Creative Educational Systems

THE THEATRE OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN is a collection of original plays written and produced in schools by Creative Educational Systems.  Titles include:The Emperor's New ClothesThe NightingaleThe Princess and the PeaThe Snow QueenThumbelinaEach title is available as an individual script elsewhere in this store.Plays have a playing time of between 10-60 minutes -- perfect for a school assembly program or a children's theatre production.The plays are accompanied by brief essays which highlight t

Synopsis:Harriet Tubman is a short biographical play script showing scenes from the long and rich historical life of this Black American heroine from early childhood to her escape to freedom, to her days as a conductor on the Underground Railroad, chronicling just a few of her amazing adventures during the time she lead almost 300 people out of slavery. Description of this Script:Duration: 35 to 40 mins. Genre: historical drama Cast Size: 1 female lead, 5 male and 5 female supporting roles, narr

Do you love Mark Twain? His stories have made us laugh and cry for over a century. Now see his stories brought to life in this delightful one-act play, which features portions of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Prince and The Pauper, and the entirety of Jim Baker's Blue Jay Yarn.Synopsis:In San Francisco in the 1860s, authors Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) and Brett Harte are roommates working on becoming successful writers for a livelihood. Together they imp

CES play scripts make producing your play a snap!Holly Day Tales: Plays for Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa is a collection of 6 classroom-tested, original and heart-warming plays for the winter holidays. Each play comes with "production notes" (guidelines for costumes, scenery and staging) to make your directing/producing job easy. TESTIMONIAL !!"I had no problems downloading and have already made copies and read through the two I wanted to use with my students. I was just online and looked up

This delightful folktale about the trickster spider Anansi comes to life in this play for younger elementary students and older. Youngsters will enjoy the humor in the story, performing the delightful animal characterizations, and will recognize the classic tale of African/ Caribbean origin. A wonderful short play for Black History Month presentations. Synopsis:In Anansi and the Sky God's Stories, the spider Anansi wants to save the Sky God's special stories for his own family, but finds he mus

Should science be dry and technical? See the lives of three of the world's most famous astronomers, Nicholas Copernicus, Galileo Galilei and Sir Isaac Newton, come alive through drama. Your cast will enjoy performing as each character battles the forces of ignorance and prejudice as they present new ideas in science to a skeptical world. Synopsis:Astronomers of the Renaissance includes three scenes. In the first scene, we find Nicholas Copernicus working in his library at the top of a church to

Synopsis:Juan Bobo, the comic hero from Puerto Rico, seems to somehow bungle everything he tries, yet his good heart always leads him on the right course. Here, Juan manages to save the Queen's necklace, unearth a plot by the palace thieves, and earn himself a place of wealth and respect in the King's esteem, all because he is interested in befriending some of the palace garden's nightingales. Description:This 25-minute play script is a comedy with a variety of parts for a full class-load of stu

In this comical look a traditional medieval Japanese folktale, your students will experience the culture, and learn an important lesson about the value of the elders in a society. Synopsis of the Story:In The Wise Old Woman, a Japanese town's young lord, thinking that the town's elderly are a burden and a waste of resources, issues a foolish decree that all people over the age of 70 are to be taken to the mountain and left to die. One young farmer cannot bear to send his old mother to the moun

Let your students build their own self-esteem while at the same time seeing this classic fairy tale come to life in their own performance. Thumbelina, in true fairy tale fashion, takes the good-hearted girl and, after a series of difficult trials and adventures, lets us know that everything does work out for the best in the end. Synopsis:Thumbelina is a tiny girl, the result of a wish by her parents for a child of their own. Her happiness in her home is interrupted by selfish and unscrupulous ch

Is there a better way to get an experiential understanding of Native American culture than by performing one of its folktales? And one of the most colorful characters, bound to bring laughter to the performers and audience alike, is the Native American trickster Coyote. This story explains the origin of fire and will delight and instruct both audience and cast. Synopsis:In Coyote, the Firebringer, Coyote experiences cold weather for the first time when the Seasons are created. He decides that h

This delightful adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, The Snow Queen, is a great play for the holiday season, or any other time of year. It is a beautiful blending of a narrated dance/ drama and a thrilling action story that shows off Andersen's story at its best. Parts of all kinds will allow actors to shine as they see this story come to life and experience all the lessons it has within it, not the least of which is that love is the true miracle that will melt a heart that has

Young students will be proud of their work as actors in this musical play adaptation of the story of the Little Red Hen. Young audiences will too, and in addition to their understanding the process of how bread is made, the message to help others comes across loud and clear. Synopsis:When the Little Red Hen decides to bake some bread one day, her friends, the barn yard animals, refuse to help her despite her requests at each step of the process. But when the bread is finished the animals are all

Testimonial !!“The Reindeer Solution was a huge success! Both the parents and kids loved it! It’s hard to find quality resources to accommodate a class of nearly 30 kids, but you did it, and with flying colors. The humorous dialogue, staging directions, and costume & prop suggestions made it a dream to produce. I’ll be recommending your site to all my colleagues. Thank-you for offering such high quality material for such unbelievably low prices."--Rob Stringer, 4th Grade Teacher--Parenting Coach

Let your students build their own self esteem while at the same time seeing this classic fairy tale come to life in their own performance. "The Nightingale" is not only a good vehicle for multicultural studies of China, but also teaches a wonderful lesson about the glamour of materialism. Synopsis:The Emperor of China reads in a book that of all the treasures in his land, the Nightingale was the most precious. He sets out to hear the Nightingale's song in the woods and is so inspired that he in

What a wonderful chance for students to exercise both their dramatic and their musical abilities in this adaptation of the Egyptian Cinderella story complete with song lyrics for a musical production! Once again, kindness and self-sacrifice are rewarded, and the selfish get their comeuppance in this multicultural fairy tale adventure from Egypt. Synopsis:In Rhodopis and the Song of the Falcon, Rhodopis (the Egyptian Cinderella), a Greek girl with fair hair, has been made a slave to a kind maste

Description:A delightful comedy, this play is good for upper elementary, middle and high school students. This 25-30 minute one-act features 3 strong male characters, 2 strong female characters, with many smaller supporting roles and a Greek chorus which is expandable in size, depending on the number of students to be cast. It can be intergenerational, as there are both strong adult and child roles. Production ideas for sets, costumes, etc.. are provided. Synopsis:When the God of the Underworld

Young science students will thrill to the clash of ideas about the nature of the universe presented here in play form, which they can act out. As the ancient Greek astronomers debate whether the sun or the earth is the center of the universe, the evolution of scientific thought comes to life for the actors who are performing and watching this play. Synopsis:At the meeting of the Athens (Greece) Astronomical Society, the hostess anxiously presents their most famous guest speaker of all time, the

Can history, literacy, and the arts be integrated all at the same time? Imagine your students presenting a readers' theatre performance of this story of a young cowboy's coming of age in the American Old West. They will feel good about themselves, improve their reading and speaking skills, and teach themselves and their audience something about the realities of cowboys in the Wild West. Synopsis:When a young lad finds himself looking for work in the Wyoming of the Old West, he takes a job as a c

Description:This hour-long one-act is actually 7 stories in one play, each of which can be performed separately or which can all be performed together. The play features an extremely balanced cast consisting of many large male and female roles, plus good supporting roles and non-speaking roles, which can be expanded to accommodate the desired size of the performing company. It may be performed by as few as 16 actors doubling roles, or by a series of classes, with each class performing one story.

What better way to learn the essence of the ancient culture of Japan than to act out one of its traditional stories? Your students will experience, first hand, the delightful story of a woman who learns that kindness is its own reward and that not everything comes in large packages... sometimes the most precious things are actually the smallest. Synopsis:In The Sparrow Maiden, an old man and an old woman live on the side of the mountain. They are very different, the man being kind and the wo