To Kill a Mocking Birdie

As we start thinking about ideas for next year's season, why not dive headfirst into the entertaining world of plays featuring animals in their titles? So many creative opportunities and endless possibilities for your student performers to bring these captivating characters to life. These plays are designed to help you unleash the magic that celebrates the wild spirit of storytelling. Perfect options to grace your stage or classroom next year!

Welcome to our Featured Play Spotlight. If you’re a fan of the classics but have wondered it would be like to tell the story through the lens of the absurd, you’ll love To Kill A Mocking Birdie by Clint Snyder. Birdie would like you to meet her parents: a goldfish and a moldy piece of bread. Don’t mind the yelling, she didn’t get a pony as a child. And she certainly didn’t burn down an owl farm. But she’s willing to feed you. And there may be egg rolls and chocolate cake! That is, if Carol the ex-maid brings it and doesn’t hold a grudge against Birdie for being fired. You may also meet What, When, Alexa (who’s hiding in the bathroom) and Birdie’s sister Scoot, who thinks she’s a glazed Virginia Ham. It’s a perfectly crazy dinner party. Consider this your invitation. Why did we publish this play? This play is perfectly crazy. But there’s no wink to the audience, it’s a great example of characters committing to the world of the play. A fantastic world where your parents are a goldfish and a moldy piece of bread. You have students who don’t want to do kitchen sink dramas. You have students who don’t want to fit into boxes. Give them this play to show them how far they can go. Let’s hear from the author!1. Why did you write this play? I wrote this play because To Kill a Mocking Bird always really spoke to me as a child, but I wanted to retell some of the themes through a lens of my own brand of bizarre dark humor. 2. Describe the theme in one or two sentences. A child throws a dinner party to draw attention to her upbringing and the strange effects it has had on her psyche in hopes it will bring some peace. 3. What’s the most important visual for you in this play? Anytime they are treating the piece of toast and goldfish like people. 4. If you could give one piece of advice for those producing the play, what would it be? Have fun with it. Don’t be afraid to let yourself lose and give into the absurdity of the themes. 5. Why is this play great for student performers? It gives the students a chance to relate to themes that affect them and bring the humor to life. The comedy keeps it engaging, while the characters are interesting enough to make it a good opportunity to teach character development.

Time for a Tfolk Top Ten Plays About…Characters you will only find in the theatre. You want unique characters for your students? We got them! Cat hair, archetypes, Shakespearean, and a severed head just to name a few. Read one, read them all! Click the link and you’ll be taken to the webpage for each play. There you’ll get the details and read sample pages. All the best with your search! Inanimate Ani talks to the inanimate objects in her life and they talk back. It all seems friendly and fun at first. So why is Ani writing hate texts to her friends? Why does she let the objects control her? What if feels she can’t leave her room anymore? Characters: The inanimate objects in Ani’s life Floating On A Don’t Care Cloud Jamie Peel is a pothead. He lives in his own world, a bubble, a cloud that calls his name and reaches out to him. His sister TJ has watched him slowly drift away and doesn’t know what to do. An emotional tightrope. Characters: Marijuana is personified by a cloud of 7 characters. To Kill a Mocking Birdie Birdie would like you to meet her parents: a goldfish and a moldy piece of bread. You may also meet What, When, Alexa (who’s hiding in the bathroom) and Birdie’s sister Scoot, who thinks she’s a glazed Virginia Ham. It’s a perfectly crazy dinner party. Consider this your invitation. Characters: Everyone is Absolutely abnormal Lose Not Thy Head Joan pleads for life, Death waits for death, a severed Head says beheading isn’t so bad, a doctor tries to convince everyone that you can’t sew a head back on a body, and then things get weird. Shakespeare, Monty Python, a little love, a little death, a lot of laughs and a talking head. Characters: Death. A freudian Doctor. A severed head. Shakespeare’s sister who’s impersonating Shakespeare. Censorbleep The Bleep Bleep Girls are the greatest group in school. They know what’s best. And when students try to stand up for themselves, or don’t do the “right” thing, they get dealt with. Characters: Teenagers are turned into garbage and disappear. Postcards From Shakespeare Shakespeare has writer’s block. He pleads to the one person who can help him – Queen Elizabeth the First who sends Shakespeare around the world in 30 minutes. Denmark! Venice! Egypt! Join his whirlwind tour as he desperately searches for material. Characters: Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s Characters. Elizabeth the first. Myth-o-logues Cassandra is here to be your Greek mythology tour guide. She’ll lead you through stories of war, relationships and the origins of good and evil. Pick and choose from this must-have collection of monologues. Characters: Greek Mythology’s greatest The Dread Playwright Sadie Sadie wishes to leave her life on the high seas to pursue her true passion: theatre. But there’s a problem. She’s not just Sadie; she’s The Dread Pirate Sadie, the most feared pirate in all the land. And there’s another problem. She’s a horrible pirate. Characters: Pirates. And Playwrights. The Absolute Insidious and Utterly Terrifying Truth About Cat Hair Cat hair is infinite. It is the secret driving force behind business and politics, and is plotting the downfall of humanity even as we speak. Unbelievable? Find out for yourself in this hilarious, insidious and utterly terrifying tale… Characters: Lint Roller, Granola Bar, Masking Tape, and of course, Cat Hair. Emotional Baggage Seven strangers meet in a train station. Instead of luggage, they all carry their “emotional baggage.” This unique play is based solely on action and has no dialogue. Characters: All the characters in this play are archetypes: Dead End Job, Living in the Past, etc.

Do you include student directing in your program or are you thinking about introducing it this year? Tfolk playwright Clint Snyder reveals some tips for student directors. Directing can be extremely difficult and exhausting in a school setting. If you are a student director, directing your first production, the task can seem almost impossible. Luckily, here are a few quick tips to making your first production a successful one. 1. Have Faith in Your Cast & CrewIt can be tough, particularly in a classroom setting, to make choices on who is best qualified for a role or position. If you are a student director, it can be even tougher. The last thing you want people to think is that you are making selections based off who you are friends with. The best thing to do is always to cast who would be most qualified for the position and to let everyone know that their input and work is valued. If they did not get the role they wanted offer them a crew position based on their talents. After all, theater is one of the few collaborative art forms. 2. Develop a Sense of CommunityYour cast and crew should feel like a family by the end of the production. Sure families fight and bicker, but at the end of the day they come together for a common goal. You should make it your job to create situations where they can bond together outside of rehearsal. Try visiting a local community or professional production as a group. This will give the students a chance to bond and also allow them to brainstorm for ideas that they could apply to their own production. 3. Plan in AdvanceWhen you can avoid it, never put yourself in a situation where you have to scramble at the last minute. Sure, there will always be last minute adjustments, but major setbacks can be avoided by taking on the big projects at full force before going into rehearsal. If there are rehearsal space restrictions because of the classroom setting, talk them over with your crew far in advance so you can brainstorm ideas together. 4. Devour the Script BeforehandBy the time rehearsals start you should have a familiar sense of what each character’s motivation is, where each scene is set, and the general atmosphere of the play. You should still be open to the artistic process and allowing your crew and cast to bring their own unique creative perspective to the production. However, it is essential that the director is aware of what their perspective on the production is. For example, my script Lord of the Pies is set in a pie shop during the supposed apocalypse. Ask your cast and crew what would be unique about the set based on the circumstances of the play? 5. Find a Unique TwistPushing yourself beyond the script to bring some unique directorial aspect to the production can be one of the most rewarding parts of the process. As long as it is done in the spirit of the production, you can find ways to elevate the material. For example, a director might collaborate with the makeup artist and set designer to make all of the actors in a dated piece to appear in black and white. 6. Stay PositiveThere is bound to be some negativity that arises in the production process, but the cast and crew rely on you to set the tone for the play. If you are in a bad mood every rehearsal, chances are the cast and crew will be too. 7. Don’t Forget to AdvertiseNever forget that you rely on an audience to feed the energy of the production. If a crowd is dull or small, the actors will feel it onstage. Don’t forget to take lots of pictures and utilize social media to get excited about the production that you’ve been working so hard on. Consider having other classes visit and watch the performance. You want the students to be proud of their hard work and showcase it to the rest of the school. The added excitement of having other students watching can be enough to elevate your production to the next level. Clint Snyder is a playwright and actor who hails from Portland, Maine. He has a fond love of absurd comedy and currently has two plays published through Theatrefolk, To Kill a Mocking Birdie and Lord of the Pies.

We have a great community of amazing playwrights here at Theatrefolk that contribute to our collection of middle and high school plays. We hope you’ll enjoy this peek behind the curtain as they share how they approach the creative process, how they overcome challenges, and what advice they have for young playwrights. Don’t forget to check out their work! Meet Theatrefolk Playwright Clint Snyder – the author of many popular plays including Lord of the Pies and To Kill a Mocking Birdie. What was your first theatrical experience? How did it impact you?My first theatrical experience was not actually on stage. I was involved with my school’s speech team (forensics) and my love of theater and writing really grew out of that. I performed a piece by Christopher Durang and an original parody I wrote called Al in Wonderland. Looking back on it, it really imprinted on me an absurd style of writing that I have grown to love and use to express myself. Why do you write plays?I see writing is a way of learning about myself. I don’t always know exactly where the story is going to go, but I have the characters formed in my head and I just write. In the case of some of the parodies I write, Lord of the Pies for example, I am not just mocking the work that I am parodying, but I try to throw in some social commentary as well. With theater and comedy in particular you have a chance to slap an audience in the face with a very opinionated viewpoint and have them laugh at themselves. The play is really how quickly society degenerates into a disorganized cluster of fear led by a woman wearing a cat sweater. What’s the most challenging part of writing a play?The most difficult part about art in general can just be separating yourself from the work. It has taken me a long time to be able to look at my life objectively and write about it. If you go into a play with a clearly prejudiced opinion about one of your characters it will show in the writing. When I wrote To Kill a Mocking Birdie, for example, I have a character that is convinced she is a glazed Virginia ham. When I wrote that character I did not tell myself not, “Wow, this person is insane and they think they’re a cured meat product.” Instead I put on my writer’s cap and said, “I am a glazed Virgina Ham… and how do I feel about my situation right now.” How do you address/overcome those challenges?I think not taking things too seriously is a huge part of it. As writers we will always face rejection and critique. The challenge is to not get defensive of your work, but to listen to honest objective opinions and learn from them. As a young playwright I feel like I’ve not only learned some of my strengths and weaknesses in my writing, but also as a person. We have a unique opportunity in theater, not just to put ink to paper, but to bring a world to life on stage and anytime I get down on myself for failing, I try to remember how blessed I am to have been given that opportunity and ability. What advice do you have for young writers struggling to finish a draft?Turn off the television, sign off of Facebook and get the ink on the paper. A lot of writers will procrastinate because they are worried to fail, but you are only really failing if you never try.