The Stuffed Animal
                          
                                     is published by

           Big Dog Publishing

Scripts can be ordered and royalties paid by clinking the link below:

http://www.bigdogplays.com/playdisplay.asp?playid=109

FREE SAMPLE pages can also be viewed by clicking the same link

           

             A Brief Excerpt

(Furf lumbers in and lays down immediately down stage of the door and goes to  sleep, as they shut the door.  As they enter, the caroling stops as the door to the  shop is closed, but from the back room of the store  they hear the hymn, Venite Adoremus." This we will discover is sung  by the dolls. This is louder than the caroling,  but not so loud as to cover the dialogue. A decorated Christmas tree [prop]  could be placed inside the shop to create the Christmas mood)

Cindy.    I hear Christmas music.

Abigail.    Yes, it's Christmas Eve.

Tommy.    (A toy soldier doll, Entering)    Merry Christmas, Miss Grace.

Abigail.    Merry Christmas to you, Tommy.

Cindy.    Miss Grace, the toy soldier talked to you.

Abigail.    Of course. Don't you remember Sabrina talking to you?

Cindy.    (Pausing)    I'm not sure .... It was so long ago.

Abigail.    At night, when your mother tucked you in, and when you told Sabrina good night, can't you recall her saying night, night to you?

Cindy. I think so.

Abigail. And when you took her in your arms and told her you loved her, didn't she snuggle right in, and couldn't you hear her say,  "I love you, too Cindy?"

Tommy.  We never said it very loud, but we always said it. That's why we were your favorite toys. Dolls that don't talk to their friends never become a child's favorite toy, and spend their entire lives on shelves.

Abigail. Or in glass cases.

Tommy. I can’t imagine anything worse than spending my whole life in a case.

Cindy.  Were you a little girl's favorite toy, too?

Tommy.   (Indignant) Certainly not. I had a little boy named Brian O'Malley. I was a present from his mother.  

Abigail. Tommy’s dad was in the army and his mom wanted Brian to have a toy that reminded him of his father.

Cindy.    How did you get here?

Abigail.    Tommy was the first doll I found. (The singing by the dolls has stopped. but the piano plays soft carols as under-scoring.)

Tommy.  Brian had taken me along to his baseball game. It was a big game. Brian's team won. When the game was over, in the excitement, he left me in the dugout.  

Cindy. How awful!

Tommy. I waited for him all night. It was the first time in years that we had not spent the night together.

Abigail. But that’s not the worst of it.

Tommy. In the morning a big redheaded boy with freckles found me there. He picked me up and threw me into the weeds. I never saw Brian again. I always wondered if he came back for me. If he did, he didn't find me.

Abigail. I was walking my dog, and my dog found him. His foot was sticking up.

Tommy. I  was caught on the cane of a raspberry bush.

Abigail.  I knew right away that he had been special to some child, so I decided to take him home and fix him up and then to try and locate his owner......

                    Synopsis

                  A CHRISTMAS PLAY WITH MUSIC

One Christmas Eve,  in a small town not far from here,  there was a small shop called "The Stuffed Animal." The proprietor was a middle aged lady named Abigail Grace. Miss Grace had never had any children of her own. She lived alone with her        dog,  Furf. Those people that knew her well - and not many did - said she had but one abiding interest in life. Every Friday morning, no matter how inclement the weather, she  could be found prowling the neighborhood garage sales. There she        would search for stuffed animals and dolls --- not new ones, not beautiful ones, but  shabby old teddies with their ears bitten off, and dolls who had lost their limbs.

She would buy them for  a dime or a quarter, and take them away. Her neighbors said she put them in her shop, but they really didn't know because her  shop was never open for  business. But because they saw her carry boxes and  bags into the shop, and come out empty handed, that was their best guess. Especially, since she called her little shop "The Stuffed Animal."
              
Perhaps because Miss Grace was such a  private person, who always keep to herself, the people of the small Victorian town never questioned her about her activities until Cindy Kim saw Miss Grace walking Furf just after dark one Christmas Eve.

Cindy, as a child had had a favorite doll, Sabrina Ballerina.
Cindy approached Miss Grace that evening because Cindy
had been told that Miss Grace,was the person purchased
Sabrina at that yard sale many years ago.

As Miss Grace escorted Cindy into the "Stuffed Animal" that evening, Cindy was transported into a world of magic and to
a very special Christmas, where she is privileged to meet
the dolls and stuffed animals  that were in there time, the favorite toy of a child. 

Then, what has begun as a beautiful Christmas evening, is nearly destroyed by the machinations of an old crone, Vendetta Cage,
who one might fairly assume is an evil old which. But, "danger invites rescue," .and rescue comes in time to save Christmas.


                               Christmas Play

                         By: John Donald O'Shea

                        Cast: 1 M, 6 F, 3 flexible,

     Performance Time: Approximately 30 minutes, 23 pgs.



          Cast of Characters

The Narrator (male or female)
                          The narrator

Cindy Kim  (female)
                         A young woman, approximately 20 years of age

Miss Abigail Grace (female)
                        A kindly older woman, perhaps 60 years of age

Furf (a/k/a “Furface”) (male or female)
                       Miss Grace’s rather large friendly dog
                       (i.e., a kid in a dog suit)

Tommy (male)
                      Brian’s Special Toy Soldier doll

Susie (female)
                     Donnie’s Favorite Teddy Bear

Sabrina Ballerina (female)
                    Cindy’s Favorite Childhood Doll

Bunny (female)
                    Erin’s Favorite Childhood Plush

Annie (Raggedy Ann) (female)
                   The Favorite Doll of another little girl, also named Erin

Ms. Cage (female)
                   A Mean Old Woman; a “doll napper.”
                    A witch,



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