Battle of the Super Germs!

Written by the Willowwind Wolves, Spring 2015

Vignette 1: the spuds that spread the sickness

Characters:
Lochlan: Lochlan
Alroy: Liam
Morgan: Isolina
Albay: Pavan
Narrator: Ira
William: Sumner
Albert: Noah
Stage Managers: Alex and Vivian

Scene 1
Narrator: Introducing the Great Irish Potato Famine. It is 1845 in the town of
Skibbereen. The famine is just beginning.
Lochlan: (walks in humming)(digs up potatoes still humming)
(backdrop changes )
Lochlan: (Walks to town square) Fresh potatoes for sale! Come and get your fresh
potatoes.
William:(walks across stage) Sorry, Lochlan, I just bought some potatoes.
Alroy: Hello, Lochlan. I will take a sack, but do you have any other foods for sale?
Lochlan: No, you know we can not afford other foods. The taxes from England are too
high on grains. they won't let us have anything, not even bread!
Alroy: I Know, I am just always hoping someone will have some bread or corn or
something!
Albay:(walks up to Lochlan from off stage) I'll take a sack of potatoes, Lochlan
Lochlan: That'll be seven pounds.
Alroy: Here you are, sir. (hands over quarters)
Quarters: "Klink"
Lochlan: Thank you (hands over sack of potatoes)
(Albay + Alroy walk off stage; Morgan comes on stage)
Morgan: I'll take a sack of potatoes, sir. (hands over quarters)
quarters: "klink"
Lochlan: Here you are, Morgan. (hands over sack of potatoes)
(Morgan walks off stage, Albert enters)
Lochlan: Hello, Albert, would you like some potatoes?
Albert: Oh no thank you, Lochlan. My farm is growing more than enough for me and my
family.
Lochlan: Ah, thats good luck. May your farm continue to prosper.
Scene 2
(Alroy, Lochlan, and Albay walk on stage)
Alroy: I feel so ill!

Lochlan: Why? Whatever is the matter?

Alroy: I think I ate a bad potato.
Lochlan: Why do you think it was bad? Was it blackened, or rotten?
Alroy: no The potato looked alright.
(Morgan walks on stage): I feel ill. My stomach aches!
Lochlan: Alroys belly aches, as well. He thinks he ate a bad potato.
Morgan: I ate potatoes, but they looked to be good.
Albay: I hope it was a coincidence that you both got a bad potato.
Alroy: Good or bad, we have to keep eating them. It is all we have to eat!
Morgan: I guess
Narrator/tech: The plague continued like this for a week. The potatoes appeared to be
healthy and safe to eat, but something odd was happening. Potatoes used to last for
five weeks after harvest, but now they were shriveling and rotting within two days.
The potatoes were infected with a mold, and the Irish lost their only reliable food
source.
Scene 3
Lochlan: (slowly walks out of house with Morgan) I am so hungry, all we have we have
to eat is potatoes, and they are all rotten and shriveled to nothing!" (double over)
Morgan: What is going on?!
Albay: (Walk out of house) I am moving away. We have nothing to eat, we are all
starving and getting sick when we eat the rotten potatoes.
Morgan: Where are you going to go?
Albay: I am going to America. I have heard that you can get your own land there and
grow whatever you want. England cannot tax me there! I will grow corn and wheat and
have all the bread I want. No more potatoes for every meal!
(Alroy comes out of house)
Lochlan: Albay says he is leaving to go to America!
Alroy: No, Albay don't go! Moving to America is full of hardship. You have to travel on a
ship for weeks and you might get sick!
Morgan: You dont even know that the people in America will friendly
Albay: Anything is better than this! If I stay, we are sure to die of starvation. Goodbye.
(walks off stage)
Alroy: Goodbye, Albay.
Scene 4
-------------------- all sound weak and sad--------------------Lochlan: (Stumbles out on stage)
Alroy: (Slowly walks on stage) Lochlan, Albert passed away.
Lochlan: Oh, that is so sad. If only we had more to eat.
Alroy: I am hosting his funeral now.
Lochlan: Who is coming?
Alroy: William, Morgan, me, and now you.
Lochlan: That is all? Albert was a man with many friends!
Alroy: Yes, but many have passed from starvation or moved to America. So many of our
friends have parted from us.
Lochlan: I will come to pay my respects.
William and Morgan: (Walks on stage)

All: (Walk solemnly over to grave, kneel around grave, clasp hands to heart, and
murmur as, if praying)
William: Rest in peace, dear friend.
All: Rest in peace.
Narrator: The potato plague continued in this way for four years. In that time more than
half of Ireland's population decreased, due to both death and migration. Even today
Ireland's population is just reaching what is was in the times before the famine. The
people who did survive did so by eating insects, worms, bird eggs, and coastal people ate
raw seaweed.
Scene 5
(Lochlan + Alroy walk over to potato patch slowly)
Lochlan: (picks up a potato from patch) Alroy, look! It's not rotten!
Alroy: What! (rips up a potato) This one is healthy, too!
(Morgan walks out of house)
Alroy: The potatoes are better, it is a miracle! We are saved!
Morgan: No more hunger, or getting sick!
(all walk happily across stage)
backdrop changes to town scene
Alroy: Hooray!
Lochlan: We can never suffer like this again. We need to start growing more types of
crops and have bigger farms.
William:(walks onto stage) I agree.
Narrator: As well as farming more and different kinds of crops, the Irish also started
importing more and different types of food. This helped them to be able to survive on
other things besides potatoes. However the famine also had negative effects on the
relationship between Ireland and England. The Irish were angry because the English
had refused to help as the Irish were starving. They revolted against England and
eventually won their independence 70 years after the famine, in 1922.
THE END
Vignette 2: THE CURES THAT WEREN'T
Characters
Adrian: Sumner
Alexander: Ira
Doctor: Muriel
Richard: Maxwell
Person 1: Lochlan

Stage Manager: Liam

Person 2: Marek
Person 3: Alex
Narrator: Ally
Dead Body: Kieran
dead body: Vivian
sick person: Noah
dead body: Pavan
All highlighted in turquoise are actions
The play
Scene 1
(June 1347 in Sicily, Italy)
Narrator: One day Adrian and Richard found a boat that came in and docks at the
harbor.
Adrian: Look! A boat has arrived in our harbor.
Richard: There was no news about a boat coming to our town. I wonder where it is
from?
Narrator: The boat is staying in the dock and nobody is coming out.
Adrian: Why isn't anyone coming out?
Richard: I don't know. We should go investigate...
(Adrian and Richard enter the boat to find 4 dead people on the ground and a very sick
person in the corner)
Adrian: What happened here?!
Richard: I do not know but he may! (points at person in corner)
Adrian: Who are you?
Alexander: My name is Alexander.

Richard: What happened to everyone with you, traveler?

Alexander: We were leaving from the Silk Road, where we had been trading. Our ship
was infested with so many rats. Everybody got a fever, became weak, and they started
getting black spots all over their bodies (cough 3x) and now I have it, too.
Richard: We need to get you to town so we can treat your illness.
Scene 2
Narrator: Adrian and Richard help walk alexander into the town where he meets the
village doctor.
(passes 3 people on the way)
Doctor : Hello there, what seems to be the problem?
Alexander: I have black spots all over my body. I have a terrible fever, my head aches,
and I am weak.
Doctor: I've never seen this before. I recommend only eating bread, fruit, and
vegetables. The bad odors from meat, cheese, and fish will make you more sick. If that
doesn't help come back.
Scene 3
Narrator: Adrian and Richard take Alexander back to Richard's house. He follows the
doctors special diet until the next day.
Adrian: How are you feeling?
Alexander: Not so well (act really sick)
Richard: We should take you back to the doctor.
Adrian: The doctor said if you were not getting better from eating only bread, fruits and
vegetables, we should take you back.
Alexander: Let us go, then.
Scene 4
Narrator: Adrian and Richard take Alexander to the doctors office to find many people
from the village gathered outside with bad fevers and coughs.
Richard: What happened! Everyone is ill like you, Alexander.

Alexander: Maybe when we were walking to the doctors office I passed the illness to
them. If only they had been wearing herbs to purify the air!
Doctor (wearing plague mask): The sickness must have spread from person to person.
We must tell others to drink wine and remain lighthearted. Their fear only makes them
catch the illness more easily.
Richard: What are you wearing?
Doctor: It prevents bad smell and purifies the air so I do not become ill. It also wards off
the evil spirits that cause this curse illness.
Adrian: Alexander is not getting better by eating the food you say to eat.
Doctor: Let us wash him with water and vinegar to stop the illness. The vinegar will
wash the infection from his skin.
Richard: Thank you, doctor.
Alexander: Yes, this time it will work.
Scene 5
(Adrian and Richard take Alexander back to Richards house)
Adrian: Alexander, lets give you a wash.
(Adrian and Richard mix the water with the vinegar in washtub, and Alexander climbs
in)
Richard: I love the smell of the vinegar don't you.
Adrian: I think it smells wonderful. (use sarcasm)
Alexander: Stop complaining, at least you aren't ill like I am.
(Starts applying vinegar water with a towel)
Adrian: is it working?
Alexander: I can't feel any difference.
Richard: It will not work right away, I think we need to wash you again and then you will
get better.
Adrian: Yes I agree.
Alexander: It's still not working.

Scene 6
Narrator: Adrian and Richard take Alexander back to doctor to find more of sick people
including the doctor.
Adrian: Alexander isn't getting better, what should we do?
Doctor: The disease is in the blood, so the (cough) veins to the heart should be cut open.
This will make the disease leave the body (walk home and act out cutting and bleeding
and bandaging and lancing the buboes).A medicine made of clay and violets should be
put on the place where the cuts have been made. If that doesn't work we will lance the
buboes. The swellings should be (cough) cut open to help the sickness to go from the
body. A mix of tree resin and roots of white lilies should be put onto the parts where the
body has been cut.
Alexander: I am only feeling more and more weak. I do not know if this is curing me.
Richard: We have to go back to doctor and tell him it didn't work at all.
(so they headed (cough cough) to the doctors office and saw a lot of dead people and
even more had gotten sick)
scene 7
(Richard and Adrian bring Alexander to the doctor)
Alexander: Im not getting better from the treatment. I think Im getting even weaker!
what should we do?
Doctor: I'm sorry, we have tried every known cure (cough). All of the townspeople are
getting sick and you will too. We can't help you..
Alexander: This is exactly what happened on the boat.
Richard: What are we going to do? How will we stop everybody from becoming ill and
dying?
Doctor: There is... nothing we can do (cough).
Adrian: What!!!
Richard: No!!!
Alexander: This is the end...
Everybody: Ring around the Rosie, pocket full of posies, ashes, ashes, we all fall down.
(all fall down)

Narrator: In *cough cough* the present...

(richard, doctor, adrian and alexander stands up)
Ira: The reasons the people weren't getting better was because doctors at the time of the
plague had completely wrong ideas of how the plague spread and how it moved through
the body.
Muriel: the plague was spread from the fleas on the rodent, it was not often spread from
person to person. the Black Death is estimated to have killed 3060% of Europe's entire
populations. In all, the plague made the world population smaller from an estimated
450 million to 350 million in the 14th century.
Max: The plague ravaged Europe for over 300 years, until it naturally died out in the
late 1600s. In 1932, with sulphonamide drugs, there was finally a useful treatment for
the plague. There is a vaccine, but because it takes many weeks to become of use, it
would be of little use during an epidemic.
Sumner: Modern cases of the bubonic plague can be treated effectively with several
different types of antibiotics. This is easily done today but was impossible in the 13th
Century.
Vignette 3: "Extra! Extra! Cowpox saves lives!"
Cast List:
Newsboy (N.B.): Vivian
Narrator: Marek
Mary-Jane: Alex
Doctor: Noah
Jonathan: Lochlan
Nurse and monk: Ira
Rose: Alyssa
Stage Manager: Kieran
Person four and Sarah : Isolina
Person three: Maxwell
person two: Muriel
Person one: Sumner

Crowd one : Alyssa, Sumner, Muriel,

Crowd two: Ira, Alex, Noah, Lochlan
Prologue:
N.B.: Extra! Extra! Smallpox has spread through the small town of Gloucestershire
Narrator: Said the newspaper boy, and indeed he was right. Long ago, in northeastern
Africa, there was a deadly disease which attacked the skin cells, bone marrow, spleen,
and lymph nodes. It was called smallpox.
[Buddhist nun, other people walk on stage]
[Buddhist takes stick and puts it in person threes nose and puffs up cheeks]
[person 1&2 walk on stage while nun and another person walk off]
[person 1 cuts person 2 (four slits on arm )]
But now, thanks to the work of Edward Jenner and I, Benjamin Justy, we have a
vaccination that prevents the spread of smallpox. Even before vaccination, there was
variolation. Variolation is exposing patients to the illness in small doses. The first
recorded variolation was in 1022 A.D. A Buddhist nun who lived in the mountains of O
Mei Shan, which resided in one of the Southern Provinces of China called Sichuan,
would grind up the scabs of infected patients and blow it in uninfected people's noses. It
stopped many from becoming ill, but alas, it did not work for everyone.
Scene 1:
(Project on screen: Gloucestershire, 1798)
Person one: Did you hear about Sally?!
Person two: Did you hear about Jimmy?!
Person three: What about Timmy?!
Person One, Two, Three: *in unison* They're all dead!!!
Person One: I dont want to get sick! What can we do to prevent this horrible
disease?!?!?!
N.B: Extra! Extra! A man named Dr. Edward Jenner has created a prevention for
smallpox called a vaccine! *waving around the newspaper*
Narrator: The newsboy was wrong. It was not Dr. Edward Jenner who had made the
discovery. It was me! While working on my farm, I overheard a milkmaid, Sarah
Nelmes, saying:
Nelmes: "I shan't have an ugly pock-marked face, for I have had cowpox!"

Justy: Sarah, whatever do you mean?

Sarah: Why, it is well known among the milkmaids that no one who has had cowpox
will fall ill when smallpox is infecting others.
Narrator: So I decided that I would inject myself and my family with the cowpox virus,
which is a distant, less harmful, cousin of smallpox. When the next smallpox epidemic
passed through my town, no one in my family became ill. My experiment had worked.
Edward Jenner expanded upon my research and created a vaccine that could be used by
the masses.
N.B.: Extra! Extra! Dr. Edward Jenner AND Benjamin Justy have created a prevention
for smallpox called a vaccine!
Mary-Jane: Hello there. I have heard about smallpox and would like to have my child
prevented from falling ill. How can I protect my little Jonathan?
N.B: You may find the new vaccine at the local apothecary around the corner.
Mary-Jane: Thank you, my kind sir! I have, myself, been variolated, but my son has
not been. I would like it if he could be prevented from falling ill to smallpox, in any way
possible.
*Walks off to get son and go to apothecary*
Scene 2:
N.B.: Extra! Extra! Smallpox spreading throughout the entire continent of Europe!
We're all in danger!
Doctor: Hello there! How may I assist you?
Mary-Jane: My child needs a smallpox vaccination.
Rose: You should not do that. (stand up) It will turn your child into a cow.
Jonathan: mother I do not want to turn into a cow.(sad look on his face)
Mary-Jane and Doctor: (In unison) (Aggravated) You shall not turn into a cow!
Rose: Yes he will. The word VACCINAE means cow. It will turn him into a cow!
Mary-Jane: The only reason the vaccines are named the way they are now is because
the first vaccine was made from cowpox.
Rose: Your son will still turn into a cow.

Nurse: Jonathan. We are ready for you.

(Jonathan turns to his mom and starts to cry)
Mary-Jane: It will be all right. (hugs him) Nothing bad will happen to you. (looks in
his eyes)
Doctor : You will be okay. The vaccine works. We will make four small incisions and
place a small amount of pus from a cowpox sore inside. Your body will take it in, learn to
fight the illness, and you will never fall ill to smallpox.
Rose: No! You will turn into a cow! Just you wait!

'

Doctor: you will be okay (as the doctor gives Jonathan the vaccination).
(Rose looks away as does nurse)
Scene 3: (project on screen: Gloucestershire, 1830)
N.B. Extra! Extra! Riots forming because people believe they will turn into cows
because of vaccines!
Narrator: In the year of 1830 there were riots. Some people believed that they would
turn into cows because the Latin word vaccinae means of or pertaining to cows.
Crow one: You will turn into a cow! You will turn into a cow!
Crow two: No you will not! No you will not!
Nurse: I'm not gonna get small pox because I'm smart and I'm getting vaccinated.
Jonathan: Yah, my mother said that. She was a milkmaid and saw many friends stay
healthy during smallpox epidemics after they had cowpox!
Rose: You will become a cow.
Mary-Jane: No you will not! It-Jonathan: I had the vaccination. I am NOT a COW!
N.B. (interrupting): Extra! Extra! Studies have shown that you will not turn into a
cow if you get vaccinated!
Rose: Where did you attain that information?
N.B: Edward Jenner. He works miracles. Nobody that he has treated has ever fallen ill
to smallpox. He distributes his vaccines to local apothecaries.

Person three: I know Edward Jenner. He is a close friend of mine. If he believes that
vaccines work, I believe it as well.
Person two: I'm with him!
Person one: Me too!
Rose: I still do not believe it. (coughing)
Narrator: Many people chose to have the smallpox vaccination, but it took nearly 200
years for the disease to be eliminated. Now we fast-forward to the year 1967.
Scene 4: project on screen: Iowa, 1967
N.B: Getchur newspaper, Getchur newspaper today! *Person 4 walks up to N.B.
and receives newspaper*
Person 4: *reading newspaper aloud* "Smallpox... outbreak in... some 42 states.... Oh
my. Smallpox in 42 states?!?! Including Iowa?!?! This is bad. Ugh... I really don't like
the idea of vaccines... but I'll do anything to prevent smallpox!
Narrator: Sometime late in the 19th century, it was realized that vaccination did not
offer lifelong prevention and that frequent revaccination was needed. The death rate
from smallpox had lowered, but the epidemics showed that it was still not under control.
In 1967, a global campaign was created under the ownership of the World Health
Organization and finally completed the eradication of smallpox in 1977. On May 8, 1980,
the World Health Assembly announced that the world was free of smallpox and
recommended that all countries cease vaccination: The world has been liberated from
smallpox, and the lives of millions have been saved.
Vignette 4: The Mold that Saved Millions
Characters
Narrator: Alyssa/recording
Alexander Fleming: Ally
Patient 1:Paul
Patient 2: Ally
Florey: Alyssa
Chain: Kieran
C.J la Touch: Paul
Stage manager: Muriel
Nobel prize announcer: Paul
The Mold that Saved Millions
Narrator: In London, 1928, Alexander Fleming discovered that penicillin could kill
bacteria on accident when he left a culture plate out on his desk over vacation...

(Enter Alexander Fleming. Alexander is working on culture plates in his laboratory.

C.J. La Touche comes up stairs.)
C.J. La Touche: Hello, Mr. Fleming. How are you doing today?
Fleming: I am doing quite well, thank you. I am going on holiday right after I finish
putting away this culture plate. I will be sad to leave my work, but even the most
dedicated scientist must leave his cultures sometimes! Mr. La Touche, how is your work
with penicillin progressing?
C.J. La Touche: I do love my mold. It is developing so well that I sometimes fear it will
grow legs and walk. Haha! I hope it does not invade your laboratory!
Fleming: I am working with the Influenza virus and I am sure it could handle your
penicillin. It is a tough old bird. I must to go, friend! Have a lovely time working away
while I am on holiday!
C.J la Touche: Good day, dear sir!
(Fleming leaves culture plate out on table and exits the stage).
Narrator: Alexander Fleming went on holiday to his country home in Suffolk, and
came back surprised to find his culture plate left out.
Fleming: I thought I put that away. Well, I will throw it out now.
(Pause)
Fleming: (Gasp) There is a mysterious mold growing in my culture plate. It killed my
bacteria! How can this be? I should experiment more with this mold.
(Enter C.J La Touche)
C.J la Touche: Welcome back, Mr. Fleming. How is that influenza of yours?
Fleming: A most unusual thing has occurred. There is mold growing in my culture
plate.
La Touche: Oh no! I left the door open between my lab and yours! That mold might be
the penicillin that I was experimenting with. Maybe it did grow legs and walk!
Fleming: A most fortuitous accident, I say! I must experiment with this and learn
more.
Narrator: Alexander Fleming experimented with penicillin and wrote a paper about
how it killed many types of bacteria. However, the story halted there. Fleming did not
have the resources, nor the necessary knowledge and skills, to isolate the mold into a
usable medicine. Nobody really ventured further into the idea for nearly 10 years. In

1938 at Oxford University, scientists Howard Florey and Ernst Chain were able to
develop penicillin into an antibiotic medicine that people could use.
(Enter Howard Florey and Ernst Chain)
Florey: I have heard about a mysterious mold called Penicillin that kills bacteria. I
would like to test if it could be useful as a medicine. Would you like to help me?
Chain: Yes, I have heard tell of this too, and I have read Mr. Flemings paper. I would
like to help you on this matter because I think that penicillin could help save many lives.
Many people die from simple wounds due to infection. It is possible that penicillin could
help by killing the bacteria in wounds.
Florey: Lets begin by testing rats infected with deadly bacteria. We will expose half to
penicillin and will leave the other half untreated. If penicillin works as a medicine, the
treated rats should be saved.
Narrator: Florey and Chains experiment was successful. They were able to isolate the
mold and make a form of penicillin that could be used to treat wounds. They finally
tested it on their first patient, who was dying from infection in his leg.
(Enter TS1)
TS1: Please help me! This wound is killing me.
Chain: We could help you with our new medicine! As a warning to you, you are our first
test subject and it may not work.
Patient 1: Anything to help me! Please!
Florey: Sit down.
(TS1 sits down)
Florey: Ready?
Patient 1: Yes!
(Florey gives TS1 a shot)
Narrator: Unfortunately, Florey and Chain didn't have enough Penicillin to heal him.
They sent him to the hospital, but he did not recover. After that patient, Florey and
Chain made sure they stocked up on penicillin so they could treat patients with enough
to cure them.
Narrator: Next, a 15-year-old boy came in because he had an infection after surgery.
(Enter Patient 2)

Patient 2: Please help me! I have an infection! I have heard about your cure and want
to try it.
Chain: Last time we did not have enough penicillin. I will check our stores to ensure we
have enough to help you. (Pause) Looks like we do!
Florey: Sit down and we will treat you.
(P2 sits down)
Chain: Ready?
P2: Ready!
(P2 gets shot with Penicillin)
Narrator: Weeks later, after many shots...
P2: It worked! My infection is gone!
Florey: It's a miracle!
Narrator: Florey and Chain continued their work to produce enough penicillin to treat
many patients with infections. In 1941, they flew to America to work with scientists in
Peoria, IL, to create a way to mass produce this life-saving wonder drug.
The drug proved its mettle during World War 2, where it saved countless lives. Prior to
the development of penicillin, most soldiers died from infection rather than injury.
Penicillin dropped death from infection to below 1% of all war casualties. In World War
1, this rate was 18%! Penicillin really was a wonder cure!
Finally, in 1945...
Nobel Prize Announcer: And now, the winners of this years Nobel Prize in Medicine,
Alexander Fleming, Howard Florey, and Ernst Chain!
(Enter Fleming, Florey, and Chain)
(They accept award)
Fleming: Destiny may play a large part in discovery. It was destiny which
contaminated my culture plate in 1928 - it was destiny which lead Chain and Florey in
1938 to investigate penicillin instead of the many other antibiotics which had been
described, as it was destiny that timed their work to come to fruition in war-time when
penicillin was most needed.
Narrator: Destiny was kind to all. Penicillin is estimated to have saved 100 million
lives.

Everyone: PENICILLIN IS THE BEES KNEES!

The end!