Grateful Beasts, The

Plays for Young Audiences

By: Lavinia Roberts
Cast: 4 M, 4 F, 17 flexible, opt. extras (With doubling: 3 M, 2 F, 17 flexible)
Performance Time: Approximately 45-60 minutes, 49 pgs

COMEDY. Inspired by the story “Stone Soup.” In this play within a play, a crafty traveler with a flair for storytelling arrives at a village and has to persuade some stubborn farmers to contribute a few of their prized vegetables to his soup pot. The traveler tells the farmers the story of Lionel, a charitable farm lad who saves the lives of five unfortunate animals. Determined to seek his fortune in the big city, Lionel ventures forth with five silver coins his mother gave him for his journey. Along the way, Lionel buys a loyal hunting dog, a faithful horse, a cat with an attitude, a blues-singing nightingale, and a bear who hates puns, saving them from a certain death. When Lionel reaches the city, he discovers that an evil ogre has transformed King Percival into a rat, taken over the kingdom, and has his sights set on marrying Princess Bianca. It is up to Lionel and his animal friends to recover a magic wishing ring and save the kingdom from the clutches of the selfish ogre.

Freeviews: To read play excerpts click here.

About the Story: To read more about the story click here.

Lavinia Roberts is an award-winning playwright and educator. She has a MA in Theatre Education from New York University and an MFA in Playwriting from Southern Illinois University. Roberts has been a theatre teacher for more than a decade. She is an Assistant Professor and Murphy Fellow in Theatre Arts at Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas.