The Big Mouth Mouse

by Rick Balian and Mieko Ohno

In spite of his wife’s sensible objections, Masato Mouse hatches a hair-brained scheme to marry their daughter, Takako, to the mighty Sun. Takako is in love with the cheese delivery mouse. But Masato declares that no mere mouse is great enough to marry her. When it doesn’t work out with the Sun, Masato tries to convince the Cloud, the Wind, and even the Wall to marry Takako. Eventually, Masato learns that sometimes there is nothing greater than a mouse.

Available in English or Japanese

“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
Masato: A mouse with big ideas and a mouth to match
Keiko: Married to Masato and patient partner to his wild schemes
Yugiri: Masato’s best friend and neighbor
Momo: Married to Yugiri and best friends with Keiko
The Cat: The unfortunate (and offstage) victim of one of Masato’s wild ideas
Takako: Keiko and Masato’s daughter
Hotaru: The local cheese delivery mouse. He and Takako love each other
The Sun: An arrogant sun of a gun
The Cloud: Someone not as good at hiding things as he thinks
The Wind: A big blowhard who doesn’t get the windfall he expects
The Wall: A strong, silent type — and the last barrier to Masato’s nutty plan

Minimum cast: 4, if puppets (for Masato, Keiko, Yugiri, Momo, Takako, and Hotaru) are used in conjunction with onstage actors. But the show can be produced with all onstage actors — especially if the Sun, Cloud, Wind, and Wall are played by the same actor.

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.