500+ scripts now downloadable! agazine.com www.playsm 0) (see details on page 2 THE DRAMA MAGAZINE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE NOVEMBER 2016 UPPER GRADES PGertrude ElderleaMakes aySplash! Chs ristina Hamlett 2 DRAMATIZED CLASSIC (F OR UPPER GRADES ) A Service of Love. O. Henry 13 Adapted by Craig Sodaro MIDDLE AND LOWER GRADES Vanessa Gets the Vote. Helen Louise Miller 21 The Medal. Tara Wise Montgomery 28 A Leak in the Dike. Paul T. Nolan 33 Governor Bradford’s Scissors. Graham DuBois 39 Terms of Use • Vol. 76, No. 2 Subscribers . Persons and entities with subscriptions in force at the time of the performance may produce the plays in any issue of this magazine royalty-free, provided the performance is part of a regular school or dramatic club activity. Such persons and entities may also reproduce copies of the individual play being produced for members of the cast, and may videotape or record rehearsals or performances of the play, for use by such members in connection with preparation for a performance of the play. Subscribers may not videotape or record the production of the play for any other reason, and may not reproduce or transmit the production via television or radio, or via the internet or other electronic methods, without the written permission of, and the payment of any required royalties to, Plays/Sterling Partners, Inc. Non-subscribers . Persons and entities that are not current subscribers to this magazine must apply in writing to Plays/Sterling Partners, Inc. for royalty quotations and permission to copy, reproduce, distribute, transmit, publicly display, or publicly perform any of the plays herein. Permission will be granted on a per-performance basis only, and under no condition may permission be transferred. 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PLAYS, The Drama Magazine for Young People (ISSN 0032-1540, USPS 473-810) is published seven times a year, monthly except June, July, August, and September, and bimonthly January/February, by STERLING PARTNERS, INC., 897 Washington St., #600160, Newton, MA 02460. Subscription rates: 1 year, $59.00; 2 years, $109.00. Canadian: Add $12 per year to cover postage. All other for - eign: Add $25 per year to cover postage. Canadian & other foreign sub - scriptions must be paid in U.S. funds drawn on a U.S. bank (or if in U.S. funds drawn on foreign bank, add $4 U.S.). Periodicals postage paid at Boston, MA, and additional offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Plays/Sterling Partners 897 Washington St. #600160 Newton, MA 02460 Printed in U.S.A. November 2016 The drama magazine for young people What’s in this Pissuel . ays. Upper Grades Gertrude Ederle Makes a Splash! , by Christina Hamlett 11+ actors: 6 male, 5 female, and multiple male or female extras; 30 minutes. The true story of courageous 19-year-old Olympic Gold-medalist Gertrude Ederle who, in 1926, became the first woman to swim the rough waters of the 21-mile English Channel, from Cap Griz-Nez, France, to Kingsdown, Kent, England. A Service of Love , by O. Henry, and adapted by Craig Sodaro 3 actors: 2 female, 1 male; 15 minutes. A young musician and her artist husband move to New York City to make their mark on the world, only to find that their love for each other is the only way they can overcome the hard times they encounter. Middle and Lower Grades Vanessa Gets the Vote , by Helen Louise Miller 13 actors: 7 male, 6 female; 25 minutes. An inspiring play about a school election and the responsibility everyone in a democracy has to actually cast their ballot. A perfect script for the election season. The Medal , by Tara Wise Montgomery 6 actors: 3 female, 3 male; 15 minutes. Winning an award at school leads to a story of heroine Catherine Moore Barry’s courage and bravery as a spy and messenger in South Carolina during the Revolutionary War. A Leak in the Dike , by Paul T. Nolan 8 actors: 4 male, 4 female; 15 minutes. A spin-off of Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates tells the story of how a young man put his finger in the dike until help could arrive, saving Holland from a North Sea flood. The story represents the spirit of Holland’s citizens, who are willing to step up to any situation to protect their country. Governor Bradford’s Scissors , by Graham DuBois 9 actors: 5 male, 4 male; 25 minutes. The first Thanksgiving is almost can - celled when the Governor thinks his precious scissors have been stolen. Loosely based on a real event in Plymouth Colony. NOVEMBER 2016 1 Upper Grades Gertrude Makes a Splash! is protected by U.S. copyright law. It is unlawful to use this play in any way unless you are a current subscriber to PLAYS Magazine (www.playsmagazine.com). Gertrude Ederle Makes a Splash! Gutsy young woman makes history as the first female to swim the English Channel. by Christina Hamlett Characters TIME : The 1920s. GERTRUDE (TRUDY) EDERLE, SETTING : New York/France/England. athletic young swimmer The set is comprised of two free-stand - ing doorways (with working doors) MARGARET (MEG) EDERLE, her angled left and right. Center stage is older sister dominated by a solid, neutral-colored “box” approximately 6 feet high, 10 feet ELSIE VIETS, Gertrude’s chaperone long and 5 feet deep. [See Production Notes for complete details.] The center JABEZ WOLFFE, Gertrude’s aisle of the theater is used for spotlight grumpy trainer scenes. Isolated lighting on stage con - veys different locations and facilitates HENRY EDERLE, Gertrude’s father scene changes. In addition to the two ANNA EDERLE, Gertrude’s mother doors, entrances and exits are also made down left and right. JULIA HARPMAN, reporter CAPT. PATTERSON , publisher AT RISE : Plywood “trees” are affixed to the front of the box. A cafe table with ISHAK HELMY, Egyptian swimmer two chairs is center. GERTRUDE and JOHNNY WEISSMULLER, MARGARET EDERLE are drinking lemonade; both wear hats that cover Olympic gold medal swimmer their hair and mannish wool coats CAPT. ALEC RUTHERFORD, with fur trim. Two MATRONS in mid- conversation enter down right. British expert on English Channel MAN IN A SUIT 1ST MATRON :. ..throwing good money after bad, that’s what it is. If he were EXTRAS, flappers, matrons, sensible like his brothers, he’d stay in reporters dry goods instead of running off to California and buying into another silly invention. 2 PLAYS • playsmagazine.com 2ND MATRON : What’s this one called? GERTRUDE : They were supposed to be gold. 1ST MATRON (With wrinkled nose ): A Moviola. Why, to hear him talk, you’d MARGARET : And one of them was. You think it was the bee’s knees and the don’t have to cast a kitten that the elephant’s eyebrows. other two were “only” bronze. 2ND MATRON : Moviola? What’s it do? GERTRUDE : I just feel like I let everyone down. 1ST MATRON : He says it’s for editing moving pictures. MARGARET : Not me. Not Mama and Papa. Not the rest of your team. 2ND MATRON : As if there’s any real future in that! ( A pair of giggling FLAP - GERTRUDE (Toasting with glass ): PERS enter down left. Shocked, You’re all wet, Meg, but I love you any - MATRONS watch them cross and exit way. down right .) Did you see those hem - lines? And all that face paint? MARGARET (Mysteriously ): By the by, I heard some news. 1ST MATRON (Tsk-tsking ): If those were my girls, I’d never let them out of GERTRUDE : Dish. the house. Honestly! How they ever expect to find proper husbands when MARGARET : Helen Wainwright’s going they look like saucy flirts. to swim the English Channel. 2ND MATRON : I couldn’t agree more. GERTRUDE : Phonus balonus! Why The times they’re a-changing, though, would she do that? and clearly not for the better. ( 1ST MATRON nudges her friend and indi - MARGARET (Shrugging ): Probably cates GERTRUDE and MARGARET .) because someone said she couldn’t. 1ST MATRON : At least some girls still GERTRUDE : It’s been swum before. keep their place and know not to make unseemly waves. ( They exit down left .) MARGARET (With emphasis ): By men. Men who say it’s much too hard for wee MARGARET : Level with me, Trudy. little girls to even dip their toes in it. You’ve been grumpy ever since you got back from Paris. GERTRUDE : Is that so? GERTRUDE : Oh, applesauce! I have not. MARGARET : The WSA’s putting up the money to sponsor Helen and I was MARGARET : Have too. And I think I thinking if maybe I talked to them know why. You didn’t hook a husband. about you— GERTRUDE : Pffft! I didn’t go fishing for GERTRUDE : You can’t be serious. I’ve one. never done distance swimming. MARGARET : Well, it can’t still be about MARGARET : Then who’s to say you the Olympics.