Yes, Indeed

This script celebrates “theater that knows it’s theatre” – in other words, a celebration of all things possible through imagination and the importance of allowing oneself – whether child or adult – time to play in order to grow. Four intrepid explorers lead the audience to rediscover the value of imagination.

Playwright Bio

Timothy Krause teaches English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) at Portland Community College in Portland, Oregon. Before becoming a teacher, he worked in professional theater, from production to performance. Now he is exploring playwrighting.

Excerpt from the play:

CHARACTERS:

APEX – A responsible leader
HELIX – A serious thinker
NEXUS – A friendly communicator
NOX – A goofy jokester

SETTING: An imaginary time and place between here and there, now and then.

PRODUCTION NOTES: The stage or playing area is simply an open space. The four characters can be played by any gender or age. The story should be told quite broadly with great physicality, such as in circus/clown/commedia dell’arte style. There must be a great deal of audience interaction and improvisation. Funny music, silly sound cues, and ad libbing are all encouraged.

(Music to signal an arrival. APEX, HELIX, NEXUS, and NOX enter through the audience, scrambling toward the stage in and out and around audience members. HELIX and NEXUS wear backpacks.)

NOX:
Ahoy! Ahoy!

APEX:
Land ho!

HELIX:
We made it!

NEXUS:
Yes, indeed! Yes, indeed!

(NOX lingers among the audience.)

NOX:
Wait! What do you mean we made it? Where are we?

(APEX arrives on the stage.)

APEX:
We are here!

(HELIX arrives on the stage.)

HELIX:
Here we are!

(NEXUS arrives on the stage.)

NEXUS:
Yes, indeed!

(NOX talks to individual audience members.)

NOX:
I am so lost. Please, you, tell me where we are.

(NOX ad libs until an audience member responds with a name of some place. Then that response replaces “XXXXX” moving forward. In other words, if the audience members says “Oregon”, then ALL actors say “Oregon” whenever they see “XXXXX” in the script.)

… XXXXX? We’re in/on/at XXXXX? Hey, everybody! We’re in/on/at XXXXX!

APEX:
XXXXX?

HELIX:
XXXXX!

NEXUS:
Yes, indeed!

NOX:
And XXXXX is the perfect place to hunt for treasure!

APEX:
Gold?

NOX:
Maybe.

HELIX:
Silver?

NOX:
Possibly.

NEXUS:
Or something even better?

NOX:
Like what? What could be even better than gold or silver? What? There must be something! Anything! Anything at all!

(NOX asks for and then announces an answer from the audience. Whatever the audience member says replace “YYYYY” in the script moving forward. In other words, if the audience member says “chocolate”, then ALL actors say “chocolate” whenever they see “YYYYY” in the script.)

…. YYYYY? We’re looking for YYYYY? We’re looking for YYYYY!