Cast: 9m., 8w. (doubling possible). This one-act play is in the comic mode—slapstick, even—but nonetheless serious in its intent to share an important cultural heritage—the days when movies were silent and comedy was physical and inventive. Marie Starr's mother directed movies in the days of the silent, and as a child she sat on the set and took it all in. By dramatizing these moments of inspired madness, she brings this era alive for children, and when you perform it, you train young actors in the disciplined techniques of physical and visual comedy arising out of the commedia dell'arte. Single set. Approximate running time: 25 minutes.