The Pluto Monologues

Last Saturday my son invited friends over to watch him perform "The Pluto Monologues".

We started our Unit Study of the Solar System back in May and finished our mobile in July. The Solar System had us oooohhhhing and aaaahhhhing the whole way through, and we weren't ready to stop there, so we decided to extend our Unit Study with this theatrical project.

We wrote the first half of the script together, and he wrote the second half pretty much on his own. An actress friend of ours came in one morning to work with him on his acting and stage directions.

Although we did the Unit Study in English, he wanted to do the theater part in Spanish (his first language), which meant translating all the terminology we had learned.

Here is a rough translation of the script:
(enter to chair, sit looking at audience)
I am Pluto, like the Roman god of the underworld.
I am the 9th and farthest planet from the Sun.
(stand up and approach audience)
Well,... now they say I am no longer an official planet.
(in a hushed tone)
They call me a dwarf planet! How humiliating!
(standing on chair)
Just because I'm not as big as my brother Jupiter the giant.
(gets down from chair, walking around like beauty queen)
Or maybe because I'm not as pretty and visible as my sister Venus. Of course, they named her after the goddess of beauty and love, no wonder she's so vain.
(hula-hoop)
Just because I don't have beautiful rings like my brother Saturn,
it seems I'm not so popular.
(drop hula-hoop, moving from side to side as if being pulled)
Do you think it's easy to keep my balance between the pull of the Sun and the pull of infinite space?
(spinning around chair)
Do you think it's easy to spend my entire life going round and round the Sun?
(sits back down on chair)
I'm an important part of this Solar System too. I want to be an official planet.
(stand up abruptly)
Oh, but since I'm not as interesting and mysterious as my brother Neptune...
I can make faces too! (make funny face) As if it were such a big deal.
(fall down laughing)
Oh... and the crazy one. My brother, Uranus (laughing between words),
he's all beaten up by asteroids, and he spins in the wrong direction!
(stand up, creeping closer to the audience as if seeing something in the distance)
There's my red-faced brother Mars.
(whispering)
He still believes the story of the little green men. Sssshhh!!!
Oh, and there's tiny little Mercury.
Pfff! He thinks he's the favored son because he's the closest to the Sun.
(stop, pause, looking up)
Oh yes,... and there's Earth.
(pensive pause, back to chair, sit)
Earth.
I am jealous of Earth, the only planet with life.
I wish I could be inhabited by bears, birds, snakes.... and humans.
Humans... what amazing creatures.
But I am not Earth.
(stand up proudly)
I am Pluto.
(approach audience)
So, ladies and gentleman, after all that I have expressed here today,
I beg you reconsider my status as an official planet. Thank you.
(bow and exit)

He did a great job, and was right on with most of his lines. He even made the audience laugh! I posted a snippet of the performance recently, here's the complete version (3min.):