Marian Scadden, author
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WAKT FAMILY REUNION
(an interactive murder mystery for two performers)

CHARACTERS:
ROSE
BUBBA

Audience-played characters:
KIP & HOLLY, newlyweds
GRANDMA ILENE
RUSSELL
ZACH
GROUP 1
GROUP 2
GROUP 3
GROUP 4

CUELINES & LINES FOR AUDIENCE-PLAYED CHARACTERS

KIP & HOLLY           work, working                                      WE JUST GOT MARRIED

GRANDMA ILENE unique                                                  YOU MEAN STUPID

RUSSELL                generous, generosity, generously     GUESS AGAIN

ZACH                        Zach                                                     WHAT?

GROUP 1                 Where is he?                                       NOT HERE

GROUP 2                 Aren’t we? Don’t we?                         YOU BET

GROUP 3                 brief                                                      MAKE IT QUICK

GROUP 4                 last time                                               COULDN’T BE HELPED

 

SETTING: We are at a family reunion.
AT RISE: ROSE enters.

ROSE: (enters with clipboard; calling) Bubba!  Bubba! (to audience) All right, everybody, we’ll get started in just a minute as soon as I can find Bubba. Where is he?

GROUP 1: Not here.

ROSE: (upset) I know that. (to self) He’s probably off doing nothing again.  Lazy, good-for-nothing cousin.  I’m ashamed to call him family.

BUBBA: (enters carrying a family flag, rolled up) Hey, Cousin Rose!

ROSE: (sweetly) There you are, Bubba.  You know we can’t get started without the Wakt Family vice president.

BUBBA: The Wakt Family vice president has a surprise that he had to go get.

ROSE: What is it?

BUBBA: It’s this. (unfurls and waves flag) It’s the new Wakt Family flag.

ROSE: (without enthusiasm) You made that yourself, didn’t you?

BUBBA: Yes!  Let me show you.  See this picture.

ROSE: It’s a bunch of stick figures.

BUBBA: That represents our family reunions.  We all like to get together, don’t we?

GROUP 2: You bet!

BUBBA: This globe means that we come from all over the world, seeing that some of us go overseas to travel or work.

KIP & HOLLY: We just got married!

ROSE: (to KIP & HOLLY) And it was a beautiful wedding, too.  So, unique.

GRANDMA ILENE: You mean stupid!

ROSE: Grandma Ilene!  Just because they did things differently, doesn’t mean that it wasn’t beautiful.

BUBBA: Yeah, I thought eating the giant wedding cake with our hands tied behind our backs was fun.  The casino did a great job with that cake.

ROSE: Let’s call this meeting to order because we have a lot of announcements and new people to welcome into the family.  I even made an agenda once Great Uncle Fred got my computer to work.

KIP & HOLLY: We just got married.

ROSE: You’re on the agenda.

BUBBA: But I haven’t finished telling about my flag.

ROSE: Let’s put it on the agenda under new business.

BUBBA: But I want to display it now.

ROSE: Bubba, you know we have a schedule to keep.

BUBBA: I’ll be brief.

GROUP 3: Make it quick!

BUBBA: (pointing out the pictures) Stick figures represents our family reunions; Globe represents our family being from all over the world; Dollar signs for Great Uncle Fred’s generosity...

RUSSELL: Guess again!

ROSE: Be polite, Russell.

BUBBA: Yeah, we all know that your grandfather spoils you, including making you the sole heir of his estate once he dies.

ROSE: (to BUBBA) You be polite, too.  We will not have people leaving our family reunion in tears like last time.

GROUP 4: Couldn’t be helped.

ROSE: Yes, it could.  If Russell hadn’t yelled at Holly...

BUBBA: But Holly was telling Russell’s little Travis that he had to go on time out...

ROSE: Only because little Travis was throwing rocks and hit Kip on the cheek.

BUBBA: But little Travis didn’t mean it.  His aim was bad.

ROSE: Who was he aiming for?

BUBBA: The person who threw a rock at him.

ROSE: I didn’t know that.  Who was it?

BUBBA: Great Uncle Fred was sitting next to little Travis and saw the whole thing.  He said it was Zach.

ZACH: What?!

BUBBA: (to ZACH) Don’t start throwing rocks this year because we’ll vote whether or not you get to come to the next reunion.

ROSE: All right!  All right!  That’s enough.  We’re all going to be polite this year, aren’t we?

GROUP 2: You bet!

ROSE: So let’s get started.

BUBBA: I’m not done yet.

ROSE: Be brief.

GROUP 3: Make it quick.

BUBBA: I only have this last picture.

ROSE: A crib with a heart because we love babies?

BUBBA: Nope.

ROSE: A playpen with a heart because we love toddlers?


Picture
Marian Scadden, author of stage plays, fiction for young people, and other stuff