No. 10
No Stealing!
by Paul Zeron & Rey Edwards
Purpose: This play teaches that taking something that belongs to someone else without their permission is stealing.
Characters: Richie, who gets everything confused; Lillian, sensible who tries to help Richie
Lillian: (Lillian comes on stage.) Good morning everyone!
Richie: (off stage, excited) Wow! This is great! I can go get some ice cream!
Lillian: (to audience) Hey! Richie's going to get some ice cream! I wonder if he would get me some too. (With a very sweet tone of voice) Oh, Riiiiichie! Riiiiiichie!
Richie: (off stage still, ignoring Lillian) Oh, I just can't wait to get my ice cream!
Lillian: (voice still sweet) Riiiiiichie! Oh, Riiiiiichie! Come here Richie, I want to talk to you! (to audience) I really hope Richie will get me some ice cream too!
Richie: (off stage, still ignoring Lillian) I think I will get some chocolate ice cream!
Lillian: (exasperated and demanding now) Richie! You come up here right now!
Richie: (on stage) What! What do you want Lillian?
Lillian: (sweet voice again) Richie....would you pretty please get me some ice cream, too?
Richie: Of course, Lillian. You are my friend...in fact, I can get ice cream for all my friends now!
Lillian: How come Richie? Did you get a job?
Richie: No. Puppets don't work, we just sit around in our boxes and watch TV all day long.
Lillian: Did you parents give you a big allowance?
Richie: No. My parents don't work either. They're puppets, too.
Lillian: Well, how did you get money to buy ice cream...did you rob a bank?
Richie: (shocked by Lillian's suggestion) Oh, no, Lillian! That would be stealing and God says in the Bible, "Thou shalt not steal!" I would never do that, I'm a good puppet!
Lillian: Well then how did you get your money?
Richie: I found it!
Lillian: You found it?
Richie: Yes, I found it...right out on the street.
Lillian: That's great! Let's go, I want some vanilla ice cream!
Richie: Yeah, let's go! I'm going to get some for Caleb Itchyko...or was that Yurechko?
Lillian: Who?
Richie: Caleb Yurkowich? I don't know...it's a difficult name!
Lillian: Is he one of your friends?
Richie: He wasn't one of my friends, but he will be now. I got $300 from him.
Lillian: $300!? Where did you meet him?
Richie: I didn't. But I'll recognize him when I see him.
Lillian: If you didn't meet him, then how will you recognized him?
Richie: Well, I didn't meet him, but I met his wallet on the street and his picture is on his driver's license.
Lillian: Wait a second Richie. You didn't meet him, but you have his money because you found his wallet...did he give you permission to spend his money?
Richie: Silly Lillian! How could he give me permission, I haven't met him yet! Besides, I found his wallet on the street. Finders keepers!
Lillian: No, no Richie. If you just set something down and it was not in your hand, but I knew that it was yours, would I be able to just go and pick it up because your not holding it?
Richie: No, of course not. If you know it belongs to me, you just can't take it.
Lillian: If you know that the wallet belongs to Caleb Yurki-coo, then you can't just take it like that.
Richie: Caleb Yurhitchy. Maybe he threw it away and didn't want it anymore.
Lillian: I'm pretty sure that it didn't happen that way. Would you just throw away $300?
Richie: What!? Are you crazy? Nobody would throw away $300. That would be crazy!
Lillian: Exactly!
Richie: Oh, I get it now. Maybe we should take the wallet and the money to Caleb Yurkyurk. First, I'm going to take out $10 for a reward.
Lillian: Richie!
Richie: I can't take a reward?
Lillian: Did Caleb Yurhoochie give you permission?
Richie: No...at least not yet.
Lillian: Then you can't just take it.
Richie: Okay Lillian. That would be stealing, too. I should always wait for permission to take something. May I ask him for a reward?
Lillian: No.
Richie: Why? Would that be stealing, too?
Lillian: No, that would be rude and very bad manners. You don't just ask people for things, but we'll talk about that another time.
Richie: Okay.
No Stealing!
by Paul Zeron & Rey Edwards
edited by John Smith