Hot off the press! Get your copy of Stacey Lane’s The Emperor Penguin’s New Clothes, available now from Pioneer Drama Service.
In this one-act comedic children’s play, a shady seal and a
lazy squid trick a fashionable penguin into giving them boatloads of fish. With
no sewing skills and no desire to do any work, they convince the colony their
magical fabric can’t be seen by those birdbrained enough to think that penguins
can fly. The penguin fishers become increasingly disgruntled at handing over
all the fish they catch to the gluttonous duo. The servants and advisors try to
get other penguins to admit that they can’t see the cloth, but they yield to
peer pressure and chicken out at every chance to speak up. When the invisible
creation is unveiled and the emperor is no longer robed, all discover that the emperor
has been hiding a secret: an egg. When the egg hatches, the chick is the only
one brave enough to tell it like it is.
This animal-filled parody of Hans Christian Anderson's cautionary
tale negates the troublesome nudity issue of the classic version. Simple
production values and an entirely gender-neutral ensemble cast with ample
double casting options make The Emperor Penguin’s New Clothes
well-suited for school play productions, including at all-girl and all-boy
schools.
For more plays for young people and adults by Stacey Lane, visit www.StaceyLaneInk.com.
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| The cast of The Emperor Penguin's New Clothes at Topeka Civic Theatre in Topeka, Kansas. Directed by Cassie Hermes. |
