Quentin is alone in one cell near the wall it shares with the other cell. He stares ahead absently clenching and relaxing his hand.

Quentin: (slightly confused) I think….I think I feel guilty about what I did to her. (makes a face) Na, must be sorrow over losing those statues. (angrily)  Damn those statues! They were my pay day, the money from that Russian fella was gonna get me out of this whole mess!

Quentin slaps the wall of bars to his side and it makes a ringing noise. He shakes his hand and makes a face, clearly in pain. As Quentin is nursing his hand the sound of footsteps and quiet sobbing can be heard off stage. The sound goes on for several beats before Quentin seems to notice, when he does he sit up straight and looks towards the noise.

Quentin: Oh, what did they do to her?

Sobbing grows louder and Nora, flanked by guards, enters and is locked in the empty cell. Guards leave Nora remains standing near the cell door.

Quentin: Nora? Nora? (reaches through the bars towards her) Shhhh shhhh it will be okay. Just….just…..um…just come sit and talk to me about it.

Nora: (sniffing, angrily) No! No, it will not be okay! No, I will not come and sit and talk about it! They think I stole those statues, Quentin! They think I am a criminal!

Quentin: Nora calm down, it--

Nora: (tad hysterical, yelling) ME! A CRIMINAL! LITTLE ME! Little me who can’t even take an adventure the right way, is a master criminal who is wanted worldwide! They have connected this with several other crimes across the world, say I made a few slip-ups in the past!

Quentin, who had been smirking mouthing master criminal, pales when Nora mentions slip-ups.

Nora: (calm, quiet) I am NOT a criminal. I am NOT. They can’t do this, can they? Not with so little evidence they can’t. Oh, who am I kidding? They found the statues in my bag! I am going to jail! I can’t go to jail!

Nora breaks down into tears and throws herself on to the bench. Quentin, still pale, stares at her for a few beats while she cries.

Quentin: (clears his throat, softly) Nora, it will be okay. I promise, okay? They will figure out that you didn’t do it. Something won’t add up, they don’t like loose ends and making you the bad guy will leave a lot of loose ends. And even if you have to spend a day or two in jail it won’t be too bad, trust me. Jail is a great place to learn about yourself, you never know what…..

Quentin trails off as Nora gasps.

Nora: (shocked) You have spent time in JAIL? Why?

Quentin: (forced laughter) Calm down! Yes, I have spent time in jail. It is like a rite of passage in the US. Everyone spends a little time in jail, a DUI or two, armed robbery, being framed for treason, assult—

Nora gasps.

Quentin: Nora! I was joking! (thoughtful) Well, except for the thing about treason, that actually did happen to my cousin. And in the end it turns out he was working for the Mob, so he kind of deserved it…..

Nora: (calm, thoughtful) I think, Quentin, that we have grown up in two very different worlds.

Quentin: (smiling) Nora, you couldn’t be more right in that regard. Now why don’t you lie down and try and get a little sleep. Things will seem better in the morning, I promise.

Nora yawns and lies down on the bench. The rest of this conversation takes place in soft quiet tones.

Nora: Quentin?

Quentin: Yes?

Nora: You promise things will be better tomorrow?

Quentin: (with a small smile) Yes, I promise.

Nora: Quentin?

Quentin: Nora?

Nora: ( shy) Would you…..well would you mind holding my hand? My mother always used to do that whenever I had a nightmare.

Quentin: I would call this a nightmare.

Quentin reaches through the bars and holds Nora’s hand. Everything is quiet for a while as Nora fall asleep. Quentin looks at Nora and then lets out a sigh.

Quentin: (deadpan) I am a horrible human being and I will be going to hell for what I have done to this woman. Straight. To. Hell.

Quentin sighs again and looks at Nora for a few beats. He sighs as he rises and walks to the front of the cell and grips the bars.

Quentin:  (whisper yelling)Guard! Guard! Hello? Guard!

Lights out.

End Scene

Scene II

Lights up.

Interrogation room. A table with a chair on either side, dim lighting. Quentin sits on one side of the table across from a high ranking member of the National Police, two lower ranking members stand on either side of Quentin by the wall. Quentin is talking when the lights come up but we can’t hear him

Quentin: (quickly, almost rambling) ….and that’s how the statues ended up in Nora’s bag. She didn’t steal them. I did. I am the one who is all messed up with the Taliban and the Mob, not her. Please don’t put her in jail….she…..she is a really good person and she really just wants to have this trip before she has to go home and get married. Please, just don’t--

The officer raises his hand and Quentin stops talking. He is shaking and can’t keep his hands still. His leg is bouncing. The officer is still and almost looks bored.

Captain: (slight accent) I assume that you would like to trade information on the Taliban for a lighter punishment on yourself?

Quentin freezes and stares at the officer. He doesn’t move for several beats, neither does the officer.

Captain: Or you did not?

Quentin: (quickly) No! No! I really would like to do that! I would also be willing to work with the US and tell them things on the Mob. I know a lot about them, too!

The officer nods remaining silent.

Quentin: Um…just one more thing. Can I write a note to Nora? I want to tell her sorry for what I did.

The officer nods to one of the guards behind Quentin, who leaves the room.

Lights out.

End Scene

Scene III

Lights up.

Nora is sitting on a boat on the Nile reading a newspaper with a smile on her face. The headline reads Isis statues returned to Nat. History Museum in Cairo, Thief trades information for a lighter sentence.

Nora: (softly) The thief, who remains unnamed for his own protection, has been returned to his home country in to provide information on organized crime there. (looks up, laughs) Quentin what did you get yourself tangled up in?

Nora looks off to the side for a beat or two and then pulls a piece of paper from her pocket. She looks down at it and smiles broadly.

Nora: (looking down and reading) Nora, I hope my mess added a little bit of unexpected to your adventure. Quentin P.S. And now you have another paper!

Nora looks up with a thoughtful look on her face and then pulls a phone from her pocket and dials.

Nora: Hello? Yes I would like to exchange my return ticket to Italy for a one way ticket to China. Yes; China….

Lights out.

End Scene

The End

Barbie Syndrome

We live in a social world, a world that is growing to be more and more dependent upon technology to keep us connected and to keep us informed. Growing hand in hand with our dependence on technology is the amount of time we spend viewing advertisements. Whether it is an ad for clothes or one for your local supermarket all ads are attempting to sell the same thing, the perfect life. They do this by showing what the media has decided is the perfect person using their product. “From childhood to adulthood, television, billboards, movies, music videos, video games, computer games, toys, the internet, and magazines convey images of ideal attractiveness, beauty, shape, size, strength, and weight” (Croll, 537). Without being aware of it we are being told hundreds of times a day that we are not good enough, that we need to be something different in order to be liked, loved and successful. From our height to our weight to our facial features we are being told on a daily basis that we are wrong and that we are worthless.

                “At 8 years old, girls believe that weight control is strongly associated with self-worth and view dieting as a means of improving self-worth” (Croll, 540), in the second grade our children are worried about how they look and how much they weigh. How do we expect these children to survive through puberty, the time when everything grows, without lasting negative effects? The cruel truth is that we can’t.  “58% of girls want to lose weight” (Croll, 563) while “over one-third of boys think their current size is too small” (Croll, 537). The worries may be on the opposite sides of the spectrum, but the results are often the same. “Approximately 30% of boys and over 55% of girls report using unhealthy weight control methods” (Croll, 540). The goal for the boys is to drop fat and put on muscle while all the girls want is a slimmer waist and a bigger chest, both will do anything to get it. “Vomiting, laxatives, diet pills, cigarette smoking, and diuretics” (Croll, 540) are all used and abused in an effort to be counted as a member of the “Cult of Slimness” (Fiedler, 564).

                But where did this all start? Where did our society’s obsession with slimming down or bulking up begin? Horrifyingly the answer is children’s toys. “Over 800 million Barbie dolls have been sold and annual sales amount to more than 1 billion dollars” (Croll, 538), that’s more than 1 billion dollars spent every year to show our children something they should never aspire to be. “If Barbie were real, her neck would be too long and thin to support the weight of her head, and her upper body proportions would make it difficult for her to walk upright. If Ken were real, his huge barrel chest and enormously thick neck would nearly preclude him from wearing a shirt” (Croll, 538). This is what we give our children to play with; this is what our children want to be when they grow up. A woman whose chest is so large that she cannot remain upright for long periods of time and a man who is unable to wear shirts, both unable to hold jobs or support a family. The only silver lining that I can find is that Barbie’s hips are likely too narrow for her to give birth so they would have no children to starve to death. This obsession with looking perfect and therefore being happy, what I call the ‘Barbie Syndrome’ , begins early in life and remains with us for a long time to come.

                Models, women well past the childhood age of playing with dolls, are striving every day to live up to the ideas about a beautiful body given to them in their youth. Already the average model is “at least 30 pound lighter and 6 inches taller than the average female” (Croll, 538), but as of late pressures within the modeling industry are pushing these women to be thinner and look taller. At the 2006 New York fashion week models “appeared so gaunt and thin that their knees and elbows were larger than their concave thighs and pipe cleaner arms, and their bobbling heads looked as if a light breeze could detach them from their frail bodies” (Wilson, 542).  This description paints a humorous picture of a very dangerous reality, that those who achieved everything that ‘Barbie Syndrome’ promised may now be expected to continue to push this ideal even further. Models are not alone in this; beauty queens have been swept up in the mad dash to make beauty an extreme instead of every day. This new found application for “less is more” can be seen in one of the most famous beauty pageants, Miss America.  “Since 1970, nearly all of the winners have had BMIs below the healthy range, with some as low as 16.9, a BMI that would meet part of the diagnostic criteria for anorexia nervosa” (Croll, 539). With women so frail and thin that you can count their ribs as they walk by being placed on pedestals and worshiped by men and women everywhere, how can we expect society as a whole to keep health first when beauty is so widely revered?

                 It is no longer enough to reduce the size of the bad; we now must increase the size of the good. For women this generally means a reshaping of the nose and an enhancement of the breasts, two fairly simple and, now, common procedures. For men the goal is something that in the past was impossible, is now painful but possible. This painful goal is height, a whole three inches. To gain these much sought after inches these men pay to have both legs broken in two spots and then having “eleven arrow-sharp carbide pins [pushed in] until they bottom out against bone” (Kita, 548). For the next six months these pins are rotated to force the bone farther and farther apart, “work is out of the question. This is true not only during the distraction phase but also for three months or more after the frames come off and the new bone is hardening”  (Kita, 548).  Nine or more months out of work for three inches more of height and these men pay money for it. Why? Simply because we, as a society, have told them that they are too short to matter. The men who willingly take part in this painful and expensive process will cite a whole list of reasons why being three inches taller will make their lives better, but the short of it is that they are tired of being over looked and turned down for things they are qualified and prepared to do because they are not the right size.

                There are those who would say that the focus on thinner men and women is a way of pushing youth to living healthier lifestyles. What these people seem to be missing is that the youth is never told how they got so thin or even what type of thin is healthy. All they are told is that thin will get you jobs, thin will make you happy, thin will fix your life. We never advise these impressionable young people on the difference between just being thin and being healthy. So the only goal they have is to be thin and being the head strong youth that we all once were they rush off with reckless abandon to find the thing that will make them thin and keep them that way.

Our society focus is on thin and not healthy. Until this has been changed so that healthy is the new focus, ‘Barbie Syndrome’ will continue to spread across the country and across generations like a twenty-first century plague. There is hope for the future, in 2006 “the organizers of Madrid fashion week...said they were banning models with a height-to-weight ratio below what the World Health Organization considered normal” (Wilson, 543). However a problem that began in the home must surely be fixed in the home. The greatest sign that we have not doomed our nation will be when Barbie and Ken could, if they were real, remain upright and wear a shirt.

Standardized Testing

When the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 was signed into law nobody anticipated the results that would come in the following years. With increased pressure for students to score high on standardized tests, virtually all curriculums nationwide have been cut back and trimmed down in order to focus on the “skills” needed to score high on the test. The trimming and cutting away of the curriculum have resulted in “standardized students” (Williams, 603); students who can guess and “game” their way through a test, but are unable to actually use the knowledge their test results say they have.  This focus on high test scores has resulted in a generation of students that cannot write, read or comprehend information beyond a superficial timed test atmosphere.

                With these tests being the standard by which virtually all our children are being evaluated it brings to mind the question, are these tests fair? When one looks closer into the background and origin of the tests one thing becomes horribly clear, the tests themselves are biased.  Many teachers and researchers have spent a goodly amount of time documenting and arguing this point. A few more noteworthy members of this group argue that “standardized testing works not from a set of objective standards somehow as constant as the North Star but from a set of cultural conceptions about literacy that are neither objective nor static” (Williams, 605). Simplified, they argue that these tests do not evaluate the skills of the student, but how close that student falls to a predetermined cultural norm. Sadly for most inner-city and minority rich schools, their students do not fall into this norm. The “skills” required to score high on these tests are rarely ones that are gained in today’s classroom environment and generally come from out of school experiences; experiences that come to virtually only those students who are well off with highly paid parents. This cultural bias results in students who may excel outside of the test environment being told that they are “below average” or less than they really are. The system of labeling “below average” students has resulted in waves of high school and even junior high drop-outs who believed they could not pass the exam to graduate.

                Standardized test results have become the guidelines for a harsh and unforgiving reward and punishment system for the administration, teachers, and students. Schools as a whole are rewarded or punished on the “quality” of their teaching and learning, as documented by these tests.  Each year, after the results of the tests are returned, schools review, revise and trim the curriculum once again. What most people don’t know is that the “test were never intended to measure the quality of learning or teaching” (Kohn, 599). The tests were created to rank students, to rate them. The creators of the tests openly admit that their tests “are designed so that only about half the test takers will respond correctly” (Kohn, 599). With the test designed so that only 50% can pass, why are they being used to judge the “quality” of the school? When test scores are considered too low schools are punished for not reaching the bench mark. When test scores are considered high enough schools are rewarded for going “above and beyond” to “bridge the gap”. While the students may never see the results of this reward and punishment system the teachers and administration have it hanging over their heads every minute of every day. The high amounts of stress this causes in not conductive to a good learning environment. When the teacher is stressed the children can sense this and it stresses them out as well. Stressed out children cannot learn, they don’t fully understand what stress is all they know is that they are anxious about everything. It is not healthy, high amounts of stress in young children lead to other issues that can have a lifelong effect.

                It must be addressed that standardized testing does have its merits. It is a quick and easy way to make an evaluation about what a child currently knows. Standardized testing is faster than any other form of testing because it if corrected by a computer, no human has to be paid and take the time to hand correct these tests. It is true that when used correctly test scores can be used in a way that changes the teaching approach for the better.  The Cheltenham School District of Pennsylvania is a good example of the correct way to use the information provided by the test scores. The results are organized in a way that is easy to understand and given to the teachers in July, a month before the students arrive. With this information “teachers can account for the effectiveness of their strategies and, if they are not working for some students, adapt to alternatives” (Paige, 614). Sadly this is not a common thread across the nation, in most areas schools and teachers are left on their own to interpret the data and make changes in their approach to teaching.

                This heavy focus on testing has made teachers across the nation worried about what it is doing to the quality of the education that their students are getting.  The “skills” required to pass these tests change curriculums in such a dramatic way that “teachers… worry that more and more of the important things that prepare us for life will be pushed off the curriculum plate to make room for test preparation” (Weaver, 616) .  Teaching students how to fill in bubbles and how to shallowly interpret data does not prepare them for the deep thought and creative interpretation that is required to be successful in the highly competitive working world of today. “According to a recent poll by Public Agenda, 88% of teachers say the amount of attention their school pays to standardized test results has increased in the last several years. And 61% agreed that teaching to the test ‘inevitably stifles real teaching and learning’” (Weaver, 616). How can we support the practice of something that teachers, the people we trust with the future of our nation, feel “inevitably stifles real teaching and learning” (Weaver, 616)?

Perhaps the most disturbing thing about our nation’s focus on standardized testing is that the very nations we are trying to compete with are now changing their education systems from a testing heavy policy to a more flexible system. China has been one of the leading nation in test scores for longer than most of us have been alive, recently they have begun to change from a “one nation-one syllabus tradition” (Zhao, 621) to a flexible system with more choices for the students.  With everyone from Bill Gates to long time politicians claiming that out educations system is broken nearly beyond repair and that “a high-school diploma as become nothing more than a ‘certificate of attendance’” (Paige, 613, it seems that the US will shortly be unable to compete with the rest of the world.  However, “the United States remains a superpower, dominating the world as the most scientifically and technologically advanced nation” (Zhao, 619). How can it be that we are losing the battle with test scores and winning the battle with advancements?  The answer is shockingly simple, growing up in the US fosters creativity and creativity spurs the drive to take the risks and overcome the challenges that an essential part of changing the world. “China, Singapore, South Korea and Japan…have started education reforms aimed at fostering more creativity and innovative thinking among their citizens” (Zhao, 621). While these leading nations are changing their education systems to create a more creative environment the US is calling “for more homework and more study time” (Zhao, 621). In our quest to be the best of the best in all categories are we sacrificing the very thing that sets us apart, our creativity, to compete with nations that are changing to be more like we are now?

                Creativity is what sets our nation apart from the rest of the world, our new focus on standardized test results pushes us towards becoming average rather than a leader when it comes to advancements. In order to continue competing in the global economy the US needs to remain the leader in scientific and technologic advancements. Our current reliance on getting high test scores has resulted in students and graduates that are unable to compete in the real world, the shallow thinking and simple interpretation skills needed to score high on standardized tests kills the creative and innovative spirit that has allowed the US to remain a superpower. The bias and shallowness of the tests make it nearly impossible for all students to score well and do not properly prepare students for entering the increasingly competitive working world. While standardized tests make comparing one student to another faster and simpler, our heavy reliance on their results will end up being our nations downfall.

The Fox the Lion and the Donkey

Characters

Fox: sleek, small, smart, knows that he won’t live through the winter without help, cunning, trickster, gaunt, nearly starved to death, sarcastic

Lion: Big, prideful, not starving but on the skinny side for how large he is, hungry, doesn’t NEED the help to live through the winter but is lonely and doesn’t like to hunt alone, of average intelligence,

Donkey:  slow, big eyes, easily lead by others, thinks himself smarter than he really is, would live through on his own but wants more food, kind of greedy, thinks his is important

Mrs. Rabbit

Mr. Rabbit

Time

The middle of a harsh winter

Setting

Unnamed forest

Lights up. Bare trees and bare bushes, the ground is covered in a light dusting of snow. The whole setting is bleak and unwelcoming.

Mrs. Rabbit and Mr. Rabbit enter together looking around, clearly searching for something

Mrs. Rabbit: I don’t see anything here either dear

Mr. Rabbit: (searching around the bottoms of the bushes, disgusted) Can’t even dig because the ground is frozen solid

Mrs. Rabbit: What are we gonna do? (begins crying) We have to find some food soon or the kids won’t make it through the winter

Mr. Rabbit: (while comforting Mrs. Rabbit) We’ll just have to keep on looking until we find some. There has to be something to eat somewhere. And if we can’t find anything we may have to leave the forest….(trails off as Mrs. Rabbit’s sobbing becomes louder)

Mrs. Rabbit: (sobbing) We c-c-c-can’t leave

Mr. Rabbit: Come along darling let’s keep looking. I think I see something up ahead

Mr. Rabbit leads the still sobbing Mrs. Rabbit off. Audience hears her sobs die away on the right as the bushes on the left begin to move.

Fox enters, shaking his head

Fox: I considered eating them, but then she mentioned the children. I couldn’t just leave them to starve or freeze to death, and I couldn’t eat them. Eating babies? That’s just wrong. (under his breath) course my soft spot for children is probably going to kill me one of these days.

(Fox sniffs around the bases of the bushes and trees. Fox lifts his head a looks longing after the rabbits, he shakes his head and begins pacing)

Fox: What I need is food. Not just any food, meat, warm freshly killed meat. But with the highly effective diet I have been on recently I don’t have the energy to catch a rock let alone something running from me.  Hmmmmmmmmm……. (stops in the middle of the stage and flops down) hmmmm…… what to do? (rolls onto his back) what to do? Hmmmmmmmm (tilts his head to the side) YES! THAT’S IT! (leaps up with a grin on his face) I need a team! A team to catch my food for me! But they can’t realize that they are working for me, that might encourage them to eat ME…… So what I need is a stupid team. A stupid team that can follow orders….

noises off stage, Fox turns to look

Fox: oh look, one of my most favorite idiots has arrived just in time to assist me. (grins and laughs) This might actually be too easy… (yelling) Donkey! Oh Donkey, my dear friend! Wait for me!

Fox runs off stage, still yelling for Donkey

Lights out

Lights up.

Small clearing surrounded by bare tree ,tuffs of brown grass covered in frost are scattered across the stage. Donkey is happily munching on the frozen grass to one side while Lion lies looking bored in the middle. Fox enters

Fox: Ah good so we are all here. (smile) Thank you very much for being willing to assist me with this. As you can see I have had little to eat this winter and would like a more filling meal this evening. So, if there are no objections? (pauses and looks at the two others, smiles) Then let’s get down to business.

Donkey: I feel the need to point out that I don’t actually eat meat. What am I getting out of all of this?

Fox: The knowledge that you helped a dear friend out in his time of greatest need? Or you could try a little meat, never know you might like it. (eyeing the grass) Warm meat has to be better than frozen grass.

Donkey: You do have a point there. All this frozen grass sure does make my belly cold. (nodding) Alright, I’m in.

Fox: (under his breath so Donkey and Lion can’t hear him) Course if this all goes according to plan you won’t be eating anything anymore…..(louder) I was thinking that for our first time working together we will try for something small, like a deer. Don—

Lion: (interrupting Fox) won’t work. Deer can hear me coming from a long way off and there is no way that I can chase one down. Not with the way they know the back trails around here.

Fox: (glaring at Loin) As I was attempting to say, Donkey will be—

Loin: (with contempt) Donkey will be the one catch the deer? That is the most foolish idea I have ever heard! It will never work! Why, until two minutes ago he wasn’t even a meat eater!

Donkey: (offended) You don’t think I could catch a deer? I could easily catch one of those scrawny things! It wouldn’t even be a challenge.

Lion: (yelling) Wouldn’t even be a challenge?! Have you ever had to chase down your meal before?

Lion and Donkey begin fighting in earnest, now yelling over each other

Fox: (sitting and watching, deadpan) Idiots. I’m surrounded by idiots.  (shakes his head, yelling) QUIET!

Lion and Donkey stop, startled and turn to look at Fox. Both look offended.

Fox: (harsh) Donkey will be down by the deer. Talking to it and making enough noise to cover up YOUR, yes you Lion, approach. Then while the deer is focused on Donkey you pounce on him and kill him. All that clear?

Donkey and Lion look wide eyed at each other

Donkey and Lion: (unison) Yes, I understand.

Fox: (sarcastic) Good. Now go find a deer and try it out.

Donkey and Lion hurry off stage

Fox: (looking up and shaking his head, imploring) Oh heavens…… (looks off stage after Lion and Donkey) I hope Lion knows to stay down wind of the deer. I better go remind him.

Fox leaves stage

Lights out

Lights up

Same small clearing, now with a dead deer lying in the center. Donkey is chattering to himself about what a fantastic job he did and how exciting it is. Lion is ripping the deer into smaller chunks to be divided among the three of them. Fox sits watching.

Lion: (tearing one last piece apart) there that ought to be good enough

Fox: (sharply) Donkey! Stop that and come divide up the meat.

Donkey begins separating the meat into piles Lion looks at Fox, confused.

Fox: (softly so Donkey can’t hear) I just wanted something for him to do with his mouth other than talk.

Lion chuckles and lies down to sleep. Donkey hums to himself as he works.

Donkey: (setting down the last piece) Done! Lion why don’t you come pick a pile.

Lion wakes, pulls himself to his feet and looks at the piles.

Lion: (enraged) What kind of a joke is this? I need much more meat than you or Fox! I will not stand for this! I will not be made fun of in this manner!

Lion roars and lunges towards Donkey, who brays in fear

Donkey: (screaming as he runs from Lion) No! I meant no offence! We are all equal partners in this! We all deserve equal shares! Fox! Help!

Fox ignores Donkey’s pleas for help and sits watching unmoving as Lion chases Donkey off stage. Sounds of a fight are heard off stage. Donkey’s bray is cut of short. A few moments later Lion returns to the stage with fresh blood on him.

Fox: (calmly) So Donkey is dead then?

Lion: (cautiously)  Yes.

Fox: (calmly) Do you have any problem with eating him?

Lion: (shocked) Um…well…no not really. I only met him today….

Fox: (chipper) Good. Then he can be part of your share. I will take this and this and this. (picks out several chunks of meat) Is that alright with you?

Lion: Wise of you not to take more than you can eat.

Fox: I saw what you did to Donkey, it would be foolish to attempt the same. I am not a fool.

Fox drags his meat off stage leaving Lion to eat alone.

Lights out

The End