THE MITTEN TREE, a Play

THE MITTEN TREE, A Play

Based on a book by Candace Christianson

Setting: At the back of the stage on each side there is a box with snow people attached. The stage and the floor area directly in front of the stage is outdoors. There is a pine tree on the floor to the left of the stage, the piano is to the right. The rug area is Annies's home. She has a rocking chair, a basket of yarn, knitting needles, and pre-knit mittens. The basket has several balls of yarn including one blue and one red.

(Annie is sitting in her rocking chair looking toward the stage at the snowy morning. )

Narrator: At the end of a long lane, in a tidy house, Annie lived alone. Her children had grown up and moved away, but Annie still remembered the mornings when she walked with them to the fir tree where they waited for the school bus.

(Annie gets up from the chair and looks toward the stage.)

Narrator: Each morning she looked out her window and waited for a new generation of children arrive.

(The children, who are all wearing mittens (except forAli), come onto the stage begin making snowpeople and pretending to throw snowballs. Some of the children are on the stage and some are on the floor in front of the stage. Ali does not participate but stands away from the other children watching their activities keeping his hands in his pockets.)

(Annie pretends to put on a coat, walks outside (off the rug) and toward the fir tree and pretends to open her mailbox and look at her mail. As she walks, she passes a group of children who don't notice her.. She smiles at the children who don't notice.)

Narrator: Every chilly morning, Annie pulled on her warm coat and walked down the lane. As she walked past the children on her way to the mailbox, she expected them to smile or wave. But they never did. The children didn't even seem to notice her. Still when she saw them, she couldn't help but smile.

One winter morning after the first snow had fallen, all the children were making snowmen and throwing snowballs. All except for one little boy in a blue cap and coat. Even his boots were a dark shade of blue. He stood away from the others with hands stuck deep in his pockets.

(As Annie watches from the audience side of the fir tree, the children put scarves on the snowpeople. They begin to sing:)

Frosty the snowman was a jolly happy soul
With the corn cob hat and button nose
And two eyes made out of coal
Frosty the snowman is the fairy tale they say
He was made of snow but the children know
How he came to life one day
There must have been some magic
In that old silk hat they found
For when they placed it on his head
He began to dance around

Frosty the snow man was alive as he could be

……………………………………………….

Thumpdy, thump, thump
Thumpdy, thump, thump
Look at Frosty go
Thumpdy, thump, thump
Thumpdy, thump, thump
Over the hills of snow

(The buses pulls up - one on stage, one in front of the stage. The children get behind the buses and exit the stage)

Narrator: When the school bus arrived, the boy in the blue coat lingered behind and was last in line. As Annie watched the little boy climbed into the bus, she could see one thing.

(Annie walks about her house and looks worried, sighs loudly, and wrings her hands. She picks up her basket of yarn and brings it over next to her chair. She sits down and casts on the blue yarn onto the knitting needles as if to make mittens.)

Narrator: All that day Annie couldn't stop worrying about the little boy who had no mittens. Late in the afternoon, as the sky grew dark, Annie dug through the basket of yarn scraps she had saved for many years. She found her knitting needles and 4 shades of blue wool. Then Annie began to knit. She worked late into the night.

(Annie puts on her coat and picks up her newly knitted blue mittens. She goes out the door and hangs them on the fir tree. Then she waits behind the tree.)

Narrator: When the sun began to rise, she hurried to the bus stop and hung the mittens on the old fir tree. From behind the tree, Annie watched. The little boy was the first to arrive.

(Ali enters and finds the mittens, He faces the audience and puts on the blue mittens. When they fit, he smiles largely at the audience. Then he picks up a snowball and throws it into the sky.)

Narrator: He saw the mittens. He reached up and tried them on. They fit. With a big smile. He made a perfect snowball and threw it high into the winter sky.

(Emily, The girl with mismatched mittens comes onto the stage)

Narrator: Soon a little girl in a red coat arrived. Her mittens didn't match.

(Emily stands on the stage, lifts her hands to look at them with a sad look on her face, then exits the stage)

Narrator: That night Annie knitted with red yarn.

(Annie hangs a pair of red mittens on the tree.)

(Emily comes onto the stage, she finds the new red mittens and puts them on, looks at them and smiles. The rest of the children arrive, the bus pulls up, and the children leave.)

(Annie hangs 2 pairs of mittens on the tree)

Narrator: Every morning as Annie went to the mailbox, she watched for children without mittens. Then she would hurry home to knit. Early in the morning, she would hang the new mittens on the tree. The children loved the game. Each day, they would search under every branch and bough for another pair of mittens. Once or twice Annie thought the boy with the blue mittens had seen her, but he always looked away.

(The children come onto the stage. They look all around the tree. Three children find mittens “hidden” on the tree.)

(The bus pulls up on stage. The children get behind the bus and exit the stage)

Narrator: Night after night, Annie knitted mittens of every color. Some had stripes, some had hearts and some even had little snowflakes all over them. Somehow, even though she had never spoken to the children, Annie felt they had become her new family.

On the last day before Christmas vacation, Annie awakened before dawn, She took the now empty basket and filled it with mittens. Out the door and down the steps she headed. When she got to the fir tree, she hung mittens on every branch.

Tracy: Will anyone who has brought mittens, hats, scarves, or socks to donate, please come forward at this time and hang them on the tree.

(Cheerful Holiday Music or familiar hymn while people come forward to hang donations)

(When the music stops the little boy no mittens comes onto the stage)

Narrator: The boy with the blue mittens was the first to arrive. He stood very still and waited for the others.

(The rest of the children arrive and look at all the beautiful mittens on the tree. Five children are not wearing mittens. They all hold still looking at the tree in awe. )

In fact, all the children stood very still looking at the mysterious, beautiful mitten tree.

(They stand in aroung the tree singing Oh Mitten Tree. One child sneaks over to Annie’s chair and places the basket of yarn in front of it. Three children put on pairs of mittens from the basket hidden on the stage behind the tree)

Oh, Mitten Tree

Oh, Mitten Tree, Oh Mitten Tree!

The winter wind is biting.

Oh, Mitten Tree, Oh Mitten Tree!

The winter wind is biting.
Against the cold, warm gifts we bring!
To deck your branches as we sing.

Oh, Mitten Tree, Oh Mitten Tree!
Help us to love each other.

May we our love and goodness show
As you stay green through winter's snow.

Oh, Mitten Tree, Oh Mitten Tree,

Help us to help each other.

(The school buses arrive and they get on and drive away.)

(Annie watches from the side of the tree.)

Narrator: When they boarded the bus, each child now wore a pair of mittens.

Annie watched as, one by one, their faces appeared in the bus window. Her heart was full. It was as full as when sounds of her own children had filled her house.

As she nears the house, she sees a big basket with a white bow full of bright yarn. She picks it up and goes into the house, smiling.)

Narrator: As Annie neared her house, she saw something waiting for her: A basket woven with vines and decorated with a large white bow. In it were balls and balls of beautiful, colorful yarn.

To this day, Annie knits mittens for all the children in her town. Every time her basket is empty, a new full one appears.

Annie doesn't know who the yarn is from. The children still don't now who the mittens are from. But someone must....

( The children come back onto the stage. Children and Annie and narrator stand together and sing We Wish You A Merry Christmas.)

We Wish You a Merry Christmas

We wish you a merry Christmas

And a happy New Year

Good tidings we bring

To you and your kin

Good tidings for Christmas

And a happy New Year

We wish you a merry Christmas

And a happy New Year

(The cast bows and leaves the stage.)

Cast:

Narrator - Joan O'Hara

Annie - Ann Livermore

Child with no mittens - Ali Vesenka

Child with mismatched mittens - Emily Ericson

Bus driver - Bus 1 - Chris Vesenka

Bus carrier - Bus 1

Bus driver - Bus 2 - Corey Driscoll

Bus carrier - Bus 2

Snow Person 1 - Put on Scarf - Alex Durrell

Snow Person 2 - Put on Scarf

Snow Person 3 - Put on Scarf

Find mittens hidden on tree - 1

Find mittens hidden on tree - 2

Deliver the basket of yarn -

Put on mittens from basket - 1

Put on mittens from basket - 2

Put on mittens from basket - 3

Put on mittens from basket - 4