New 5-minute Children's Comedic Reader's Theater Play: The Shipwreck Solution
What do a box jellyfish, a mako shark, an anglerfish and a tiger shark have in common? They all want to live in the same abandonned shipwreck on the ocean floor—and no one wants to share! Check out The Shipwreck Solution to discover if these four, very different creatures, can find a way to work it out!
I had a lot of fun writing this new 5-7 minute comedic play, The Shipwreck Solution. I wrote it during a Family-Write time, when my 2 little kids and I each found our own private space to see how much we could write in 30 minutes. My children worked on their comic book series, and I suddenly envisioned a world of talking sea creatures, including ones many young kids I know are fascinated by (box jelly fish, anglerfish, tiger shark, mako shark). I did a lot of revising after the initial draft, but it was fun to see what I could accomplish in 30 minutes of quick-write. My children loved reading the different drafts, and giving me feedback (as well as feeding me all sorts of additional facts about these creatures). They read it with me several times, and each time they played a different character, they gave me helpful feedback about that specific character. Kids are fantastic about helping you keep roles even! So thank you to my first little audience!
This children’s play has 4 characters (roles are gender neutral so they can be any combination of male/female actors), designed for children, but teens and adults will have fun with these roles too!
*Bonus! The Shipwreck Solution also has a “Yes, It’s True” page featuring fun facts referencing the animals you read about, as well as a glossary with a few key terms.
The Shipwreck Solution is part of my Reader’s Theater series. These are great plays for a theater setting, competition or classroom. But when used as Reader’s Theater, they are designed to make reading aloud enjoyable for children. Children don’t need to memorize or “perform,” but simply benefit from the act of reading out loud together, in dramatic form. Reader’s Theater can promote fluency, confidence, creativity, empathy, oral expression and connections among peers. Children at home or in the classroom can enjoy reading this script aloud.
Click to read a free excerpt to the play, The Shipwreck Solution.
Click below for a digital copy of the 5-minute play, The Shipwreck Solution.