THORN PRINCESS Fantasy by Madison Alford
CHARACTER NAME
BRIEF DESCRIPTION
AGE
GENDER
ROSE AARON MARTHA WILLIAM GERARD TOWNSPEOPLE ANNOUNCER
PRINCESS OF ALTARIA,TWIN PRINCE OF ERIMOS FLOWER CART OWNER PRINCE OF ALTARIA,TWIN KING OF ALTARIA PEOPLE OF ALTARIA ANNOUNCER FOR ROYAL FAM
20 21 55 20 50 20-50 60
FEMALE MALE FEMALE MALE MALE MALE/FEMALE MALE
ACT 1 SCENE 1 SETTING: The kingdom of Altaria. A place rich with different types of flora that create a luscious and vibrant beauty to the area. For miles and miles, the fields are filled with the most beautiful flowers and plants. Because of its idyllic presence and fruitful harvest, Altaria hosts an annual festival to celebrate a successful year. AT RISE: ROSE enters on stage from the palace gates. She has an open-basket on her arm and wears a short, white dress. The princess is in a courtyard that contains a couple carts. Two Townspeople walk by and look at Rose. TOWNSPERSON 1 (excitedly) Is that the princess? TOWNSPERSON 2 It is!!! (The two bow to the princess and she waves at them. The townspeople squeal in delight and exit. She crosses over to the carts on the opposite side of the stage on which she entered. MARTHA walks over to ROSE and bows to her.) MARTHA Princess Rose! It’s great to see you out and about today! Is that a new dress? ROSE Yes, Martha. It is! (Rose spins around.)
2. ROSE (CONT’D) I got it because one of my other dresses was torn. MARTHA Oh, Rose. How did that happen? If you don’t mind me asking. ROSE I fell into a thorn bush. MARTHA Oh! You must be more careful around thorns. You don’t want to scratch your pretty face, now do you? ROSE No, definitely not. MARTHA Is there anything you are looking for specifically, Rose? We have some new legumes and gourds down the line. I heard Gregory has some fresh fruit today! ROSE I’m not looking for anything in particular, but I will definitely be sure to go to his car. Thank you Martha! MARTHA If you need me, Dear, just let me know. (Rose looks over the carts and picks up a couple of vegetables and legumes. AARON walks on stage. He goes the carts and the cart owners bow to him as he walks by. Aaron is intrigued by the different kinds of flowers. The cart owners talk loudly over one another to get his attention. Rose doesn’t notice when he joins her at the cart she is already looking at. They both reach for a rose at the same time and their hands touch.)
3.
My apologizes, Miss.
AARON (to MARTHA) One rose, please. MARTHA Be careful, sir. They’re sharp! (Aaron doesn’t hear Martha and pricks himself.) ROSE Oh my! You’re bleeding! Let me help you with that. (Rose rips off a bit of cloth from her basket and wraps it around Aaron’s finger.) Thank you, Miss.
AARON (Aaron hands the flower carefully to Rose.) AARON (CONT’D) A beautiful flower for a beautiful girl. Oh, thank you. I’m Aaron. Rose.
ROSE AARON ROSE AARON A beautiful name for a beautiful girl. (Aaron exits. Rose watches Aaron leave and strokes the flower.) MARTHA He needs to be careful. Pricking your finger on a thorn is a bad omen, especially if you draw blood. It is?
ROSE
4. MARTHA You of all people should know that, dear. You’re the princess of the flower kingdom. ROSE (laughing) How could I forget? I think he’s quite charming actually. MARTHA He’s definitely a new face that I haven’t seen around here before. He’s beautiful.
ROSE MARTHA He thinks the same about you. (Martha looks up to the sky. Rose and Martha jump at the sound of THUNDER.) MARTHA (CONT’D) Oh my. You should get home soon. (Martha packs up her cart and the other carts move offstage with the cart owners. The sky turns dark and it starts to RAIN. Aaron re-enters and bumps into her.) AARON Rose, do you need some help? ROSE Yes! I need to get back to the castle so this food doesn’t get wet! (Aaron takes off his jacket and puts it over the basket.) Lead the way.
AARON (Aaron offers to take her left arm, but Rose gives him the right instead.)
5. AARON (CONT’D) I’ve never experienced rain before. ROSE Never? It rains daily here because of the flowers in the kingdom. What is your kingdom like? AARON Arid, dry, lifeless, boring. All the things people look for in a kingdom. How do you grow food?
ROSE AARON Certain foods can grow in the desert climate, so we eat a lot of gourds and peppers. If we want anything else, it has to be imported in. ROSE That’s so strange. I have never been to a place like your kingdom before. AARON You must not get out very often, do you? ROSE Not really. I have everything I need here. But my brother, William, studies in a dry place like you described. He thought it was strange on the first day because he didn’t get drenched. AARON He goes to school with me. He invited me to come to the festival tomorrow, that’s why I’m here. ROSE Maybe it was fate that brought us together. AARON Maybe so. (The two stop at the palace gates.) ROSE Here’s your jacket back.
6. (In the exchange, the rose drops onto the wet ground.) AARON I got it! (He carefully picks up the flower and gives it to ROSE.) AARON For you, Rose. ROSE Thank you for your help and I will see you tomorrow. (Rose and Aaron exit. The rain stops.) SCENE 2 AT RISE: A wooden table with stools comes onstage. Already lounging about with his feet on the table is WILLIAM. WILLIAM (to himself) Your petals are pretty/ your petals are mighty/ my little flowers in bloom. (Rose enters and wrings out her dress.) WILLIAM (CONT’D) Caught in the rain? ROSE (sarcastically) What gave that away? The rain outside or the fact that I’m wet?
7. WILLIAM Does father know you went shopping? ROSE He doesn’t and he’s not going to know. WILLIAM He is going to find out at some point. Cooking is a servant’s job. Not a hobby for a princess. ROSE You don’t think I don’t know that? It’s not like father asks where I go everyday anyway. He doesn’t care. WILLIAM That’s a lie. ROSE He cares about you because you’re the one getting the throne. I’m just supposed to look pretty and smile. (Rose puts on a fake smile and looks to William. She looks to her basket. She silently takes the ingredients out of her basket and puts them onto the table. She smiles to herself.) ROSE Tomatoes, potatoes, beans, clovers, chickpeas, and lentils. (William watches Rose and takes his feet off the table. He leans close to her.) WILLIAM Soooooo... Who is it? ROSE (taken aback) Who is what?
8. WILLIAM (scoffs) Oh, come on. You never come back from your mysterious shopping trips with a smile on your face. Who is it? ROSE Nothing. WILLIAM Nothing? Really, it’s nothing.
ROSE WILLIAM A smile like that doesn’t come from nothing. Okay... I met someone.
ROSE WILLIAM (bluntly) You meet people everyday. You’re the princess. I met a boy.
ROSE WILLIAM This is new, but does this look like a face that cares? ROSE And you think I care about your girl problems? Besides you asked. (William over dramatically rolls his eyes.) WILLIAM Well, I won’t be having too many girl problems anymore. (William stands up from his seat.) I’m going to go check on our guest. Be sure to get to bed at a reasonable hour.
9. ROSE Don’t mom me.
(playful) WILLIAM (laughs) As the next king, it’s my job. (William exits. Rose faces towards the audience. She takes a leather bound notebook and a pencil from her basket. Rose puts a pot onto the table.) ROSE (to the audience) I can juice some of the tomatoes and dice the leftover ones. Put the tomatoes into a pot over a medium heat and add three teaspoons of sugar so that it combats the acidity. Add the beans, potatoes, and lentils into the soup. Finish it off with clover. (The lights dim and become cooler to show time progressing into night. ROSE takes a sip from the pot and smiles.) ROSE (CONT’D) That’s how you make Aaron’s Rainy Day Soup. (Rose soup. table Aaron
fixes herself a bowl of She takes a seat at the and pulls out the rose got her. William enters.)
WILLIAM Time for bed. Did you already forget the festival is tomorrow? ROSE I know. The boy I met is coming to the festival. (William slides into the stool next to Rose.)
10. WILLIAM (skeptically) Is his name Aaron by any chance? Did he give you that rose? ROSE Maybe. Maybe not. But if it was, what could you tell me about him? WILLIAM Well, he’s the prince of Erimos, the desert kingdom. ROSE Is that it? WILLIAM No. ROSE Go on then! (William looks off into the audience as he starts talking about Aaron-- not paying attention to his sister.) WILLIAM (to the audience) He’s really caring and nice. He showed me around his kingdom, since I’ve never left Altaria before. He’s a year older than us and has been living there since he was born. He showed me around to classes and then we shared a literature class together. We did readings together and talked in depth about poems. He has such a beautiful reading voice. I could fall asleep to it. ROSE (to the audience) Dad would really like him. He’s so sweet and kind. He would just have to worry about William running the kingdom and would never have to learn about the thorns. (William and Rose look at each other. He looks at the rose.)
11. WILLIAM (to the audience) He gave her a rose. (to Rose) He gave you a rose. That’s definitely a good sign that he likes you! It’s just like that lullaby mom used to sing to us. “Your flower is pretty/your flower is mighty/my little flower in bloom”. (A CLOCK CHIME goes off and William stands up.) WILLIAM (CONT’D) It’s late. Time for us to head to bed. (William crosses towards offstage. Rose doesn’t stand up.) ROSE William? WILLIAM Yes? ROSE Nevermind.. It’s nothing. WILLIAM You sure? ROSE It’s nothing. WILLIAM You can trust me, you know that, right? ROSE I know. I forgot already. WILLIAM Okay Rose. I’ll see you in the morning.
12. (William exits. Rose stands up, rolls up her sleeve, and looks at her left arm. Wrapped against and around her arm are thin, silver branches with sharp thorns.) ROSE Nobody needs to know... BLACKOUT.