FUNERAL FOR A CRAYFISH
a 5-minute children’s play
For Young Audiences or Actors
by Tara Meddaugh

Special thanks and credit to 8-year-old, Luke B., for his awesome design work on this cover!

Special thanks and credit to 8-year-old, Luke B., for his awesome design work on this cover!

When a classroom crayfish meets an untimely demise, Ari and Quinn must figure out whose crayfish suffered this unexpected fate! It’s going to take some clever detective skills though, because unfortunately, Juliet used the same color permanent marker to dot her crayfish’s back as Ari did! Will the clues they uncover be enough to solve the mystery? *This 5-minute comedy for children explores friendship, problem solving and working together! It also includes a fun Question and Answer page all about crayfish!

DETAILS
Genre: comedic, children, young audience, drama
Cast: 2 characters, flexible/inclusive casting
Set: Minimal, a classroom
Running time: around 5 minutes
Great food: reader’s theater, problem solving, working together, teamwork, science, flexible casting for any gender, animals, classroom theater, 2-hander, play for 2 actors, friendship
(c) 2014

Funeral for a Crayfish includes a page of fun facts about crayfish. Like—did you know crayfish live 20-30 years? Or that there are recipes for, gulp, Crawfish Cheesecake?

ACTING OUT production of Funeral of a Crayfish

Funeral for a Crayfish is part of Tara Meddaugh’s Reader’s Theater series. These are great plays for any age in a theater setting, competition or classroom. But as Reader’s Theater, they are designed to make reading aloud enjoyable for children. Children don’t need to memorize or “perform,” but simply benefit from the act of reading out loud together, in dramatic form. Reader’s Theater can promote fluency, confidence, creativity, empathy, oral expression and connections among peers. Children at home or in the classroom enjoy reading these fun scripts aloud.

Click for a free excerpt from Funeral for a Crayfish.
CLICK below for a complete digital copy of Funeral for a Crayfish by Tara Meddaugh