Fairy Gifts (Tales of Enchantment): Plays for Youth Theater Adapted from Various Sources of Folklore

By Ruby L. Agnir

This book was written in answer to the complaint that there are not enough good plays for Youth Theater to produce. Youth Theater is a worthwhile activity for young people to indulge in after class or after school, preempting or preventing involvement in harmful activities otherwise.

Fairy Gifts (Tales of Enchantment) is a set of 5 plays written in response to that need. Like most plays designed for Youth Theater, the cast of each play could be all children/young people, a mixture of adults and children, or all adults performing for children.

The plays are based on unfamiliar fairytales and folktales from around the world, to wit:
Fairy Gifts from the French fairy tale by Count de Caylus;
The Enchanted Deer based on the German fairy tale Little Brother and Little Sister
by the Brothers Grimm;
Gems in the Night adapted from the Punjabi tale Grasp All, Lose All, retold by
Major Campbell, Feroshepore;
The Golden-Headed Fish adapted from an Armenian tale retold by Frederic Macler,
Paris; and
The House in the Forest adapted from the German tale, The House in the Woods
retold by the Brothers Grimm and other tale-tellers.

Three of these plays -- Fairy Gifts, The Enchanted Deer, and The House in the Forest -- can also be produced as musicals. The music and songs for these have been composed by the author herself and are available separately.

To produce any of these plays, send a letter of Intent to Perform to the author at this address: Ruby L. Agnir, 6119 Weatherwood Circle, Wesley Chapel, FL 33545.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Mar 31, 2010
• ISBN: 9781462831241

Ruby L. Agnir

Refining her many special gifts and then dedicating them to the Giver, Ruby L. Agnir’s accomplishments by age 70 include: College instructor of speech, theater arts, and music education courses; Minister/Director of Music of mainline churches; Member, American Guild of Organists; Member, American Choral Directors Association; Church Organist (regular and supply) here and abroad; Soprano Soloist for churches, fraternal organizations, and community choruses; Instructor, voice, organ and piano; Composer, vocal and keyboard music; Founder and Artistic Director of Green Room Players, a community theater company – whose proceeds donated to non-profit organizations include $9,000 to ALS research; Published author of poems, Prisms (2008), plays, Fairy Gifts (2010), and meditations, In Our Music, God (2011). Retired and residing in Wesley Chapel, Florida, Ruby continues to use her talents in her church, community, and fraternal organizations. She is currently the director of the Celebration Choir of Atonement Lutheran Church in Wesley Chapel. A lifetime member of the Order of the Eastern Star (OES) and American Mensa, she is also a member of Ladies Oriental Shrine of North America (LOSNA).

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Copyright © 2010 by Ruby L. Agnir.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

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Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

FOREWORD

FAIRY GIFTS

THE CHARACTERS

SYNOPSIS OF THE PLAY

THE PLAY ACTS

FAIRY GIFTS

PRODUCTION NOTES

THE ENCHANTED DEER

THE CHARACTERS

SYNOPSIS OF THE PLAY

THE PLAY ACTS

THE ENCHANTED DEER

PRODUCTION NOTES

GEMS IN THE NIGHT

CHARACTERS

SYNOPSIS OF THE PLAY

THE PLAY ACTS

GEMS IN THE NIGHT

PRODUCTION NOTES

THE GOLDEN-HEADED FISH

CHARACTERS

SYNOPSIS OF THE PLAY

THE PLAY ACTS

THE GOLDEN-HEADED FISH

PRODUCTION NOTES

THE HOUSE IN THE FOREST

CHARACTERS

SYNOPSIS OF THE PLAY

THE PLAY ACTS

THE HOUSE IN THE FOREST

PRODUCTION NOTES

To my younger daughter, Rowena Rantanen,

without whose faith in her mother’s abilities

these plays would not have been written and illustrated.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to express my appreciation and gratitude to the following people who, in one way or another, helped nurture my creative ability as a playwright:

My mother, the late Tereza R. Ordinario, my first drama coach whose love for music and the theater nourished my own;

My father, the late Roman F. Ordinario, from whom I heard my first stories about valor, gallantry, fearlessness, tenacity, moral strength, and compassion;

My children, Mirla, Rowena (Rantanen), and Frederick, whose love for theater, music and dance seems to surpass mine;

My grandchildren, Steven, Kayla, Rachel, Elysse, Katie and Laura, actors in their own right, who continue to give me great insight into what children like and how to get them to do what they are supposed to do;

My husband, Federico I. Agnir, who shares this family love for the theater and musical arts, and whose computer savvy and technical know-how helped me much in submitting my materials for publishing;

My siblings, Sadiri Ordinario and Elizabeth Weil, musicians and theater aficionados themselves, whose belief in the abilities of their big sister is a constant source of encouragement;

And for the greater part, the members of my former community theater group, Green Room Players of Franklin County, Massachusetts (1993-2003), whom I directed in many successful productions of full-length comedies and Broadway-type musicals, thereby adding hands-on gradation and refinement to my knowledge and understanding of the theater.

My gratitude to these knows no bounds.

Ruby L. Agnir

FOREWORD

The five plays in this book were written at the request of my younger daughter, Rowena Rantanen. Rowena owns and runs the RNR Performing Arts for young people who come from various churches and schools, as well as the community of Palm Bay/Melbourne, Florida. The rationale behind her request was: there is a dearth of plays appropriate to, and tailor-made, for children of elementary to high school age.

Growing up in the Philippines with a mother who was an English literature professor and a father who, to his children, was the world’s greatest bedtime story-teller, I developed an intense propensity to reading books. I was introduced to the fascinating world of gods and goddesses, knights and maidens in distress, kings and queens, heroes and their ladies. Best of all, I entered into a magical world, the kingdom of fairies and spirits, of elves and sprites which, regrettably but necessarily, also harbored monsters, evil sorcerers, and malevolent crones. This magical world brought about my earliest awareness of the continuing battle between good and evil. Happily, in this magical world, the good always triumphed, but not without much struggle and labor on the part of those who wanted it to prevail.

It seems that every country and culture has its own folklore, handed down from generation to generation successfully. Fortunately, much has been written about this magical place called Fairyland. We owe a debt of gratitude to those who made sure these tales have been written to facilitate and ascertain their entrance into the consciousness of generations yet to come. We applaud the people who took it upon themselves to translate stories from the various lands into languages that many readers understand.

We can’t thank enough such writers as Charles Perrault, the brothers Grimm, Madam D’Aulnoy, and Hans Christian Andersen, to name a few. Personally, I thank Mr. Andrew Lang for making available to everyone the English translations of fairy tales, which he edited and neatly compiled into his colorful fairy books—Green, Red, Yellow, Pink, Blue, Olive, Violet, Crimson, Gray, Brown, Lilac and Orange—which I must say I enjoy reading over and over to this day.

The plays in this book are based on some of my very favorite tales. The Enchanted Deer has always been tops with me, since I was a very young girl with a baby brother on whom I doted. The House in the Woods is another beloved story because it teaches about kindness to, and consideration for, everything and everyone. Fairy Gifts, Gems in the Night, and The Golden-headed Fish, from the French, Punjabi, and Armenian collections, respectively, are more recent additions to my repertory of best-loved tales and have their own moral lessons to teach.

Three of these are musical plays. I composed the words and music of the musicals to befit young actors and singers. They are available separately upon application for performance. As with all plays for Youth Theater, the cast can be made up solely by children and/or adolescents, or by a mixture of adults and young people. However they are presented, they must be a source of enjoyment as well as inspiration and edification.

Ruby L. Agnir

Fairy%20Gifts%20Illustration.jpg

FAIRY GIFTS

A Musical Play in 4 Acts

(based on a French fairy tale by Count de Caylus)

Written for Youth Theater by

Ruby L.Agnir

Words & Music by

Ruby L. Agnir

Illustration by

Rowena N. Rantanen

copyright 2008 by Ruby L. Agnir

THE CHARACTERS

Narrator

Flower Fairy A beautiful maiden, with a kind countenance and graceful movements. Late 30s.

Children younger Various ages up to 7 or 8

Iris angelic faced

Daphne chatterbox

Cynthia eager to please

Philip cheerful, rambunctious

Tom seen among the children, but no dialogue

Sylvia seen among the children, also no dialogue

Ladies-in-Waiting Maidens in their late teens

Nina head lady-in-waiting; Iris is her favorite

Mira Daphne is her favorite

Jema Cynthia is her favorite

Lynna Philip is her favorite

Leiah Sylvia is her favorite

Children, older In their mid-teens

Iris drop-dead gorgeous

Daphne beautiful, loves to talk

Cynthia beautiful, eager to please

Philip handsome, lighthearted and cheerful

Sylvia beautiful, sweet and gentle

Herald may double as Jay, Philip’s valet

Other: Princesses’ personal maids (Tisha, Tyra, Sonda)

Princess Iris’ suitors

Members of Princess Cynthia’s council

Other court attendants

Other children

SYNOPSIS OF THE PLAY

Synopsis: Kings and queens send their children to the Flower Fairy when they are still young. They grow up under her care, training, and guidance. When they are grown and the Flower Fairy decides they are ready, they go out into the world to build their own lives. The Flower Fairy bestows on them a special gift they choose which they think would help them in their new lives. This tale is about Princess Sylvia and how she decides on the gift she wants for herself to take into the outside world. When the time comes for the Flower Fairy to give her a gift, the Flower Fairy sends her first to visit the other princesses and the prince who had grown and left.

Sylvia stays in each court for a month or so, then goes back to the Flower Fairy to tell her about her visit. Princess Iris was gifted with Beauty, which seems to have deprived her of any