The Lucky Brothers
by Rick Balian. Based on two tales by Hovhannes Toumanyan.
A tale from the Near East. Misha and Armen, two Armenian brothers, feel they’re cursed with bad luck when a series of misfortunes befall them. Their mother teaches them that they make their own luck. They use this knowledge to outwit Gokor Agravatian, their wicked neighbor, and greedy King Gazilian, who are plotting to steal the brothers’ farm.
“The mix of puppetry and live actors kept my class EXCITED. It was a fabulous performance!” – M. Kruger, PS46
“When I asked teachers what assembly program they wanted this year, the answer was unanimous! They all wanted NPT’s World Voices program to come back.”
– T. Callieri, PS22
Characters
Narrator: Opens and closes the play.
Invading Army 1 and Invading Army 2: The marching armies can be represented by
cut-out drawings or just sound effects
Traffic Cop: Someone who guides the armies so they don’t crash into each other
Arshal Vermilian: A hard-working farmer-woman
Misha Vermilian: Arshal’s oldest son
Armen Vermilian: Her youngest son
Gokor Agravatian: The conniving neighbor
King Gazilian: The greedy ruler
Court Page: Serves in the King’s court but secretly roots for Misha and Armen
Minimum cast: 4, if puppets (for Invading Armies, Traffic Cop, Arshal, Misha, Armen, and Gokor) are used in conjunction with onstage actors. Except for the Invading Armies, the show can be produced with all onstage actors.
Running time: approx. 40 minutes.
World Voices
This play is part of New Perspectives Theatre Company’s World Voices program. World Voices uses stories and fables from around the world to illustrate the strong common bonds among us all. The shows run 50–60 minutes and include a participatory game or activity related to the story. Each play can be performed with puppets and actors or actors only.
If you’d like to book a production or produce a show yourself, contact Rick at theateroftheobvious@icloud.com or New Perspectives Theatre Company (newperspectivestheatre.org) at newper37@gmail.com.