Seeking Santa
©2014 by Jeannette Jaquish
CAST
ELF 1 – TOFFEE – LOLEK
ELF 2 – HAZEL – BOLEK
ELF 3 –KOLACKY - KITE
ELF 4 – ZINGER – MAYOR – BOSS – DICTATOR – SANTA
----Note on Elf 4 costume changes: ZINGER wears a basic under-costume, and changes the hat and jacket or vest for each costume.
NOTE: Zinger's parts may be played by multiple actors.
VOLUNTEER GROUPS of 4 child volunteers each – get volunteers days in advance or at least 30 minutes in advance of performance.
Applicant Elves – rehearse with Zinger
Villagers – rehearse with Toffee
Townies – rehearse with Kolacky
Citizens – rehearse with Hazel
SYNOPSIS
Santa is missing and St. Nicholas Day is tomorrow! Elves are panicking. They find a clue and follow it to one place after another, each time encountering characters who tell the elves their problems. The Elves figure out what they really need to solve their problems themselves. When they get back to the workshop Santa is there with a final gift solution.
HOW IT IS STAGED
With 4 Actor-Elves, the 4th Elf changes character and costume bits with each scene.
The characters at the locations are audience child volunteers who have been instructed before the show, and sit in their group (Elves, Villagers, Townies, Citizens), near the stage, ready to go on.
To change the set, at minimum, the characters walk off and then walk back on. An upgrade would be to have stagehands or the child volunteers bring set pieces or a sign on and off.
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BEFORE THE SHOW
You can rehearse with child actors or get audience volunteers for these simple lines.
Onstage, their Elf Handler will prompt them by talking or looking directly at the actor who speaks next, and helping or speaking for them or repeating their line if needed.
INSTRUCTIONS for each Elf Handler and their child volunteers come with the script.
SCENE 1: JOB INTERVIEW AT SANTA’S WORKSHOP
(Santa’s Workshop Simple easy to remove set pieces.)
OPENING MUSIC # 1 “REINDEER SONG” (0:52) to let people know it is time to sit down
MUSIC #2 “HURRY HURRY” (0:27) fade out as lines begin
(TOFFEE and HAZEL ENTER running and frantic. )
1-TOFFEE: November 6 is one day away!
2- HAZEL: So many gifts to sew and crochet!
1-TOFFEE: And saw and nail and paint and glue
3-KOLACKY (ENTER) : What’s all the noise? What’s wrong with you two?
1-TOFFEE: We looked at the calendar and almost fainted away!
2- HAZEL: When we saw that tomorrow is Saint Nicholas Day!
3-KOLACKY: Eeeek! Saint Nicholas Day! This is a disaster!
We’ll just have to work, faster and faster -- (starts running around)
and quicker and smarter,
But first make a list!
Then rev up the starter,
Make sure nothing ‘s missed --
1-TOFFEE: Slow down, Kolacky! It won’t help us at all.
If you run around crazy and crash into a wall!
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LINES SKIPPED
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4-ZINGER: I know it’s December! So tomorrow is the sixth.
(sudden realization) The SIXTH! December 6th! Saint Nicholas Day!
And the shop is a mess - Total dis-array!
Oh this is a perfect storm of Tragic!
We need small presents for children! And Santa’s Elves don’t use magic!
3: KOLACKY: Saint Nicholas Day. A time for kindness. And helping. And caring,
Being thankful for family and home,
4-ZINGER: A time for thinking of others and loving and sharing,
With the poor, those in pain or alone,
1-TOFFEE: The legends of Saint Nick have been told and told,
About healing the hurt and the giving of gold,
2-HAZEL: But you know when people tell stories,
They make them amazing and add in more glories,
3-KOLACKY: But we also know the people loved him so much,
That his stories spread to the Spanish and Dutch,
To the Netherlands and France, to Germany and Poland,
To Italy and Slovakia, Belgium and Ireland,
All over the world, and because of their languages,
The name of Saint Nicholas went under some changes,
4-ZINGER: Santa Claus, Sinterklauss, Mikolaj, and Father Christmas,
all came to be because of the good St. Nicholas!
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LINES SKIPPED
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4-ZINGER: There are more Elves in the front office, filling out applications.
They are House Elves from Hogwarts,. . . looking for work during their Christmas vacations.
TOFFEE: Wonderful! Bring them into the shop!
HAZEL: We’ll give them a job interview with a skip and a hop.
(ZINGER EXITS)
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LINES SKIPPED
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CHORUS:
Work is fun and satisfying,
Draw and build, no time for crying;
I’m proud to see up on the shelf,
The toys that I have made myself.
ZINGER: That was great! I’ll go ask Santa for our job assignments. (EXITS)
TOFFEE: You make a great orchestra and dance troupe!
HAZEL: With these new worker Elves, we will have no trouble making enough toys.
KOLACKY: I’ll go tell the reindeer to be ready to fly in the morning. (Starts to EXIT but crashes into ZINGER who runs in.)
ZINGER: I can’t find Santa! I’ve looked all over!
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LINES SKIPPED
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Oh, no! It is one of Santa’s silly messages.
TOFFEE: It has pictures mixed with letters. Hey, Little Elves, as your 2nd assignment, would you please help us figure it out?
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LINES SKIPPED
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ZINGER: I’ll stay here and make toys with our new worker Elves.
You three go find Santa, and for goodness sake, take care of yourselves! (EXITS with kids.)
TOFFEE: Goodbye Zinger and little Elves.
HAZEL & KOLACKY: Good bye! Goodbye! Goodbye!
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LINES SKIPPED
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ZINGER-MAYOR: Greetings! I am the Mayor of the Town of Never Gets Done and these are my villagers, (read their name tags). Santa was here but he had a little accident.
(ZINGER can answer for the Villagers if they refuse to speak. Otherwise prompt them with questions, even if the story goes off script.)
VILLAGERS (yelling): He had LOTS of accidents!
TOFFEE: Lots of accidents! Oh no! What happened?
VILLAGER #1: He crashed at the airport because the lights were off!
TOFFEE: Why were the lights off?
VILLAGER #1: No one turned them on!
TOFFEE: Was Santa or the Reindeer hurt?
VILLAGER #2 : No. They just slid into a big mud puddle and got stuck!
TOFFEE: Why was there a big mud puddle?
VILLAGER #2: Someone forgot to turn off the fire hose.
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LINES SKIPPED
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VILLAGERS 1, 2, 3 & 4: Hooray! Santa is bringing us presents!
HAZEL (strong voice): No no no! Santa is NOT coming back, Until you clean up your act!
KOLACKY: This place is a disaster and that is a fact!
TOFFEE: Your whole town is breaking and falling apart!
You don’t have to be handsome or pretty or smart -
But you must be responsible, and thoughtful and skilled,
We are all lucky that Santa was not killed!
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LINES SKIPPED
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VILLAGER 3: I will!
HAZEL: That’s a good start. You must fix this yourself.
You have hit rock bottom, when you are scolded by an Elf.
Oh, by the way, Does anyone know? Where did Santa go?
VILLAGER 4: He said he was going to the Town of Clutter Clog!
TOFFEE, HAZEL, KOLACKY: The Town of Clutter Clog! Thanks! Goodbye and good luck! (EXIT)
VILLAGERS AND ZINGER-MAYOR - Goodbye! (EXIT)
MUSIC # 10
Where is Santa Claus? (Elves circling audience while TOWNIES bring on set pieces)
We’re hopping like a frog,
To the Town of Clutter Clog,
Where is Santa Claus?
We will search the whole wide world!
--They go to the TOWN OF CLUTTER CLOG--
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LINES SKIPPED
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TOFFEE: I can’t see the trees, the mountains or houses.
HAZEL: I can’t hear the breeze, the birds or the mouses.
KOLACKY: Well, we’ve got to find Santa so let’s start looking.
TOFFEE: And use your noses for the smell of home cooking.
(Boxes start to move a little and it scares the Elves.)
HAZEL: Look out! Look out! The boxes are shaking!
KOLACKY: We are in the wrong place for when the Earth starts a-quaking!
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LINES SKIPPED
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ZINGER-BOSS: We have houses and schools.
TOWNIE 2: Covered in boxes.
KOLACKY: Where are the children!
TOWNIE 3: Playing inside the boxes!
HAZEL AND TOFFEE: Well, that makes sense.
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LINES SKIPPED
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TOFFEE: We have had a great time here but we must go find Santa Claus. Do you know where he is?
ZINGER-BOSS: He said he would be back later to bring us food to trade for boxes to wrap presents in. But first he said he had to go to a terrible place. He said everyone there was on his Naughty List.
HAZEL: Everyone there is on his Naughty List??? Where is it?
TOWNIE #1: Santa dropped this piece of paper. (gives list to HAZEL)
HAZEL: Thank you. Oh, my! It’s Santa’s Naughty List.
KOLACKY: Am I on it?
TOFFEE: Look! Everyone lives in the country of Perfectotopia.
KOLACKY: Whew! Not me!
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LINES SKIPPED
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DICTATOR-ZINGER: Ha ha ha ha! I see you walked right into my trap.
Welcome to the perfect dictatorship of Perfectotopia!
I am the Great and Horrible Colonel Ampus!
And these are the Citizens of Perfectotopia. Citizens . . . March!
CITIZENS , including the CHILD (marching in place):
1, 2, 3, 4, Citizens will march some more! 5, 6, 7, 8, Citizens are never late!
DICTATOR-ZINGER: Halt!
HAZEL: Let us go! We just came looking for Santa Claus!
DICTATOR-ZINGER: Santa Claus! Ha Ha! Do you mean your spy? We captured him.
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LINES SKIPPED
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DICTATOR-ZINGER: Enough! Don’t give away our state secrets. The jailer has been punished. But you will not escape. I will lock you up and every day you will make me presents. Ha ha ha ha!
HAZEL: You are terrible! A tyrant! No wonder you are on the Naughty List.
DICTATOR-ZINGER: The Naughty List! Ha ha ha ha! I invented the Naughty List.
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LINES SKIPPED
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TOFFEE: Well, that worked out well.
HAZEL: Only time will tell.
KOLACKY: Oh, are we back to rhymes and rhythm?
TOFFEE: Uh, (exasperated) Nothing rhymes with “rhythm”! It’s like “orange” and “bulb”.
MUSIC # 15
Where is Santa Claus? (Elves skip around the audience.)
We have failed to find him,
So we can’t remind him,
Saint Nicholas Day is coming soon,
Guess we’ll have to go back home!
--They go back to -- SANTA’S WORKSHOP.--
TOFFEE: Hello! Hello! Santa? Are you in the workshop? In the shed?
HAZEL: Where could he be? Someone check his bed.
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LINES SKIPPED
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APP ELF #3: We made all the little toys, For all the girls and boys
APP ELF #4: For Santa to give tomorrow on Saint Nicholas Day!
SANTA-ZINGER (ENTER): Ho Ho Ho! Where have you been? Off having fun?
Good thing Zinger hired these new Elves. All the work is done.
But tomorrow you deliver a clock and clipboards to a village down south,
And pick up more boxes and drop off some tools to another town up north.
A third sad place needs much more help than even a great big gift.
TOFFEE: Oh, I think that place is fixing itself, but some kids might like a lift.
SANTA-ZINGER: Oh Ho! My Elves have been busy, it should be no surprise!
They’ve got the Christmas spirit, and are helping, cheerful and wise!
SANTA & ELVES: Merry Christmas and Happy Saint Nicholas Day!
MUSIC: THE END! BOWS!
MUSIC #16, then #17