Produced by Michael Gray (Lost_Gamer@comcast.net)
_By_ Constance D'Arcy Mackay
BOOKS OF PLAYS FOR CHILDREN
DESIGNED FOR USE IN THE SCHOOLS
Patriotic Plays and Pageants for Young People
The one-act plays for young people contained in this volume can be
produced separately, or may be used as links in the chain of episodes
which go to make up outdoor or indoor pageants. There are full
directions for simple costumes, dances, and music. Each play deals with
the _youth_ of some American hero. The plays are suitable for schools,
summer camps, boys' clubs, historic festivals, patriotic societies, and
social settlements, and play grounds. $1.35 net; by mail, $1.45.
The Silver Thread and Other Folk Plays for Young People
Simplicity is the keynote of these eight plays. Each has a footnote
on its origin, and full descriptions and directions for easily arranged
costumes and scene-settings, especially designed to fit the limitations
of the schoolroom stage. $1,20 net; by mail, $1.30.
The House of the Heart and Other Plays for Children
Ten one-act plays that have stood the test of actual production.
$1.20 net; by mail, $1.30.
"An addition to child drama which has been sorely needed."--_Boston
Transcript._
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
PUBLISHERS NEW YORK
PATRIOTIC PLAYS AND PAGEANTS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
BY
CONSTANCE D'ARCY MACKAY
_Author of "The House of the Heart and Other Plays for Children" and
"The Silver Thread and Other Folk Plays for Young People"_
NEW YORK
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
COPYRIGHT, 1912,
BY
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY---
Published March, 1912
No performance of these plays may be given without full acknowledgment
of the author and publishers. Acknowledgment should be made to read as
follows: "By Constance D'Arcy Mackay; from _Patriotic Plays and
Pageants for Young People_; Copyright, 1912, by Henry Holt and Company;
Produced by arrangement with the publishers."
Amateurs may produce the plays in this volume without charge.
Professional actors _must_ apply for acting rights to the author, in
care of the publishers.
PREFACE
The one-act plays for young people contained in this volume can be
produced separately, or may be used as links in the chain of episodes
which go to make up outdoor or indoor pageants. There are full
directions for simple costumes, dances, and music. Each play deals with
the _youth_ of some American hero, so that the lad who plays George
Washington or Benjamin Franklin will be in touch with the emotions of a
patriot of his own years, instead of incongruously portraying an adult.
Much of the dialogue contains the actual words of Lincoln, Washington,
and Franklin, so that in learning their lines the youthful players may
grasp something of the hardihood and sagacity of Washington, the
perseverance of Franklin, and the honesty and dauntlessness of Lincoln,
and of those salient virtues that went to the up-building of America--a
heritage from the time "when all the land was young."
The plays are suitable for schools, summer camps, boys' clubs, historic
festivals, patriotic societies, and social settlements and playgrounds.
The outdoor plays are especially adapted for a "Safe and Sane Fourth."
All the plays have stood the test of production.
"The Pageant of Patriots"--the first children's patriotic pageant ever
given in America--was produced in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, N. Y., under
the auspices of Brooklyn's ten Social Settlements, May, 1911. The
Hawthorne Pageant was first produced on Arbor Day, May, 1911, by the
Wadleigh High School, New York City; Pocahontas was given as a separate
play at Franklin Park, Boston, by Lincoln House, and some of the other
plays have been given at various schools in New York City.
Thanks are due to _The Woman's Home Companion_, _The Delineator_, _The
Designer_, _The Normal Instructor_, and _The Popular Educator_ for
their kind permission to reprint these plays.
CONTENTS
PATRIOTIC PLAYS: THEIR USE AND VALUE
PAGEANTS
PAGEANTS OF PATRIOTISM
The outdoor arrangement can be produced by a whole school or group of
schools, by groups of social settlements, communities, and cities, in
parks, armories, woodland spaces or meadows on such occasions as the
Fourth of July, Decoration Day, Bunker Hill Day, Labor Day, during Old
Home Week, or for any special city or town celebration. The indoor
arrangement of the same pageant is also suitable for whole schools, or
groups of schools, groups of settlements, communities, villages,
cities: in armories, school halls, assembly rooms, or small theaters on
Columbus Day, Lincoln's Birthday, Washington's Birthday, or some day of
special celebration.
PAGEANT OF PATRIOTS (Outdoor)
Prologue by the Spirit of Patriotism
Princess Pocahontas
Pilgrim Interlude
Ferry Farm Episode
George Washington's Fortune
Daniel Boone: Patriot
Benjamin Franklin Episode
Abraham Lincoln Episode
Liberty Dance
Pageant Directions
PAGEANT OF PATRIOTS (Indoor)
Prologue by the Spirit of Patriotism
Dramatic Silhouette: Lords of the Forest
The Coming of the White Man: Tableau
Princess Pocahontas
Priscilla Mullins Spinning: Tableau
Benjamin Franklin: Journeyman
George Washington's Fortune
The Boston Tea Party
Dramatic Silhouette: The Spirit of '76
Abraham Lincoln: Rail-Splitter
Directions for Indoor Arrangement
THE HAWTHORNE PAGEANT
Can be produced in park or woodland in its outdoor arrangement. Is
suitable for co-educational schools, girls' schools, girls' Summer
camps. Is appropriate for Hawthorne's Birthday (July 4), Arbor Day, May
Day, or any day during Spring and Summer. In its indoor form it can be
given in school halls or in a small theater. In this form it is
appropriate for co-educational schools, girls' schools, settlements. It
can be given any time during the Autumn, Winter, or Spring.
HAWTHORNE PAGEANT (For Outdoor or Indoor Production)
Chorus of Spirits of the Old Manse
Prologue by the Muse of Hawthorne
In Witchcraft Days (First Episode)
Dance Interlude
Merrymount (Second Episode)
Pageant Directions
LIST OF SEPARATE ONE-ACT PLAYS
ABRAHAM LINCOLN: RAIL-SPLITTER (Indoor)
Can be produced in school, home, or small theater. Is suitable for
schools, settlements, clubs, patriotic societies, and debating
societies. Can be appropriately produced any time between September and
March. Is especially appropriate for Lincoln's Birthday.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN: JOURNEYMAN (Indoor)
Can be produced in a school, home, or small theater. Is suitable for
schools, clubs, settlements, patriotic societies and clubs. Can
appropriately be produced any time between September and June. Is
particularly suited to Franklin's Birthday.
THE BOSTON TEA PARTY (Indoor)
Can be produced in school, home, or small theater. Is suitable for
boys' schools, Boy Scouts, settlements, clubs, and patriotic societies.
Can be produced on any holiday. Is particularly appropriate for Fall
and Winter months--especially the month of December.
DANIEL BOONE: PATRIOT (Outdoor)
Can be produced in park, woodland, or village green. Can be given by
boys' schools, clubs, settlements, and patriotic societies. Also by the
"Sons of Daniel Boone" and the Boy Scouts. Is appropriate for any day
during Spring, Summer, or Autumn. Can be given on the Fourth of July.
GEORGE WASHINGTON'S FORTUNE (Outdoor)
Can be produced in park, lawn, or woodland. Is suitable for schools,
clubs, patriotic societies, and settlements. Is appropriate for any day
during Spring, Summer, or Autumn, and is particularly appropriate for
the Fourth of July. An indoor arrangement can easily be made for George
Washington's Birthday.
IN WITCHCRAFT DAYS (Outdoor)
Can be given in park, lawn, or village green or woodland. Suitable for
co-educational schools, girls' schools, girls' Summer camps, patriotic
societies, settlements, and clubs. Appropriate for Arbor Day, May Day,
or any day during Spring, Summer, or early Autumn. An indoor
arrangement can be given for Thanksgiving in school halls.
MERRYMOUNT (Outdoor)
Can be produced in park or woodland. Is suitable for co-educational
schools, girls' schools, girls' Summer camps, and for clubs,
settlements, and patriotic societies. Is appropriate for Arbor Day, May
Day, or any day in Spring and Summer. An indoor version of it can also
be given.
PRINCESS POCAHONTAS (Outdoor)
Can be given in park, in woodland, or on lawn. Is suitable for schools,
clubs, and patriotic societies. Can be given on the Fourth of July, or
any day during Spring and Summer. Indoor production is also possible.
PATRIOTIC PLAYS AND PAGEANTS
PATRIOTIC PLAYS: THEIR USE AND VALUE
The primary value of the patriotic play lies in its appeal to the love
of country, and its power to revitalize the past. The Youth of To-Day
is put in touch with the Patriots of Yesterday. Historic personages
become actual, vivid figures. The costumes, speech, manners, and ideas
of bygone days take on new significance. The life of trail and wigwam,
of colonial homestead and pioneer camp, is made tangible and realistic.
And the spirit of those days--the integrity, courage, and vigor of the
Nation's heroes, their meager opportunities, their struggle against
desperate odds, their slow yet triumphant upward climb--can be
illumined by the acted word as in no other way. To read of the home
life of America's beginnings is one thing; to portray it or see it
portrayed is another. And of the two experiences the latter is the less
likely to be forgotten. To the youthful participants in a scene which
centers about the campfire, the tavern table, or the Puritan
hearthstone will come an intimate knowledge of the folk they represent:
they will find the old sayings and maxims of the Nation-Builders as
pungent and applicable to the life of to-day as when they were first
spoken.
The patriotic play has manifold uses. It combines both pleasure and
education. It is both stimulating and instructive. In its indoor form
it may be the basis of a winter afternoon's or evening's entertainment,
in its outdoor form it may take whole communities and schools into the
freedom of the open. It should rouse patriotic ardor, and be of benefit
ethically, esthetically, and physically. It should wake in its
participants a sense of rhythm, freedom, poise, and plastic grace. It
should bear its part in developing clear enunciation and erectness of
carriage. To those taking part it should bring the exercise of memory,
patience, and inventiveness. It should kindle enthusiasm for the things
of America's past. In what way can national hero-days and festivals be
more fittingly commemorated than by giving a glimpse of the hero for
whom the day is named? Thus the patriotic play is equally adaptable for
Fourth of July, Washington's Birthday, Lincoln's Birthday, Columbus
Day, and the hundreds of other days--not holidays--that lie in between.
If the patriotic play is produced in the right way it should contain
the very essence of democracy--_efficient team-work, a striving
together for the good of the whole_. It should lead to the ransacking
of books and libraries; the planning of scene-setting, whether indoor
or outdoor; the fashioning of simple and accurate costumes by the young
people taking part; the collecting of suitable stage properties such as
hearthbrooms, Indian pipes, and dishes of pewter. The greater the
research, the keener the stimulus for imagination and ingenuity, two
things that go to the making of every successful production.
Fortunately, the patriotic play is inherently simple, its appeal is
along broad general lines, so that it requires no great amount of money
or energy to adequately produce it. And, as history is made up not of
one event, but of a series of events, so an historical pageant is a
logical sequence of one-act patriotic plays or episodes. The one-act
patriotic play shows one hero or one event; the pageant shows, through
one-act plays used in chronological order, the development and
upbuilding of America through the lives of her heroes.
In its pageant form, the patriotic play, with dances, songs, pantomime,
and spoken speech, lends itself to schools, communities, and city use,
in park, in armory, and on village green: in its one-act form it lends
itself to both indoor and outdoor production by schools, patriotic
societies, clubs and settlements, and, last, but not least, the home
circle. And in the hope of assisting teachers and producers to fit
appropriate plays to appropriate occasions notes on the subject have
been added to the individual plays in the table of contents.
THE PAGEANT OF PATRIOTS
(Outdoor)
THE PAGEANT OF PATRIOTS
EPISODES
1. PROLOGUE BY THE SPIRIT OF PATRIOTISM
2. PRINCESS POCAHONTAS
3. PILGRIM INTERLUDE
4. FERRY FARM EPISODE
5. GEORGE WASHINGTON'S FORTUNE
6. DANIEL BOONE: PATRIOT
7. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN EPISODE
Scene 1. Benjamin Franklin and the Crystal Gazer (1720)
The Dream Begins