By Dylan McDonough
One day at Koinonia Homeschool Co-op, Mrs. Johnson, the Dramatic Storytelling teacher and faithful reader of The Bugle Blast, asked me to write a play for one of her classes. I was very excited but nervous too. What was I going to write about? I had never written a script before. Would they perform it on stage? After I had considered these thoughts, I accepted the offer and got to work.
First, I had the idea of a story called “Popular,” but quickly scratched it for a better one called, Humpty Dumpty: The Mystery. The story had the characters of Humpty Dumpty, Bacon Sheriff, Egg Dog, Egg Girls 1, 2 & 3, Egg Detectives 1, 2 & 3, and Sunny Side Up the Egg Chef. After several rewrites, I presented the script to Mrs. Johnson. She liked the script and suggested one change. We decided to take out the Egg Dog because all he said was “Ruff, ruff.” However, we still needed a new character to take Egg Dog’s place. Since there were lots of eggs in the play, I came up with Toast Ed. Once every character was created, she asked me to oversee the play practice! I never expected to be so involved in the entire play production. I started attending the Dramatic Storytelling class to oversee the practices.
My friend Annabelle played the role of Humpty Dumpty and Sunny Side Up the Egg Chef. As we started to practice the play, we fixed some mistakes and added some extra parts. We needed costumes. I took the responsibility of making the costumes for Bacon Sheriff and the Egg Detectives. I got cardboard boxes from a grocery store. Ironically they were made for holding eggs! I cut the shapes and painted them. Lastly, I taped string on them to go around the actors’ necks. The rest of the actors had their parents and grandmothers make their costumes. As the weeks passed, we realized that we needed a wall. Guess what? Mrs. Johnson’s husband built a wooden brick wall that looked astonishingly realistic! Now that we had the wall and most of the costumes, it was time to practice on the stage.
After a lot of practicing in the classroom, we started performing the play on stage. We had to change some parts and move props due to the wide stage. We also practiced with the wall. One of the props was rubber vomit, but it was supposed to look like an egg from afar. We also put a gymnastics mat so when Humpty Dumpty fell she would not get hurt.
Finally the big night arrived. It seemed like everyone was there. Even my youth group leader, Mr. DeGood, came to see the play. My anticipation was overflowing as we arrived. I was still was a bit nervous. What would happen? That question would soon be answered.
Before the showcase began, Mrs. Rietema thanked several people such as the principal and board members for supporting our Koinonia Homeschool Co-op. After that, the show was on!
Two music classes performed before our performance. Then it was our time on the stage. My heart was pounding as Mrs. Rietema interviewed me about the play while the actors set up the props. She briefly explained how Mrs. Johnson asked me to write a screenplay and she asked me some questions. The crowd applauded and then the play began.
Each character knew their lines perfectly! The show was off to a great start! Humpty Dumpty fell off the wall, the egg girls cried, the egg detectives were on the case, there was a line up…it was amazing! As soon as they bowed, it was my cue. I raced up on stage and bowed as well.
This was quite the opportunity for me. I am very thankful Mrs. Johnson chose me to write a screenplay for her class. Please stay tuned for Humpty Dumpty the sequel!
Note: To read the full screenplay of Humpty Dumpty: The Mystery, read the following post.
