13. "So We're Going To Do A Play"

“So We’re Gonna Do A Play”



“Good morning. Did we all have a good weekend?” Mr James said as he walked into the classroom.

“Sure did, sir,” Jess said.

“Well, that’s excellent then, isn’t it?”

The class giggled. Mr James was one of the most popular teachers at Atlantis High. He’d been the drama teacher there for six years and he still had a lot of fun.

“Now, who remembers what we were going to do today?”

The class shifted as people looked around. No one spoke up. Not one of them could remember if Mr James had told them what was happening today or if they should have done something to get ready.

“Ah, sir, you never told us anything,” Danny said from the back of the room.

“Thank you, Danny! That’s exactly right! I never told you anything. I must be a great teacher if you guys can learn without me telling you anything. I deserve a medal or something.”

The class groaned and some of the girls rolled their eyes.

Mr James grinned at them, “Yes, yes, I know I’m just so funny. It’s not right. It should be illegal.”

Mr James looked around at his class and waited for them to settle down. They realised that they were about to get down to business and they all stopped fidgeting and looked at their teacher.

“I know some of you are sick of doing little thing just in class and you want to do something that your parents can come and see. And I know that quite a few of your parents’ want to see what you can do. So we’re going to do a play.”

“Oh cool,” Amanda whispered to Sam and Jess.

“Totally,” Sam agreed.

“And to make things even more exciting,” Mr James went on, “A friend of mine is going to write the play based on things you guys come up with.”

“Sweet!” Jess said loud enough for everyone to hear.

The class laughed and Mr James said, “I think Jess has the right idea. So what we’re going to do today is come up with things that are going to be in the play. Let’s start with what kind of play we want to do.”

“Comedy!” Danny called out.

“Yeah!” most of the class agreed.

“That was easy. Is there anyone who doesn’t want to do a comedy?” Mr James asked.

Sam put her hand up.

“Yes, Sam?”

“Can it have, like, some kind of dramatic twist?” she asked.

Mr James nodded, “Okay, so is everyone happy with a comedy with a dramatic twist.”

There was a chorus of “yep”, “yeah” and “yes” from the class.

The rest of the time in class was spent deciding on characters, themes and even some lines. Mr James wrote it all down to give to his writer friend. He knew she’d have a lot of fun trying to figure out how to cram all of the things into the one play.



[AUTHOR'S NOTE: Mr James is named after Mr Nick James who seems to like these stories. He's an excellent actor and he does have a friend who writes silly little plays. And I know for a fact she'd have fun writing the play for the kids. In fact I'm sure she will have fun writing that play ;) Probably anyway.]