Role Play Instructions

The teacher will assign students to either scenario. The students will cast characters and spend the remaining class time rehearsing their skit. The skit will be performed in front of another class and grades will be assigned according to the rubric found on the bottom of this page.

Narrator
Darry
Ponyboy
Sodapop
Randy
Bob

Narrator: Ponyboy had been to a movie alone, and was walking home. He was spotted by a group of Socs who decide to have a little fun harassing him.

Randy: “Hey Grease, We’re gonna do you a little favor. We’re gonna cut off all that long greasy hair. You need a haircut, don’t you?

Ponyboy: “No”

Bob: “I think we will start that haircut just below your chin!”

Narrator: It occurred to Ponyboy that they could kill him. He went wild and started screaming for Darry and Sodapop. Bob puts a hand over his mouth, and Ponyboy bites it and tastes the blood running through his teeth.

Randy: (stuffing a handkerchief in his mouth) “ Here, this ought to shut him up,for Pete’s sake!

Narrator: The Socs run off,, leaving Ponyboy lying there and gasping for breath. He was too dazed to figure it out.  Then, someone grabs Ponyboy under the armpits and pulls him to his feet. It was Darry.

Darry: “You all right, Ponyboy?”

Ponyboy: Quit shaking me Darry, I’m okay, I’m okay!”

Darry: “They didn’t hurt you too bad did they?”

Narrator: Sodapop comes running up. He dropped down beside Sodapop and examined him.

Sodapop: “You got cut up a little, huh Ponyboy? You bleeding like a stuck pig! Well, take it easy, they ain't gonna hurt you anymore!”

Darry: “ What were you doing walkin’ by your lonesome?”

Ponyboy:  I was coming home from the movies. I didn’t think………”

Darry (angry)  “You don’t ever think, Ponyboy! You don’t think at home or anywhere when it counts! You must think at school, with all those good grades you bring home, but do you ever use common sense? And if you did have to go by yourself, you should have carried a blade.

Narrator: Ponyboy stares down at the hole in his tennis shoe wondering why he and Darry could not dig each other.

Narrator
Johnny
Ponyboy
Bob

Narrator: Johnny and Ponyboy have run away to the park after Darry screams at  Ponyboy and slaps him. They accidentally fall asleep and wake up at two thirty in the morning.

Johnny: “Ain’t you about to freeze Ponyboy?”

Ponyboy: (rubbing his bare arms between drags on a cigarette) You ain’t awoofin!”

Narrator: A sudden blast from a car horn makes them both jump. A blue Mustang was circling the park slowly.

Johnny: “This is our territory! What are the Socs doing this far east?” I bet they are looking for us. We picked up their girls.”

Ponyboy: (sarcastically) Oh, glory, just what I need to top off a perfect night. Want to run for it?”

Johnny: “It’s too late now, here they come!”

Narrator: Five Socs are coming straight at them and from the looks of  the way they were staggering, they were reeling pickled.

Bob: “ Well whatta ya know?. Here’s the little Greasers that picked up our girls! Hey Greasers!”

Johnny: “Your outta your territory; you better watch it!”

Bob: No, broad, you’re the one who better watch it. Next time you want a girl, pick up one of your own- dirt!”

Bob: “You know what a Greaser is? White trash with long hair!’

Ponyboy: “ You know what a Soc is? White trash with Mustangs and madras.”

Narrator: Ponyboy spits at them.

Bob: “You could use a bath, Greaser, and a good working over. I’ve got all night to do it. Give the kid a bath, Randy!”

Narrator: Ponyboy tries to run, but a Soc caught his arm and twisted it behind his back. He stuck Ponyboy’s face into the fountain. Ponyboy struggled to get free, but could not. He wondered if he were dying.

The next thing Ponyboy knew, he was lying on the pavement coughing water and gasping for breath. He sat up and looked around, and then he saw Johnny.

Johnny: “I killed that boy! I killed him.

Narrator: Bob, the handsome Soc was lying there in the moonlight, doubled up and still. A dark pool of blood was growing underneath him. Ponyboy looked at Johnny’s hand and saw that he was holding a switchblade. His stomach gave a violent jump.

Ponyboy: “I think I’m gonna be sick”

Johnny: “Go ahead, I won’t look at you. “

Narrator: Ponyboy quickly turned his head and was quietly sick for a minute. Then he closed his eyes so he would not have to see Bob lying there.

Ponyboy: “This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening. This can’t be……..”