The ONE DAY IN PEACE Play
by Robert Alan Silverstein & Steve Diamond(Based on the picture book by
Steve Diamond & Robert Alan Silverstein)
(c) 1996/1997 Steve Diamond
& Robert Alan Silverstein
but this play may be freely distributed and performed
for non-commercial uses to promote peace on earth
(Please let us know if your school or group performs it - pforpeace@aol.com - Thanks :-))
BLUESHIRTS: AMIR, HANS, IVAN, JOHNNY, JUANITA
GREENSHIRTS: KWANZA, MARIA, MAYA, MOHAMMED, WEI-LING
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[Setting: Two groups of kids playing. BLUE SHIRTS are playing "war" with toy guns. GREEN SHIRTS are playing tag.]
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NARRATOR: Once upon a time, there were some kids playing outside in their school yard. The children came from families of many different backgrounds; some played well together...and some did NOT. This is the story of 1 day that changed their lives forever.
[BLUESHIRTS calling out: "POW" "POW" and "GOTCHYA" as one by one each falls to the ground.]
JOHNNY: [sitting up] Wow that was fun.
JUANITA: Yeah! Let's play again. This time I'm the commander.
HANS: Nah. I'm tired of playing war. Let's play baseball.
AMIR: But we don't have enough kids to play.
JOHNNY: We can ask THEM.
IVAN: No way, JOSE! THEY'RE GREENSHIRTS!
BLUESHIRTS TOGETHER: YUK! NO WAY!
[They all sit proudly, then bored with elbow on knees. GREENSHIRTS having fun, sit down to rest.]
KWANZA: That sure was fun.
MARIA: Yeah! Let's play again. This time I'm it...
MAYA: Nah... Let's play something else. How about baseball...
MOHAMMED: But we don't have enough kids to play...
WEI-LING: We could ask THEM.
MARIA: No way! THEY'RE BLUESHIRTS!
GREENSHIRTS TOGETHER: YUK! NO WAY!
[They all sit proudly, then bored with elbows on knees.
Two groups look over at each other, but refuse to get up.]
JOHNNY: [whispering to KWANZA] Hey, you want to play baseball?
KWANZA: Sure!
JOHNNY: Hey, guys. Why don't we play with THEM...Just for today.
IVAN: Huh? Well. Maybe just this once. But that's it!
[Two groups get up, start talking, start playing, laughing and
cheering]
SONG : DIFFERENT BUT THE SAME
IVAN: It was so much fun playing baseball together. You guys
want to come over and play war with us for a while...
MARIA: No thanks. I... I don't like guns. My cousin got hurt in
her neighborhood because of a gun.
HANS: Aw, come on. These are just toy guns. Nobody gets hurt.
KWANZA: It did look like they were having fun...
MOHAMMED: Guns ARE pretty serious. In my country there's a war
going on. Even kids carry REAL guns. Guns are hurting a lot
of people.
WEI-LING: Gosh. It's kind of scary when you think about it.
HANS: It's exciting on TV... but I wouldn't ever want to see anyone
REALLY get hurt...
JOHNNY: Wouldn't it be wonderful if no guns were fired anywhere -
between countries, or in our neighborhoods.
WEI-LING: Why don't they just do it. Stop fighting I mean.
MARIA: There are just so many guns in the world.
JUANITA: And people don't respect each other enough...
AMIR: or the earth...
KWANZA: Has there ever been a time when the world stopped fighting
... even for just ONE DAY?
MAYA: I've read a lot of history books. They're always about wars.
About one country taking over another. Or one group of people
hurting another group...
MOHAMMED: I'll bet you won't find any kids started those wars!
MAYA: You're right! So, maybe kids could get together and help
bring World Peace. Even for just ONE DAY. Then they'd see
what peace is really about ... that it starts with how we
treat each other, every single day.
MARIA: And once there was ONE DAY of peace, we could work together
to KEEP peace on earth, one day a time.
MOHAMMED: It sounds great, but who will listen to us? We're just
kids! Adults think they know everything!
WEI-LING: Our mothers will listen to us.
MAYA: Maybe our fathers will, too.
MARIA: And our families and our relatives...
AMIR: And other kids. They'll listen.
KWANZA: But how could we do it. How can we bring One Day in
peace?
HANS: We'll get on TV...
IVAN: We'll announce it on the radio...
WEI-LING: We'll write a letter to the President!
JOHNNY: Maybe we could ask the United Nations...Then the whole
world would know about our idea of ONE DAY IN PEACE.
JUANITA: But what day should it be?
MOHAMMED: How about January 1? What a great New Year's Resolution
that would be!
ALL TOGETHER: Great idea!
EVERYONE: Let's do it!
SONG: KIDS CARE!
NARRATOR: And so that's how it started.
MAYA: At my school they had a ONE DAY IN PEACE poster contest.
[kids step forward with posters]
KWANZA: My school had an essay contest. Newspapers all over town featured
our essays.
AMIR: My class started a WORLD PEACE CLUB. The whole school got involved.
We wrote letters to the leaders of the more than 188 countries throughout
the world.
MARIA: We set up a webpage on the Internet.
JUANITA: People of all ages wrote to us from all around the world.
JOHNNY: My dad and I went to our town meeting and asked our mayor to declare
a Proclamation of Peace for January 1. When the Mayor did it, we were on the
front page of our newspaper!
HANS: Our whole class wrote a letter to our Governor, and she signed a Proclamation
of Peace for January 1. We even got to visit the State Capitol!
IVAN: All around the world ordinary people convinced towns, cities, states
and nations, Universities and Institutions, celebrities and organizations
to sign Proclamations of Peace for January 1, ...
WEI-LING: And you know what, the United Nations declared January 1, 2000 as ONE DAY IN PEACE!
NARRATOR: Yes, on January 1, 2000, the world celebrated together, peacefully.
It was so inspiring, that people all around the world have decided to work
for ONE DAY in peace all throughout the year... on Martin Luther King Day,
the International Day of Peace, United Nations Day and Human Rights Day ...
every day! And in November 2000, the United States
Congress declared that every January 1 should be celebrated as ONE DAY a day
of peace and sharing. Then in November, 2001, the United Nations invited
the world to celebrate EVERY January 1 as 'One Day In Peace.' This January
1 will be an even bigger celebration. People of all ages are helping it be
the greatest day of peace ever. But remember, peace starts with each of us..."
KWANZA: In our hearts.
JUANITA: In our families.
MOHAMMED: In our communities.
AMIR: It's about treating each other with respect...
MAYA: And taking care of the earth...
NARRATOR: Together we can help convince the world to live in peace for ONE
day. After that ONE DAY of peace, we'll work together to help peace stay,
one day at a time. Every one of us can make a difference. Think about what
you can do to help bring peace on earth.
EVERYONE: May Peace Prevail On Earth!
ONE DAY IN PEACE song
Hear the songs in this play on
"WORLD PEACE: The Children's Dream!"
by Cheryl Melody
- a Multicultural Musical CD/Cassette for the Whole Family,
inspired by the picture book,
ONE DAY IN PEACE.
Read
the online
picture book,
One Day In Peace...
by Steve Diamond &
Robert Alan Silverstein
illustrated by Ginger Nielson
Albanian
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