The Real Reason Dinosaurs Went Extinct is now available!

I've set my plays in a lot of colorful locations. A pirate ship. A Texas ranch house. A restaurant straddling the border between two mythical countries. But if you'd told me that one day I'd write a play set in Antarctica, I'd have thought you were crazy.

And then I wrote The Real Reason Dinosaurs Went Extinct.

Incoming!

Of course, the Antarctica this large-cast comedy is set in isn't the frozen wilderness we know today, but the lush rain forest of the long-ago Cretaceous Period. So long ago, in fact, that the famous Chicxulub asteroid--you know, the one that wiped out the dinosaurs--hasn't struck the earth yet.

But before the play is over, it will.

That in a nutshell is the concept behind The Real Reason Dinosaurs Went Extinct, which was published today by Brooklyn Publishers (yay!). Of course, that doesn't even begin to tell the whole story. 

This blurb, however, does:

Think the dinosaurs were just helpless victims of the asteroid that crashed into ancient earth? Well, they weren't--and this large-cast comedy tells the whole hilarious tale!

As the play begins, two dinosaur scientists discover the asteroid just three days before it's due to strike. When they try to warn the plant-eating citizens of Fernville, however, they get mocked and ridiculed. After all, the scientists have been predicting doom and gloom for years. But when one of their predictions finally comes true, and the town is attacked by a pack of hungry meat eaters, the plant eaters realize that some dangers are too serious to be ignored.

 

Now it's up to a clumsy young dinosaur named Snaggleclaw to venture into the Crags--the very heart of the meat eaters' territory--and bring back a special crystal that offers the plant eaters their only hope of survival. Can Snaggleclaw convince the meat eaters to cooperate? Or will he end up becoming a late-night snack? Find out in this action-packed, easy-to-produce play that teaches the importance of working together while sneaking in a ton of fun facts about the world of the dinosaurs.

Easy peasy

The Real Reason Dinosaurs Went Extinct has a cast of 21 (4M/5F/12E plus extras) and a run time of 90 minutes. And while all of the actors play animals, the costumes are a breeze! The only items you'll need are color-coordinated baseball caps and T-shirts: green for the plant-eating dinosaurs, gray for the meat-eating dinosaurs, and brown for the early mammals.

It was so easy to produce, in fact, that a kid's theater group in New Zealand threw a full production together in just one week!

I've spoken before about what this play means to me. So let me just add that I had a lot of fun writing it. More importantly, young actors will have a lot of fun performing it. After all, how many plays allow them to stomp around and roar like dinosaurs?

For complete details on The Real Reason Dinosaurs Went Extinct, including a script sample, production photos, and ordering info, please visit the play's web page.