A
Thousand Cranes
Small
Cast (Touring) Play for Theatres, Schools
Medium
Cast Version | Large
Cast School Play Version

 |
A
Thousand Cranes
Cast:
3 (1M, 2F), expandable, adults
Time:
40-45
minutes
CD:
sound FX, background music
Audience:
primary-intermediate,
families
Published
by: Dramatic
Publishing
(Arrangements
for scripts, performance rights)
Small
cast one act play for young audiences. Suitable for
professional and student performers, mainstage or touring to schools.
 |
|
 |
A
Thousand Cranes
Cast:
3 (1M, 2F), expandable, adults
Time:
about 40-45
minutes
CD:
sound FX, background music
Audience:
primary-intermediate,
families
Published
by: Dramatic
Publishing
(Arrangements
for scripts, performance rights)
Small
cast one act play for young audiences. Suitable for
professional and student performers, mainstage or touring to schools.
 |
|
ArtReach's A
Thousand Cranes is the classic true story of Sadako and the Thousand
Paper Cranes. This award-winning playscript tells the true story in
simple but powerful terms. First developed professionally, A
Thousand Cranes has become a children's theatre classic. Widely
admired, this play has been performed by schools and theatres
thousands
of times around the world, inspiring children with Sadako's plea for peace.

A Thousand
Cranes - Playscript for Young Audiences

Syracuse Stage Company, NY.
A Thousand Cranes is an
extraordinary departure from children's theatre as usual. Thought
provoking and dramatic, even the youngest audiences can understand
the play's deepest meanings.This
play may be staged with a few simple props and unlimited
imagination. The result is always elegant and moving.
"A
Thousand Cranes is one of those rare experiences that teaches you
what theatre for young audiences, in its highest form, is all about."
Hugh
Murphy, for the Ohio Arts Councilil
"It
is
obvious why it has won so many awards and hearts."

Syracuse Stage Company, NY - Stella Adler
Academy, Los Angeles, CA
"A
Thousand Cranes is one of the most moving pieces of American
playwriting I have ever had the privilege of experiencing, It has a
timely theme and universal appeal. It
is
obvious why it has won so many awards and hearts."
Suzanne Larson, Artistic
Director - Lady's Island Dinner Theatre

"The
girl who sparked a movement of peace."

Flat Rock
Playhouse, NC - The
Gemini Collective - Adelaide Fringe 'A Thousand Cranes'
This is the story of Sadako
Sasaki, a young victim of the Hiroshima atomic bomb disaster. Sadako
was only two years old when the bomb fell and seemed to be unharmed,
but at twelve she was diagnosed with "radiation sickness"
an aftermath of the bomb's effects. With boundless optimism,
she takes an old story to heart: If a sick person folds a thousand
paper origami cranes the gods will grant her wish and make her well
again. She begins to fold her thousand cranes.
"It is
an extraordinary opportunity to share in a multicultural experience
that has wowed family audiences throughout America."
Stephanie Riven, Center of
Contemporary Arts, St. Louis
"It is
such a well-done, wonderful script..."

Syracuse Stage Company, NY
- Honolulu Theatre for Youth
Extraordinary
Theatre for Children

A Thousand
Cranes, Lexington Children's
Theatre - Childsplay, Arizona's
Professional Theatre for Young Audiences
Before Sadako is able to
complete her task, she is visited by her Grandmother who lovingly
carries her on the back of a glorious crane to the land of a
thousand, thousand spirits. There she joins her ancestors and learns
that her true wish may be granted. Her
friends and classmates finished Sadako's work. They folded enough
cranes to make a thousand.
Sadako Folds
Her Thousand Cranes

Repertory Theatre St. Louis -
Hexagon Theatre, So Africa - Honolulu Theatre for Youth

"Everyone
who worked on the show was profoundly moved.

A Thousand Cranes, SecondStory Repertory,
Redmond, WA
Today children in Japan and all
over the world fold a thousand cranes and lay them at the feet of
Sadako's statue in the Hiroshima Peace Park. Their wish is engraved
at the bottom of the monument.
"In
one precise, economical line, the playwright frees Sadako from her
task, shifts emphasis from an individual child to the greater
community, and expands the story's scope from sustaining a single
life to that of a global effort toward peace. "It is
better," says her grandmother," for others to finish the cranes."
Joseph T. Rozmiarek, The
Honolulu Advisor
"This
is our cry, This is our prayer, Peace in the world"

Children's Museum & Theatre of Maine, Portland
"Strikingly
Simple -- Strongly Theatrical"

Barter Theatre, VA - Adventure Stage, Chicago - Childsplay,
AZ
"A
tremendously moving piece..."
Children's Book and Play Review
"Elegant,
sophisticated and imaginative."

Adelaide
Fringe Festival 2019. The Gemini Collective

A Thousand
Cranes has three versions:
Large
Cast School Play Version
Flexible Cast of 17-38 (2M,
4F, all others M/F) for grades K-6
Medium
Cast Version
Flexible Cast of 13 (4M, 4F,
5M/F) for grades 6-12
Small Cast
(Touring) Version (this page)
Cast of 3 (1M, 2F) for adult actors..
Winner of National
Endowment for the Arts Playwriting Award

ArtReach's Famous Award-Winning
Play A Thousand Cranes, this touring version has been performed
world-wide and inspired young people to strive for peace.
Performed at the
John F. Kennedy Center in Washington DC. Winner of an Ohio
Arts Council Playwriting Award. See
Awards
"It is
such a well-done, wonderful script that is really appropriate for so
many different age groups. Some of the schools brought
kindergarten classes and teachers said that the kids were mesmerized."
Katy Brown, Barter Theatre,
Abington, VA
 
Published: 20 Great Plays
for Children - Scholastic
More Great Comments...
Who's
producing A Thousand Cranes? Click for Productions







Free Resources: In the News,
Behind the Scenes, Directing Tips, Classroom Activities
UIL
Approved and always a winner for Thespians.

Asian Children's Festival,
Singapore - ArtReach Touring Theatre - Wild Swan Theatre - St. Louis Rep
"Kathryn
Schultz Miller's A Thousand Cranes is the moving, true story about
the effects of war on the life of a 12-year-old girl, told in
strikingly simple, but strongly theatrical terms."
Stephanie Riven, Center of
Contemporary Arts, St. Louis
Community
Activity: Fold Cranes for the Play and Send to Sadako

WE Players
Inc., East Tawas, MI
I
hope that young people, teachers, and parents watching this show are
able to discuss with each other the importance and need for peace and
reflection before making any decisions. I encourage everyone to learn
to fold a crane and use those few moments to reflect on those that
have gone before us and to find peace within ourselves.
Octavia Biggs,
Director, Lexington Children's Theatre
"The play
is deeply spiritual. The message is that hope rises from the ashes of tragedy."
Dori Baker, Washington Post
"I
cannot recommend this piece highly enough."
Daniel Higgins, KDHX 88.1 FM,
St. Louis
"A
Thousand Cranes is a play about connecting to the past in order to
see the present more clearly."
Esther, "A Catholic Mom in Hawaii"
"Director
Jeffery Matthews has fashioned a moving presentation out of very
simple materials: four actors, a basic set, and a few simple props.
Sadako sees her grandmother again and flies on a crane's back to
heaven, an illusion beautifully realized."
Sarah Boslaugh, TalkinBroadway,
Repertory Theatre of St. Louis
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