The Tortoise and the Hare Readers Theatre

The Tortoise and the Hare

THE TORTOISE AND THE HARE

Cast List

Narrator 1 Narrator 2 Narrator 3 Tortoise1 Tortoise 2 Hare 1 Hare 2 Tortoise Friend 1 Tortoise Friend 2 Tortoise Friend 3

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Cast List (continued) Hare Friend 1 Hare Friend 2 Hare Friend 3 Hare Friend 4 Newscaster Jan Curry Newscaster Sal Smith Newscaster Tom Poker Teacher 1 Teacher 2

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The Tortoise and the Hare

Narrator 1:

Once upon a time

Narrator 2:

there were two tortoises.

Tortoise1:

That’s me.

Tortoise 2:

and me!

Narrator 3:

Hares:

And two hares…

Narrator 1:

The hares were very fast.

Hares:

You got that right.

Narrator 2:

And the tortoises were very slow.

Tortoises:

(hurt) Hey!

Narrator 3:

So the hares had an idea.

Hare 1:

Tortoise Friend 1:

(to the tortoises) We challenge you to a race.

Tortoise Friend 2:

No offense, but there’s no way you can win.

Tortoise Friend 1:

Because you’re, well, a tortoise.

Tortoise Friend 2:

And everyone knows that hares are fast.

Tortoise Friend 1:

And tortoises are slow.

And that’s us!

Don’t do it, dude!

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The Tortoise and the Hare

Tortoise 2:

We hear you,

Narrator 1:

said the tortoise.

Tortoise1:

Let’s ask our teachers.

Tortoise 2:

They’ll tell us what to do.

Narrator 2:

So the tortoises went to their teachers.

Tortoise 2:

What should we do?

Teacher 1:

Well, it is true that hares are very fast.

Tortoise1 and 2

We know, we know.

Teacher 2:

And that tortoises are on the slow side.

Tortoise 2:

So we shouldn’t race against the hares?

Teacher 1:

Hang on there a sec. I didn’t say that.

Tortoise1:

What did you say?

Tortoise 2:

Yeah, where do you stand on this?

Teacher 2:

I think you can do whatever you set your minds to.

Tortoise1:

Even win the race?

Tortoise 2:

Against two hares?

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The Tortoise and the Hare

Teacher 1:

It won’t be easy. But yes, I think you can win the race.

Teacher 2:

I think so, too. We really believe in you.

Tortoise1:

In that case, I’m in.

Tortoise 2:

Me, too!

Tortoise Friends:

And we’ll cheer you on!

Narrator 3:

Meanwhile, on the other side of town...

Hare Friend 1:

You challenged a tortoise to a race?

Hare 1:

Hare Friend 2:

Uh----huh.

Hare 1 and Hare 2:

(laughing) We know!

Hare Friend 3:

You’re sure to win!

Hare Friend 4:

It won’t even be close!

Hare 1:

It’s gonna be a snap. I’m gonna bring a book.

Hare 2: Hare 1:

That is a hoot!

I’m gonna take a nap in the middle of the race.

Those tortoises are gonna be so slow!

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The Tortoise and the Hare

Hare 2:

I’m gonna tweet about it.

Hare 1:

Me too.

Hare 2:(tweeting)

Challenged tortoise to a race. LOL.

Hare 1: (tweeting)

Hashtag we are the champions!

(The hares laugh.)

Narrator 1:

It was time for the race.

Tortoise Friend 1:

Limber up, dude!

Tortoise1:

I’m limbering!

Tortoise Friend 2:

Here, let me spot you.

Tortoise 2:

Thanks, pal.

Tortoise Friend 3:

You’re wearing new sneakers, right?

Tortoise1:

Yep.

Tortoise 2:

We bought ‘em special, just for the race.

Tortoise Friends:

Great! You’re ready to go.

Hare Friend 1:

Dude, are you gonna put on your sneaks?

Hare 1:

Nah. What’s the point? I’m gonna win without them.

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The Tortoise and the Hare

Hare Friend 2:

Hey buddy, you wanna limber up?

Hare 2:

Limber up? What for? I got this.

Hare Friend 3:

Good luck, friend.

Hare 1:

I don’t need luck. Nature gave me springy feet.

Hare 2:

And amazingly fast legs.

Hare Friend 4:

Whatever.

Narrator 1:

And so the race began.

Narrator 2:

The hares started hopping.

Hare Friends and Tortoise Friends:

Wow! Look at them go!

Hare Friend 1:

You can see how fast hares are!

Hare Friend 2:

And how slow tortoises are.

Tortoise Friend 1:

Don’t listen to him, pal!

Tortoise Friend 2:

Yeah! Slow and steady, dude! Slow and steady!

Tortoise 2:

Thanks, Man. I wish I could go faster, but this shell is sure heavy.

Tortoise1:

Yeah, this shell weighs a ton. I wanna just go 7

The Tortoise and the Hare

inside my shell and never come out. But we gotta keep going.

Narrator 3:

In no time at all,

Narrator 1:

the hares almost finished the race.

Hare 1:

Ha! Ha! I knew it!

Hare 2:

We left them in the dust!

Hare 1:

I’m glad I brought a book.

Hare 2:

Let’s make ourselves comfortable.

Hare 1:

Read a few chapters.

Hare 2:

We got plenty of time.

Hare 1:

Word.

Narrator 1:

And so, e ­ ven though they were in the middle of a race,

Narrator 2:

the hares just stopped

Narrator 3:

and sat down

Narrator 1:

and started reading a book.

Narrator 2:

Their teachers came by.

Teacher 1:

While it always pleases me to see young 8

The Tortoise and the Hare

animals reading, I question your choice to read in this context.

Teacher 2:

Exactly. You are in the middle of a race. You are behaving as though you are at a coffee shop.

Hare 1:

Teach, we got this. We’re so much faster than the tortoise

Hare 2:

that we can afford to take a break in the middle of the race...

Hare 1:

and still win!

(The hares give each other high fives).

Teacher 1:

Indeed?

Teacher 2:

Interesting, very interesting.

Teacher 1:

Oh, my dear fellow teacher, if only these hares attended __________________ (name of your school).

Teacher 2:

If they did, they would know all about fables.

Teacher 1:

And these silly hares would know that slow and steady always wins the race.

Teacher 2:

Sadly, ______________ (name of your school) does not offer a school for hares…

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The Tortoise and the Hare

Teacher 1:

yet.

Teacher 2:

And so these silly hares must learn the wisdom of the ancients the hard way.

Narrator 3:

Meanwhile some newscasters were following the tortoises

Narrator 1:

as they made their slow, but steady journey

Narrator 2:

through the race.

Newscaster Jan Curry:

This is Jan Curry.

Newscaster Sal Smith:

and Sal Smith,

Newscaster Tom Poker:

and Tom Poker

Newscaster Jan Curry:

reporting live for NBC news.

Newscaster Sal Smith:

This is a portrait of courage here, Ann.

Newscaster Jan Curry:

It sure is, Al.

Newscaster Tom Poker:

I mean a tortoise racing a hare? Amazing!

Newscaster Jan Curry:

The tortoises sure look tired.

Newscaster Sal Smith:

Tortoise, sir, we don’t mean to slow you down…

Newscaster Tom Poker:

Although, let’s face it, you could hardly go any slower!

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The Tortoise and the Hare

Newscaster Jan Curry:

We’re just wondering. What keeps you two going?

Tortoise1:

The words of our teachers!

Tortoise 2:

They really inspired us.

Newscaster Sal Smith:

Wow! What did they say?

Teachers:

You can do anything you set your mind to.

Newscaster Tom Poker:

Even win a race against a hare?

Newscaster Jan Curry:

Against two hares?

Teachers:

It won’t be easy, but you can do it. If you try hard.

Newscaster Sal Smith:

Inspiring words…

Newscaster Tom Poker

From inspiring teachers….

Newscaster Jan Curry:

In an inspiring race…

Newscaster Sal Smith:

In an inspiring story! In an inspiring nation!

Newscaster Tom Poker

In an inspiring age!

Tortoise1:

Tortoise 2:

Plus, we have great friends.

Yeah. We can never forget their support.

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The Tortoise and the Hare

Newscaster Jan Curry:

What words of support did your friends offer?

Tortoise 2:

You can hear them right now.

Tortoise Friends:

Slow and steady wins the race! Slow and steady wins the race!

Newscaster Tom Poker:

Wow, they sound almost as smart as students from______________ (your school)!

Newscaster Sal Smith:

Slow and steady wins the race. Maybe.

Newscaster Tom Poker:

The race isn’t over.

Newscaster Jan Curry

Well, that’s gonna do it for us out here.

Newscaster Tom Poker:

Now back to Sam Champion with the weather.

Narrator 1:

Meanwhile, the hares were relaxing.

Hare 1:

I finished Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire!

Hare 2:

Excellent! I finished Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Wanna swap?

Hare 1:

Sure, but first I’m gonna send a tweet to all my pals.

Hare 2:

What are you gonna write?

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The Tortoise and the Hare

Hare 1:

“Chilling out at the race. Hashtag chillaxing.”

Hare 2:

Wait a second, I got a new tweet.

Hare 1:

Read it.

Hare 2:

It’s from my pal Caprese.

Hare 1:

What does it say?

Hare 2:

It says: “Word to the wise. The tortoises have nearly crossed the---”

Hare 1:

Crossed the what? Crossed the what?

Hare 2:

He ran out of words. Twitter only lets you use 164 characters.

Hare 1:

Hare 2:

What did they cross? What did they cross?

Hare 1:

Maybe he sent you another tweet , you know, to finish the first one?

Hare 2:

Let me check. Gotta log in all over again!

Hare 1:

Hurry!

Hare 2:

Just typing in my password!

Hare 1:

Be quick!

I dunno. Stop freaking out! Be chill!

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The Tortoise and the Hare

Hare 2:

Now you made me type my password in wrong. Gotta do it all over again.

Hare 1:

What did the tortoises cross?

Hare 2:

OK I’m in.

Hare 1:

Did he send you a new tweet?

Hare 2:

Yeah.

Hare 1:

Read it!

Hare 2:

It says “finish line.”

Hare 1:

Now put the first and second tweets together and read them.

Hare 2:

(reading) “Word to the wise. The tortoises have nearly crossed the ....FINISH LINE!”

Hare 1:

Oh snap! Let’s make like a tree and leaf!

Hare 2:

Let’s make like a banana and split!

Hare Friends (run in):

Dudes! Get in the game! The tortoises are winning!

Hare Friend 1:

What were you guys doing out here?

Hare 1:

We took a break to read.

Hare 2:

I only meant to read a chapter, but I got so 14

The Tortoise and the Hare

caught up I read the whole book.

Hare Friend 2:

That is so not cool.

Hare 1:

Have you ever read Harry Potter?

Hare 2:

If so, you would understand.

Hare Friend 3:

Get going! There’s no time to lose.

Time waits for no man or hare!

Hare Friend 4:

So the hares hopped at top speed-----------

Narrator 1:

But there was too much ground to cover.

Narrator 2:

As fast as they were,

Narrator 1:

the tortoises were so far ahead of them

Narrator 2:

that

Narrator 1:

Slow and steady! Slow and steady!

Narrator 2:

They won the race!

Tortoise Friends and Teachers:

You did it!

(The Tortoises wipe off the sweat. The Hares and the Hare Friends put their heads in their hands).

Hare Friend 1:

This is so humiliating.

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The Tortoise and the Hare

Hare Friend 3:

(to the hares) Because of you, everyone is saying that the tortoises beat the hares.

Hare Friend 2:

Because they did!

Hare Friend 4:

Yeah, but we gotta hand it to the tortoises.

They won this race fair and square.

Hare Friend 1:

(to the tortoise) I’d like to shake your hand.

You guys were amazing.

Tortoise1:

Thanks, man.

Hare Friend 2:

You taught us something today.

Tortoise 2:

What was that?

Hare Friend 3:

That just because we have a special talent,

Hare Friend 4:

it doesn’t mean that we can just count on it

Hare Friend 1:

to work like magic.

Hare Friend 2:

We have to, you know, apply ourselves.

Hare 1:

I learned that even though Harry Potter is an excellent book that I should not be reading it in the middle of a race.

Hare 2:

I learned something, too.

Teacher 1:

What was that, dear?

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The Tortoise and the Hare

Hare 2:

I learned about the value of social media.

Teacher 2:

Yes, dear. Your twitter account let you know that the tortoises were beating you.

Hare 1:

But if we’d been doing the right thing and running the race, we wouldn’t have needed twitter to tell us that.

Hare 2:

All that time I spent trying to log in--I could have been focusing on hopping. My bad.

Hare 1:

No, brother. Our bad.

Newscaster Jan Curry:

This is a touching scene…

Newscaster Tom Poker:

With lessons all around.

Newscaster Sal Smith:

The tortoises have won the race!

Newscaster Tom Poker:

Amazing! Tortoises beating hares!

Newscaster Jan Curry

Do you have any words of advice for people about how to be a winner in life?

Tortoise1:

Yes, I do. The first is listen to your teachers.

Teachers:

Tortoise 2:

Gee, thanks.

And the second is to always have great friends around you ready to cheer you on!

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The Tortoise and the Hare

Tortoise Friends:

Hurray!

Tortoise1:Â

That’s right. No one succeeds alone. Our pals reminded us that slow and steady wins the race.

Tortoise 2:

And they reminded us of that

Tortoise1:

when the race was so hard

Tortoise 2:

and we were too tired

Tortoise1:

to remember that ourselves.

So we share this honor with our teachers and our good friends.

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