Ten-Minute Play for Kids - BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR

In the last few years, I have developed ten-minute plays for adult and teen performers. My target audiences have always been - well - teens and adults. This spring, I started working on ten-minute plays that youth could perform- for youth. It is harder than I thought! (Although the ten-minute format is always harder than you think.)

Below - for fun is an excerpt:

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR (protected by copyright; all rights reserved)
Cast: 3 (2m, 1f)
Sole playwright; story based on an old fable (in public domain)
When Woody attempts to chop a tree down, he is surprised by Timberly the Tree Fairy who offers him three wishes in return for leaving his tree alone. And that’s where the trouble begins.
CAST

WOODY (m): a simple woodsman who likes to nap in the sun
GERTRUDE (f): His rather simple, shrill wife
TIMBERLY (m): a gangster tree fairy; New York accent is most welcome

SETTING: A small hut and the woods outside. (Need: a table, two chairs and a ladder to act as a tree. Post “TREE” on it!)

PROPS: An ax or an approximation of one, a soup pot, two bowls, two spoons, a knife and a sausage
AT RISE we are outside in a simple hut in the woods.
GERTRUDE is calling out to her husband, WOODY.

GERTRUDE
And don’t come back until you have enough wood for tonight’s fire!

WOODY
I heard you the first time!
(Muttering to himself)
And the second … and the third ….
(WOODY walks into a tree)
Hello! Oh – you’re a tree. I see. I’m supposed to chop you down … well, no rush. It’s a warm, sunny day. A good time to nap, don’t you think, Tree? Don’t have much to say for yourself, do you?
(WOODY lies down)
I probably shouldn’t be doing this. But it’s so cozy here.

(There is a pause and then we hear GERTRUDE’S voice from offstage.)

GERTRUDE
And don’t come back until you have enough wood for tonight’s fire!

(WOODY quickly sits up)

WOODY
Gertrude’s voice. It follows me. Oh well. No time like the present.

(He picks up his ax and gives the tree one chop.)

TIMBERLY
Hey! Watcha think you’re doing?

WOODY
Tree! You can talk!

TIMBERLY
That ain’t no tree talking to you!
(TIMBERLY comes out of the tree)
Who do you think you are, huh? Disrupting my sleep! Chopping down my home! Think you’re a big shot, eh? Think you’re “the man?”


WOODY
No. Well. Yes. I’m not exactly a bigshot – but I am a man. Woody. That’s my name. I’m Woody the Woodsman.

TIMBERLY
You’re kidding, right? “Woody the Woodsman? Human parents got no imagination. Now, take my name – Timberly. Notice how it rolls off the tongue. It’s got some panache, you know? Timberly the Tree Fairy! Yeah. I got the chops.

WOODY
If you say so. No, please step out of the way. I need to get the tree down.

TIMBERLY
Think you’re a tough guy? You know what I do with “tough guys?” I zap them with my wand and guess what? They don’t act so tough no more.

WOODY
You zap them with your – what?

TIMBERLY
My wand. Wake up and smell the java! You are talking to a one-hundred-percent- guaranteed tree fairy. And tree fairies don’t like their homes demolishated. Get my drift?

WOODY
Wait a minute. I’m still working on the wand –

TIMBERLY
Yeah. I got a wand. Don’t mess with the wand.

WOODY
Wow. Could you use your wand – to help me chop down the tree?

TIMBERLY
Work with me here. That tree’s my home and my home ain’t going nowhere, pal.

WOODY
So – you’re saying you don’t want me to chop down that tree.

TIMBERLY
Bingo! Give that man a sack of acorns!

WOODY
But I have to chop down that tree.



TIMBERLY
No you don’t. ‘cause if you chop down that tree, I’m gonna have to do something nasty to you and you don’t want that.

WOODY
But if I don’t chop that tree down, Gertrude will do something even nastier to me. And I really don’t want that.

TIMBERLY
Got troubles with the Frau, huh?

WOODY
You have no idea.

TIMBERLY
Yeah. Unfortunalate-ly, I hear ya. I know. Tell ya what I’m gonna do – ‘cause I ain’t a bad egg. I’m just protecting what’s mine, see? If you promise to stay out of these woods, I’m gonna hand you three wishes. Come on – three wishes! Anything you want. It don’t get better than that.

WOODSY
Three wishes – whatever I want?

TIMBERLY
The world’s your oyster, pal. Wish it and it will come true. But don’t come back asking for more. We tree fairies have to follow strict proceduraries.

WOODSY
I don’t know what to do. On one hand, three wishes would be helpful. On the other hand, Gertrude will be plenty mad if I come home without wood.

TIMBERLY
Use your noggin’, man! Three wishes gonna buy you everything! All the wood you need and it don’t have to come from my tree! Don’t be a little bunny! Take the deal!

WOODSY
I truly don’t want to take away the home of such a fine upstanding, gentleman.

TIMBERLY
Fairy actually. I’m a fairy. But, what’s in a name? Deal?

WOODSY
Deal!

(And they shake. They can shake hands, their bodies – whatever works.)

WOODSY
See ya!

TIMBERLY
Not if I see ya first!
(WOODS goes home as TIMBERLY goes back to his tree.)
Now, where was I? Oh yeah – getting’ some shut-eye in my digs.

(Meanwhile, at home, GERTRUDE has soup prepared.)

GERTRUDE
Soup’s getting cold. Did you get more wood?

WOODSY
Not exactly.

GERTRUDE
Either you got it or you didn’t?

WOODY
I -
(gulp)
Didn’t!

GERTRUDE
(Doing the slow burn)
I – see. Here’s your lukewarm soup that will soon be cold. Not even enough heat to wilt the cabbage.

WOODSY
Cabbage soup? Again?

GERTRUDE
If you would chop down enough wood to sell, maybe I could afford to buy some meat.

(There is a pause as they take a spoonful of soup.)

WOODSY
I – actually had an interesting day. Would you like to hear about it?

GERTRUDE
No.

WOODSY
Oh. Okay then.
WOODY (cont’d)
(Another pause with another spoonful of soup.)

I met a chap. A really interesting fellow.

GERTRUDE
I don’t care!

WOODSY
He said he was a fairy. Said he’d grant me some wishes.

GERTRUDE
Yeah. Right. Whatever could you have done to deserve such a gift as that?

WOODSY
I agreed to not chop the fairy’s tree home down. Gee, some meat sure would be welcome. Soup’s kind of bland.

GERTRUDE
I don’t believe you. Three wishes! Bah! You’re just making excuses for not bringing home any wood.

WOODY
I really would like a sausage or something, you know. I just wish there was one sausage floating in my soup. That would make me very happy.

(And of course a sausage appears in his soup. WOODY
spears it and lifts it up.)

Would you look at that? A sausage!

GERTRUDE
Hey … how’d you do that?

(She touches it)

It’s real. You wished for a sausage and – you got a sausage! Do you know what you just did?

WOODY
Got my own dinner.

GERTRUDE
YOU JUST WASTED A WISH ON A SAUSAGE! I DON’T BELIEVE YOU! We could have – riches – a palace – anything and you wish for a sausage?


WOODY
It’s what I wanted.

GERTRUDE
(She is up and pacing)
I must think! I must think! Two wishes left! What do we need? Who am I kidding – we need everything? Gold! Yes – we should wish for gold – but how much? You probably can’t wish for all the gold in the world. There must be a catch. These things always have a catch. I must go into town and see how much things cost! I must get my coat!
(SHE exits to get her coat but we here her speaking loudly offstage. Meanwhile WOODY is muttering to himself onstage.)
END OF EXCERPT
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