PLAYS FOR YOUNG AUDIENCES

*Release Source:  Gale Peterson

 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Dragons, mechanical dolls, star children, evil little men, princesses, smart birds and fools─all part of two, new collections of children’s plays. Writer-designer-director, Gale Peterson announces Print-on-Demand Availability of Box of Seven Faces and other plays for Young Audiences and Sugarplum Dragon and other plays for Young Audiences at Lulu.com

 BELIZE, Central America—JANUARY 12, 2007—Production-proven, new scripts for production companies, community theatres and schools have been revamped and assembled into two books. The plays range from three actors to large-cast spectacles, big set shows to bare stage simplicity, contemporary to period costumes.

Included in the books are: Box of Seven Faces that is centered around a large, ancient magician’s box. Watched over by the Caretaker, a collection of seven mismatched characters comes out of the box including a pair of mechanical dolls. Their interactions with each other and the outside world make adventure and excitement as they attempt to return the stolen crown jewels to the Prince.

Sugarplum Dragon "Once long ago the beautiful Sugar Plum forest surrounding Frost Hollow was the home of a fierce dragon," or so the story goes. Two village kids helped by a Princess discover that the old dragon, long imprisoned in the Ice Queen's dungeon, just might have a chance for freedom with their help.

Star-Child is an adaptation of the Oscar Wilde short story utilizing children, adults and puppets to tell the haunting story of a lost infant, mistaken as a star-child, and treated as a special being.

Rumplestiltskin features the rhyming fools, Chillie and Willie who entertain the very poor King. Her over-enthusiastic mother touts millicent, the Miller’s daughter, as a most wonderful, perfect girl. With plans for gold spinning, the King locks Millicent in the straw room with dire threats. A desperate Millicent makes an unlikely promise to an evil little man who spins the straw into gold and disappears. She becomes Queen, and one year later her troubles begin.

Link to Publication*:  http://www.lulu.com

 ABOUT AUTHOR
Writer, playwright and artist, Gale Peterson currently lives in Belize. He is also the author of Sci-Fi novel, Tears of the Willow, plus enjoying retired life writing more Sci-Fi fantasy novels.

 ABOUT LULU
Founded in 2002, Lulu is the world’s fastest-growing print-on-demand marketplace for digital do-it-yourselfers.   Please see www.lulu.com for more information.

# # #

MEDIA CONTACT             Gale Peterson: LULU.COM  (011)501-623-0112

 RUMPLESTILTSKIN  
The rhyming fools, Chillie and Willie entertain the very poor King carrying the story forward as Millicent, the Miller’s daughter, is touted as a most wonderful, perfect girl by her over-enthusiastic mother. With plans for gold spinning, the King locks Millicent in the straw room with dire threats. A desperate Millicent makes an unlikely promise to an evil little man who spins the straw into gold and disappears. She becomes Queen, has a baby and one year later the evil little man returns to claim the new-born Prince. The evil little man gives her three days to guess his name. Three agonizing days of guessing dwindles down to the very last guess. Chillie and Willie overhear a boastful little man, tell the Queen and save the day.

 MUGWHUMP!
A play with an environmental theme written for three actors.  The Mugwhump – A very big bird with a very loud voice. Only the audience can hear and understand his words. His only food is the flowers of the Umbrellicus Tree. Along comes Elmoe - A lonely, simple guy who doesn’t know anything about wildlife, or National Parks, or Trees or anything; and Miss Judy - A silly, sort of smart, lady who is running away from?  (We never know exactly what) She doesn’t know much about pets, especially birds. They all learn something before this fun, light-hearted play is completed.

 THE BOX OF SEVEN FACES
In the center of a bare, curtained stage sits a large magician’s box. The box is very elaborate with carving and many details. It is very, very old. The wooden surface is worn, scratched and splitting with mold and dirt rimming its bottom and seams. Bits and pieces of the original gold gilt still shine through the dust of years. Watched over by the Caretaker, a collection of mismatched characters come out of the box; a pair of mechanical dolls Nicky and Freda, the Old Man of the Mountains, Mrs. Whimple, Snowflake, Murkey the villain, Prince Charlie, and the very odd Oouble. Their interactions with each other and the outside world make adventure and excitement as they attempt to return the stolen crown jewels to the Prince.

 SUGAR PLUM DRAGON
"Once long ago the beautiful Sugar Plum forest surrounding Frost Hollow was the home of a fierce dragon," or so the story goes. Two village kids helped by a Princess discover that the old dragon, long imprisoned in the Ice Queen's dungeon, just might have a chance for freedom with their help. The children are thrown into the dungeon, they come face to face with a live dragon, battle monsters in the Dark Forest, and overcome their fear. Add a couple of wisecracking fools, a tyrant Queen, an evil henchman, a ninety-year-old nurse, and you have a hilarious adventure tale.

  STAR CHILD
Adapted from the Oscar Wilde short story, the play utilizes children, adults and puppets to tell the haunting story of a lost infant, mistaken as a star-child, and treated as a special being. Later the cruel, arrogant teenager rejects his true, beggar mother and is transformed into a masked grotesque, hated and despised by all. His lessons are difficult and painful as he learns compassion and humility with the help of magical animals, a too clever Wizard, and a pitiful leper. The play moves easily from cottage to forest to city with a large cast taking multiple roles to create the somewhat dark texture of Oscar Wilde’s vision of The Star Child.

 NOT ANOTHER XMAS PAGEANT
Yes, as the new teacher learns, this country school does the same pageant every year directed by Miss Cutlass, the lower grade teacher. The upper classes stage a rebellion and ruin the rehearsal. It takes a bully’s change of heart and attitude to turn the snow-bound school around to a new pageant.
This is a non-religious script with generic carols that avoid the usual Christmas themes but still has a warm and positive message for young people.