The Bremen Town Musicians: Nothing Is Worthless

This play presents the classic fairy tale in delightful simplicity and then turns the same story into an urban fairy tale. In the classic fairy tale, four farm animals, a donkey, dog, cat and rooster, are kicked out of their homes as worthless. The animals find new strength and purpose as they band together, becoming an orchestra of musicians with their bray, bark, meow and cock-a-doodle-doo. They're far better in their minds than the cacophony presented to the audience—and later to a robber. The impromptu concert frightens the robber so much that he leaves his hideout and ill-gotten gold, and the animal musicians retire happily. The urban fairy tale takes the same story but makes the characters human and sets them on the streets of a big city, where the decrepit old junkyard of Jake is being condemned. Junkyard Jake meets and takes in Fiona, a homeless woman, then Sherri, a deaf girl selling flowers who communicates through sign language, and finally Pop-Head, a street kid. The street people band together playing junkyard instruments and fend off a series of city bureaucrats determined to turn them out as worthless. The four almost give up when belief in their own worth and music allows them to convince the mayor that their junkyard is really an art park. Just like in the classic fairy tale, the four look to live happily ever after. The urban fairy tale, however, does pose the question: "How do we each determine the worth of other human beings?"