The Neverending Story (Atreyu and the Great Quest) By MI CHAEL ENDE Adapted for the stage by DA VID S. CRAIG Dra matic Pub lish ing Woodstock, Il li nois • Aus tra lia • New Zea land • South Af rica © Dramatic Publishing Company, Woodstock, Illinois. *** NO TICE *** The am a teur and stock act ing rights to this work are con trolled ex clu- sively by THE DRA MATIC PUB LISH ING COM PANY with out whose per mis sion in writ ing no per for mance of it may be given. Roy alty must be paid ev ery time a play is per formed whether or not it is pre sented for profit and whether or not ad mis sion is charged. A play is per formed any time it is acted before an au di ence. Current roy alty rates, appli cations and re stric tions may be found at our website: www.dramaticpublishing.com, or we may be con tacted by mail at: DRA MATIC PUB LISH ING COM - PANY, 311 Wash ing ton St., Woodstock IL 60098. COPY RIGHT LAW GIVES THE AU THOR OR THE AU THOR’S AGENT THE EX CLU SIVE RIGHT TO MAKE COP IES. 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All rights, in clud ing, but not lim ited to, the pro fes sional, mo tion pic - ture, ra dio, tele vision, vid eo tape, for eign language, tab loid, rec i ta tion, lectur ing, publi cation and read ing, are re served. For per for mance of any songs, mu sic and re cord ings men tioned in this play which are in copy right, the per mis sion of the copy right own ers must be ob tained or other songs and re cord ings in the pub lic do main sub sti tuted. ©MMX by DA VID S. CRAIG Based upon the book The Neverending Story by MI CHAEL ENDE Printed in the United States of Amer ica All Rights Re served (THE NEVERENDING STORY) ISBN: 978-1-58342-697-5 © Dramatic Publishing Company, Woodstock, Illinois. IM POR TANT BILL ING AND CREDIT RE QUIRE MENTS All pro duc ers of the play must give credit to Mi chael Ende as the au thor of the book and Da vid S. Craig as dramatizer of the play in all pro grams dis trib uted in con nec tion with per for mances of the play and in all in - stances in which the ti tle of the play ap pears for pur poses of ad ver tis ing, pub li ciz ing or oth er wise ex ploit ing the play and/or a pro duc tion. The name of Mi chael Ende must also ap pear on a sep a rate line, on which no other name ap pears, im me di ately fol low ing the ti tle, and must ap pear in size of type not less than fifty per cent (50%) the size of the ti tle type. The name of Da vid S. Craig must also ap pear on a sep a rate line, on which no other name ap pears, im me di ately fol low ing the name of Mi- chael Ende, and must ap pear in size of type not less than twenty-five per- cent (25%) the size of Mi chael Ende. Bio graph i cal in for ma tion on Mi- chael Ende and Da vid S. Craig, if in cluded in the playbook, may be used in all pro grams. In all pro grams this no tice must ap pear: “Pro duced by spe cial ar range ment with THE DRA MATIC PUB LISH ING COM PANY of Woodstock, Il li nois” In ad di tion, all pro duc ers of the play must in clude the fol low ing ac - knowl edg ments on the ti tle page of all pro grams dis trib uted in con nec tion with per for mances of the play and on all ad ver tis ing and pro mo tional ma- te ri als: “The Neverending Story was first com mis sioned and pro duced by Imag i na tion Stage, Janet Stan ford, ar tis tic di rec tor, and the Se at tle Chil dren’s Thea tre, Linda Hartzell, ar tis tic di rec tor.” “The stage ad ap ta tion of The Neverending Story has been au tho rized by Verlag fur Kindertheater Uwe, Weitendorf, Ham burg.” © Dramatic Publishing Company, Woodstock, Illinois. PRO DUC TION HIS TORY The Neverending Story was com mis sioned in 2006 by Imag i na tion Stage (Janet Stan ford, ar tis tic di rec tor) and the Se at tle Chil dren’s Thea tre (Linda Hartzell, ar tis tic di rec tor). It was sub se quently pro duced in the 2007/2008 sea son as fol lows: West Coast Pre miere: Se at tle Chil dren’s Thea tre, Se at tle, Wash., De cem ber 7, 2007. Rockeater/Cairon/Troll/Falkor............Hans Altwies Bas tian ............................Ga briel Baron Nighthob/Child like Em press ...........Emily Chis holm Teacher/Witch/Morla/Uyulala ............Lisa Estridge Dad/Gmork.......................Brad ford Farwell FairyAdult/Ygramul/Urgl ...............Sa rah Harlett Book seller/Chan cel lor ...............Tim o thy Hyland Care taker/Artax .....................Chad Jennings Atreyu ............................Mi chael Place Di rected by.........................Da vid Bennett Sce nic De sign by......................Carey Wong Cos tume De sign by ..................Catherine Hunt Pup pets designed and built by ........Douglas N. Paasch 4 © Dramatic Publishing Company, Woodstock, Illinois. East Coast Pre miere: Imag i na tion Stage, Bethesda, Md., June 28, 2008. Book seller/Nighthob/Falkor ........Mi chael John Casey At ten dant/Child like Em press ...........Mollie Clem ent Bully/Sassafranian/Morla/Urgl ............Julie Gar ner Artax .............................Max Law rence Bas tian.....................Mi chael Nguyen-Ma son Gmork/Cairon/Engywook ..............Carl Randolph Fa ther/Care taker/Chan cel lor .............Mark R. Ross Di rected by .........................Janet Stan ford Sce nic De sign by ......................Dan Conroy Cos tume De sign by ...............Kathleen Geldhard Pup pets designed and built by ...........Eric Van Wyk The playwright ac knowl edges Roseneath Thea tre and The Ca na dian Stage Com pany in the de vel op ment of this script. 5 © Dramatic Publishing Company, Woodstock, Illinois. THE NEVERENDING STORY CHAR AC TERS (in or der of ap pear ance) * in di cates char ac ters in the real world. All other char ac ters live in Fantastica. ACT ONE * Bas tian, a boy of ten * Bas tian’s Fa ther * Bully #1 * Bully #2 * Bully #3 * The Book seller * Gmork (in hu man form) * Pe des tri ans (3) * The Care taker * Teacher (voice only) * The Bat in the school at tic (pup pet) Gmork, a were wolf Pur ple Buf falo (3 - one of whom speaks) Atreyu, a young hunter (ah-TREY’-you) Artax, a horse (R’-tax) An El der of Atreyu’s peo ple Cairon, a cen taur (KAE’-ron) Eribo, a small man with a sword, in a bal loon (eh-REE’-bo) A Sassafranian adult (played by a child) (sass-a-FRAY’-knee-n) Sassafranian chil dren (2 - played by adults) A Troll The Pur ple Buf falo (Atreyu’s Dream) 7 © Dramatic Publishing Company, Woodstock, Illinois. Morla the An cient One (MOR’-la Falkor, a Luck Dragon (FALL’-core) Ygramul the Many, a large spi der-like crea ture (played by 3 or more ac tors) (ee-GRAH’-mull) ACT TWO Engywook (ENG’-gee-wuk), a gnome Urgl (RRR’-gull), his wife Uyulala (you-you-LA’-la), a be ing of sound and light Geese (birds played by pup pets or peo ple) The Four Winds - Lirr (LEER), Baureo (BOW’-ree-oh), Sheerek (SHE’-wreck) and Mayestrel (MAY’-est-ruhl) Maya’s En tou rage The Child like Em press Other Pro nun ci a tions: The Auryn (OAR’-in), Ende (EN’-day). Set: In writ ing the play, the play wright has imag ined two el e- vated tow ers fram ing the act ing area stage left and right. The stage right struc ture rep re sents the Care taker’s broom closet be - low and Bas tian’s at tic above. The stage left struc ture is also a two-storey struc ture where Atreyu hides at the end of Act One and where Engywook has his ob ser va tory in Act Two.