The Dinner That Ran Away

by Rick Balian

A retelling of The Bremen Town Musicians. Chloe is a happy sheep in rural Scotland. Willie, the owner of the home where Chloe lives, says that he wants to have her up to his house for dinner. When she realizes he doesn’t want her over for dinner but for dinner, she runs away. She meets two other animals who are running away: Maude, a nervous cow who can't give milk anymore, and Harold, a watchdog with laryngitis. The three of them team up, learn to work together, break up a robbery masterminded by Willie, and make a new home together.

“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
Chloe: A big, overfed sheep
Willie: Chloe’s human — who’s also a crook
Maude: A nervous cow
Harold: A Scotty dog with laryngitis
Roberta: A robber and a friend of Willie’s

Minimum cast: 4, assuming that puppets (for Chloe, Maude, and Harold) are used in conjunction with two 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.