The Blue and the Grey

Charlie is surrounded by ghosts. The ghost of an estranged father who leaves her an antique musket. The ghost of a classmate’s sister who cautions Charlie, The Grey will hear you.

Who are the Grey? Ghosts of Lost Confederate soldiers ambushed following the first battle of Fredericksburg, 1862.

As the Aurora Borealis light up the Virginia night sky Charlie must confront the living and the dead. She’s trying to find peace but will she make the right choice? What brings her to the centre of a barely frozen lake with the musket and her ghosts? Beat! Beat! Drums! Blow! Bugles! Blow!

This award-winning piece is haunting, exhilarating and theatrical.

Drama

Average Producer Rating: 4.0 out of 5

Recommended for High Schools

Running Time

About 35 minutes

Approximate; excludes intermissions and scene changes

Cast

7 Characters

3 M 4 F

Plus Students

Set

Simple set

Length

34 pages

Free Excerpt

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Performance Royalty Fees

Royalty fees apply to all performances whether or not admission is charged. Any performance in front of an audience (e.g. an invited dress rehearsal) is considered a performance for royalty purposes.

Exemption details for scenes and monologues for competition.

7 Characters

3 M, 4 F, Plus Students

Characters in this play are currently identified as male or female. Directors are welcome to assign any gender (binary or non-binary) to any character - with the exception of CHARLIE and UNCLE WALT - and modify pronouns accordingly.

CHARLENE EMERSON [F] 125 lines

“Charlie” is a high school junior, female, protagonist. Sees ghost, worries for her sanity; One monologue.

RACHEL CARR [F] 61 lines

High school junior, female, Charlie’s best friend. Civil War buff, snarky, on the overbearing side, worries for Charlie’s sanity.

DARREN ALGER [M] 57 lines

High school junior, male, outcast. Haunted by the death of ANA, withdrawn, insular; One monologue.

ANA ALGER [F] 19 lines

Child of eight or nine years old, female, ghost. Wears a blue parka/winter coat. Never doubles as a Student.

MORRISSEY [M] 12 lines

Late thirties, AP US History teacher, male, liked. Trusted teacher, half-hearted confidant, called “Moz” as an honorific by students.

UNCLE WALT [M] 24 lines. lines

Mid-forties, poet, ghost/figment. Manifestation of poet Walt Whitman, though possibly something else. Never doubles as a Student; One monologue.

MRS. E. [F] 11 lines. lines

Late thirties, early forties, female, mother to Charlie. Presumed widow, husband disappeared fourteen years ago. Strong, bedrock, single mother. Doubled by a student.

STUDENTS [A] 32 lines

The nameless,faceless crowd. Also plays The Grey, The Drummer and the Captain. Can double other small roles. Lines can be said as a group, or divided up individually. Group can be small as 10 and as large as 21.

Praise for The Blue and the Grey

Aimee Kewley

Burncoat High School

We had an excellent time with our production. It was a great show for ensemble building, and devising around who and what the chorus of the "grey" and students are.

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